Reflecting on 2016..... #BringItOn2017

My first tri after a 3-yr hiatus! I was paparazzi ready yo! 

Can you believe it? It's the last day of 2016! Can you believe it? I just cleaned out the cobwebs from my blog - AGAIN! 😛😛

Some may be bidding farewell to 2016 on a high, some may be bidding farewell to 2016 on a low. But one thing for sure, we will carry forward with us memories from the last year with us moving ahead.

I usually like to take the time to reflect on what I had done in the year and where I would or should be headed for in the coming year.

2016 had certainly flown past, all at once, I feel in a daze - like FML - it's the last day - what had I done that made a difference this year? But upon reflection, I did a lot actually.

Let's just say, work-wise, I've increased my hours, my days - MOH loves going around telling people that my full-time job is working part-time. I am still consulting for CMHL although I had expressed my wish to leave.... I am consulting for a couple of other start-ups, I am still teaching at Strategy First, I am still teaching my fit classes at 2 gyms here in Yangon... basically, all my available time-slots are taken up. Yet - I am still trying to carve out more time slots to accommodate more stuff that I want to do. That has always been my habit - I like my plate full. Not because I'm not focused, but simply because staying idle makes me feel rather useless. Why not take on a full-time job? Noooooo... I'm enjoying part-timing too much and it works out because I am able to pursue all my passion projects!

I think one of the biggest "wins" for me in 2016 was stepping back a bit on the SoyAi project and watching the boys fly. Sure, they've stumbled a bit, we've all stumbled a bit at the start of the new arrangement but they've had more wins this year compared to 2 years ago when we first started. 2017 will be the 3rd year that the project is running. Every time I see a win for the boys, my heart swells with pride. I cannot even describe the feeling and the emotions I went thru pulling them up this mountain when we first took that jump. But seeing them try, seeing them fly made it all worth it. I pray everyday that they continue moving forwards and continue flying and they will in turn make a difference in their country and for the people of Myanmar. 💓💓💓💓

This year also saw me being more involved with the ASEAN Women Entrepreneur Network and through the network, I've also launched another passion project - this time tackling a really large issue - sexual abuse and domestic violence against women. Sometimes, I don't know why I have this thing about wanting to save the world. This is a huge issue to tackle and frankly, I don't even know where to begin. To change mindsets as well know it is one of the hardest thing to do at the start. I've put together a team of superwomen to make sure the "Women 4 Women" project takes off in 2017 as we look at all possible angles on tackling the cultural and societal stigma surrounding this issue. May the force be with us. 💪💪💪

6 months ago, together with MOH, we also launched the Mobile Soup Movement here in Yangon. It's just a bit of money coming out from our monthly income to go into preparing 100 care packages each month to be distributed to the needy. I've always felt very blessed to have more than I need in my life. And the one thing I cannot stand is to see people hungry. So, I hope that this small, humble gesture would make a difference to people who need them care packages. No matter how small a difference, I hope it brings some cheer somehow. Well, at least this is motivation enough to keep me working hard and earning my keeps! ✌✌

On the business front - the humble spa I opened with my local partners have expanded to one more branch and moving forward, we hope to expand further. 2017 would also see me potentially starting another new business venture here in Myanmar and I know me and my other local partners have been really, really tardy about working on this one, but you know - it's really time to make it happen! You can all stay tuned to know what's brewing, eh?

I also launched my first non-fiction book in 2016! Together with my partner who co-authored the book with me, it was a 2-year project and to see it come alive was a really, really big deal. Being one of the pioneers in the event and wedding industry in Malaysia, this book sums it up for us in a lot of way. I would like to say a humble, humble thank you to my partner / co-author who really pushed for everything to happen when I lost hope. Partnerships need to be like that - you need to know your partner's got your back and you know damn well you've got theirs. With the book, it is also time to consider retiring from the industry while I am on a high. I always knew there was a time limit to this career. Don't get me wrong, I still have a lot of passion for MARCOMs, events, branding, etc. But when it comes to event - unfortunately, age does play a huge role. You can't run back-to-back events and survive 72 hours without sleep just on adrenaline 😩😩😩

On the fit-front, I competed in my first triathlon again after a 3-year hiatus and I still came up in the Top 10 - which was more than I could ask for considering my multiple injuries. I suffered a crazy swollen tissue problem in February of 2016 and I haven't done a single 21km since.... I have now worked back to a 10km run but my time is really slow. I also have sciatica, knee problems and tennis elbow to top it all off. It is a bit sad for me, but I still keep training and keep pushing everyday. MOH on the other hand, having recovered from his knee surgery last year is suddenly all into triathlons and will be competing almost every month! 😑😑

I didn't get any holidays in this year to go anywhere except 2 weeks ago when I went to Loikaw, north of Myanmar for a really short trip upon MOH's insistence. And boy, did I not regret it. The people there were super-friendly, super nice, the weather was delicious at 13 degrees, making my morning runs extra awesome. I have never seen fresh - so fresh at the fresh wet market! I was just super-delighted! Yangon can get to you at times you know, with the traffic and the crowd and the stifling weather. Every time I travel to a different part of Myanmar and meet new people and new culture, I renew my love for this country. There is so much good and kindness here and not to mention, so much beauty too. I really don't know when I will have to bid farewell to this place but for now, I am calling it my home. 💕💕💕

Personally, I continue to coach as many young and hopeful minds here in Myanmar through what I do. I always tell my charges that my doors are always open. Reach out whenever they need. And I will try my best if not we will try together. My methods are generally rather unorthodox and it ain't really for those with a weak stomach. Well, those with weak stomachs would run far away from me, that's for sure! 😁😁😁

What are my plans for 2017 exactly? Actually, I have no plans! LOL. I lived by this all of 2016 :

"When you get, GIVE. When you learn, TEACH." I will continue doing the same for 2017 and strive to do it better. As I grow older, I realized more and more how true it is that it is not so much in the planning and targets but it is really all about the journey. The words you live by and you practice and the difference you make while you journey through this thing called life.

I am not just thankful for a blessed 2016. I am thankful each and everyday that I am surrounded by love from so many facets of my life - especially from MOH and my family. Their love and support has held me up as high as I am today. For that, I am so, so, so grateful. Their love and belief in me makes me continuously wake up to strap on my combat boots and battle it out another day. I am thankful too that their lives have been filled with so much joys and laughter. Not kidding - each and everyday, I am grateful for this.

Life will always have its ups and down. Life will also always have the moments where you want to smile and laugh at every little thing. Life will have moments where you want to stick your middle finger up at everything and everyone (particularly the drivers in Yangon!) I don't claim to know what life will throw at me. I don't even claim to be prepared. I just pray everyday that I find peace, tenacity, faith, courage and wisdom. And I pray too that no matter what, I will always look for the good.

With that, I wish all of my loved ones, friends near and far, people I hold dear in my heart that you will too always look for the good and you are all always, always in my prayers.

Have a bangin' one y'all! #BringItOn2017 😎😎😎😎😎

7 Years And The Pranks Continue.... LOL

Sithu Ye Yint and Win Lae Yee :D 

7 years married + 3 years dating..... Geez, 10 years??? Bored much? LOL. As like every year since the first year we got married, I write a small piece to celebrate "You and Me, Just Us Two" :) 

Recently, a magazine interviewed me and fielded this question :

To what degree do you owe your success to your husband? He seems to be very supportive on your endeavours. 

Hmmmm..... first of all, I don't owe my success to him. Second of all, he's supportive because he doesn't wanna a) sleep on the couch or b) be locked out of the apartment
LMFAO !!!!

Oyyyy.... I'm still recovering from laughter at my own statement above. LOL. Ok, ok.... let's get serious and I'm a answer that in full honesty, bare-nakedly.

The answer really is that I don't owe him my success. Because I am not "successful" or at least I don't see myself that way. I get by. But he is without a shred of doubt, my pillar of strength. I have been really happy to pursue a lot of my passion projects over the last one year plus. From my social work to my fitness pursuits to my lecturing, right down to my additional consultation work. And he's the man behind all of that. Let's just say - he gave me little nudges for things he knew I was passionate about but wasn't so sure about committing.

Last November, I completed my Fitness Instructor Training (guess who signed me up for this?) and then my coach asked me to go for my Crossfit L-1 Trainer certification as well. Jeez, there were exams and all, ok! When we went to Bangkok to get my exams and certification done, MOH booked us into a nice studio apartment place where there was a kitchen and living room and all that. And I was like "isn't that a bit OTT for just a weekend??" and he went - "but there's space for you to do your last minute revisions and we can prepare a healthy breakfast for you in the morning!" and he proceeds to show me the space enthusiastically.

You see - 10 years together now, that's how he is. He's not about being passionate or romantic in the movie sense and there's no flowers or diamonds and stuff (simply put, I hate those stuff as presents!!) but he's more of an action-oriented guy. When he does things like these, it shows me without needing to tell me that despite his poker-face, his absolutely crazy busy schedule, he's got my back. And isn't that what love is about? Or when he goes away on trips and comes back with KT Tape for me or a pack of kick-ass chilli or a few packets of healthy nuts for me. Doesn't that show that he knows what makes me tick? And that to me, is really all awesomely romantic. And now that I think about it - quite hilarious. KT Tape?? Really?? LOL. Let's not forget the blink-blink lights for me to go running at 4am in the morning!! (Since I don't listen to his nagging, I guess the next best thing is keeping me safe LMAO!!)

Things have been getting busier and busier for both of us in Myanmar. We're pursuing passions and ambitions and to be honest, sometimes, we don't even have time to talk to each other that much. Given both our anti-social nature, most nights after a long day of work and seeing people, we basically don't really wanna talk. We just wanna sit around quietly, watching some bad TV to unwind. Like I said in previous years' anniversary posts, we didn't get to this stage overnight. But over time, we just understood each other better and the transition and shifting responsibilities, focus, etc were actually quite smooth. I think we've even reached a new height in our relationship where just our presence is enough to help us get over some of those crazy Myanmar moments. The most recent one being a 2-day no water situation at our new apartment. We didn't even bitch about it. We looked at one another, we had that FML look but we smiled and we just survived as we needed to. It was actually quite surreal and funny. Of course it was a SHITTY situation to be in with no water to even brush your teeth. But I don't know where this new zen came from! LOL. Just a sense that - ah, he's/she's here. We're in this together and that's cool.

Then there's the heavy-duty stuff that I did take for granted which was his "duty" so to speak - like carrying the really heavy groceries up seven floors of a bloody walk-up apartment, refilling the 20 litre drinking water bottle at home - you know, the 'man stuff' but then in April, he got his ACL operation and all of a sudden, I realized, shit, I have to do the heavy duty around the place now. I trained harder at the gym with my powerlifts :D :D :D BUT, I'm happy to inform that he's now up and about and have resumed his duties. LOL.

Because we have no kids, we entertain each other most of the time. All those pranks, hiding each other's stuff, hiding behind doors, and now that the new apartment has a doorbell and a peep-hole it adds on to our lists of "creative pranks to do" to annoy the hell out of the other person. That keeps us young at heart (and on our toes too!) and being able to laugh at our own silliness helps take us through those Myanmar moments, you know.

Contrary to what people may assume simply because I'm such a "strong" character (loud, more like), he actually wears the pants in the relationship and there are moments where I know he's mad and ok... I'm gonna go hide for awhile...... LMAO. True situation ya. Unbelievable but true. Think about it. It actually takes someone THAT MUCH STRONGER to deal with a character like mine. And we try to steer clear of talking about work, you know. We do have better things to talk about and sometimes we do debate about ideas and brands and stuff like that. I knew about the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 launch through his PR Agency who invited me. Go figure. :P

He recently got a fridge magnet and out of all the fridge magnets to choose from with creative and quirky quotes, he chose a simple one that said "Bless This Home With Love and Laughter Always". LOL. I'm like - how boring. But it tells me what he values in our marriage and that's awesome because that's what I value too.



So, to my best friend and the best man a girl could ask for - Happy 7 years .... I'm sitting here, reminiscing all those crazy shit we've been through.....  the time in Cambodia when I had food poisoning and I was so ill and in so much pain you offered to go get me a "happy ciggie" because we lived upstairs of Happy Pizza (till today, I don't know where that came from!! LMFAO!!), the time in Cambodia when we had no power for the entire night and you sat up all night fanning me with the blanket and we laughed and cried at our miserable situation, the time you got retrenched and we were sitting up at the rooftop of our Cambodia apartment and I said - it doesn't matter if we're poor, we'll weather it out together. And we did. Even in Myanmar, the power cuts and water rationing issues still followed us around, LOL but as usual, we weathered it out together. The time we had a waterfall and indoor swimming pool situation in our apartment in Myanmar and you said you'd go slap the landlord... and oh, oh.... remember the time the landlady didn't open the door for you because she said you were going to rape her (OMFG - LMFAO!!!!) ..... We have so many crazy hilarious shit situations to reminisce about and we got through them all - you and me, just us two.

No matter what Love, we'll weather it out together and I know we've got each other's backs. #StrongerTogether

Love You and here's to many more years to come!!

  

Myanmar, oh Myanmar... 4 years and counting!

Some soon-to-be students for UTS Sydney who did massive research
work about me and wanted to speak to me in person to know what
motivates me in life. Well, life itself motivates me. Inspiring others
motives me. Love motivates me :) What else would one need?

 On this exact day, I'm marking my 4th year in the Golden Land. I can't believe I lasted through the storms, the power cuts, the internet breakdowns and the excruciating heat :) BUT, I'm a third-world country survivor and lover. Of course I lasted :)

I didn't even think that I would have the time to do my annual anniversary blogpost to mark my "X year in Myanmar". Really, MOH says my full-time job is working part-time! LMAO.

This year, well, this year I got seriously whacked-out busy. I would've thought that letting go of the SoyAi Boys so that they can now start flying on their own would mean I would have a lot more free time in my hands to pursue other passion projects. Well, guess what? Passion projects take up time!!
Sooooo...... what have I been getting myself into after SoyAi?

Well, I say "after SoyAi like I don't care about them anymore but you know, the boys will always be like my brothers and I will always be there for them. I just know that they needed this opportunity to soar. And they are flying. I am so, so, so proud of them. All those hardwork, the crying, the heartbreaks, the screaming, the banging of my head of the walls, the crazy has all finally started bearing small tiny fruits. The boys have truly proven that people CAN TURN THEIR LIVES around. The most recent moment of proudness - was regarding their Youth Centre lease. Previously, they would tell me "Ma Eileen, rental contract finish in June." Full Stop. But last week, they said the same thing, but they added, "But we have a plan!" And they went on elaborating their well thought-out plan. I was impressed. I was thoroughly impressed and seriously - if someone had told me earlier that letting go of them would be the fastest way for them to grow, I would've done it way earlier. I still see the other kids every weekends and spend some time with them. But it's really a little harder now because the caretakers keep changing them. This would be a whole new blog just to explain :/

Anyhoo..... now that the Boys are flying, I've started seriously getting into the coaching thing. I'm coaching everything.... LOL Well, first I'm lecturing at Strategy First Institute - the most established and reputable education centre in Myanmar especially for working professionals. I lecture for the ICM / CIM Diploma subjects : Advertising, Integrated Media and Digital Marketing. Then, I'm also starting my absolute passion - coaching fitness classes :) I mean, I have invested money in the certifications you know! Time to get my ROIs LOL !! For both of these, I do have so much fun doing it but you know, there are certain responsibilities that come with coaching and let's put it this way, the lecture notes don't exactly prepare themselves :P Both my parents were teachers and as such, they're really large shoes to fill. That's why, I don't even qualify as a teacher. Only just a coach :) 2 things I place importance on : "Know What You Don't Know" and "Teach To Inspire". 

I'm happiest when I actually see my students improving..... whether it is in the academic or fitness, it doesn't matter. I just get joy to see them get better. I hope I can continue inspiring them to go get the moon. Cos you know right, if you want the moon, you better bloody go get it yourself :P

Other than that, I am still consulting for CM. I did express my wishes to leave earlier this year and the decision was that DBW would have a think about it. Then just over the weekend, I opened my pay packet and found that I was actually given an increment instead. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. What to doooooooooo???? I did speak about wanting additional days off just so I could pursue other consultation work that I would also enjoy. We shall see. But whilst I'm still with CM, I would definitely do my best in every area that I am looking at - including areas I am not - like training people. I suppose, this is a passion more than a responsibility. I wanna make sure people are given the right platforms to surge forwards in their lives. Not always easy. Sometimes I'm talking to the wall. But really, if 1 out of 10 moves up, I think I've done something. Right???

Recently, I also started doing Digital PR consulting for one of the awesome tech start-ups in Myanmar - called Nexlabs whose CEO was named one of the Forbes #30Under30 list. It's quite a change because I get to have so much fun with the digital content.  Like seriously a lot of fun. You'd have to follow Nexlabs FB pages and Instagram pages to see :)

Social work wise, I still haven't given up on starting or looking to volunteer my time on a project that serves to empower women. I've been working with the Boys for so long. I wanna help girls too. I did started chatting with a group that helps abused women and ex-trafficking victims but they were located really too far away. Bums. If anyone out there hear of anything, please let me know!

Meanwhile, I have a flight to catch as I have been invited to attend the Asean Women Social Entreprise Forum in Bangkok. This would be interesting and the SoyAi Boys have packed me a whole bagful of SoyAi Cookies (their proud new product) to bring along with me. We'll see :) I hope I don't finish them before the forum starts!

Myanmar has seen a transition of power from their first real democratic elections. The new opposition government has officially taken over and started administrating. What the results will become is still yet to be seen but everyone can feel the hope in the air. Well, to be honest, I'm so jealous cos this is something Malaysia have yet to achieve - for the opposition team to win. But again, a whole new other story here for another time.

So, Myanmar........ oh Myanmar. I have really grown to love you but truly hate some of the really horrible Myanmar moments like the power cuts because it is excruciatingly hot particularly this year. I hate the traffic. I hate the slow-ass internet. But you know what, we learn to find our way around it - including lecturing in the dark!! Wooots!! What can you do right? You either cry or you chug along and try to get things done as planned :P Even simple stuff like washing your hair (everytime!! :P)

I'm rooting for you, Myanmar. Here's to another awesome year ahead for you and I :)

Below - sharing some of the highlights of the first half of my 2016 in Myanmar :)

I was invited to speak at the Strategy First Forum on Leading Change
in the Digital Era of Myanmar. This pix - from one of my students. LOL

My awesome fit class at Real Fitness Myanmar

Me training the Marketing Team at CMHL.... It's a big team because
CMHL is growing. It's a long road ahead. I'm committed to help 

This is at our Youth Centre for the Pre-Thingyan Party
and this was the day we saw both my passion worlds come together
Students and The Kids :) 

Here with the top celeb in Myanmar - Sai Sai at the One FC 2016

Here at the STEPS Social Enterprise Idea Competition. They wanted
to hear about SoyAi and wanted the founder to speak though I preferred the
SoyAi Boys talk. Well, in the end, we all had to speak! LOL

Told you, no matter what, I will always be there for the Boys.
Here, they needed some help urgently so they came looking for me
at the office..... LOL.