My Working Trip in Langkawi in 1998

This was my working-cum-holiday trip to Langkawi in 1998. Yes, 2 years before this Covid-19 pandemic. That is why you don't see me wearing a mask then. Those were the carefree days from this virus outbreak.

There were scenic shots till the end, you will see the various panoramic landscapes of the beautiful, untouched island of Langkawi,with many duty free items for sale like liquor, chocolates, batik, perfumes, floral cutleries, and many other high-end items.

There are many activities to do in Langkawi, such as, island hopping by boat, snorkelling, take a short helicopter ride who get a bird's eye view of Cenang Beach Bay, see the beautiful sunset by the horizon on a yatch, visiting many places of tourists' attractions, and more.

This little island is jam-packed with tourism industry. There are many cashew nuts, pistachios, and chocolates that you cannot find in the usual malls of other parts of Malaysia.

This is what makes Langkawi so special where tourist from locals and foreign countries flock here and patronise the restaurants, shopping malls, etc. There are enough bad news flying around the media worldwide and even locally. Hence, I shall dwell the carefree days then to stay happy and cheerful.

Sometimes, we all need a break from the monotony of work and work and blogging is my passion. Simply because I can pen my thoughts freely, without anyone telling me what to write and such. There is this freedom that you get to enjoy as you blog your musings and also rants. Okay, stay safe and practise social distancing, everyone.

As today is a Monday, the first day of the week, I would like to cheer us up with the lovely yellow themed picture from my Instagram account.

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A post shared by DTan (@philin135) on Jul 19, 2020 at 7:34pm PDT

The 6 Benefits of Working at Home Promoting Atomy, an Online Shopping Mall

I have also attended several sessions of Atomy already for TTT - Train the trainers with the best speakers to talk on their experience with the product and wonderful platform where Atomy is a righteous business. It is not money game, MLM or pyramid scheme. It is direct selling via its online shopping mall that only sells Atomy products for the 95% masses with prestigious products and therefore the term "masstige" was coined. There are no endorsement fees, not advertisement fees and no models to pay for awareness of Atomy. It is all by word-of-mouth from one consumer to the next. It is an amalgation of 2 words: masses and prestige. In the corporate sector, it is dog eat dog world, to climb to the top.

And that is why many people choose to become their own bosses, instead of working for others where you scratch my back, and I scratch yours. Or you teach me and I take credit for your work and climb the corporate ladder, which is why everyone is selfish. However, in this Atomy system, you might ask, "What Makes Atomy Stand Out?" It is the culture that is based on Christian principles to share which is a blessing to others, especially when it will benefit them and fire their dreams. Atomy is GSGS - Global Sourcing and Global Sales. It is also ABC - Advisor, Branch, Consumer where you are the branch between the Advisor and the Consumer that you recruit.

OK, I shall call it a night for now and till the next post, Good night! or rather, Good Morning!

Where to Find Affordable, Delicious Nasi Lemak and The Business of Doing Atomy

This shows how to get to Kampung Melayu in Air Itam to get your affordable and yummy nasi lemak in Penang. Let the video speaks for itself. My main gist of the blog post is mainly on doing Atomy as a sideline business. This morning I spent almost an hour to watch President Park, the head honcho speak on Youtube and thereafter, there was Hokkien session on TTT - which means Train The Trainer in Hokkien which turned out to be in English, by Diamond Master CT Chan and his team. My Sales Master, Mr Ben put me in so many Atomy WhatsApp groups like English, Hokkien and Malay. There are a total of 10 Whatsapp groups that I became a member of. I was pleasantly surprised there are so many groups. I am thankful to my upline, Rajan Baliah, who introduced Atomy the proper way to me.

After the Zoom session, there it was the Tanjung Aspira, if I am not wrong, Facebook life sessions on certain products like paper Face mask soaked in essense and the more expensive gel face mask. The girls also showed how to create foam from the Atomy Facial Cleanser and introduced Arabica beans coffee that are kidney shaped with zig-zag line in the center. As opposed to Robusta beans that are bitter and round and machine-picked, it is cheaper compared to Arabica beans that are hand-picked.

Several things I learnt from President Park is that to have humility to serve people, especially the 95% masses that are poorer compared to the top 5%. This is what Atomy is all about. Also he shared that if a pipeline is small but gushes out water, as compared to a bigger pipeline that drips water, it is better to be the smaller pipeline, as slow and steady wins the race; as in the turtle and rabbit analysis.

President Park who is also a Christian, also shared that people with questionble credit are the ones who will most likely succeed in this business, possible as they don't have many options. He also quoted from the scriptures, "Those who exalt themselves, will be humbled; and those who humble themselves will be exalted."

Now Atomy has many products that are Halal and received Super Brands Award from the Government. This is a testament to the quality of the product for the masses with prestigious materials >> therefore it was coined the term, "masstige." Hence, the masses can enjoy prestigous products at affordable prices. For the last 10 years, the prices remained the same and they did not increase at all; instead more ingredients were added to them for more value. Now, where in this world can you find network marketing that is so good with absolute price and absolute quality?

It is 12:50am here and I shall end this blog post to say that I am privileged to join as a member of Atomy. I really need Atomy, and not the other way round. LOL

The 6 Benefits of Working at Home

This is an old article written by me years ago for a client to showcase my writing abilities. It was not used anywhere, hopefully, by the client who later hired me for a while to write for him on a part-time basis. Well, I am still on the learning curve when it comes to English, spellings, grammar, etc. I am not perfect in my writing, but nevertheless, it has allowed me to at least earn a little allowance here and there for the hirers who are not so stringent.

For proper journalism, I have to edit a few times, as required by my editors in Singapore. Hence, I have had experience writing for the professionals whose English is impeccable with writing that attracts repeat visitors. All credits will go to the online publisher. My 2 younger sisters have better English than me, with better grades in school. They scored 'A's while I got 'B' for English 1119 many years back. They are avid readers of novels written by Americans and British authors. While late granny made sure I spent my time studying text books, depriving me of improving my English since mum bought the books and grandma didn't want me to read those books.

Anyway, with software and constant reading, my writing has improved a little, not to say by leaps and bounds. Therefore, it is imperative that you read a lot and become a voracious reader. Consuming knowledge is better than consuming alcohol, don't you agree? Being able to write sufficiently well, it is one of my few streams of income now and then. But you have to work hard and be able to revise a few times to satisfaction.

Sometimes, people may also take advantage and get you to write for free, editing so many versions for them. But then again, this is part and parcel of life, learning from your own working experience. Working at home certainly has its many benefits. Just listen to the video above carefully, and you may get some tips on why we should now take advantage of technology to work at home, especially in this Covid-19 pandemic that has ravaged the world economy, causing mayhem globally.

It behooves me that people are still searching around for their calling and vocation in life, the honest way. Of course, we should be cautious of the quacks and scams that abound in the internet fraternity. I, for one, do not like to depend on a fixed salary from 1 source of income. You should always have multiple sources of income to retire comfortably with excess to donate to charity, or pass to your siblings, as in my case, should I pass on.

So, blogging, writing, microjobs and surveys have kept me very busy these few days, not counting being a content creator for YouTube. Everyday is a learning curve for me and the internet is full of information, if you are hardworking and search for it. Do implement what you have learnt, as action speaks louder than words. Finally, some final words: "Stay safe at home and always wear a mask whenever you are in a public place."

Dinner at Mizi Bistro

I went to Mizi Bistro recently and ordered my favorite which is, "Fish My Dream," consisting of poached Dory fish on top of braised spinach and drizzled with a special secret sauce. My friend had "Monte Carlo" fish, which has similar ingredients except without the braised spinach and topped with sliced sausages. The set dinner for 2 consists of mushroom soup, drinks of ice peach tea, lemon tea, hot green tea or coffee. There is unlimited ice cream with 6 flavors after the main course. The ambience is cozy with dark wood decorations for that rustic feel and porcelain pictures.

As you can see from the video above, the 6 flavors of ice-cream are chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, green mint chocolate chip, peanut butter cup, etc. You have a choice of strawberry or chocolate sauce to drizzle over the ice-cream and sprinkle with colorful beads or chocolate beads. They certainly look tempting in the video.

There are several Mizi Bistro outlets in Penang, but the one in town is closed. This was at Straits Quay Tesco, Tanjung Pinang. Anyway, I came back from KL yesterday after staying overnight in our rented condo in USJ 19 Mall, Subang Jaya. Since my partner drove down, he needs a break from the long distance driving of 400 km one way. There were several changes in USJ 19 Mall with more improvements for the better. Da:Men certainly looks much better now with many restaurants move in and lots of high-level tenants. But the condo at that time for an empty one was half a million at the cheapest, which was beyond my budget.

Any, in this Covid-19 pandemic, stay safe and stay at home as much as possible.

My Birthday Celebration at Foong Wei Heong Chinese Restaurant Recently

This was treated by yours truly for her 50th birthday anniversary at Foong Wei Heong Restaurant. Only immediate family members attended. Mum, youngest sis, spouse and myself. Dad had gone to heaven while second sis has settled down in the UK. The video was done using an app in my iPhone X, converted from MOV to MP4 file format that is compressed and then uploaded to YouTube for further sharing.

The food ordered were sumptuous dishes of seafood soup, pomfret fish cooked in 2 styles, spinach soup with egg yolk, spring rolls in 2 styles, seafood yam basket and birthday 'lam mee' or noodles. Someone commented, the food was enough for a party of 7, but there were 4 of us; hence there was leftovers of birthday noodles and seafood yam basket.

The seafood soup cost $40 a bowl for 5-6 of us and it was certainly delicious! There were real crab meat, crab sticks, fish maw, sliced mushrooms, plus other ingredients that thicken the soup for that thick and smooth texture. The seafood yam basket also costs the same and needs to be ordered in advanced for the preparation. If you order this dish on the go, it won't be available for serving.

You will notice that for each movie that I make, I will choose a different creative commons music to go along with the video. The music comes with the app and for some, you may need to add credits to the music composer, for their creative work done for free. I wore a string of peach-colored pearls, a gold bangle and rings to complement my light blue embroidered blouse.

You will notice the boss and his friend stood nearby while the waiter served us birthday noodles with a spoon and fork. I received $100 from youngest sis and I brought $200, more than enough to pay for the set meal. So, I am 50 years young now on the 6th of July 2020. It is an irony that I have discovered to become a YouTuber at this 'young' age where most of the YouTubers are in their twenties. Anyway, this is my new hobby that is keeping me very preoccupied, learning how to use new software like Adobe Premiere Pro, Filmora 9, Lumen5, Camtasia and InShot App.

In the meantime, stay safe at home in this Covid-19 pandemic that has ravaged the world economy and we should brace ourselves for a global recession now.

Seafood Buffet Dinner at Mosaic Restaurant, Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Kuala Lumpur

This is a complimentary buffet dinner for 4 pax using the Elite voucher app, but we decided to just dine for the 2 of us for more privacy. We also redeemed 2 bottles of complimentary red wine and a box of 10 handmade praline chocolates. We also paid for 50% of the citrus green tea powder-covered cake, retailing at $158 at full price. Our 3 days 2 nights stay in Mandarin Oriental (MO) was a business cum leisure trip. We met up with a few clients, attended an interview, and decided to use up the vouchers during the Restricted Movement Control Order (RMCO) in June recently.

Otherwise, we had to stay up cooped in our condo for 3-4 months during the Covid-19 pandemic causing global recession and mayhem around the world. Now in the video above, you can see me in an orange cheongsam blouse eating seafood, namely succulent slipper lobster meat, prawns, and scallops.

I also had some bites of 'satay' or marinated barbequed chicken on skewer sticks with peanut sauce and paired with cut cucumbers and onions. Furthermore, I ate some fruits and small bites here and there, so as not to put on weight unnecessarily. These are raw videos that I added into the InShot App using my 3- year old iPhone 10.

Everything was done in the car on the way back to Penang from Kuala Lumpur, as I was the front passenger in our Benz. Well, this YouTubing is a steep learning curve for me, having paid USD 399 for an online course by Matt Par. He is a youngster, in his early twenties and is crushing it with $30k monthly from his 8-9 YouTube channels. Not bad for someone young without a degree, but he is very motivated and learned. So, why go to college when you can start earning as soon as possible, once you learned the tricks of the trade?

So many hotels in Penang, KL and Ipoh were closed permanently due to no tourists and the hospitality sector was badly affected by the pandemic. Well-known hotels like Jazz, Tanjung Bungah Hotel, Holiday Inn Hotel, G Hotel, and more were either closed indefinitely or put up for sale at this point in time.

Hence, in the meantime, stay safe at home and practice social distancing.