Tinki Talks

When It Rains, It Pours

2008-08-21T15:20:00.000+08:00

So nice. If only I wasn't working today. =p

My Little Ko-ree-ah

2008-08-21T02:20:00.004+08:00

Ring ring.

Pam Song: Hello?

Receptionist: Pam Song?

Pam Song: Yes?

Receptionist: Pam, there's an envelope here for you from a lady called Miss M. It's from Korea.

Pam Song: *blink blink* I'm sorry. What??? From where again?

Receptionist: Korea. It's from Miss M.

Pam Song: Huh?! Who's Miss M? Are you sure? I don't think I know anybody from Korea.

Receptionist: No no. What they did was that they came by to drop your envelope off for you.

Pam Song: A KOREAN CAME BY TO DROP OFF STUFF FOR ME?!

Receptionist: No! No! A Korea! A Korea!

Pam Song: @_@ Woman, I don't know what you're saying. Gimmie a sec and I'll come out.

Upon collecting my parcel, I found out that
the confusion was actually because of this...

-_-

See? This is why writing still beats every other form of communication when it comes to clarity of message, in my books. (Kinda sorta if you choose to ignore non-verbal cues in the entire communication process. =p) No need to worry about diction, no need to worry about pronunciation, no need to worry about enunciation, no need to worry about articulation.

p/s: Will tell you guys more about 'my little Korean' tomorrow. Am too beat to think enough so as to not write in fragments right now. Nighty nights.

Zohan

2008-08-21T01:47:00.007+08:00

Got me free tickets to watch Zohan yesterday,
courtesy of Seventeen and the lady working within.

And thank goodness they were free.

Cos I fell asleep midway through. Tee hee.

I was already pretty tired out by night time. (No thanks to my crazy schedule over the past week.) So it really didn't help that the jokes were pretty much recycled time and time again throughout the movie. The LAME, SLAPSTICK, SUGGESTIVE JOKES, especially. Bleh.

I'd say this movie was pirated DVD standard only. No more than that. I wouldn't pay RM10 to watch it at the cinema. I'd even sleep over the thought of paying the KL standard rate of RM6 for a pirated DVD. And I'd think twice about buying it for RM4 in Penang before pulling out my purse. But I'd probably watch half of it (with a lot of forwarding in between) if it was downloaded. =p

Men

2008-08-20T18:23:00.006+08:00

Ah Beng is right.

Nan Ren Mei You Hao Dong Xi.
(Literal English Translation: There is no good in men.
Intended, Regularly Accepted Meaning: All men are bad.)

Sigh.

I wanna be Somewhere. After all, I've already been Everywhere but. That's why I think deserve to be Somewhere. Right? Because right now, being Nowhere really sucks.

The Time Is Now

2008-08-20T17:50:00.006+08:00

I need to do it. Like, soon. Because the longer I wait, the worst it becomes. And that's bad. And I don't like things bad. I like 'em good. Yes yes, I'm sure of it. I should really get down to doing it before it gets too late to do anything about what I want to do.

Semakin Hari Semakin Bodoh

2008-08-20T14:37:00.009+08:00

We're living in the 21st Century.

Very advanced times, these are. With an ever-growing faceless population, thanks to the World Wide Web. But it also marks times when you don't know who you're to trust online anymore. Having said that, it is vital that we all move into a whole new era of 'intelligent', absolutely-TOP-SECRET, pinkie-promise-you'll-never-tell-anyone, illegal downloading.

Secret code so secret hor? Haha.
Spelling also wrong. Haih. So fail.

[You can read my previous complaint about Verification Codes here.]

Cheras Wednesday Night Market

2008-08-20T00:53:00.005+08:00

Last Wednesday night – the night dear ol'
Ah Beng got bumped up to Boyfriend.

...for very practical reasons.
(More like for material and economic purposes, actually.
Haha. Cheras is so kampung! Maybank ATM also dun have.
Only got AmBank – as you can see. -_- So fail.)

Honestly, the plan to crash the other side of Federal had already been in the works for weeks. Talk about heading thataway had been thrown about for ages! But all cakap only. (Ala Ah Beng and his so-called going-to-happen karaoke plans. *snort*) It finally took some girlie mau-pergi-pasar-malam-cari-cincin-RM5 determination to really kick the plan into action. =p

Us stuffing our faces before heading for Cheras.

Needed some nutritional input to sustain us throughout the walking-around output. Haha. Thank goodness we did, though. That pasar malam is HUGE! If we'd listened to JC and just ate while we shopped, we'd probably have died and appeared in the papers on Thursday morning. "First-time visitors to Cheras' night market faint and get trampled to death." -_-

On the way back to Ah Beng's car after dinner.

Black and white also nice, no? =p

With that, the Cheras adventure begins!!!

Ah Beng and I arrived at kampung town (JC drove his own car) a little past 9PM and came to the unanimous conclusion that Cheras drivers, all gangster blood wan. No kidding. Almost Honkee gangster movie standard. Tough fight. Oh, and all pedestrians think they're kings and queens of the road. Cross road no need to look wan. Jalan only. -_- Sigh. Primates.

ANYHEW... we finally found an illegal lot atop a hill and proceeded to look for JC. *cough cough* Who was haggling for hp covers like a true, blue Cheras gangster. *cough* "Leng chai... Pheng di lah. Hor yi geh." (Manglish translation: "Handsome boy... Cheaper lah. Can wan.") Haha. Was pretty funny standing by, watching the boy do his thing without realising that he was being watched.

Okay, enough rubbish. It's picha time!

Group pic at the start of the seemingly endless
rows of night market stalls.

Glasses for sale! Cheap cheap!

I think we pulled off the geeky look like naturals, yo! Haha.
But I have to admit, Ah Beng more natural than me lah. =p

The vile stuff that brought out the true Cheras pheng-di-lah gangster in JC. =p

Ah Beng posing with his plastic bag of pirated CDs in his right hand. Shameless. Oh, and if you look closer, you'll notice that he's wearing white undies. (See, I told you I'd do it.) Tee hee.

Surprisingly, the music playing from the pirated-CD stalls were good! Jason Mraz's I'm Yours, Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown's No Air – stuff like that. Totally The Cu•bi•cle kinda tunes. Got us singing along to many of them, too. Haha. Ah Beng even danced a little. (I know. Sometimes cannot bring him out wan. Kasi shy only. *grin*)

Coconut flavoured ice-cream.
RM1 each. Quite ex, if you ask me. -_-

Comes in three different flavours all together.
From Left to Right: Red bean, coconut and sweet corn.

It just so happened that we each preferred a different flavour. Haha. I'm not complaining, though. Works well for the pics and helps with the story telling. =p

On our way back to the car, we got stuck looking through rows and rows of cheap Made In Thailand t-shirts. Haha. SO NICE! (Some lah.) And only RM10 each! We saw them on the way down the row of stalls but there were so many people earlier in the night that we just didn't bother stopping to check any tees out. Too many people to fight off. Sien only. But since we hit the stalls at the end of the night, we got to even camwhore with the tees. Haha.

This is the thing I loved about this night market in particular. None of the stall owners had any problems with us taking pics with their stuff. Glasses, t-shirts, food – apa pun boleh. In fact, they were smiling while watching us make fools of ourselves for the sake of what I'd like to refer to as 'artistic expression' on our part! Haha. Me likes. It's little things like this that makes Pam Song a happy shopper. =) Oh, and the night market stays open ridiculously late. Haha. Works well for our work schedule, actually. Yay!

So happy until I was willing to promote
the night market on my Happy O-Meter. =p

And gangster kia JC just had to have the last say. -_-

JC's quick response to my Happy O-Meter message.

Well boys, I had fun that night. Though it was hot, and cramped, and my legs were pretty close to breaking and dropping off by the end of the night (DID YOU KNOW THAT WE WERE THERE FOR ALMOST 4 HOURS?!), it was fun. We shall do this again on some other Wednesday. Crash Cheras for more good times, expensive ice-cream and cheap tees. And maybe get Ah Beng to try again for that pale blue, half-dice lighter he failed to haggle down to RM8 last week. =p

Da Vinci's Banana

2008-08-18T12:12:00.005+08:00

This just came in from The Other Side.

Whoa. Where to look first??? So many messages!!! Got matrix summore. *sweat* That seemed like a whole lot of codes to break at one time. Too many disjointed codes for the Monday brain to deal with, in fact. Especially on a considerably slow, rainy morning. Haha.

But, no sweat. I'm brilliant.

*beams*

Now I'm all set for tea. =)

Ellen Page Is Crazy Fantastic In Juno

2008-08-18T02:19:00.013+08:00

Watched Juno this afternoon and I must say that it's my favourite drama. THIS. YEAR. No kidding.

Ellen Page's performance was awesome throughout. (She's pretty nice to look at in a girl-next-door-kinda-way, too.) The dry humour and bits of sarcasm were awesome! So my kinda thing. I loved her in Hard Candy – a sick 2006 psychological thriller that thrilled me to the bone – but this time, she outdid herself. Like, totally. She totally deserved the Oscar nomination for this role, too. T-o-t-a-l-l-y. (I can't stop saying 'totally'. Why's that? I don't know. Totally no idea.)

Loved the dialogue so much that I thought I'd leave some stray bits of it here to inspire some thoughts should I ever find the need to revisit this post in the future.

Will be leaving some quotes,
too, while I'm at it. Enjoy! =)

--------------

Juno: I just need to know that it's possible that two people can stay happy together forever.

Mac (Juno's Dad): Well, it's not easy, that's for sure. I mean, uh, I know I don't have the best track record in the world, I know, but... I've been with your step mother for 10 years now. And um, I'm proud to say that we're very happy. Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly what you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome – what have you. The right person's still gonna think the sun shines out your ass. That's the kind of person that's worth sticking with.

(And then I liked the way the conversation
between Juno and her dad ended. *smiles*)

Juno: Yeah. Yeah, and I think I've found that person.

Mac (Juno's Dad): Yeah, sure you have. Your old D-A-D. You know I'll always be there to love you, support you – no matter what kind of pickle you're in. Obviously.

--------------

Teaser poster. I like a lot a lot. Puns are supposed to be so yesterday already but I still like 'em. Probably more than I should. -_-

--------------

Thundercats are go!

– Juno (When her waterbag burst)

--------------

Doctors are sadists who like to play God
and watch lesser people scream.

– Bren (Juno's Stepmom)

--------------

Someday you'll be back here, honey.
On your terms.

– Mac (Juno's Dad)

--------------

Vanessa, if you're still in,
I'm still in. Juno.

– Juno to Vanessa (On a sheet of yellow paper)

--------------

"I don't think that anyone can see.
Anyone else... but you."

– Juno & Bleeker (Singing together
at the end of the movie)

--------------

I want someone who'll stick and think the sun shines out of my ass no matter what. And I want someone who'll love me enough to leave chalk-written messages on my front step and put a hundred orange Tic Tacs in my mailbox, just because. =)

Do You Have A Philter?

2008-08-18T01:12:00.003+08:00

I need a philter.

---------------------------------------
Dictionary.com Word of the Day
---------------------------------------
philter |ˈfiltər| ( Brit. philtre)
noun A love potion.

ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from French philtre, via Latin from Greek philtron, from philein ‘to love.’

I foresee the need to work me some magic arising in time to come. I should really start gearing up while I've the time. Better now than when it's too late, right? Heh heh. Time to work some mojo, bay-beh!

Procrastination – The Silent Killer

2008-08-18T00:45:00.003+08:00

I still haven't done what
I wanted and planned to do.

Sigh.

*smacks self*

How???

I just keep putting it off for fear of not eventually finding the outcome I'd prefer to have. I keep worrying that once I open up my Pandora's box and let her rip, things will... well, rip!

Sigh.

Unfortunately for me, the problem is this: the longer I wait, the weirder things are going to become, the less grasp I'll have upon the stability of the situation, and the more fragile the overall condition will be for everyone involved. Thus, making it tougher for things to work out with minimal boo-boos along the way when I eventually get around to doing what I want and plan to do when I do it.

*groan*

Headache lah, headache.

Lin Dan, Olympic Gold Medalist

2008-08-17T21:59:00.013+08:00

Of boys and badminton.
(And of me showing off my semangat ke-Cina-an. =p)

-----------

Ah Beng: Lin Dan is cute. :)

Pam Song: Is he? Ok settle. I take Cook. You can have Lin Dan. :-D

Ah Beng: This is not a case of same diff k.

Pam Song: No, it's a case of same same. ;-)

Ah Beng: Nonsense :)

Pam Song: I saw the smile. I'll take that as a very agreeable yes. Thank you for your kind cooperation. Cook and I will be glad to have you at our wedding.

Ah Beng: Keep the dream alive cos when you wake up, he'll be in my bed not yours :)

Pam Song: It's good you're so positive. I envy you for your belief in yourself at achieving the impossible. Way to go, Benzies. Doesn't affect my marriage or his love for me, though. ;-) Prepare your chi mui speech alrights?

Ah Beng: Say what? Hahaha

Pam Song: Denial denial. What's the score?

Ah Beng: Lin Dan just won the first set 21-12 :(

Pam Song: At least I chose the American Idol winner and you chose the soon-to-be badminton single's Olympic gold medalist. We have good taste in men. Heh.

Ah Beng: (8 minutes later) He's already a gold medalist. Omg he's so hots lot. I want him so bad. And his gf is so fugly. Sigh. He deserves better. Like me.

Pam Song: -_-

-----------

Me being one with my Cina-ness sempena the Beijing Olympics 2008.

I've got a clearer pic of myself in these Chinese-school-girl pigtails but... I think I'll spare myself the added humiliation and stop while I'm ahead. (Kinda sorta, at least.) Haha. Go, China! Oh, and the tee I'm wearing says, "I ONLY DATE ATHLETES." Not too bad a tee to choose to wear today, no? It was a gift and I love it. It's one of my faves. Haha. But I think that I should now add a line that says, "I ONLY DATE ATHLETES... AND MEN WITH THE SURNAME COOK. WHO SING."

THE RESULT: China's Lin Dan (simplified Chinese: 林丹) – top men’s singles shuttler in the world – walks away with the Olympic gold medal after trashing Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei (simplified Chinese: 李宗伟) in two straights sets (21-12, 21-8). The game lasted 39 minutes. -_- Even so, Chong Wei is still set to receive RM300,000 of 'incentive money' from the Government for winning the silver medal.

BIMBO MOMENT CONFESSION: I just found out like, 5 minutes ago that lengchai boy Lin Dan (so Ah Beng says) is Chinese. o_O

Why Wonder?

2008-08-16T01:44:00.004+08:00

Wondering how people are doing doesn't count. What counts is what you do. Not what you want to do or even what you plan to do. Nike said it best. Just do it. And I will. Just as soon as I, uh, gather up enough guts to do what I want and plan to do.

Sigh.

Surprise In The Night

2008-08-16T01:28:00.005+08:00

A sweet one.

Literally.

And in my favourite flavour, too! =)

Cakap-Cakap Dalam Kereta

2008-08-16T00:46:00.011+08:00

I've come to notice that there's something that happens between brain and mouth when conversations are carried out at speeds of 120kph. Don't know what exactly, but there's just something about it. You know? Something wrong about it. Something very wrong about it.

The conversation went in this direction (or something like this):

Assessment of Malaysian interest rates
> Interest rates in ang mor countries
> Interest rates versus housing loans
> Correlation between interest rates and housing loans
> Difference of interest rates and housing loans in different countries
> Interest rates and housing loans in ang mor versus Asian countries

...and then it moved on to this:

NOTE: The following conversation does NOT express the sentiment of the author towards Australians or Australia in any way. It is strictly the personal opinion of ONE member in this two-way conversation – the conversationalist who will, from this point forward, be known to Tinki Talks (and some other people) as Lil Gap.

Lil Gap: Who say??? Ang mors aren't like that lah.

Pam Song: But that's the system in Australia wor.

Lil Gap: *rolls eyes* Australians are different.

Pam Song: What?! How so???

Lil Gap: They're not ang mor. They're all prisoners.

Pam Song: Eh, hello! You're a cabut lari Chinese also lah. Talk so much. Tak tau malu.

Lil Gap: What? What? What do you mean???

Pam Song: Where are you from??? You're a Chinese in Malaysia, okay. You're an exile from your country, too!

Lil Gap: Hey wait. There's a difference between quitting and being laid off. Australians are laid off. WE ARE QUITTERS!!! There's dignity in being a quitter! I AM A QUITTER! A proud to be!

Pam Song: -_-

Sometimes, I feel sorry for myself.
For having the weirdest, most country-ist,
proud-to-be-a-quitter friends.

-_-

p/s: Celcom broadband rocks. Not quite as hard as I wish it did, but it rocks all the same. (Beggars can't be choosers anyways.)

Reenacting The Good Ol' Days

2008-08-15T21:31:00.004+08:00

French fries. Late nights. Lots of rubbish.
And a handful of potentially good ideas.

Pretty much the same stuff, minus the late night.
In our very own unique brand of Hokkien. =)

A Notable Achievement

2008-08-15T14:06:00.005+08:00

8 hours of sleep last night.

Do I rock or do I rock?

The Male Ah Lian and I fooling around during the
McCann 'Truth Well Told' Party sometime last month.

I rock.

Traveling – The Sport Of The Wealthy

2008-08-15T02:03:00.007+08:00

I love traveling. I love the excitement that comes before it. I love the thrill that goes with it. And I love the satisfaction that comes after it.

I. Just. Love. Traveling. Period.

I love neatly arranging my entire wardrobe into a 1' x 2' suitcase. (I don't travel much but I must say, I pack like a seasoned professional. *beams*) I love getting my passport stamped. (The more stamps, the merrier.) I love being in airports. (I guess that's why I'm not really bothered by long transit times.) I love plane rides. (Take-off and landing are the best parts.) And I love seeing the rest of the world. (An eye-opener each and every time.)

You know, I always envied those who were blessed with healthy financial situations. (Family or personal, it doesn't really matter in this context.) Not because I think that being rich is 'all that'. It's just that having that little extra to spend each month eventually makes it possible for them to travel to far off lands every once in awhile. Those who are fortunate enough to be able to see the world (without having to starve when they were actually on the other side of the world). And I think it's a privilege. One I always wish I had. (Though I never really talk, murmur or complain about it. Don't really know why I don't speak of it, actually. Perhaps it's cos it makes me feel a little envious. And I'm not a big fan of that feeling.)

Sigh. I dream of seeing the world, too. I dream of filling my lungs with chilly air in Switzerland. (No matter how painful that may turn out to be.) I dream of stepping foot on the sandy beaches of Boracay and Gold Coast. I dream of picking ferns and skipping alongside babbling brooks in New Zealand. I dream of seeing my reflection stare back at me from the windows of stores that line the streets of Paris. I dream of lifting my hand and shielding my eyes from the bright lights of Las Vegas. I dream of shopping in Guang Zhou, London, Milan and Tokyo. I dream of seeing the Vatican City. I dream of paying The Louvre a visit. I dream of catching Broadway musicals in Manhattan. I dream of going to the ballet in America... and more!

But I can't. At least not right now.

Not with what I'm earning. And that's that.

The ability to travel is having power in a ticket. The whole deal about traveling is that it has the capacity to bring emotionally distant people together. At the same time, it has the ability to pull emotionally connected people apart, too. But that's pretty much the way it is with everything, eh? They all come fully equipped with Pros and Cons Version 2.0. And with no pro or con really outweighing the other as jarringly as we hope they did. Nothing's black and white. Nothing is sure. And nothing is ever as clear as we hope it'd be.

But of this I'm certain:

I love traveling. And I really wish I
could do it on a slightly more regular basis.

MY TRAVEL-PLAN RESOLUTION: To save up enough money for annual trips abroad. Minimum requirement – 1 new place to visit every year. With Air Asia, now everyone can fly, right? (But be wary. They also damn makan duit wan. You all dunno only. But, that's another story for another day.)

Breaking Up & Making Up

2008-08-15T00:15:00.015+08:00

They dated. And broke up.
Then they got back together.

Sounds simple enough.
Right? Wrong.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Sigh.

If only flipping the switches of Love on and off were really that easy.

p/s: It's not.

Awas! Kenderaan Panjang.

2008-08-14T03:38:00.003+08:00

Thank goodness I'm a master of self-entertainment.

I spent 20 minutes in the car yesterday morning just waiting to get into the parking lot near my workplace. Such a waste of time (I was already late) and petrol (harga naik; sangat mahal)! Sigh. The inconvenience. No thanks to two lorries that decided to do the tango right in the middle of the already-narrow, no-room-to-maneuver, cars-double-parked-at-both-sides road lah! Bodoh.

The two lorries. Stuck. I saw the left lorry's attempt at squeezing past the one on the right, and witnessed the brilliant belly bump that followed.

Kenderaan panjang?
More like kenderaan LEBAR, yo.

FAIL!

p/s: Maybe I should start my own fail blog one day. Haha. Should be fun doing nothing more than catching and logging bloopers all day.

Taking A Rain Check On My Brain Check

2008-08-13T17:17:00.003+08:00

Pam. Song. Is. Officially. Brain. Dead.

Not.

So very hyper now actually. WHEEE!

And so what if I lied? Big deal.
I blame my lack of sleep. You should, too.

Bedtime Story Gone Wrong

2008-08-13T05:02:00.003+08:00

Just finished what I'm paid to do about a quarter shy of an hour ago, and decided to do what I want to do before heading off to bed.

I'm tired. Very much so. But I do what I want to do in spite of the hour because this way, it starts feeling like my day actually amounted to something more than just being a slave to ruthless clients and lousy JRs. At least at the end of the day, I'm doing something for myself... and not for the rest of the folks who usually call the shots.

So in order to pull a last minute turn around on my day that's been plagued with Benzie-less-ness, I decided to do what I knew Benzie would never do: watch Grey's Anatomy.

Bad choice on my part. So emo-fying!

And of all the episodes I had on my external that I could have clicked on (I've watched 'em all so it really didn't matter to me which episode I chose), it was just my luck to have ended up clicking on this particular one – Season 3, Episode 20: Time After Time. Upon reaching one part in the episode that showed McDreamy and Bailey having a heart-to-heart in the clinic, I realised that I'd blogged about a conversation in this episode before! And it was in a post I wrote in early February this year, entitled "Work? Or Love?" The dialogue...

McDreamy: You warned me she would become a problem.

Bailey: Who? Meredith?

McDreamy: When you love somebody, you think you can handle it all.

Bailey: You've done alright. Both of you.

McDreamy: I came out here to be Chief... and Meredith complicates that.

Bailey: Heh. Well, if this turns into an either-or, you pick the person you love. End of story. Look, all of this means nothing... if you're alone.

It's the exact same words as it was before but it's funny
how this conversation between McDreamy and
Bailey somehow reads differently to me now.

I concluded with this thought the last time I posted: "On a more serious note, I think whoever wrote that part of the script got it right. Your career? Or a happily-ever-after? When one comes in the way of the other, how do you choose?

Well, if you've gotta chose between having the one you love or having a position you want at the workplace, choose the former. Always choose the former. I would. Everything else does mean nothing if, after achieving everything you want do achieve and doing everything you want to do, all you're going home to is an empty house and a bag of cold, soggy, take-away dinner."

Today, I guess my perspective has changed somewhat. Today, I'm willing to say that for men and women, it's different. That the choice between Love and Career is a lot more difficult for men to make than it is for women. Somehow, the picture just seems a lot less black and white to them than it looks in our female eyes. And that grey area? Well, it complicates things. Much in the same way women end up complicating the lives and career paths of their men who long to achieve their dreams of becoming big somebodies at the workplace.

Male and female, we're different. We were made to be different from one another. Even from the start. And perhaps what we should do is celebrate that difference. Even if it kills us sometimes.

Youniverse – Home Of VisualDNA

2008-08-13T01:54:00.007+08:00

And what in the world is VisualDNA? Well, that's your personality in pictures. It's an ingenious creation by imagini™. If you're not into wordy online tests, this is the perfect personality test for you. *click* It's pretty accurate (at least when comes to me and a couple of other friends), and very interesting to say the least.

Pam Song's Most Recent Personality Test Results

Actually, I remember doing it once way back when... (I can't seem to find that post right now. Maybe it's lost in the jungles of TOTT. I'm not sure.) ...but they've revamped the look. I'm sure of it. Don't remember it ever looking this way. But whatever. It works the way it used to and is still as accurate as it was.

I've changed, though. My personality is different now. (Though I can't for the life of me remember what my personality result used to be specifically. -_-) Hmmm. Wonder if that's a good thing.

*shrugs*

Oh well. Break time's over.
Time to get back to work.