It's that time of the year again ... for rice dumplings! YUM. I just realised I don't eat anyone else's rice dumplings other than my grandmother's, and for good reason. My grandmother's rice dumplings are to die for.

It's quite a major production. She'd wake up at the crack of dawn and start boiling water in the huge vat to dunk the wrapped dumplings in. My aunt would come and help with the wrapping, and by evening, we'd have huge plates (you'd need two people to stretch out their arms to cover its circumference, and I'm not kidding about that) of rice dumplings ready to last the entire Chua family (at least 19 people, excluding colleagues and friends that some of them give away to) for at least a week.

But honestly, I can't stand tao sa. It's so effin gross: sweet and melt-y, even worse than chocolate, and that's saying a lot, since I hate chocolate with a passion (yes, I'm weird, shut up), and ice-cream. I wish my grandmother made more rice dumplings with no tao sa. Or that gao luk thingy. I have no idea what it's called in English. Chestnut, maybe? Idk. But I think it's chestnut, boiled chestnut. Ugh.

Apart from that, it's awesome.

And you know what else is awesome? Me being on page 271 of Bedful of Moonlight. I was so ready to give up writing it at page 180, because I thought my story was going nowhere and dominated by too many conversations. I'm still worried about that, but I figured what the hell, I'll just finish the damn thing and ask for opinions. Like what Jerm said, if I keep worrying about how the story'll turn out, I'll never finish it. And since I'm already at page 271, I might as well finish those last 40 pages or so. I am so going to look for representation for this one. I just hope Michelle Andelman wouldn't have been too frightened off by Lilies (melodramatic, remember?) to turn this one down.

And I just heard No Boundaries by Kris Allen on radio (987fm). Good stuff. Kris is a solidly talented musician. I wish him all the best in his career. Same goes for Adam, who is already a star despite not being the new American Idol.

Why am I back on this topic? Lol. Guess the two of them are my favourite contestants on AI so far. And I heard something about Michael Sarver (the oil rigger, top 13) telling Adam where he came from, 'people like you are either hidden in the closet or dead'. I don't know if it's true, but I actually like Michael. I don't believe he'd say something like that; he seems like such a decent guy, even if he does look like a small-town hick. Most guys from middle America have got that wholesome look (e.g. KRIS), even though they may be quite parochial on certain things that I won't get into here. But the thing about big-city boys is that they are more liberal-minded and wordly. Though that again can be a downside, because they're so much more experienced and stuff.

What the hell am I rambling on about?

Never mind. Anyway, I watched some of The Hills yesterday. Yes, I'm completely guilty about that. It's like a guilty pleasure. Wait, no. It's like schadenfreude. Like watching a senseless train wreck. Watching these air-headed girls walking about Beverly Hills in their Louboutins, talking (scripted) about their boring lives and boring (or assholic, in the case of Heidi Montag) boyfriends and high-schoolish drama about who made out with whose boyfriend. Long story short: Lauren Conrad, the main character, was best friends with Heidi Montag, who later fell for Spencer Pratt (aka Douchbag of the Century), who destroyed the friendship between the girls when Heidi chose to be with Spencer and give up Lauren. Speidi (as they're all calling them) then made up a rumour about a Lauren Conrad sex-tape that got Lauren so pissed off she confronted them in a club. Barack Obama commented in a speech that the first thing he was going to to as president was to stop the feuding between Lauren and Heidi. Anyway, then, Lauren finds new bffs (*rolls eyes*), Audrina Patridge, as well as her co-worker from Vogue magazine where she interns, Whitney Port. Whitney and Audrina aren't all that close because Audrina doesn't work with them, but she's friends with Lauren and Heidi. Now another of Lauren's high school best friends, Lo Bosworth, comes to live with her, and there's a lot of tension between her and Audrina, because Lo is a possessive bitch who doesn't know how to share her friend with other people. On the boy front, Lauren makes a new friend called Brody Jenner, with whom she shares an ambiguous relationship, but eventually Brody (who is cute, but is also the Player of the Century) gets a girlfriend while Lauren's away in Paris for work. Also, she broke up with her almost-as-douchy-as-Spencer boyfriend, Jason something. Have I bored you yet? I must have. In case I haven't, Lauren not does not approve of Spencer (HA, that's an understatement! She HATES him with a passion, and the feeling is mutual), and neither does she like Justin Bobby, Audrina's on-off boyfriend for four years, who is an asshole and treats her badly (but Audrina goes back to him everytime, what an idiot). He is rude (burping loudly, deliberately at dinner) and selfish (he doesn't help the girls carry their luggages, but only carries his own little duffel and walks ahead of them) and talks like his tongue is made of lead and with his head horizontal most of the time. But then there was some rumour about Lauren hooking up with "your friends don't fathom me" Justin Bobby (I know, confusing), and then Lauren and Audrina fell out, but got together again. And then Audrina moved out because of the tension between her and Lo, and now it's just Lauren and Lo, and Whitney's moved to NYC for work (earning herself a spinoff show called The City). Then Audrina starts falling for Brody, which makes his psychotic bitch of a girlfriend maaad, and there was some confrontation between them in a club, and Brody was like, "I just want this over with." And back to LC, I've just heard something about Lauren and Heidi - get ready for this - patching up. I saw something on YouTube, where the two of them were crying, and Heidi was saying, "I'm happiest when I'm with you. All my good memories are of you," and Lauren pulled her into a hug...

Okay, see why this is bad TV but good trash? Completely addictive, but brainless. But come on, Nathan Bransford is addicted to it too (to date, he has 40 posts with The Hills as a label, and they're funny as hell, as usual - Nathan's seriously the most entertaining blogger ever), so I prefer to see it as being in touch with pop culture.

I just realised how addicted I am to Nathan's blog. It's almost unhealthy. I can read it all day. And yes, I know, I'm procrastinating. I'm supposed to be writing, but here I am. And yes, I've used 8 I's in this paragraph so far. Where's the nearest soup kitchen?

All right. Enough rambling. Shut your mouth, Joyce. But they're already shut. Okay, shut the mouth of your mind.

Wait. Am I talking to myself?

Clearly, I need to get out more often.

Oh, by the way! YAY for Danny being out from Idol. I mean, I'm sorry, you're a good singer and all, and I'm sorry for the loss of your wife. But Kris rocked big time, with his cool rendition of Heartless by Kanye West. Randy was right. It was even better than Kanye's version. Adam did well, but I'm starting to think he screams too much. Mad World was awesome, and so was Tracks of My Tears - he should slick back his hair like Elvis more (the resemblance is uncanny) and sing those types of songs. Mad World was hauntingly good. But I guess that's not really his style. I don't really dig the punk-rocker look of his, to be honest, but hey, if that's his style, then so be it. But if he keeps on screaming, people might get sick of it and he may not win it after all. I added Mad World to my playlist, so go hear it if you want.

Kris has solid talent. He can play the piano, the guitar and his vocals are strong (compared to Danny's last week; Danny sounded so breathy he was almost asthmatic). And his renditions are risky (like what Kara said) but original. Gotta love Kris Allen. Oh, and it doesn't hurt that he's cute too.

This is just how I had hoped it would end: Kris and Adam, the two strongest contenders.

Allison was pretty good too, but she can't really break out of her comfort zone. Because of her raspy voice, she can probably only sing the edgy Kelly Clarkson (but she might not reach her pitch either) type of songs. That performance between Adam and Allison last week was the bomb. It warmed my heart how they complemented each other on stage, and how they were so encouraging towards each other. Plus, they were both in their element. It probably wouldn't have worked as well if Kris sang with Adam. I'm not saying Kris isn't good (of course I'm not). I'm just saying Kris gives off that Jason Mraz-y, acoustic vibe, which isn't really Adam's style at all. Danny's like another Michael Bolton, and truthfully, I'm sick of the husky voice kinda singing. We already have Taylor Hicks and Nickelback and Hinder and Rod Stewart and, of course, Michael Bolton. We don't really need another Danny Gokey.

So I say, Kris Allen all the way! (Although you have to admit, Adam has a greater stage presence than him.) Yes, Triv, I know you agree. (She can't stand Adam for all his screaming fits, lmao.)

So who're you rooting for?

Thanks to my current job, I'm getting quite good at Solitaire now.

That's ... good news, I suppose, if you can look at it that way.

But there's a bad piece of news. My dad's friend recommended me a temp job, and my dad's all for me going for it. But wait, it's an ADMINISTRATIVE job. Ie, BORING. 8.15 in the morning to 5.45 in the evening. My whole day will practically be GONE. No more free time, no more time to write, no more time to swim, and no more time to YouTube. This is supposed to be my holidays. Can't I at least get a job I'll enjoy doing, and that also allows me to have some free time to do the things I want to do?

There's a reason why I never applied for any admin jobs, hello. But my dad's like, so you're going to laze at home for the rest of your holidays, is that it? Duh, NO. I'll go LOOK for a job, don't get your boxers in a twist. Plus, my dad thinks I should go for it also because it pays well. Look, I'm not one of those pragmatists, all right. I don't work for a job I dislike because the pay is good. And dad was all, oh it's just a temp job, just bear with it. Uh, bear with it FOR WHAT? For less time to write my novels? For less time to swim? For a thousand-odd dollars a month? For being stuck in a stale office five days a week?

SMRT can just not hire me for all I care. I mean, I'm sure the people there are nice and the job may not be as sucky as I'm making it out to be, but this is just really not for me, okay? SO STOP FORCING ME TO TAKE UP THE DAMN JOB!

I'd rather work in the retail line than in an office. At least you get to people-watch, and interact with more people. And you get to work shifts, which offers you some free time, at least.

Sigh. I hate this.

Anyway, on to more upbeat topics. Anoop and Lil Rounds are out! I know I probably shouldn't be so triumphant about that, but frankly, Anoop is a very boring singer (ever notice how every one of the songs he sings sounds alike?), and Lil just needs to stop screaming and start singing. I hope Matt will be out next week, and then Danny, and then Adam will win Idol, and Kris will be second, and Allison third. Allison did well last night, and so did Kris (of course! Not only is he hot, he's a talented singer as well). Adam - duh. He always does well, even when he sang that weird Crawl Through Fire (can't really remember the title, but the song had a Middle Eastern vibe) during COUNTRY week.

I've got 'Kiss the Girl' (you know, from The Little Mermaid) replaying in my head now. Gotta love the Jamaican crustacean! Oh, have I mentioned before how I think Prince Eric is the hottest prince of all Disney princes? ;) And the Beast from Beauty and the Beast ... Wait, I think I've said all this before.

See, blogging makes us such self-indulgent creatures. I have got to get out of my head.

I'm off work tomorrow, by the way.

Not that anyone but me cares.

Why am I even keeping a blog?

Anyone got any good books to recommend? I'm reading One Fifth Avenue by Candace Bushnell (author of Sex and the City, and Lipstick Jungle) currently.

Whatever.

Have a good night.

Tuesday today. In three days time, I'll be waiting to receive my - omfg - A' Level results. Sorry to start off this post with such doom and gloom. Just need to get it out of the way before getting started on the nicer stuff. All I can say is, if I don't get AAB for my H2s, A for my GP and at least pass my H1, I am most certainly screwed.

Alright. Shall stop thinking about it; shall talk about something else. I'm postponing thinking about results until Friday itself.

So for the past couple of weekends, I've been working at the voucher-redemption counter at the Men's Department in Isetan Scotts, opposite Fred Perry (which has now become hotter and hotter to me the more I look at it) and Agnes B (which still hasn't and still looks gay, I'm sorry). I have frigging fallen in love with this bag at Fred Perry. But it's $699. I'm sorry, hot or not, I feel that no bag is worth that much.

For the first week, there was this Hot Holidays Happenings sale, where Isetan vouchers could be redeemed if members used their Isetan Privilege Card. And an additional 10% rebate on every $100 spent on golf items using your HSBC card. It's a promotion for the HSBC Women's Championship, after all. And Jazlyn and I have to help those rich-ass people redeem their vouchers. And let me just say that some of these people are seriously rich. They can spend up to $17,000 on a SINGLE receipt (goodness only knows what they could possibly have bought that amounted to that much), and come back again the next week with more supposed steals.

It can be boring at work, especially because the job is pretty darn easy (just sitting there waiting for people to come redeem their vouchers and recording their receipt numbers, etc), and I've heard the CD repeat itself over and over again. Now, 'Burnin Up' by the ever-annoying JoBros, 'So What' by Pink and (my favourite on the CD) 'Love Story' by Taylor Swift all remind me of work.

At least I have Jazlyn. I swear I have never talked so much to someone in my life. It came to the point where I was almost getting sick of my own voice. Goodness knows how SHE feels. Haha.

So we got past the initial awkwardness and thought, oh what the hell, if we're going to be stuck there with each other for nine days, eleven hours a day, we might as well do the thing we girls know best - talking. I wouldn't call it gossiping, really, because we talk about books and boys and movies and songs and school and prom and JENSEN ACKLES (okay, that comes under boys)...

So now, Jazlyn's the only one who knows the most about all the stories I have ever written. And not only that, she discussed the routes my current story, Bedful of Moonlight, can possibly take. So we spent hours brainstorming and me narrating my story and she listening. If you're reading this, Jazlyn, I just want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to you. Thank you for listening to me ramble on about my babies, thank you for asking me so many questions about my characters, thank you for throwing out suggestions and ideas and being frank with me about your view on my stories without being too offensive (it must be a skill). IF I ever get published, you'll be top on my acknowledgements list.

Raining now. Gotta wait till later to swim, so I'm watching my Supernatural Season 3 DVD right now (WHEEE!), marvelling the HOTNESS that is Sam&Dean (but Dean's still hotter, even though Sam has a cute smile).

Oh, and Kris from the Amazing Race is EFFIN HOTNESS. Seriously, they had to load up like super-heavy stuff onto a cart in Romania in yesterday's episode, and I totally got to see those arm muscles, not to mention the shoulder muscles too through that dark blue t-shirt he had on. YUM MAJOR. Amanda (his gf of three years) is one lucky girl. She reminds me of Hayden Panettiere, seriously, all blonde and perky and sunshiney. Very pretty. That might be why they're the team I'm rooting for, apart from Tammy and Victor (even though Victor's a real annoying chauvinist).

And Kris Allen from this season's American Idol got through to the Top 12! Woohoo! Krises of the world rock! Kris is so chill and modest, even though he's pretty darn talented. I mean, who can perform so well with a Michael Jackson song? Some other guy did it and he got voted out. It's not easy, man. And Kris nailed it. My dad also likes Adam Lambert. I'm okay with him, except his stupid punk look. His vocal range is INSANE, but he needs to remove that eyeliner and straighten up his lame-ass hair and stop wearing all that black and leather. He can actually be kinda cute. And Randy, HE DOES NOT HAVE ROBERT PATTINSON IN HIM. Rob's brand of singing is SO UNLIKE Adam's, come on. You're just saying that to get the girls crazy (and they DID go crazy).

Anyway. I've had my nuts for this morning (YUM), and now I'm going back to my Supernatural.

Btw, I'm going to start promoting my stories on this blog. So maybe I should learn from that guy who appeared in the papers the other day, who paid each person $2 - $5 for getting the word out. He's published like 4000 books so far. It's not much, but it's a start. Anyone know anything about all this PR stuff?

But then again, no one will be interested in helping. Just look at the response to my story so far, right?

Whatever. Supernatural now.