I've just come from seeing "Mamma Mia". Yes, I know it has no TG content, but I'm a silly sentimental old tart. Probably many of you have already seen it but I think it's a lovely movie and Abba didn't get the credit that they deserved both for their lyrics and their melodies. I cried all the way through. Silly me, but I loved it,
Joanne

I was checking "My Stories" to see if anybody had read one today. I do this infrequently, not as if I'm anal-retentive, usually only once a day (OK, twice a day) and there was a "run" on the first piece I ever dared to publish on BC. Twelve reads!! What's going on? I wondered. Then I was scrolling down and I'm in the Jewel Box for a year ago. My first effort, a year ago already.

I submitted a story to the 2008 Summer Romance competition. I don't know why. I have never entered a contest here before and I certainly did not expect to win. If I bought all the tickets in a chook raffle I think I could manage to lose. However, as the days rolled by I was surprised and delighted by the reception my story got,not spectacular but respectable (by my lights, anyway).

The subject of food reviews has been aired recently and one caught my attention today, which was half travel and half food in content. I thought it was so well-written and entertaining and, to me, everything that a good review should be that it was worth sharing. It's from the International Herald Tribune, a paper that I regard as the best English language newspaper in the world today.

I have just received an advisory that a new and dangerous virus is being spread under the heading "Invitation", and can be spread by infiltration into the email addresses of any contact. If you receive any communication with this heading the advice is to shut down your unit immediately even if the email is ostensibly from a friend.

Mahatma Gandhi has been in the news somewhat this year, the 60th anniversary of his death. I came across an interesting observation about him.
As you probably know he walked barefoot most of the time, so his feet were extremely callused. He also ate very little, which led to his frailty and, with his odd diet, gave him bad breath. This made him a super callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

On my computer the voting and comments counters have gone crazy, plus the registration for the number of reads on an individual story. I don't know if this is system-wide,
Joanne

Last week I participated in a funeral in the Taoist tradition in Hong Kong. While funerals are not most peoples' preferred activity the older you get the more of them you witness.

The Chinese experience is so different I thought I'd share it. Firstly, Taoism is the traditional religion of China with multiple gods and "saints". The terms don't translate exactly, so I'll approximate.

I see a lot of heat being generated about the "BC" community. As I see it there are a couple of hundred people who contribute to this site either as authors or as bloggers or as commentors or all three. There is also a silent group who must enjoy what goes on here.

Hansel And Gretel vanished on me in mid-read? It seemed an innocuous enough story in terms of sexuality, etc.

Some vital points were raised by participants in the recent blog discussion about food instigated by SueBrown and left unanswered, because she flummoxed me and I had to concede that I did not have the information readily to hand. In addition I was falsely accused by Sarah Lynn Morgan of hastening the demise of the Homing Leek. I will demonstrate below that this is a monstrous calumny.