I may not get to post as often as I'd like but I'll definitely keep posting. Be back soon!

Now these are romance books so most boys will cringe rather than be caught dead anywhere near them. You bet these are by no means your chaste, general patronage love scenes. These are books to paint images in your head of scenes normally only viewed if you buy porn or are experienced yourself. That makes some happy, others uncomfortable.

Personal opinion, get past all the scenes that the publishers said must be thrown in (hey! we all know sex sells but need it be poured in so thickly?) and there is a very interesting story. For all we know, there really are creatures of the Lore hangin' out and about. Who's to say?

There are so far, six stories in the series. As you all know, I try to avoid spoilers so these are not going to tell you what actually happens in the books. Let me introduce you to the cast of characters and their stories.
]]> http://ginny.i.ph/blogs/ginny/?p=109 http://ginny.i.ph/blogs/ginny/?p=109#comments Sun, 22 Jun 2008 10:00:00 +0000 ginny http://ginny.i.ph/blogs/ginny/?p=109 My cousin introduced me to an Australian TV series two years ago. It's called H2O: Just Add Water. It's a TV show for teens about three girls - Emma, Cleo and Rikki - who become mermaids. They acquire some power over water and yes, tails. In this case, they become fish whenever they get wet. This was really tough on the one named Emma since she was part of the swim team. Nope, they don't give prizes for being a fish, just for swimming like one.

At first I wasn't sold on the show. It made me think Charmed meets mermaids. Same old, same old; gave it a chance anyway and the kids liked it. The theme is catchy too and at least, it is not your old mermaids live in Atlantis jazz.

Anyway, we used to watch the show on youtube, then that was gone. We got hold of the complete first season but finding the second was not so easy. Then we stumbled onto a youtube video from someone who introduced us to an online source - VEOH.com. it's free and you get to watch TV online. No need to download unless you want to. Which means I have to get off this blog and go 'thon the show.

In this case, I had a craving for a dessert my friend introduced me to years ago. They call it sandstorm. It's a refrigerator cake that just melts in your mouth and is absolutely yummy (as my kids can attest). The main difficulty was I could not remember the recipe.

Thank goodness for siblings! My sister remembered the ingredients but not the proportions. So I had to fiddle and tweak but apparently the expirement was still good - though I do know it isn't the same as the original.

Unfortunately, there is no picture here because it's all gone! Next time, I'll take a pic before i gets gobbled up. 

Now here I sit in front  of my computer and my stories are going nowhere! My female lead refuses to be rewritten and my male lead is stuck at age 7. Man! No writer's block just characters who are not in the mood to have their stories told.

For those who haven't watched it yet, this is a good series. It is not a romance like Fushigi Yugi but beautiful nonetheless.  Definitely for those who love the concept of the elements, the mystic and the idea that destiny is sometimes just around the bend.  It is a story of growing up, making choices and definitely meeting life head on.

It is definitely a must read> Good ending for the series. Nothing too sappy or too melodramatic. This muggle is definitely happy to have read book 7 at last.

So what's next on the list? I think I'll wander over to the Fandom cafe library and check out what's on the shelves; but not today. Today I'll just savor the story of Harry Potter - maybe re-read one or two of the earlier books. 

Your Score: Joe Normal

39 % Nerd, 43% Geek, 17% Dork

For The Record:

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored less than half in all three, earning you the title of: Joe Normal.

This is not to say that you don't have some Nerd, Geek or Dork inside of you--we all do, and you can see the percentages you have right above. This is just to say that none of those qualities stand out so much as to define you. Sure, you enjoy an episode of Star Trek now and again, and yeah, you kinda enjoyed a few classes back in the day. And, once in a while, you stumble while walking down the street even though there was nothing there to cause you to trip. But, for the most part, you look and act fairly typically, and aren't much of an outcast.

I'd say there's a fair chance someone asked you to take this test. In any event, fairly normal.

Congratulations!

If you enjoyed this test, I would love the feedback!


Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you're interested in any of the following:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Professional Wrestling

Love & Sexuality

America/Politics

Thanks Again! -- THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

a bit knowledge

MSG, What exactly is it?

While I am unsure of the origin of this email – It is interesting and important enough to find out more!!!

The food additive MSG (MonoSodium Glutamate) is a slow poison. MSG hides behind 25 or more names, such as "Natural Flavoring." MSG is even in your favorite coffee from Tim Horton's and other brand-name coffee shops.

I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive obesity epidemic, and so did a friend of mine, John Erb. He was a research assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent years working for the government. He made an amazing discovery while going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called The Slow Poisoning of America. In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies. No strain of rat or mice is naturally obese, so scientists have to create them. They make these creatures morbidly obese by injecting them with MSG when they are first born. The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese. They even have a name for the fat rodents they create: "MSG-Treated Rats."

When I heard this, I was shock ed. I went into my kitchen and checked the cupboards and the refrigerator. MSG was in everything -- the Campbell's soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, and Kraft salad dressings, especially the "healthy low-fat" ones. The items that didn't have MSG marked on the product label had something called Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein," which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate. It was shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff. MSG is hidden under many different names in order to fool those who read the ingredient list, so that they don't catch on. (Other names for MSG are "Accent, "Ajinomoto," "Natural Meat Tenderizer," etc.)

But it didn't stop there. When our family went out to eat, we started asking at the restaurants what menu items contained MSG. Many employees, even the managers, swore they didn't use MSG. But when we ask for the ingredient list, which they grudgingly provided, sure enough, MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein were everywhere. Burger King, McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell, every restaurant -- even the sit-down eateries like TGIF, Chili's, Applebee's, and Denny's -- use MSG in abundance. Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing. and gravy. No wonder I loved to eat that coating on the skin -- their secret spice was MSG!

So why is MSG in so may of the foods we eat? Is it a preservative, or a vitamin? Not according to my friend John Erb. In his book, The Slow Poisoning of America, he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body. Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG explains that the reason they add it to food is to make people eat more. A study of the elderly showed that older people eat more of the foods that it is added to. The Glutamate Association lobbying group says eating more is a benefit to the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us? "Betcha can't eat [just] one," takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight!

The MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts people to their products. It makes people choose their product over others, and makes people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn't added. Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks, and fast foods we are tempted to eat everyday. The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it's safe to eat in any amount. But how can they claim it's safe when there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these:

• "The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity." Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT, Ribeiro IA. Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol. 2002.
• "Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats." Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro. Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug.
• "Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: An animal model of multiple risk factors." Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K, Ichikawa K, Shinohara N, Yoshinari Fujishima. Hypertens Res. 1998 Mar.
• "Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity." Tanaka K, Shimada M, Nakao K Kusunoki. Exp Neurol. 1978 Oct. No, the date of that last study was not a typo; it was published in 1978.

Both the "medical research community" and "food manufacturers" have known about the side effects of MSG for decades. Many more of the studies mentioned in John Erb's book link MSG to diabetes, migraines and headaches, autism, ADHD, and even Alzheimer's. So what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping this fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity epidemic we now see? Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in Canada. While he was sitting in the government office, the official told him, "Sure, I know how bad MSG is. I wouldn't touch the stuff." But this top-level government official refuses to tell the public what he knows. The big media doesn't want to tell the public either, fearing issues with their advertisers. It seems that the fallout on the fast food industry may hurt their profit margin. The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it.

Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive. But what can I do about it? I'm just one voice! What can I do to stop th poisoning of our children, while our governments are insuring financial protection for the industry that is poisoning us? This message is going out to everyone I know in an attempt to tell you the truth that the corporate-owned politicians and media won't tell you.

The best way you can help to save yourself and your children from this drug-induced epidemic is to forward this article to everyone. With any luck, it will circle the globe before politicians can pass the legislation protecting those who are poisoning us. The food industry learned a lot from the tobacco industry. Imagine if big tobacco had a bill like this in place before someone blew the whistle on nicotine?

If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us and you don't believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself. Go to the National Library of Medicine at < http://www.pubmed. com./> www.pubmed.com. Type in the words "MSG Obese" and read a few of the 115 medical studies that appear. We the public do not want to be rats in one giant experiment, and we do not approve of food that makes us into a nation of obese, lethargic, addicted sheep, feeding the food industry's bottom line while waiting for the heart transplant, the diabetic-induced amputation, blindness, or other obesity-induced, life-threatening disorders. With your help we can put an end to this poison. Do your part in sending this message out by word of mouth, e-mail, or by distribution of this printout to your friends all over the world and stop this "Slow Poisoning of Mankind" by the packaged food industry. Blowing the whistle on MSG is our responsibility, so get the word out.

< http://www.thinksca pes.com/The_ Erb_report_ on_MSG_to_ the_WHO.pdf > http://www.thinksca pes.com/The_ Erb_report_ on_MSG_to_ the_WHO.pdf

I know that for many this song is "too old " but some of you may just be able to relate to it. Hmmm...that's an idea. Must look up some friends into music and find a way to spice up this song - though I still love the original. Just to update it as it were so the younger generation will be able to relate to it better.

Anyway, here are the lyrics:

That old black magic has me in its spell,
That old black magic that you weave so well.
Those icy fingers up and down my spine,
That same old witchcraft when your eyes meet mine.
The same old tingle that I feel inside,
And then that elevator starts its ride,
And down and down I go,
Round and round I go,
Like a leaf thats caught in the tide.
I should stay away,
But what can I do?
I hear your name and Im aflame,
Aflame with such a burning desire that only your kiss can put out the fire.
For youre the lover I have waited for,
The mate that fate had me created for.
And every time your lips meet mine, darling,
Down and down I go, round and round I go,
In a spin, loving the spin Im in,
Under that old black magic called love