V Season 1 Episode 7

Hi This is Cuchee the Couch Potato back with another review of V. Last night’s episode of V was pretty scary. Poor Georgie was tortured by the Vs. I’m not sure if the V had meant to keep him alive to get more information out of him for later or did they know he was going to die on his own. In his last moments, he asked to speak to his resistance friends and Father Jack on the walkie-talkie-pearl-thingy to ask for his blessing before asking Joshua to inject with this scissor-thing to help him die faster. It was sad. This is also an episode in which we find out some secrets of the main characters. We learn of John May’s real fate and Ryan’s secret of what he knows about John May. His girlfriend Valerie will find out that Ryan has a secret identity. She’ll disappear and God knows where she went to. Tyler will find out that his father may not really be his father after all. He’ll confront Erika and storm off. Does Ericka have anymore secrets? Could the blood test be a mistake? I’ve feeling there is something deeper than what we know of Erika and her ex-husband. What if she doesn’t know that he is also part of the 5th Column? (This is just my personal guess). Well who knows where this story is taking us. I thought last night’s show was a little shorter than usual. I’m not sure if I was beginning to get hooked to story or was the episode just short? Hmmm…anyway, this Cuchee signing off as guest blogger for Fragments. Till the next episode of V. Ciaoz!

Glee Season 1, Episode 21

I’m Cuchee the Couch Potato, guest blogger for Fragments and I’m back with review of last night’s episode of Glee.   The main theme of this episode seems to be about anger.  Yeah, most of them were dealing with anger issues last night and how to get even with their source of anger. I thought it was absolutely hilarious to see how Will get even with Sue by pretending to have a thing for her. And gasp! She actually fell for it. It was so comical.  Sue has so many trophies in her house….wow, she’s like a robot who only wants to win and she doesn’t care about anyone else. Jesse, the traitor has broken up with Rachel and transferred back to his school. Gosh I hate the way he took out his anger with Rachel. Vocal Adrenaline took their anger out with New Directions through dance moves and their songs to make them feel lousy. Quinn takes her anger out through a funk song about unwed mothers. Mercedes also challenges Quinn with her own version of funk.  I think this is the second last episode before the season because the Regional’s the following episode. I wonder what is this sectional and regional thing about. It looks like an inter-school competition that is done regularly among the high schools. I’m not so familiar with the US education system, you see. Anyway, I think the story should end happily with New Directions winning the prize…we’ll see about that in the next episode.  Till then, this is Cuchee signing off.

Glee: The Music, Volume 1

Glee: The Complete First Season

Back to Pilates Class Again

Pilates class was good. We used the gym stick and did a lot of abs, teasers, rip curls and bicep curls. I’ve also been thinking of getting a resistance tube to practice with. I need to check out which brand is good first…

Pilates Anatomy. A Comprehensive Guide.

Update on My Fingerless Mittens.

The mittens are coming along fine as at this point. I’ve finished the area that has a lot of M1 stitches. I hope that I didn’t make too many holes with the M1 stitches. I can already see one though. Sigh….practice makes perfect I guess.

Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book

Knitting and Shaping. I’ve got it!

My experiment has been a success! Now I know how to knit with a shape!  This is pretty useful for knitting necklines, along the arm holes etc.  Check out the end result below but ignore the messy edges….I didn’t do a proper cast off at the edges.

The steps are pretty easy.

First you do a swatch to figure out the gauge. For eg: How many stitches make up 1 cm in a row and how many stitches make up 1cm in terms of the height. This step is essential if you are making something to wear.

Next you draw it out on graph paper the shape that you want. If the line passes through at least half the square, mark an ‘x’ on it. If it doesn’t, leave it. Refer to my previous blog on how I drew the squares for the project above. You will definitely get the shape you want. And you don’t have to spend money on software for knitting patterns. . I hope you found this blog useful.

There are people who say that knitting mathematics can also help you get the same results. I believe so too. I think it has something to do with calculating the gradient of a curve using differentiation of a quadratic equation and then working out the area below the curve. I’ll save that for another time to experiment on – after I revise the maths that I learnt a donkey’s years ago. Cheerio!

Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop

I Can't Believe I'm Knitting! in Motion: Beginner (Leisure Arts #3914)

The 100 most basic Italian words that you can’t do without

My experiment with the self-enhanced memory matrix system from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory is moving very slowly. I’ve just finished the last 25 basic Italian words but I’ve been too tired to practice recalling. Next week I will use the time to revise all 100 basic Italian words.

Staying on Balance

Nothing beats a good stretch. It really makes me feel so good. I also practiced some balancing poses today.

Knitting with a shape in mind

I’m now knitting base on the excel-spreadsheet graph paper that I designed.  I drew a curve along the square. I’m going to knit along the curve and the area below it.  The tricky part is deciding whether to knit the partial squares.  For every square where the line penetrates for more than half the square, I will knit that stitch. Otherwise, I will ignore the square.  So far I’ve only knitted only a few rows. I can’t wait to see the results.

The Complete Beginner's Guide to Knitting

The Sun Salutation

Salutation to the Sun was refreshing today. I usually do a slightly modified version incorporated with some Pilates moves.

Bieber fever.

Let’s play a word game. How many words can you form out of Justin Bieber’s name?

Tin, Timber, Sun, Bin, Stun, Bust, June, Ebb, Nite, Use, user, Sin, Beer, Nib, Just, Stir, Tier, Sine, Run, Burn, nit, Bus. Can you think of any more words?

My own knitting graph paper

I was too lazy to get hold of knitting graph paper. I know it’s possible to search for a copy of a proper one on the net but I decided to use the excel spreadsheet and design my own knitting graph paper instead. As at this point, I still have no idea of my idea if using this knitting graph paper really works out for me. Let’s see how it goes.

Handbook of Wool Knitting and Crochet

Eat Pray Love Part 10.

This will be my final review for Eat, Pray, Love . I had finally finished reading the book last night. It ended with a happy note for her. Overall, I have enjoyed the book. I like her sense of humour and her writing style. I also enjoyed reading about her experiences in Italy, India and Indonesia. However, I’m not really a sucker for romance stories which was how the last part of the story ended with. But nevertheless, I’m happy for her that she has found love to fill up the empty space in her heart.

This book also has a chapter of her next book ‘Committed’ which is a continuation of Eat, Pray, Love . The gist of the next book is about how she and her beau will finally get married after overcoming their fear of marriage… Will I get her next book to read? Or will it be another book of another genre? Find out at the next review.

The Bridge.

I learnt to do the bridge both in Pilates and Yoga classes. It is a very useful exercise for the butt. Last night I did the bridge after a few weeks of not practicing it and now my butt is aching. It’s a good sign I guess because it means that I had worked out on those butt muscles. To do the bridge, lie on your back with knees bent. Then lift your butt off the floor and hold for a few counts. When you are strong enough, lift one leg into the air and maintain the same position as you balance on one leg. Hold this pose for a few counts till you feel those buns burning then switch sides. Be warned that your butt will ache the next day if you have not been working out your gluteous muscles.

The secret of how to knit your own patterns

I’ve a friend who tells me that she doesn’t spend any money buying knitting pattern books at all. She has the ability to look at a bag, sweater or any other project and copy the design by knitting out her own pattern. Wow, that is so cool! Imagine knitting a bag that you like from a shop’s window…. Or even duplicating your favourite sweater….

I’ve always wondered how people do it. The last time I tried to knit a basic curve on my own, I ended up with a slope instead. The secret, my friend says, is to draw it out on graph paper. It’s like cross stitch. You just have to knit each square as you see it. It sounds pretty easy but will it be as easy as it sounds? That’s what I’m going to find out for my next project.

The Ladies' Work-Book Containing Instructions In Knitting, Crochet, Point-Lace, etc.

Mastering that Memory again

And now back to my experiment on the self enhanced memory matrix system from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory.

This week I’m down to memorizing the last 25 basic Italian words. Some of the words like “Them”, “Their” and “Then” are pretty hard to visualize. For each of the Italian word, there is an Italian man doing some action. It is slowly becoming a chore to do this exercise again but I’m going to go on and persevere. I hope my efforts will pay off eventually.

Back to Virasana and Vajrasana pose again

I’m getting better and better at the Vajrasana pose each time I practice. Last night I had stomach discomfort after eating my supper and I immediately got down my knees and went into the vajrasana pose. It helped me to burp and feel better. This is the number one pose that I always get into after a meal that makes me feel uncomfortable.

As for the virasana pose aka diamond pose, I can’t do the full pose properly but a book recommended that I do the half virasana pose first. To do this, sit with one leg extended out in front of you while the other leg is bent and the heel is touching your thigh. Lie backwards and feel the stretch on your quadriceps for a few counts. Switch over to the other leg. To do the full pose, sit on a towel or cushion and lie backwards. For me, I still trouble doing the full one even with pillows…..

Hatha Yoga Illustrated

My tissue cover.

Yikes, my second tissue cover looks so much worse than first one. I learnt something the hard way today.  For my first tissue cover, I had used the stockinet stitch all the way and the measurements were just nice. I had the sample tissue packet next to me all the time to measure it with. However, for the second tissue cover, I had used the same number of rows but did a K5 and P5 all the way. I didn’t use a sample tissue cover as a gauge at all because I thought I could just follow the previous project’s number of rows. The length of this project turned out longer. I shouldn’t have used the same number of rows. The tension is different for different patterns. I should have known better. Sigh, take a look at this. The project looks distorted. But I’m not going to waste this. The project is still usable but not presentable.

Exercises in Knitting

Eat Love Pray Part 9

And now back to my progress on reading Eat, Pray, Love . The last few chapters is getting a bit predictable…I’ve never really been a sucker for romance stories. That’s what that the last bit of the story is turning out to be. Her prince charming has stepped into her life and she is in bliss again. She is afraid to love for fear of getting hurt but she wants to love again. Nevertheless, I like her sense of humour in her writings. I wonder what will become of them when she leaves Bali…. To be continued in the next review.

What a waste of time and money

My usual Pilates teacher couldn’t come today. We had a replacement instructor and the class was a waste of money… we didn’t really work hard plus I suspect this instructor is not very experienced either. She doesn’t look very toned. She was more like…very …round – a sign that she doesn’t work out a lot herself… My usual instructor will be back next week and I’m looking forward having her back in our class. Sigh…

Pilates Anatomy. A Comprehensive Guide.

V - Season 1, Episode 6.

I’m Cuchee the guest blogger for Fragments and I’m back with another review of last night’s episode of “V”. Poor Georgie was captured by the Vs when he went up the mother ship thinking that Ryan was in trouble. Gosh, what made him do that? He didn’t have any idea how to deal with the Vs. That was like suicidal, don’t you think? Oh and we meet Ericka’s husband for the first time. They’re aren’t telling us why they broke up and what sort of past she has, but I bet the writers wrote those scenes on purpose just to get us hooked to the story. What is it about Ericka’s past that she wants to hide? And Anna knows that the fifth column is getting stronger so she devised a scheme to pick out the traitors in her ship. There is this part that I don’t quite understand. At the last part when she asked all her suspects to swallow a pill that will turn them into flames, only one guy was left and he was identified as a member of the Fifth column. Those who were willing to die for her were deemed as “not traitors”. That poor guy who didn’t swallow the pill was ordered to be skinned. I think since he was going to face death anyway, he should have just swallowed the damned pill! Which would have been better huh? To turn to immediate flames or skinned? Yikes!

Ryan slipped something into Valerie’s drink from the ship. I wonder what that is and what does it do. According to Joshua, once that is given to a human, there is no turning back. Her tummy moved in a funny way while she was sleeping. Another hook to keep us watching this program….Good one there but gross! I bet this is to keep viewers hanging on to find out what will become of the baby.

Ok, I’m Cuchee signing off again. Wait for my next review on “V”. Ciao!

Glee Season 1, Episode 20.

Hello. This is Cuchee the couch potato, guest blogger for Fragments, back with another review of last night’s episode of Glee. The common theme for last night’s episode seemed to be about ‘Being yourself’. Mooooo! That’s right. Now that’s something I can identify with. Sometimes I forget I’m just cow and not human and that cows should be leading a normal life out there in the fields chomping grass and all. But in this city area? No way.

Ok, back to the show, Tina has trouble being herself when her school principal tells her that she can’t stick to her gothic style of dressing. Finn has trouble with Kurt being himself when he has to share a room with him because Kurt is gay. And Rachel finally meets her mother Shelby who has trouble being a normal mom because she has never been a mom to anyone. I guess the moral of the story is….it is easier to express yourself when you are yourself and not somebody else. And perhaps….to not to be superficial and pretend to be somebody else that you’re not because it shows how insecure you really are. Ahh….that reminds me of somebody I know who likes putting on a fake accent with a lot of exaggerated mama-drama attention. Hmm, maybe I should get this person to watch this episode of Glee… Oh by the way, they had to sing a few Lady Gaga songs in this episode. It was so cool! I loved it especially the song “Bad Romance”.

Get the Glee MP3 songs here:

Glee DVD:

My Fingerless Mitten Project.

The project seems to be progressing well at this stage. I’m glad to say that I’ve mastered the M1 stitch well. The stitch looks so much better here compared to the first glove.

 

The Knitter's Book of Wool: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding, Using, and Loving this Most Fabulous Fiber

Eat Love Pray Part 8.

And now back to my reading on Eat, Pray, Love . I’ve now progressed into the middle of her stay in Indonesia. Elizabeth has met another new friend. Her name is Wayan and she is a healer and a lady who has gone through a similar path to hers. Maybe it’s fated that she meet people who have gone through so much so that they can give her hope to deal with her own challenges in life. Elizabeth’s stay in Bali has been a very happy one so far. She’s discovering so many things about life and she has made quite a few friends too. I can’t wait to read on further today. To be continued in another review…

SEM3 Memory Blog: Back to the Italian Words again.

Today I have to memorize another 5 basic Italian words from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory using the self enhanced memory matrix aka SEM3. So far it has been working but it has also been a chore to make myself memorize something each day. But today, after receiving an email update from the World Memory Sports Council, I’m motivated to make this system work for me again. I shall work hard and hopefully one day take part in that memory championship too….

Yoga and Pilates: Still practicing away…

Today I spent 10 minutes in Varajsana after dinner. And then I did the Lotus as I prayed on my rosary beads. Before bedtime, I intend to work on the balancing exercises.

Oh yes and some good news that I heard. I won’t be missing my pilates classes during Nov and Dec because our classes will be transferred to another branch temporarily. So I won’t’ be missing my regular teacher after all. Yay!

Eat Pray Love Part 7.

Back to my reading on Eat, Pray, Love . Liz has just made a new friend called Yudhi. He is Javanese, a Christian, speaks with an American accent and lives in Bali. This poor guy has lived a life full of challenges including prejudices. Wow and this guy still has a smile that can stop crime. It gives me the impression that he has such a strong will to go on with life no matter how terrible it may seem.

Yoga and Pilates. The Navasana and the Teaser.

In yoga the navasana is a pose where you lie on your back and then lift your legs up at 90 degrees and then slowly lower it down to 30 degrees to feel your abdominal muscles getting challenged. It is even more challenging when you try to lift your upper body up so that you are sitting on your butt with your body in V shape position.

In Pilates, there is a similar posture called the teaser. It is fun to do and you get to feel your tummy burning. A resistance band can also be used to challenge those muscles. You just need to place the resistance band around your legs and lift your body up as you move into the V shape position.

Knitting Blog: Update on that Tissue Cover

The Knitting of my tissue cover is completed. I’ve just casted off stitches. It’s now time to take the project home to graft the ends together.

Eat Pray Love Part 6.

And now, back to my reading on Eat, Pray, Love . I’m now reading the part where Liz has already left India and is now in Bali Indonesia. In the first few chapters I learnt a few things about the Balinese. They are very friendly and positive and they have a very organized culture. You can even tell from their names if they are the first, second, third or fourth child in the family. Most of them are of royal descend. Come to think of it, I used to have a Balinese colleague who had some royal ties in her hometown and now I also know she is the second child in the family from her name! I find facts like these so intriguing. Maybe one day I would like to visit Bali too. It sounds like a beautiful place. To be continued in another review as the reading continues…

Yoga and Pilates: The Fish Pose aka Matsyasana.

The Matsyasana is another pose that is said to be good for stress and indigestion. It helps a person to stay calm and improve their concentration. Some websites claim this pose helps ease menstrual cramps too. I’ve yet to work on this pose well.

According to Yoga Mind and Body (DK Living), beginners start this pose by lying on the floor facing up and then propping the body up with the elbows. As you do this, you bend your head backwards and let the top of your head touch the floor. As I did this, I felt the blood rushing to my head. The other 2 ways to get into the Matsyasana is from a cross legged position and also the lotus position. I feel that the lotus + matsysana position is too advanced for me but I do feel comfortable when I just try it with my leg crossed and folded in.

Knitting Blog: Update on the tissue cover.

I managed to knit a few rows of my tissue cover. A few more rows and I’m done.

Eat Pray Love Part 5.

And now back to my reading on Eat, Pray, Love . I’m still at the part where Liz is in India. She has now learnt to control her emotions and improved her meditation techniques. It’s pretty interesting because I learnt something from her writing too. She got me interested in exploring meditation. At this point in the story, Liz has decided that she will not tour the rest of India but continue to stay at the Ashram. More interesting things have happened there and she has made some good friends there too. An ashram sounds like an interesting place to visit. I’m not sure I can put up with the conditions there though… I wonder if there is a health resort that caters to just yoga, meditation and healthy living….to be continued in the next review.

SEM3 Memory: Back to the Italian Words

This week I will attempt to memorize another 25 basic Italian words from Master Your Memory Using the self enhanced memory matrix technique aka SEM3. This will add up to a total of 75 Italian words at you cannot do without. That’s according to page 137 of Master Your Memory.

Recalling the words have been ok with a few memory blocks here and there. But overall I’m doing better than memorizing prefixes and suffixes from the last time.

Yoga and Pilates: The Lotus Pose aka Padmasana.

Sitting in lotus pose felt a bit weird at first but it took some getting used to. According to the yoga books, the yoga pose is good for managing stress improving concentration. People sit in lotus pose when they want to go into meditation. I tried it and I felt I could breathe better. Besides this, I’m still practicing the vajrasana pose. Last night after a meal that made me feel uncomfortable, I sat in vajrasana for about 10 minutes. It helped me burp and made me feel better too. I’m no longer a skeptic but a believer of this pose. Try it if you’re feeling uncomfortable after a meal.

Knitting Blog: Oops no progress.

I didn’t knit today. I took a nap during my lunch hour because I was so tired. Nothing beats a 10 minute power nap. I’ll try to knit tomorrow during lunch.

The Complete Beginner's Guide to Knitting

Yoga and Pilates Blog: Class was great!

We continued to use the gym stick and the yoga block in class today. My arms are arching. Overall, it was a good workout, as usual.  The challenging part was to maintain our balance and while using some resistance from the gym stick.

Knitting Blog: Fingerless mitten.

I finally got the part where I have to do the M1 stitch. I hope I did it correctly. It looks better than the last time but it’s best to wait for a few more rows before the pattern comes out.

Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book

Glee Season 1, Episode 19.

Yo, my name is Cuchee the couch potato and I’m a guest blogger taking over the section on reviews for some TV shows. What? You’re surprised to see a cow like me writing a review instead of the usual writer Mudpie? Well dig this. I’m a talented and educated cow, okay. If this goes well, you’ll be seeing a lot of me mooing around here on TV shows and maybe even Movies too.

Ok and now for the review. Last night’s episode on Glee was about Dreams. Mr Will Shuester meets his high school rival, Bryan Ryan (were the writers being funny when they created this character’s name?) from his days as a Glee club member. Bryan Ryan’s dream was to go into Broadway but he never made it so he ventured into a string of some businesses. He is now back as a member of the board of school directors and he wants to crush the Glee club. Oh my, when the 2 of them sing together, they’re good! Will Schuester can really hit the high notes man! And wait a minute…Sue Sylvester went to the same audition as Shuester and Ryan? We all know that she hates the Glee club and is always scheming to crush the club. But deep inside, she is really a fan of music and the performing arts….well that’s what is seems to me.

Artie has to face the reality that he will never be able to accomplish his dream of walking and dancing again. He knows that he has to be realistic and focus on dreams that he can work on. Oh and Tina has the hots for him too. Meanwhile, we also learn that Rachel’s dream is to meet her mother who left her after she was born. We find out who her real mother is and now I wonder if Jesse really has feelings for Rachel at all. We just know that he was planted into the Glee club by her mother to deliver that tape to Rachel. And gosh, does Rachel’s mother really look like her! I mean…they look like real life blood relatives! I checked the net and nope they are not related in real life, just reel life. They’re both actresses with very similar backgrounds. They do make a perfect mother-daughter duo though, don’t you think?

This reminds me of my calf days in a farm. My dream was to become a Broadway cow in New York…but look at me now. I’m just a couch potato writing reviews for TV and movies….sigh. Ok, enough about me. Till the next review. This is Cuchee signing off as a guest blogger. Moooooo! Oops, I’m mean Ciao!

These are great MP3 from Glee

Glee: The Music, Volume 1

Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers

Check out the Glee DVDs Too!

Glee: The Complete First Season

Introducing….

As you may have noticed, I’ve been making an effort to update this blog regularly lately. So far I’ve been blogging about my progress on Yoga and Pilates, Knitting, my memory journal from Tony Buzan’s books, TV reviews and Book reviews…who knows what more I’ll be adding next. Due to having too much on my plate, I’ve decided get the help of 2 of my very good friends as guest bloggers. Meet Cuchee the couch potato and Fluffy the cub reporter as they help me update my blog every once a while. You’ll meet them as we go along. I hope you like them. Keep tuning in each day. Cheerio!



Fluffy The Cub Reporter



Cuchee The Couch Potato



Knitting Blog : Back to the Fingerless mitten

I did the unthinkable. I walked past the store and saw some sale going on in there. I emerged with more wool in my hands. Yeah…more wool to my collection. I bought 6 balls of yarn at $2 each. It was a good price so I had to get it.

Meanwhile, I started working on the stockinet stitch of my fingerless mitten.

Knitting Without Tears