The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown Part 8.

I’m now at the part where Robert Langdon and Katherine Soleman is now racing against time to solve the meaning of the lost symbol. What are they going to do when they really find out? Will they give it to the bad guy Mal’Ahk. The Ancient Mysteries are said to be very real. There is some mention about the CIA possessing very advanced technology that allows them to experiment with ESP, Remote Viewing and lots more. Interesting!! Each chapter is still ending with a cliffhanger. The writer is still able to maintain a strong suspense in the story...

Fluffy the cub reporter is a guest blogger for Fragments. She’s currently reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and writing her thoughts on the story as she progresses through the book.

Learn Russian with SEM 3 Part 15

And now, it’s time for another 5 Russian words using the SEM3 method from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory.

5381 – Russian girl is mingling with the FEDs and they say, I think you will do amazing ya. (YADUMAYU)

5382 – Russian girl is mingling with some fans of hers. One of them points to another fan and says, THIS HE Thought was a blender.

5383 –Russian girl is mingling in a farm. She only has TIME to fry a mamamia. (Vremya)

5384 – Russian girl is mingling with people who are wearing fur and they are eating Tuna. (TO means NA)

5385 – Russian girl is mingling in a big file. The file is located UNDER a POD.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown Part 7.

I’m now into three quarters of the book. I’ve a better word to describe this book. It is very x-files-like. Stuff that are so intriguing and interesting but I really don’t know how much is real and how much is fiction. I didn’t know that the Great Seal of United States has got Masonic links or is this writer just very, very creative? There was some mentioned about the CIA using parapsychological or psi program on people but it is not proven. (Reminds me of the Xfiles and Fringe!!) and the CIA involvement in the 1995 Stargate scandal. I actually thought Stargate was only a movie. Hahahaha! But Yogis and some mystics are already practicing something similar…that’s how the story goes… Oh, and the Freemasons actually have a sister organization known as the The Order of the Eastern Star. Now that one does exits. I found their website too. The bad character Mal’ahk practices a dark art complete with sacrificial lambs and some chanting of strange words. Before this book, I thought only characters in the Harry Potter practiced Dark Arts. Dan Brown never fails to intrigue me with his writing. I must admit I kind of like his stories. He is very creative. No wonder some of his books became movies. To be continued in the next review…

Fluffy the cub reporter is a guest blogger for Fragments. She’s currently reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown and writing her thoughts on the story as she progresses through the book.

Learn Russian with SEM 3 Part 14

I’m glad to say that I’ve finally gotten down to memorizing the last 25 words Russian words using the SEM3 from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory. To honest, I don’t think I can remember most of the words memory very well because the pronunciation of the words is so difficult and very different from English unlike the Roman language. Here goes:

5376 – Russian girl is mingling in a cage with Lions. The Lions don’t like their damp (them) cage and they say eek (Ikh) whenever people stare at them.

5377 –Russian girl is mingling on a cake.The Lions have a den (then) on the cake. They keep dogs and ducks in the den too. (Togda)

5378 – Russian girl is mingling in a café that is covered with Yeast. (yest) THERE IS lot of people sneezing in their due to the yeast around them.

5379 - Russian girl is mingling in a cup in broad DAYlight. There is coffee in it with no milk. ONLY (ONI) sugar.

5380 - Russian girl is mingling creatures wearing mask, ie a fake face. These creatures are actually the “THING” from the movie The THING. The Thing is wearing a mask of a primate. (Predmet)

The International Phonetic Alphabet System

Today I searched the net on the international Phonetic Alphabet and learnt that those pronunciation keys that we see in our English dictionaries are part of this IPA list. Did you know that with the help of the IPA, we can use this system to help us pronounce other foreign languages better too? The problem is, I don’t know how some of the foreign sounds are like. The Russian words that I’ve been trying to memorize have a lot of sounds that I’m not familiar with and that makes it so difficult to learn them. Nevertheless, this IPA key is very useful for any other languages that I want to master like German, French, Spanish. I’ll need to pay more attention to the pronunciation key when I look up these dictionaries.

V Season 1, Episode 11.

Last night I learnt that next week will be the season finale. Somehow I’m a little thankful that the season is coming to an end. Anna’s daughter Lisa is found all beaten up and abandoned somewhere and sent to a hospital. From the previous episode, we all know that it was Anna who did it. Luckily word got to Erika that it was not the fifth column who attacked Lisa. Anna’s evil plans are about to materialize any time soon. There might be some hope against the Vs. They found a scientist who knows how to create a virus on lizards. These Vs are probably scared because they’ve been killing all such lizard scientists. Last night, the last surviving scientist got accused of attacked Lisa. It’s all part of the Vs plan to eliminate this scientist. Erica managed to pocket some of his experiment specimen before FBI took him away. Kyle is also working behind Erica’s back. It was he who stole the scientist hard drive to give it to Marcus (Anna’s right hand man). If Marcus knows that Kyle is working for the fifth column, does this mean that Anna is aware of Erica’s agenda? I wonder how the next episode will end….

Yoga and Pilates again

Pilates and Yoga Class was refreshing again. We did a lot of work out on the gluteus, oblique muscles, lower back and upper back.  Although the class was just 1 hour, I noticed how fast time seem to fly whenever we’re enjoying the class so much.

My First Sock Project

I’m now knitting my very first sock project using a ‘trainee’ pattern. This sock is a tiny version of the real thing because this is just a pattern to get a feel of how to knit real socks in the future. And guess what, I’ve just made my first mistake so I learnt something I should do in future.

The way you knit the stitches can make a difference whether it’s done in the round or as a flat piece. I was knitting the stockinette stitch in the round for the cuff of the sock so I used the knit stitch for each round. Then when I came to part when I had to put half the stitches onto a stitch holder and knit the other half for the heel, I made my first mistake. The stitches on the heel are to be knitted as a flat piece. While intending to knit with the stockinette stitch, I continued to knit each row and the result was….oh no…the garter stitch….you see, when I came to that part, I was supposed to knit one row and purl one row to make the stitch look more consistent with the stitches on the cuff. I already knew that but I wasn’t thinking….bah!

I think I won’t waste time to undo it. Since this is just a trainee project, I’ll just continue all the way to see how this will turn out. Oh well….it’s good to make mistakes now with the trainee project than on the real project right?

Learn Russian with SEM 3 Part 13

And now back to learning another 10 Russian words using the SEM3 from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory. The stuff below may seem very weird to you if you’re not familiar with the SEM3 aka self enhanced memory method. You’ll have to read the book to understand what I’m writing about.

5366 - Russian girl is mingling with a group of people who are doing the Cha-cha. They are tucking their tummies in as they sew (so) and perform the cha-cha.

5367 - Russian girl is mingling with some cheques. She ask them, Yes could you write (Yaskazhu) SOME figures?

5368 – Russian girl is mingling with some chef. One of them SOMETIMES do a certain action. HE Knocked the (Inogda) ladle off the pot.

5369 – Russian girl is mingling on a ship that is very STILL. Russian girl salutes to Captain Joe and says Yes Joe! (Eschcho)

5370 – Russian girl is mingling in a big gigantic case. She’s looking for a Saatchi(Such) hand bag at this place called Tak-Koi-Shi-Ma-Ya (Takoi)

5371 – Russian girl is mingling with some cats to TELL each other the latest news. Somebody throws a shoe at them and they reply, “Ya Scott’s Shoe”. (Ya shazhu)

5372 – Russian girl is mingling with some people in a huge can. They are Thanking each other and saying it is possible to (Spasibo) make this a better world.

5373 – Russian girl is mingling with fellow people who come together to comb their Dad’s (That) hair. Her dad is there but he thought (Etot) it was a free haircut session so he willingly came.

5374 – Russian girl is in THE car resting. (there is no Russian word for The)

5375 – Russian girl is mingling with a group of people who are daring (their) each other in a game. One of them screams “Ikh”

The Lost Symbol Part 6.

The story is getting clearer now. From the characters’ flashbacks, I now know how Mal’Ahk came into the lives of the Solemans and why Peter entrusted Robert with the cube-like package….the saga continues from somewhere in the middle of the book….

FYI, Fluffy the cub reporter is a guest blogger for Fragments. She’s now reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown on my behalf.

Learn Russian with SEM 3 Part 12

And now back to learning another 5 Russian words using the SEM3 from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory book. The stuff below may seem very weird to you if you’re not familiar with the SEM3 aka self enhanced memory method. You’ll have to read the book to understand what I’m writing about.

5361 – Russian girl is mingling with people at a messy (Mesto) PLACE.  The place is full of sheets.

5362 –Russian girl is mingling with people wearing chains. If they are not wearing chains, they would ask people to PLEASE put Up on chains for them. (Puzhaluista)

5363 – Russian girl is mingling at chimes. All the people look the same and they are samsui women. ( Samyi)

5364 – Russian girl is mingling on a gigantic chair. They can SEE your visual slides from here. (Yavizhu)

5365 –Russian girl is mingling with a group of ladies (she) in a Shell and they are playing the game Ona.

The Lost Symbol Part 5.

It’s been a week since I started reading the book. I’m so surprise that I’ve reached almost the middle of the book. I usually take a while to read thick novels if I only read a few chapters every night.

The suspense in the book is so powerful that my heart was pounding hard when Katherine was running away from Mal’Ahk. Goodness, Mal’Ahk is a crazy man! Meanwhile the Masonic facts are getting more and more bizarre and interesting. Woah…new world order? Secret passages that take you under the city to another building? Oh! And those symbols on the pyramid, the one where the alphabets were drawn on grids and planes. I know those Masonic codes too! But I didn’t know they were Masonic codes. I had learnt those codes from a detective handbook I once read as a kid. Haha! To be continued….

FYI, Fluffy the cub reporter is a guest blogger for Fragments. She’s now reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown on my behalf.

The Lost Symbol Part 4.

Last night, the story got more and more intriguing. What a creative writer! I didn’t know there was a number 13 conspiracy theory. When I searched the net, there are buildings which avoid having a 13th floor. People would rather label that level as 14 or 12a. Well, did you know that 14 is considered bad luck for some Chinese culture too? Moving on, yes there are other numbers that are in the conspiracy theory. Besides, 13, 11 is one of them and so is 33. All these numbers are somehow related to some world order or event thingy. Why 13? I thought some people considered 13 to be bad luck?

Oh, there was some mentioned about the Masonic pyramid and the unfinished pyramid…the secret mason meditation room with the skull, cross bones, scythe, hour glass, dish of sulfur and salt, candle in a dark quiet room… oh wow, there are even secret passageways and underground tunnels under the streets of Washington DC! The story is getting more and more exciting. Bad guy Mal’ahk is still on his way to kill Katherine Soleman in Pod 5. That’s how long the suspense has been and it’s killing me. Will she get away? What about Robert Langdon? CIA Sato still sounds like a shady character here. Another Mason brother has materialized in the story. I think he’s a good guy but we have yet to see. To be continued as I read on more…

FYI, Fluffy the cub reporter is a guest blogger for Fragments. She’s now reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown on my behalf.

Learn Russian with SEM 3 Part 11

And now back to learning another 5 Russian words using the SEM3 from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory. The stuff below may seem very weird to you if you’re not familiar with the SEM3 aka self enhanced memory method. You’ll have to read the book to understand what I’m writing.

5356 – Russian Girl is mingling with a group of gays on a log. Nancy Drew is there with her OTHER friends. The log is nicknamed (Drugoi)

5357 – Russian Girl is mingling with an Owl (our) on a log with a ‘log-nash’ (Nash) monster.

5358 – Russian girl is wearing leaves and mingling with OUTside with some bees. (iz)

5359 – Russian girl is mingling with people who have very big lips. A nerd (Nad) is OVER the moon over those big luscious lips.

5360 – Russian girl with mingling with some Loony (Lyudi) PEOPLE on a big Cheese.

You know what? I’m really running out of imagination coming up with these images….maybe Russian is not something I speak or encounter everyday so it’s hard….

Simh Asana (Lion Pose)

I’m curious about the Simh asana. On most days, I do feel my voice feeling hoarse and sore. I’ve always suspected that I was not using my voice correctly. I searched the net and learnt that yes, there is a yoga pose that strengthens our throat and facial muscles.  The SImh asana is also known as the Lion Pose. It is said to help us strengthen those facial muscles to prevent wrinkles. It also helps cure sore throats and all. I tried it a few times today and my voice seems to have some resonance after the exercise.  It does produce a scary look too. This pose is best done when you’re spending time alone in the loo during working hours and at home.  I hope that the soreness in the throat will go away soon. Besides that, I’ve also practiced saying “Mmmm” while feeling the vibration of the lips and the head….this is said to be a good vocal exercise. I’m interested in learning more.  I’ll blog more if I find out more.

The Lost Symbol Part 3.

I’m now one quarter into the book. The story is still thick with a lot of suspense. Robert Langdon is still being interrogated by the CIA woman, Sato. Something tells me that she is not a good person even though she is from the CIA. And the crazy man who became a mason member is now a short distance from Pod 5. He might kill Katherine Soleman anytime. Trouble is brewing deeper already. Who is this crazy Mal’ahk anyway? Why is he so obsessed with finding out the forbidden knowledge? Each chapter has a never ending cliffhanger. It’s so hard to put the damn book down, know what I mean?

Ok, he got me hooked. Night after night, I turned page after page wanting more. I’ve not heard of some of the esoteric groups mentioned and I had to surf the net to find out more. I googled so many of the terms mentioned like Metasystems, George Washington Zeus, The Apotheosis of George Washington Painting at the Capitol Rotunda, the Rosicrucian and The Alum bra and the Illuminati. There are so many secret societies out there. How much of what he writes is fact and fiction? He has stirred my curiosity. Are the rest of his books like that too? Till my next review…

FYI, Fluffy the cub reporter is a guest blogger for Fragments. She’s now reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown on my behalf.

Learn Russian with SEM 3 Part 10

This week I will learn next 25 Basic Russian Words using the SEM3 method from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory. The following words may seem like Greek to you if you have no idea of what the SEM3 is all about. You’ll have to read Tony Buzan’s books to find out more.

5351- Russian girl is mingling with some lads. They are Orphans (Often) and they like talking about treasure chests. (Chasto)

5352 – Russian girl is mingling with some lions. One of them is named OnNa. (Na – On)

5353 – Russian girl is mingling with ONE lamb. The lamb gives out iodine. (Odin)

5354 – Russian is mingling with the ONLY lonely hobbit at the Tolken Lair. (TOLKO)

5355 – Russian girl is mingling with the Ore People who speak backwards. They are standing on a lily pad and they say Eeli.

My Four Favourite Asanas

Right now I try to practice 4 asanas every day. Last night I came home late after attending a wedding dinner. My tummy felt so bloated and I had a lot of gas. I was worried that I might get sick. I went to Vajrasana Pose for a few minutes.  I started to burp a bit.  Then I got down on the floor to do the cobra, the locust and the bow. It worked….the wind started clearing from the tummy. Thank goodness for that. I didn’t have to take any medication for the stomach. Phew.

Stretching Those Tight Shoulders

Today at Pilates class I learnt how to loosen up my tight shoulders and upper back muscles. The instructor made us do something very interesting. We had to lie on the floor face down and prop our body up on the elbows. The wall has to be near the front of the elbows and head. Then using our hands and fingers, we had to ‘climb’ the wall while the lower half of the body is still on the floor. It was very good stretch. According to the instructor, this pose can also help cure migraines and headaches. Wow, I’ve yet to prove that fact. Today when I woke up, I felt the muscles on my shoulders and upper back aching. Let’s hope that I manage to loosen those tight shoulders properly.

V Season 1 Episode 10

This is Cuchee, back with another review of V. Last night’s V was as bizarre as ever. Ericka, Ryan, Jack and Klye decide to shoot down a V space shuttle to prevent a tracker from coming to them. Anna manage to find out this plan and decide to set them up by putting some dead bodies on board the ship making them believe that they had shot down a ship filled with humans. Jack almost told on them to the FBI when he was stricken with guilt about killing people. Luckily, Ericka managed to figure out that Vs tricked them … Anna beats up her own daughter because she told Tyler not to come on the live abroad program. She has developed human feelings and doesn’t want Tyler to suffer like the other humans…. Vs have also put one of their own in the FBI unit. Maybe Anna already knows that there is a leak in the FBI somewhere…the suspense goes on till the next episode…

My second fingerless mittens is now completed!

My second mitten is finally completed to make a pair! Yay! For my next project, I want to experiment with knitting socks. I’ve a trainee sock pattern from one of the websites. I’ll blog about my progress when I begin that project.

Learning Russian with SEM3 Part 9

And now back to learning Russian using the SEM3 from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory. The following words may seem like Greek to you if you have no idea of what the SEM3 is all about. You’ll have to read Tony Buzan’s books to find out.

Here are the next 5 words:

5346 – Russian girl is mingling with a group of cockroaches. One of the roaches is new. He has No Veelers Yet. (Novyi)

5347 – Russian girl is mingling with some rocks. The rocks know (NO) how to surf the net. (Nyet)

5348 – Russian girl is mingling on the roof NOT on her knee. (Ne)

5349 – Russian girl is mingling with people who ear a rope around their necks. They need have the ends of the rope tapered (teper) NOW.

5350 – Russian girl is mingling with the wizard OF osmosIS. (Iz)

The Lost Symbol Part 2.

As I read the story of the The Lost Symbolfurther, I was intrigued even more. I’m curious about Dan Brown and his stories…he seems to know so much about mystical stuff. There was a grotesque scene of a severed hand of his friend. (gulp) The hand represented “The hand of the mysteries” with the alchemical and allegorical symbols on it. It was an invitation to Robert Langdom by the crazy tattooed antagonist to know the truth. The truth of what? We still don’t know at this point in the story. I searched the net to read up more of the The Hand of The Mysteries. The hand represents an invitation to learn about the divine truth….the symbols on each finger are: The crown on the thumb, the star on the index finger, the sun on the middle finger, the lantern on the ring finger and the key on the pinky. Each symbol is a mystery but they represent something more… I think the Hand of the Mysteries was also mentioned in the TV show “Flash Forward”. There was a cult group known as The Blue Hand club or something like that in the show. That’s pretty interesting and intriguing….I learnt something new here but how much of this is fiction and how much is fact? Hmmm…

I also looked up the topic of Noetic Science on the net. Noetic science is about the link between modern science and mysticism. The power of mind over matter and the experiment of the crystallization of water with positive and negative thoughts. I’ve even seen some of Lynne McTaggart’s books in the store too. I find this intriguing too. I’ve read several books on the Power of Positive thinking and the Power of Your Subconscious Mind. Yes, I believe what is said of Noetic Science could be true and not really fiction. I’m now at the part where the villain is on his way to the secret lab where Katherine Soleman is. Katherine, by the way, is the sister of a Mason member. She studies Noetic Science, writes books and has done some breakthrough experiments in the story. Hmmm….I wonder what the villain is going to do when he gets to her. Or will she manage to get away from him? To be continued in another update….

Learning Russian with SEM3 Part 8

And now back to learning Russian using the SEM3 from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory. The following words may seem like Greek to you if you have no idea of what the SEM3 is all about. You’ll have to read Tony Buzan’s books to find out.

Here are the next 5 words:

5341 – Russian girl is mingling with some rats. They are drawing Manga cartoons together (Menya) and the theme of the drawing is “Me”.

5342 – Russian girl is mingling in the rain with some bolsters. The bolsters are female and they are known as BOLSHE. They are doing the rain dance to pray for MORE rain to come.

5343 –Russian Girl is mingling with some rams. They pass the group of MOSTly bolshes and they exclaim, Nice Boishii (NAI Bolshii) - It’s really hard to come up with images for abstract words.

5344 – Russian girl is mingling with some rowers. They are complaining there is no go (Mnogo) because there isn’t much fish out there.

5345 – Russian girl is mingling with some trains at the rail and somebody yells My MOIsterier is missing!

The Lost Symbol By Dan Brown Part 1.

Hi, this Fluffy the cub reporter back again with another book review. Sometimes I surprise myself. I had never read any of Dan Brown’s books before and I refused to watch the movie “The Da Vinci Code” because I had heard that he had written a lot of stuff that was untrue of the catholic church. It was sick because friends started asking me weird and bizarre questions about the Catholic church that was totally untrue. Yesterday when I was at the store, I decided to pick up The Lost Symbol. It was an impromptu decision. I didn’t know what else to read and The Lost Symbolhad been on the bestsellers list for a couple of weeks, so I did the unthinkable.

Anyway, I will blog about what I think of the storyline as I read along, good or bad. I will write my opinion of what I think of the story.

When I read the first 7 chapters of the book last night, it turned out to be intriguing. Ok, so Dan Brown’s a good writer. Each of the first few chapters ended with a cliffhanger to keep me reading further. The opening scene is an initiation ceremony of a guy in the Masons, a top secret underground group. The guy was drinking blood red wine from a human skull. Right, we all know that the Masons do exist but the ceremony could be fictional. Look what he did in the Da Vinci Code right? The Mason initiate however, has his own personal bad intentions for joining the Masons and we have yet to find out why. Then we meet Robert Langdon on his way to give a lecture in Washington. When he gets there, he suddenly realizes that something is very wrong and… that’s how my last chapter ended last night. I’ll find out more when I continue reading again. If this book turns out to be good, I might read the Da Vinci Code after all. Let’s see how it goes. Till my next update on The Lost Symbol.

Learning Russian with SEM3 Part 7

And now back to learning Russian using the SEM3 from Tony Buzan’s Master Your Memory. The following words may seem like Greek to you if you have no idea of what the SEM3 is all about. You’ll have to read Tony Buzan’s books to find out.

Here are the next 5 words:

5336 – Russian is mingling with a box of big matches. And they are doing the bollywood dance. I like my New Ravi’s Sia. (mrie nravitsya)

5337 – Russian girl is mingling with the mug people. As part of the oath, they have to say This is My Own tea. (Malyenkee)

5338 –Russian girl is mingling with her mafia boyfriend. And he tells her I love you. Yup You you. (Yalyublyo)

5339 – Russian girl is mingling with a group of people who are wearing mops as hair. They MAKE their now hair wigs during the DAY. (Ya delayu)

5340 – Russian girl is mingling among Many gigantic roses. She can’t move because there is no gold. (Mnogo)