Swine Flu: A Cure

I have been reading some newspapers and even watching some news on the television. Originally, we understand that the Swine Flu disease comes from pig. However, the news today has reported that humans are affecting pigs with such disease in Canada.

It has also been reported in the news, stating that there is a cure for the Swine Flu.

Caption: star anise (consumable)

Star anise is a dried fruit of a small medium-sized evergreen tree, called Illicium verum. Originally, it belongs to the magnolia family, Illiciaceae Magnoliaceae and grows up to 8m in height (equal to 26.00 ft), and introduced in the europian countries in the seventeenth century. In chinese countries, it is an ingredient in the blend Chinese Five Spices (known as 'Ba-chio' or 'Pak-kok' in chinese).

It smells and tastes really good. Star anise has been used in a tea as a remedy for rheumatism (a disease affecting every possible joints and connective tissues on human body), and the seeds are sometimes chewed after meals to aid digestion. As a warm and moving herb, the star anise will sometimes be used for relieving cold-stagnation. This is why we would find this herb mostly in chinese or indian cuisine.

The Swine flu is a horrific disease since 1918, when it has killed at least 1 million people in Mexico. However, the pig (animal) has been the main source of this disease, and not the pork (a dead pig, turned into food) since the swine virus will die in the temperature above 70 degree celcius (cooking will usually kill all these bacteria). The news have been reporting that the current best cure for the Swine Flu disease is to cook pork with the star anise. It has the ability to kill the Swine flu when affecting our body. Another possible advice to avoid swine flu from affecting you, that is, to stop breathing (or cover your nose and mouth with a cloth) and run as far as possible if someone sneeze or cough around you, lol.

Caption: japanese star anise (please do not consume)

NOTE: the japanese star anise is very similar (but not the same) to the normal star anise, except it was pronounced as ahighly-toxidic fruit that may produce numerous seizure effect to a person's body when consumed, and perhaps causing severe inflammation to kidney, urinary tract and our digestive system since this fruit contains anisatin (is a toxic and an active component of the Shikimi plant).

Prayer and the Co-creation of Reality

Excerpt CXXIII from In Memoriam by Lord Alfred Tennyson

There rolls the deep where grew the tree.
O earth, what changes hast thou seen!
There where the long street roars, hath been
The stillness of the central sea.
The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form, and nothing stands;
They melt like mist, the solid lands,
Like clouds they shape themselves and go.
But in my spirit will I dwell,
And dream my dream, and hold it true;
For tho’ my lips may breathe adieu, I cannot think the thing farewell.

This giant mound of land and water rolling through space finds no peace in the pitch of night. Round and round it goes, illuminated by a ball of burning hydrogen. The consciousness of earth, expressing itself through man, is entangled in a web of illusion. The financial crisis rounds the herd into a ghetto of depression. Rogue flu strains creep into every corridor of space. War looms on every edge of the earth. Every waking moment is spent in terror of what plague God will caste upon us next. What is taking place in minds and hearts of men is that which threatens to destroy us. We must take our attention back and direct it in any way that we can use it to create a future for ourselves that is independent of central control. We don’t need legislation or even an army to do this. All that we need is our hearts, minds, and the will to act.

I am regretful to hear people have given up on prayer. These scarred and tattered souls have lost touch with the mystical roots their ancestors had worked so hard to preserve for the future generations. There is a general lack of enthusiasm for the spiritual realms in pop culture. The old truths have lost relevancy in a routine of redundant work, errands, and stress. The minds of the youth are so dominated by popular media that one can often find the moral of last night’s South Park episode dictating the philosophical medium of the average high school teenager.

Some manage to break through the sphere of local consciousness and relate to the free thinkers of the day. “God is dead,” declared Nietzsche. Many people seem to take this as an exclamation of the vacancy of spirit in the physical experience. Darwin’s theory portrays a random sequence of events leading to an existential existence where instant gratification is purpose. Still, others attempt to explain God through the rational faculties of the intellect, citing prayer as a selfish endeavor: “ One could not possibly change the will of God through prayer.” If God knows every atom at every place at every time in the Universe, then how could the individual dictate their will to God (a philosophical contradiction)? Others tell me that they have no use for prayer any more. Maybe it was due to the fact that they did not achieve the results they were seeking.

There has been a loss of heart in our generation. Technology, modern comfort, and socializing have taken the place of contemplation, meditation, and the search for ultimate truth. We don’t even have time to think anymore. Families disintegrate all around me, including my own. Families that can maintain the congenial binding, have little time to pay attention to the development of the soul and creation of a loving community. Most of free time that we have falls prey to shallow entertainment and consumerism.

Enter stage right, the new paradigm: 2011, the year before the Mayan end date. According to late Ian Lungold, 2011 signals the beginning of our next great lesson in the classroom of cosmic consciousness: co-creation.

http://mayanmajix.com/lab_F1.html

The calendar can be visualized as a pyramid, with each cycle promoting an overall lesson. Each lesson is proportionally smaller than the proceeding lesson, forcing consciousness to experience the volume of the cycle in a smaller time frame. You can see by the diagram that we are currently in the Galactic Cycle in the lesson of “ethics”. Ethics is not a contract that you sign in school to guilt trip you out of cheating; it is the understanding of karma, unity, and civility. For the ruling Anglo-American civilization, this lesson will be an especially hard lesson to learn and will result in pain and upheaval. Not only will conspiracy come to light in this time period but the intentions of the controllers will be exposed and confronted. The ugliness and pain of this experience will be eclipsed in the year 2011 when man learns that he/she is a co-creator of the Universe; a living, breathing tapestry that responds and aligns to every thought and emotion we generate. Daniel Pinchbeck cites Rudolf Stiener in his book, 2012: The Return of Quetzecoatl, with the following prediction: the entire population of earth would be completely enlightened by the end of 2010. When I first read of this “prediction”, I was astounded. There is no way, even half of earth’s population could be anywhere near enlightenment by 2011. After researching the Mayan calendar, and having teachers such as Ian Lungold, I am beginning to think differently.

As the economy continues to collapse and the overlords make their final asset grabbing free for all, more and more people turn towards prayer. It is likely that most of the prayers whispered in the lonely night of material disintegration will be directed more toward intervention and less toward creation. One might say, “Oh Lord, Jesus, please pay my mortgage…I need a miracle. I will do anything if you get my mortgage paid this month. I’ll never stare at a woman’s ass again. I’ll never eat Twinkies. I’ll help my mom clean her garage…anything, Lord!!!” These sorts of people have a skewed vision of who or what God is and will have very little luck getting anyone to intercede on their behalf. The mystic understands that God is not a person that is there to throw us a bone in times of need or smite us under his thumb. Thankfully we have true champions of spirit such as Gregg Braden blazing the torch of enlightenment for us to follow suit and create a world of our own.

In his book, The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy, he explains the quantum connection between the self and the exterior world and that our thoughts and emotions play an important part in the experience that we create for ourselves. He also tells of his miraculous experiences such as witnessing the healing of physical wounds right before his eyes, missing space and time, and Native American rain dances.

We are literally connected with our external world. There is no difference between what is inside your head and what is going on around you. The mind is projecting a hologram of fluxuating energy that is designed to respond to every thought and emotion that the individual can create. Scientist have recently discovered that we can change reality by mere observation.

Dr. Quantum, The Double Slit Experiment
What the Bleep Do We Know!

Mr. Braden hypothesizes a new model of prayer. This model is new in a sense that it is unknown to the west, but in reality has slipped through the reflections of antiquity and safely landed in the present. The four suits of modern playing cards, the Tarot, and the four lettered name of God encompass this model for prayer. The formula follows as such:

THOUGHT + EMOTION = FEELING
FEELING + ACTION = DESIRED RESULT
(Thought + Emotion) + Action = Result

I have stated in earlier blogs the connection between Tarot and the ancient formula for prayer. Fire is thought, water is emotion, air is action, and earth is the final outcome

Gregg tells a story of traveling into the Himalayan mountains to find a monastery where he could learn secret teachings to bring back to the world. Finally arriving at the monastery, he begins to petition a meeting with the abbot. After winding down halls of chanting monks and wading through puddles of yak butter, he meets the abbot. He asks, “if you had one thing to tell the modern world, what would it be?” The abbot responded, “You must feel your prayers.” Feeling? Really? That’s it? That’s what I have been missing all this time? Yes.

"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. " Mark 11:24

Usually, our prayers consist of thoughts assigned to some arbitrary emotion. We may unknowingly couple our prayers with fear, worry, anxiety, etc. These emotions consist of lower vibrations and even though they do strengthen the power of the prayer, we may be unknowingly attracting outcomes that inconsistent with our desires. The single most powerful emotion that one can attach to any prayer is gratitude. The vibration emitted by the emotion of gratitude signals the universal energy to shape into the picture that we have formulated. It is like creating a mold for the future, and the Universal energy flows into the mold, solidifying into your own creative intention. In everything we do, we must be grateful. When we wake up in the morning, we must be grateful to live to see another day unfold. We must be grateful when we put on our cloths, grateful when we eat our breakfast, and when we get into our cars.

When we practice prayer and gratitude, the aura is bathed in light streaming from the chakras opening crown, heart, and root chakras to create a flow. When our energy flows, we are healthy, happy, and content. Stagnation causes disease and emotional problems. The ability to maintain a center of gratitude will also increase our ability to manifest destiny. Some may have difficulties maintaining any level of gratitude due to the severing of the emotional body from waking consciousness.

Connecting to the emotional body is easier said than done. From the time we are born, we learn to repress our emotions just to be able to function. Bright lights, cold air, strange people, being ripped from our mother and smacked on the ass violate everything we have known to be. These catastrophic events are repressed in the psyche, initiating a cycle of habitually detaching from emotion; debilitating our ability to see the self as it is. We live in a patriarchal paradigm that values pride, patriotism, sacrifice, and the masculine display of power. By reconnecting to our emotions in a healthy way, we change the paradigm from within, manifesting a world in balance of male and female.

http://www.formfunctionemotion.net/archives/2004/11/27/the-end-of-usability-culture.html

Reconnecting to the right brain is embracing the feminine aspect of our being. Honoring the feminine has more to do with being nice women and girls. It is an acknowledgement to the female within, the right side of the brain, the emotional experience. The Return of the Divine Feminine prophesied by so many indigenous tribes and pagan systems of faith is none other than the return of right brain thinking, balancing the dominating left half and initiating an understanding of co-creating reality.

Though many people say “grace” over their food, they neglect the single most important element to our survival: water. Why say grace over water? Water is a symbol of the feminine, emotional energy. The Star card from Crowley’s Thoth deck depicts the energy of the star spiraling energy out as water flows from a cup. This card is representative of the Aquarian age, a water sign with water as its identifying symbol. Maybe this indicates that the study of emotion and how it affects our future time lines may become very important in the years to follow as we enter the Aquarian age. Understanding water as a metaphor for emotional energy, we can visualize the thought of our prayers as the form into which the liquid emotion flows and solidifies.

According to Dr. Emoto, water is the most receptive of the elements. He conducted a study on the effects of thought/emotion on water. Water that is structured well forms hexagonal liquid crystals. Dr. Emoto found from hundreds of trials of independent experimentation that when the crystal freezes, the form developed is dependent on the thought/emotion projected onto it.

The structure of water dictates your body’s ability to use it in ways that benefit normal functioning and longevity. Danny Vitalis and Dr. Leonard Horowitz give much more background to this science and the practical application. ( http://technorati.com/videos/youtube.com/watch?v=V_hvLvS2dgY, http://www.drlenhorowitz.com/) Connecting to water is to connect to the emotional body. “As above, so below. As within, so without.” –Hermes “Thoth” Trismegestis

Dr. Phil says, “The Universe rewards action!” (Don’t persecute me for quoting Dr. Phil, he’s not half bad) When we act on our prayers, the Universe (the inner self) will go out of its way to bring us opportunities and situations that will manifest our desired result. Although the outcome is usually different than we imagined, it will more often than not, exceed our expectations doing everything it can to bring us abundance and prosperity. The Universe doesn’t want us to be miserable, living in a day to day struggle to feed our children. It wants us to be full of joy and wonder at creation. We live in heaven, but our collective psychological underdevelopment perpetuates a living hell: a prison. Our technology continues to advance at an exponential rate enabling us to travel into space, yet we cannot solve the riddle of unhappiness.

Taking all of these points into consideration, a simple prayer would go something like this, “Thank you (Jesus, God, Allah, the Universe, self) for my new job. I am thankful for the ability to maintain financial independence, care for my family, and purchase a new house”. Repeat the prayer often so that it sinks deep into the unconscious. I am not the type to formulate my prayers into words, so experiment, research, and gather your results. It only takes a few successes to convince the subconscious of a new reality pattern and open the flood gates of personal creation. Now take action! Your new job could very well land on your lap, but it would have a much better chance if you search for the job, schedule an interview, and then show up. Baby steps…baby steps…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattijn/192130947/

Accessing the 5th Dimension

As far out as this may seem, it is not impossible. In fact, you access the 5th dimension on a regular basis in your dreams and day dreams. We live in a three dimensional world and perceive a fourth dimension of time so that we may pinpoint a place in space-time with four coordinates: x, y, z axis’s and time. The fifth dimension lies right outside of time: the realm of thought. This mind is a powerful template of creation, communication, and problem solving. How many times have you been trying to solve a problem, or remember the name of a particular someone and you just can’t seem to grasp that which is just beyond the reach of your cognition? Then during some completely unrelated activity, the thought suddenly jumps into your head with no effort. This is because the mind works in a non-linear (outside of time) fashion as a hologram of information and experience. It is much more than it seems being that the unconscious (that functioning that you are unaware of) makes up for 99% of the total mind.

This exercise was written by Dr. Bruce Goldberg as a relaxation technique (functioning no different from shamans and wizards of old) and can be found on his website: http://www.drbrucegoldberg.com/Exercise1.htm .

Dr. Goldberg is one of the world’s leading authorities on past and future life regression, time travel, and the super conscious mind tap. All of his books are excellent and available on the website. You may use this exercise by reading through and quickly memorizing the major points to the technique and then meditating in silence or to some soft music. If you are not comfortable doing this, you can record yourself reading the script on the computer and play it back to yourself in a meditative state.

http://www.trwelch.com/pubs.html

Sanctuary Exercise

Sit back, breathe deeply, and send a warm feeling into your toes and feet. Let this feeling break up any strain or tension, and as you exhale let the tension drain away. Breathe deeply and send this warm feeling into your ankles. It will break up any strain or tension, and as you exhale let the tension drain away. Breathe deeply and send this feeling into your knees, let it break up any strain or tension there, and as you exhale let the tension drain away. Send this warm sensation into your thighs so any strain or tension is draining away. Breathe deeply and send this warm feeling into your genitals and drain away any tension.

Send this warm feeling into your abdomen now; all your internal organs are soothed and relaxed and any strain or tension is draining away. Let this energy flow into your chest and breasts; let it soothe you and as you exhale any tension is draining away. Send this energy into your back now. This feeling is breaking up any strain or tension and as you exhale the tension is draining away. The deep, relaxing energy is flowing through your back, into each vertebra, as each vertebra assumes its proper alignment. The healing energy is flowing into all your muscles and tendons, and you are relaxed, very fully relaxed. Send this energy into your shoulders and neck; this energy is breaking up any strain or tension and as you exhale the tension is draining away. Your shoulders and neck are fully relaxed. And the deep relaxing energy is flowing into your arms; your upper arms, your elbows, your forearms, your wrists, your hands, your fingers are fully relaxed.

Let this relaxing energy wash up over your throat, and your lips, your jaw, your cheeks are fully relaxed. Send this energy into your face, the muscles around your eyes, your forehead, your scalp are relaxed. Any strain or tension is draining away. You are relaxed, most completely relaxed.And now float to your space, leave your physical body and move between dimensions and travel to your space, a meadow, a mountain, a forest, the seashore, wherever your mind is safe and free. Go to that space now. And you are in your space, the space you have created, a space sacred and apart. Here in this space you are free from all tension and in touch with the calm, expansive power within you. Here in this space you have access to spiritual information and energy. Here is the space where you can communicate with your spirit guides. Your flow is in harmony with the flow of the universe. Because you are part of the whole creation you have access to the power of the whole of creation. Here you are pure and free. This is your personal sanctuary.

Stay here for a few minutes and when you are ready let yourself drift up and back to your usual waking reality. You will return relaxed, refreshed, and filled with energy. And you will return now, gently and easily. Open your eyes.

Creating Reality from the Sanctuary

The sanctuary is now your access point to a stable environment in the 5th dimension. This sanctuary is as every bit as real as the world around you. The more practice you put into accessing this space, the more the energy will stabilize and create a conduit of spiritual power for you to use at your disposal.

New age philosophy has been making mainstream ripples with the publication of The Secret. The Secret suggest that if you want something bad enough, you will physically attract the like. Although this is a good start to understanding the mechanics of intention, it is not an absolute formula for success.

The book explains the phenomenon as the Law of Attraction. Although there is a spiritual law that says, “Like attracts like”, there is no such Law of Attraction. This pseudo-law is actually part of a broader concept called the Law of Abundance, which takes more than whimsical wishes into account. Karma, literally translated as action, has an equal and opposite reaction (thank you Newton). By creating good karma, one can start a flow of positivity in their direction. The more good karma is created, the stronger and speedier the flow of abundance. Remember, once this flow is created, bad karma flows back just as fast and sharp. You can create good karma by having grace on people less fortunate than yourself. This includes volunteer work, donating to a charity or church (I would suggest you make sure you know exactly how your money is being used), or just helping someone in need. Helping people without telling them where the help came from can also be a very rewarding pursuit. If you are worried about doing good deeds for the sake of good karma, get over yourself. Just start helping out the people around you without expecting anything in return (money, recognition, or even a thank you) and let your new positive emotions do the work for you.

Here, we will learn how to create the “like” in the fifth dimension and let the Universe attract the physical equivalent while sowing good karma in this dimension.

Before entering a meditative state and journeying into the sanctuary, list a few adjectives and characteristics of the person/place/thing that you wish to attract into your life. This could be physical appearances, personality traits, job descriptions, pay range, color, shape, etc. Now that you have an idea of exactly what you want to attract, you may enter the dimension of the spirit world. It is not necessary to go through the deep relaxation techniques on every visit to the sanctuary. Your mind will become familiar with the routine and automatically go into a relaxed alpha wave state with little effort after practicing the relaxation technique a few times. Just begin meditating, take a few deep breaths , go to your sacred space of peace and meditate there for a few minutes.

Journey to your shamanic sanctuary and proceed with the following. Begin to visualize the physical appearance of your desired object. Try to really bring out the details of all the senses, how does it feel, how does it smell, etc.? Imagine this object as having all the attributes that you desire. After you have built the form of the desired object, fill the form with an emotion of gratitude. Feel gratitude for having this special object in your life and how it has enhanced your health and happiness. Really try to feel the energy flowing from your heart and surrounding the object. Hold this sensation/visual for a moment or two. Now shrink down this image and place it in your heart. Imagine the object in your heart turn to light and then slowly seep into every cell of your heart. and begin to radiate throughout your body. It encompasses your whole body, then bleeding into the aura and then the entirety of the Universe. The light is now radiating from your heart out to the furthest corners of the Universe, pulsating and breathing with life. After a moment or two of pulsing light from your heart, slowly return to the sanctuary. Thank your guides (God, Jesus, Allah, Universe) for helping you manifest your desires and guiding you through the dense earth plane.

Stay here for a few minutes and when you are ready let yourself drift up and back to your usual waking reality. You will return relaxed, refreshed, and filled with energy. And you will return now, gently and easily. Open your eyes.

This is a new day in your life. You can take control. You can change the channel. You are creating reality.

Graduation Ceremony 2009

Final year (Middlesex University) students should start doing something after their examinations, for their graduation purpose. The venue of the graduation ceremony will be held at Middlesex University (Hendon Campus) in London, UK, from 6 - 10 July 2009. Here are the procedures:


Caption: entrance of Middlesex University


Caption: an image of Middlesex University, Hendon

Step 1. Fill the forms (for graduation purpose) that the university has delivered to you by postal, and submitting back to them by posting the forms back to them at the address given. In the letter, you may request to purchase additional tickets (every graduation candidate are allowed to purchase only 2 entrance tickets to enter the graduation hall - £ 20.00 each ticket)

Step 2. Date and time of the your graduation ceremony: please look at the graduation ceremony schedule (date and time) by clicking in the links below according to your programmes of studies:

School of Arts and Education

Middlesex University Business School

Institute for Work-Based Learning

School of Engineering and Information Systems

School of Health and Social Sciences

Step 3. Check if your name is listed on the list of graduation 2009: click " HERE " to check your status (graduates who do not receive an invitation from postal by 30 April are requested to inform their School Student Office). Click " HERE " for FAQ.

Step 4. Ordering your gown: click " HERE " to order your hood and gaun online 21 days before your convocation (I am not sure if the same link would allow u to choose graduation picture packages since this process has been changing from time to time. Sometimes, students can only make payment for photo shooting on the graduation day itself).

Step 5. Request a letter for your family / relatives attending your graduation ceremony: please send an email to graduation@mdx.ac.uk Students have been advised by Royal Mail that letters take approximately 2 weeks to reach UK addresses, 4 weeks for addresses in Europe and 8 weeks for the rest of the world. However, they advise students to use their own knowledge of postal times to their home countries.


Caption: the main building


Caption: the £ 17.5 mil Sherperd Library

The below are descriptions of Academic Robe and Colours:

Foundation Certificate/Certificate/Diploma/Advanced Diploma/Diploma Advanced/Certificate of Higher Education
These are identified by a black gown without a hood

HNC//HND
Holders of Higher National Diplomas and Nigher National Certificates of Edexcel will be wearing scarlet hoods lined with dark blue

Foundation Degrees
Those receiving Foundation Degrees will wear a black gown and hood partially lined with red and trimmed with an award colour. The colours are as Bachelors Degrees

Diploma of Higher Education
Those receiving a Diploma of Higher Education will be wearing a black gown and a hood partially lined in red

Bachelors degrees
Those receiving Bachelors degrees will wear a black gown and a hood partially lined with red and trimmed at the top edge with an award colour. These colours are:Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Music - WhiteBachelor of Science - Dark BlueBachelor of Education - GreenBachelor of Laws - Light BlueBachelor of Engineering - Purple

Postgraduate Certificates/Diplomas/CPE/DMS
Those receiving these awards will wear a royal blue gown together with a black hood trimmed at the top edge with powder blue.

Masters degrees
Those receiving Masters degrees will wear a royal blue gown and hood, fully lined in red and trimmed all round with an award colour. The colours are as Bachelors degrees with the addition of yellow for the award of Master of Business Administration.

Master of Engineering graduates will wear a black gown and a hood trimmed with purple.

Master of Fine Arts and Master of Design wear the same as Master of Arts


Master of Professional StudiesDoctor of Professional Studies/Psychotherapy
Those receiving the Master in Professional Studies degree will wear a royal blue gown and black hood lined in red. Those receiving the Doctor of Professional Studies or Doctor of Psychotherapy will wear a scarlet gown with sleeves, front faced in red, with grey bonnet.

Research degrees
Those receiving degrees based on research can be identified as follows:

Bachelor of Philosophy: Black gown with narrow strip of red on front facing.

Master of Philosophy (MPhil): Royal blue gown with a strip of red on front facing.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD): Scarlet gown with the sleeves and front faced in University red.

Honorary Degrees, Doctor of the University/Master of the University
Doctor/Master of the University Honorary degrees are awarded to those who have contributed substantially to public life and who have had or in many cases, still have, a strong connection with Middlesex University. Doctors will wear grey gowns trimmed with University red and a grey hood edged with red. Masters will wear plain grey gowns, grey hoods lined with University red and grey mortar boards.

The picture below is a depiction of the graduation day at Hendon.


Caption: the quadrangle in the main building

Good luck and hope to see you in July 2009!

Baby Hamper

Been extremely hectic in the past few weeks. Students (a total of 223 students) have been submitting their work to me electronically and I have to submit their results to my supervisor around mid of May :S Their coursework is simple, but their writting makes it difficult for me to understand. There are some friends who have send me some messages, telling me the exams questions that they got in their exams are not difficult. I hope this would makes them feel ease and relax and to do better in the upcoming exam for other modules. I am expecting to see some first class in that case :)

I also know some students will be having their exams from May 01 - 13, 2009. Again, best of luck to you, and hope to see you in your graduation in July 2009. (Please also bring your student ID and some pen for your exams).


Caption: diamond rings in Poh Kong

Anyway, I am getting one day break for myself before continuing to read and write again. Although this is random, but I found it exciting, snapping a picture to share it with everyone. Well, a diamond ring by mean will not represent anything special since you may have seen every female wearing a diamond ring anywhere. What makes me feel special with these diamond rings is, the price of that particular ring. There is this ring (I think 3.5 carat) cost RM 181, 998. I am not familiar with the carat calculations but based on the calculation in google, one carat = 200 milligrams in weight. Again, I would still prefer to invest that RM 163, 998 to buy a property for my wife and investing the remaining RM 18,000 (which sum up in RM181 K) in a diamond ring :)


Caption: the baby named Enoch

In the past few weeks, one of my dad's best friend called him up, telling him his wife gave birth to a child. The baby is a male. Congratulations to both of them. However, his wife ended up staying in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) for several days. Her husband claimed that she has been bleeding for few hours continuously. Due to that, she was sent to the CCU (Coronary Care Unit) later for further monitoring. In brief, the ICU is a specialized departmentin hospitals that provides intensive care medicine. Any patient who was asked to stay in the ICU department is considered as at high risk when their life considered risky at that moment. The CCU is a department in hospitals that will intensively monitor and taking care their patients (normally) with critical heart attacks. He has briefly explained that the lack of blood in her body had caused her heart to suffer.

Their baby is really cute. They name him Enoch (I think). Enock is a name given based on the bible by a father in a Catholic church. His mother gave birth to him in seven months, so he is still at a very weak condition. Thank god his mother's condition is fine, and staying at home now.


Caption: baby and clothings department in a supermarket


Caption: Liz and my sis getting excited with baby clothes

My aunt suggest to buy the baby a hamper. She explained that it would be better to give the couple a baby hamper for their baby. She said the hamper should have some clothes, etc. in which the baby can use them daily. Well, what she said makes sense but guess what, how much should a baby hamper cost usually when a baby's top and bottom itself cost around RM 20+? I can see both Liz and my sister were playing happily with the baby clothes. They seemed excited with jokes and laughter when walking around the baby department. Hmm, probably discussing their future plannings? :O


Caption: puppy doll and I

They offer to snap some pictures for me when we saw this puppy doll. They say it looks like me :( Although I were born in the year of a dog, but how can they say I looked like the puppy doll when I looks much cuter than it :D lol (just kidding). Anyway, we went to other shopping complex since my mom dislike the design of baby hampersin that earlier shopping complex. She plan to buy the baby products (shirt, pants, mugs, etc.) and wrap it externally.


Caption: grandma is posing :)

So, we went to Anakku. Anakku is a very popular company selling baby products and accessories, such as apparel and toiletries, disposable diapers, feeding equipment, toys, accessories and gift sets. The price of their products can be expensive due to brand name (i.e. the same size (40 inch) television selling much more expensive from SONY than Panasonic). The last I heard is that Disney has merged with Anakku in baby products.


Caption: grandma and I

They have spend some money on wrapping the hamper on that night but the outcome from the wrapping does not give me a feeling that the hamper is expensive lol. Probably the ladies working there are not good at wrapping and / or were rushing back home on that night (approximately 10:30 PM).


Caption: aunt performing some live demonstration

My aunt suggest that lady to make a nicer flower with the ribbons (yellow and blue). She said the design of the ribbon flowers were insufficient to attract her lol, and have demonstrated her artwork to the workers over there with their ribbon. She made some really nice flower in less than few minutes. Maybe this is her area of expertise lol.

Laundry Soap Results

Ten days ago, Pamela and I made our own dry laundry detergent from a very simple recipe. I washed the first load with 1/4 cup of detergent and was amazed at how well it cleaned the coffee stain from the table cloth. Since then, I have gradually decreased the amount to one tablespoon. Today, I washed two loads of clothes, some of which were stinky from hanging out at Striped Bass Festival in eighty-degree weather. I smelled the sweatiest clothes from Saturday and caught a whiff of nothing but the fresh air in which I dried the clothes outdoors. Once we attempt the ultimate test (washing Steve's running clothes), I will post the results!



Besides getting the laundry clean with fewer chemicals, we got a lot of mileage out of the activity. While making the detergent, we measured dry ingredients, added, shared the experienced through declarative language, attended jointly, worked on life skills, added a vocabulary word, and practiced nonverbal communication. Last Tuesday, I gave Pamela some ratio problems in which she calculated the cost of each ingredient in the recipe to calculate the costs of 2.25 cups of laundry cost and finally got the cost of doing one load of laundry, assuming 1/8 cup of soap per load: 7.3 cents. Through experimentation, I now know that we can get by with 1/16 cup of soap (or 1 Tablespoon), which is only 3.65 cents per load. With her eye for patterns and her orderly mind, Pamela is brilliant at doing ratios by the way! We also uncovered a gap in her learning which I will fill in down the road: rounding.



Now that Pamela has enough syntax to speak in complete sentences (thanks to the association method), she is working on being able to narrate orally an episode of her life coherently, reflecting on feeling and meaning. One way we do this is by watching a video of the event and making declarative comments while we watch. At first, Pamela struggled because she wanted to get by with power words, rather than full sentences. Because personal pronouns I and you are so confusing, I scaffolded our use of them by pointing and introduced we, which we have not addressed in the association method yet, because Pamela tends to replace we with they in sentences. Pamela did not remember the new vocabulary word grate from the activity, so I heavily spotlighted it while we watched the video. At first, I scaffolded her need for longer processing times by pausing the video. Once she felt competent, I stopped using the remote controller.

The video of us watching and talking about making soap shows how to work on language without heavy doses of prompting, praising, and drilling.


In the video below, Pamela narrates the episode in one shot. She even attached a feeling to the experience: "it was yucky"! I used that as an opportunity to explore other yucky things for her and told her what I found yucky (plastic bags). I came up with meaning for her (even though things are yucky, we can still try).



I typed Pamela's final narration in Word, which reported that it contained 42 words, 5.2 words per sentence, at a 0.7 Flesch-Kincaid Reading Level. Not only that, Pamela sequenced her sentences well, included the two vocabulary words I spotlighted (we and grate) and attached feeling to her narration:

First, we had the soap. Second, we grate the soap. Third, we had the Borax. We poured into the bowl. We put the cup into the box. Then, we helped the baking soda. Then, they stirred the baking soda. It was yucky.

Great American Frontier Show

The kids and I have read through Ambleside Online's Years 1 through 6--almost, for Pamela, that is. When we started doing Relationship Development Intervention, I slowed down her academics so we could spend more time on filling in developmental gaps holding her back in many areas. In spite of a very busy eighteen-hour period, Pamela managed to enjoy a trip down memory lane, recalling our favorite AO books, at the Striped Bass Festival's Great American Frontier Show (whose owners recently moved from New York to Lynchburg, South Carolina).

On Friday night, Pamela and I joined some friends for a middle school production of High School Musical and hit McDonald's for a post-show snack. I am not sure how well Pamela followed the plot of a show we have never seen because it revolved around cliques, prima donnas, underdogs, and back-stabbers, something foreign to her experience. She enjoyed the show and singing her favorite i-Tunes in the car. I loved chatting with my friend Carmen, a fellow mom facing autism, and her adorable daughter. I guess we will find out Pamela's take on the popular Disney show this week when Pamela and I narrate what we did this weekend!

Saturday morning, Pamela offered to join me at the finish line of the 10K run to cheer Steve to the end. Somehow, Steve took a wrong turn and ending up finishing the 5K instead. From what I gather, he was not the only one! His pacing was all wrong for the 5K, so he leisurely stopped to reward Pamela with a peck on the cheek before heading off to get his time. Then, we headed over to our seats (lawn chairs we had strategically placed in a neighbor's yard) to watch the ninety-minute-long parade.

To Pamela, the best of the best of Striped Bass Festival 2009 was the frontier show. We paid a dollar admission each to see the timber wolves (The Call of the Wild), black bears (Gentle Ben and The Bears of Blue River), and cougars (Pa's story about Grandpa in Little House in the Big Woods Book). We did not have a very good view of the show involving these animals, but what I could see by snapping pictures from above the crowd was fascinating.

Pamela loved the petting zoo, getting a little frustrated at the ram who would not eat ("Aw . . . Come on!") and loving the critter who did eat from her hand. Behind the lambs, sheep, rams, and goats were four big creatures on display. Pamela tied memories of books to every single one of them: Texas longhorn (Little House on the Prairie), camel (How the Camel Got Its Hump and Noah's Ark), bison (Tree in the Trail), and donkey (Brighty: Of the Grand Canyon).

Our view of the horses and trick riding was fantastic and memories of our favorite horse books by Marguerite Henry (King of the Wind and Justin Morgan Had a Horse), Little Britches and his trick riding in The Home Ranch, and Pa's and Farmer Boy's teams came to mind! She even remembered the name of Justin Morgan's horse (Bub) from the book we read four years ago. Pamela giggled her way through the warm-up as you can see in the video and photo montage I put together, which we plan to narrate this week.



While the dairy display intrigued her, Pamela was too exhausted to stick around for the milking demonstration at two o'clock. We have learned to respect Pamela's very real need for down time. "Less is more," a crossroad where RDI meets Charlotte Mason, is how we avoid sensory shutdown. We happily headed home and then I sneaked off to the library used book sale where I had the find of a lifetime: seven Tolkien books in practically new condition for only $3.50!

Oh, by the way, have I ever told you I was a geek?

Tamils, hate and love

I still can remember....
Shocking news of the murder of 13 soldiers by Tamil separatists in Jaffna, hit us like a bomb. That was July 1983, well known as Black July.

People were on to the roads in no time to share their opinion and mostly their anger. Amongst them was me as a 14 yr old with my father. 

No body had heard a news like that before. Sri Lankan army was never challenged in that way. It was unbelievable. How dare the Tamils could do such a thing! There was no doubt whatsoever in anybodies mind. The culprits should be punished and punished heavily!

For the first time I saw Tamils as enemies. Most of the other people did too. 

As a result came the riots and people took the law into their hands. Generations of friendships amongst Sinhalese and Tamils were forgotten within minutes. Tamils were punished on sight. No body was spared, irrespective of there social states. Scores of innocent people payed the ultimate price with their lives for the sins which were done hundreds of miles away by some unknown people.

At that time I believed that Tamils were getting what they deserved and didn't have any sympathy towards them. Looking back I feel ashamed of myself for even thinking like that. 

Since then I have come a long way . So has the country too. Today looking at the Tamil IDPs our attitude towards them is totally reversed. Brings tears to my eyes when I see how much they have suffered. Nobody is spared. All of them look like walking skeletons. Deprived of all known basic needs in life. Ironically this time around they've been punished by their very own people who were once upheld as there patriotic saviors.

Instead of hate,love and sympathy is what we have towards them today.They are not our enemies any more. 

Lessons were learnt.Time to put the things right. Everybody is ready for a new country. A country where all can live in harmony.Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims all as SriLankans.

Busy

Student's have been submitting their courseworks to me electronically, and therefore, I am entirely out of time to even post something on blog. This would probably take me a week to update the next post. The next post would be a long and, hopefully an interesting post to you. However, it would consume some time to compose such long post. Therefore, please be patience for the next upcoming post.

I would also like to wish all students ''Best of Luck'' for their examinations starting this week. Fill your exam papers well, and make sure try to write your answers as much as possible, and not leaving the paper blank before submission. Please also remember that lecturers will not penalize your grades, instead giving you additional marks to anything that you have written on the paper, as long as it make sense to him. Please also REMEMBER TO BRING your (1) student ID (2) a few pen (3) pencils (4) liquid paper if necessary, and most importantly, be on time for exam.

For students who are graduating soon (Middlesex University), and whose parents or relatives will be attending their graduation, please send an email to 'graduation@mdx.ac.uk' to request a letters from the school, stating that your relatives will attend your graduation this July. I heard it is difficult to get through the immigration officers in the UK without that particular letter from the university.

Again, work hard for your exams!

How would you judge me from the article below?

A friend of mine send me a list of Horoscopes and telling me that this guide look's so real to her (reflecting to her attitude, characteristic, behaviour, etc). Well, I do not know how true it can be, especially for mine since other friends told me only around 50% of the aspects mentioned in the horoscope guide is accurate. This means the other 50% is not accurate. I am a scorpio anyway:

Caption: Scorpio

Caption: Horoscope: Scorpio

A man with a foggy clouds over him. He is sensitive and easily hurt and always feels lonely. He does not trust anyone but himself. Sounding so negative, but he has an amazingly charisma. He is a compassionate man . He absorbs other people sentimental feeling and pain. He is a good psychiatrist and he could understand complex and confused feeling. He has a hidden power that he could use it to make things happen and do things well. He does not like people who never try to help themselves before asking other people for favors.

He is the type of guy who mostly achieved his goal in life.Once he sets his mind for something, he will put all his energy and efforts in it , whether or not it is a small matter or a big project. One of the most success man in all the Zodiac. He is a very patient man and can waits for years to reach his goal. He hates thin feeling and weak determinations. He can not retreat or rest for long, for he thinks life has more questions and more answer to be searched. If he is in love, you will get plenty of love from him, sometimes may be too much than you have asked for. He is serious about love and relationship and will not waste time with someone he does not love whether how pretty she is. He hardly makes mistake. He could tell if you have any bad thought, and will not hesitate to tell you so. If you do not like straight forward sincere man, then pack your bag now. If you are an over sensitive person, try not to ask for his comments. He will tell you the truth, even you might not be able to take it. Example , if you ask him if you are fat (and you are fat), he will say 'yes, as big as a balloon'. He makes such comments because he cares for you, so do something about your weight and do not get up set with him. If he says 'you look pretty today', you can be proud because he will not say such think just to please you if he does not really mean it.

There will be both kind of people, those who like him and those who hate him. If you are in love this guy, be strong and belief in your decision, do not be vulnerable. He remembers all his anger and will wait for his pay back time. He is very serious about your promise, do not promise something you could not keep. He loves his friends and will do anything for his close friends. He likes you to take care of him, but not in front of his friend. He is a complex man and you will never understand what he means if you do not really know him. He is happy to know he is a complex figure. When he is thinking or when he needs his privacy, you should give him some space. He memorize everything well. You may say something that you already forgotten, but he will remember every words. He wants to be respected and admired and at the same time he does not like people to have power over him.

When he falls in love, he really falls deep. A man in this Zodiac once in love, he will be sweeter than sugar. He does not like a plain and simple woman. A complex woman's mind is his venture. Always be interesting and able to talk to him about every things in any subjects. He does not like a woman who sits around waiting for his call.

Challenge Your Brain to Learn Spanish

"Does it matter when, during the day my Spanish lessons get the greatest benefit from brain plasticity at night?" Lisa Haneberg asked on Twitter. I answered, "the brain is more likely to work on last things in your mind just before bed. Give it problems regarding your Spanish and it works on solutions overnight."

Since you and many business leaders learn Spanish and other languages, you'd be interested in additional brain based tips to enhance the process and your retention.

Think of words as belonging to clusters of meaning Daniel Tammett, a savant, offers savvy tips about learning a language in Scientific American Mind (April, 2009).

For languages, I think of words as belonging to clusters of meaning so that each piece of vocabulary makes sense according to its place in my mental architecture for that language. In this way, I can easily discern relations between words, which helps me to remember them.

Sleep strengthens memory and learning

"Sleep consolidated learning by restoring what was lost over the course of a day following training and by protecting what was learned against subsequent loss," said Howard Nusbaum, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago...The results demonstrate that this consolidation may help in learning language processes such as reading and writing.

Sleep boosts ability to learn a language. In an earlier study University of Chicago of Chicago professors found that...

Ability of students to retain knowledge about words is improved by sleep, even when the students seemed to forget some of what they learned during the day before the next night's sleep.

Teach Others As you Learn for Higher Rentention Dr. Ellen Weber shares a learning pyramid which shows that when you teach others Spanish as you learn it, you will retain more. What about volunteering to help teach an English as a Second Language (ESL) or English Language Learner (ELL) in a local school or local Chamber of Commerce? It would help you and help a Spanish speaker learn English as you gain the kind of proficiency you desire.

Stretch past what you think you can do and brain rewires The more you work with the Spanish language and use it in many contexts, the more your brain will rewire for using it. Lisa had mentioned this in her initial Twitter message. The brain has great plasticity, as Dr. Ellen Weber points out, enabling you to push forward and achieve new goals such as learning a new language.

Invite a Spanish speaker to your home for a meal. By extending hospitality to someone who might live in your vicinity, you may develop a relationship so that you are invited into that person's home. You will then get a good grasp of the culture, which may include music, art, and learning about the things they value. This enhances your language learning.

And here's an added benefit to you for pushing yourself to learn Spanish, Lisa...

Learning and using a second language can slow the aging process in your brain Senior citizens who speak more languages test for better cognitive functioning.

A person who speaks more languages is likely to be more clear-minded at an older age, Dr. Gitit Kavé, a clinical neuro-psychologist says, in effect “exercising” his or her brain more than those who are monolingual. Languages may create new links in the brain, contributing to this strengthening effect.

Lisa, you can see that your answer deserved a bit more depth. Added to your studies through Rosetta Stone, these activities should boost your brainpower to learn and retain Spanish.

Folks, if you know other strategies that work well to learn Spanish or any new language, please do share.

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