first of all congratulations for your exams and diplomas ...frankly lot of respect to you....
I have heard about the journey (think it was created by socrate's sons/philosopher...long ago) but i haven't tried it out as i thought it was "too slow" (visualisation are complex)
What i meant by the peg system (maybe that's not the right word ?) was the number/rime system (ie 1=> tie, 2=> noah...23=>name etc..
i tried it for my exams this year (waiting for results gulp...) but i also played a "game" with a friend of mine who had to do congnitive test about pair memorisation... memorized 100 pairs easily (average was 6 gulp...) I train quite regulary, it's getting easier each day and i just found myself having better general recall (even when i hadn't made any mnemonics) and i was wondering if you felt the same...