last article (proposed): SQU Horizon Newsletter - A Graduate's Burden

Below is the last article that I will be submitting to the Sultan Qaboos University's Horizon Newsletter. The reason is that they have terminated my services due to the return of their ex-English Language writer on a permanent basis.

Oh, well..

Nothing good lasts forever.

But, hopefully, there will be other opportunities in the future to come, inshallah.

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A Graduate's Burden

On December the 1^st and the 8^th of this year, the Sultan Qaboos University will have a ceremony of graduation. It is always hard in the beginning to start a long journey, knowing the uncertainties at hand, knowing that path is hard and never easy to follow on. In fact, there are some individuals who may fall apart along the way giving in to a different variable of reasons. But it is those that stick to the goals that they target who will always succeed, and succeed they shall prompting the inevitable stage of graduation to come and give them their hard earned rewards.

Those are the days that would start to define the type of men and women the graduates turn out to be in real life throughout their careers, and their practical lifestyles.

A series of developments will await these fine young men and women of our proud nation, a natural course that would always take them through the ups and downs of their lives; choices will be made, decisions taken and ultimately they will bare the fruits of their decision making whether they turn out to be good or bad.

This graduation ceremony will mark a step into the real world where no longer is anything of free service but anything they require will ask of them that extra mile to earn what they want.

No matter what field the graduate comes from, there will be a need to nurture the desire to become better at what has been accomplished so far. This need must be addressed through their work and career when and if they should get a job later on in life. They will need to push further and stronger to prove that they are worthy of such a position, not only amongst their fellow graduate colleagues but also amongst their peers, their co-workers, and at their jobs.

The Sultan Qaboos University has a reputation of giving birth to some of the very best graduates in the Sultanate of Oman, and it is the responsibility of future graduates to maintain that image and to also raise the bar higher in terms of respect towards this fine higher education institution.

A responsibility that is not easy to bare. But, if maintained then it would help in matters of future progress towards the generations to come.

proposed - TimesofOman.com: matters of consideration

Below is the proposed article that I am sending to the TimesofOman.com for publishing.

I haven't been able to write much on the blog because I am so busy with College and other personal matters. I hope you all can understand.

Let me know what you think of this article, though..

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Matters of Consideration

Take into account what is going on around the world of late. Look at what is rapidly happening throughout our world. Lifestyles have been changed, cultures diminished, and environments brought down to rubble over man's one desire of greed.

The one choice that we, as a younger generation have always thought of when we are children is what we'd like to do with the world when we grow up. Ironically, world peace seems to be the answer that most children answer back and plausibly so.

But is that behavior a reflection of the world that we are living in nowadays? Perhaps. But it is also a matter of perspective. For if one is to look always at the gloomy side of things then they will no sooner be depressed and sad themselves.

The matter at hand is the fact that we are indeed at a crossroad of decisions that need to be made, effectively and efficiently. A decision that would take into hand all matters those revolve around us. Such as the changing environment and scenery in Oman and how rapid the changes are taking place in terms of what effects they may have on us in the short and long term periods of time. A daily ritual that we have to go through everyday no matter where we are living because of the sudden rise in awareness of development in the country.

Population attitude is yet another thing amongst the issues that need to be looked at, with drivers on roads becoming more and more dangerous by ignoring signs and radars that are put on the highways and heavy vehicles overtaking each other in high speeds putting other cars and pedestrians on the road to danger is something that not only needs to be looked at but taken into very serious consideration.

While such matters are all only on a local basis, it is the belief that one should rectify one's own mistakes in order to start pointing out the mistakes and weaknesses of others around them to gain momentum and prompt a forward movement in ratifying the overall situation.

Dar Al Atta reading campaign gets featured

As you all may recall, the book signing session which I was supposed to be included in had been reported several times on this blog and I had mentioned time and time again that it was supposed to be featured within a bigger event to help raise money for a public library here in the Sultanate of Oman.

On Thursday, 15/11/2007, the Oman Tribune featured it in both it's online and hard copy editions, saying:

Dar Al Atta’a, a charitable organisation, will hold its inaugural ‘Let’s Read!’ campaign on Thursday from 10am to 6pm.

The event, aimed at encouraging children to read, will be held at the Jawarat Al Shatti (JAS) Complex in Shatti Al Qurum. The lead sponsor for the event is Bank Muscat. In addition to the hands-on activities for children, including story telling, poster displays, book making, book reviews by kids, favourite character costume parades, and puppet shows, there will also be a used book fair and a sale of T-shirts and bags. Several local guest authors will be there to read their stories and sign copies of their books. A help desk will also be set up to advice parents on ways to encourage their children to read.

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Link:

- Oman Tribune: Dar Al Atta' to hold 'Let's Read!' Campaign

proposed: SQU Horizon newsletter article - Oman's National Day

Below is the full text of proposed last article that I would write for the Sultan Qaboos University Horizon newsletter.

It is about the Oman National Day and its celebration.

I hope you all like it - please let me know what you think of it..

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In a country such as the Sultanate of Oman, one can only admire the progress it has seen in the last 37 years ever since His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said – Sultan of Oman – had brought the country from the limelight into a blessed development of ongoing renaissance; from the darkness into the light.

By focusing on future needed developments on wide scales whilst keeping an eye on the past his Majesty sought to bring the country up to par with the international community by providing health services for free; building educational institutions such as the Sultan Qaboos University; and providing modern day needs to a nation that never knew the existence of such modern yet practical solutions for the modern day and age.

The Sultanate of Oman has come a long way since the 1970s, and it still strives so by pushing further to make the country a better place to live in and a much safer and more educated haven for people to come and stop by. Such examples that can be admired through the very recent diplomatic Shura Council elections whereby thousands upon thousands flooded the poll stations to state their votes in a calm and orderly manner depicting only that this society is a mature one raised with self discipline on one hand and education in the other.

The Sultanate of Oman indeed is a place whereby newcomers can only expect peace and tranquility and where citizens will always find it a safe haven for themselves, their loved ones, their friends and families.

On a day like today – on the joyous occasion of the Sultanate's National Day – one can only expect that Omanis will always live up to the challenge; no matter how big or small.

Happy National Day celebrations to everyone…

apologies about book signing session

This post was supposed to come online two days before the book signing session.

So, I apologize ever so heartedly for any inconvience caused.

I got hit by some unknown virus which semi-crippled my movement for two whole days and ended up staying at home the entire period until the end of today (Thursday). Thus, canceling my book signing session (as you may well know now).

I am truly sorry that I did not post about this earlier but I just didn't come on the net at all except to send an email to the organizer of the event telling them about canceling my participation.

On the positive side, though, I was informed that there will be indeed a March 2008 session of the very same - maybe different activities - book signing session. So, I ask that I be put down for it.


I look forward towards that day..

book signing session update

Ok, so I reviewed what I got in detail about the book signing session and this is what I have so far - you'll notice a lot of things that I have mentioned before have been changed, this was due to the fact that I had only gone briefly through the document to know the major details. So please forgive me if you find it rather odd for the sudden change..

• Event to be held at Jawarat Al Shatti on Thursday 15th November.
  

• Timings: from 10am – 6pm.
  

• Aimed at children 4years to 9 years, but with participation of older children too.

• Objective is to create interest in reading and help fund a public library.
  

• There will be a raffle held to raise funds for the library project.

• Childrens’ Poster Competition of Book Reviews.
  

• Craft activities throughout the day.

• There will be included author book signings and readings.
  

• Literacy activities (listening, speaking, writing, reading).

• Prizes for best storybook character costumes.

• Refreshments will be available.
  

• Event to be advertised through media and leaflets distributed to schools.
  

• New and used books to be sold.

• Other items related to reading to be sold (letter snap, scrabble etc).

And that's pretty much what I have in information about the whole event. Hope you can all make it as it is for a good cause in the end and if you're not in it for raising the money, then just come along with your children or relatives for the fun.

Hope to see you there..

small update..

Sorry I haven't been updating as usual.

I've been terribly busy with lively matters that are simply too many to mention but I will draw your attention to some of them, though.

I have been asked to participate in a book signing session this Wednesday - 15 November, 2007 - at the Jawharat Al Shatti Complex. The session will have several other writers signing off their books as well as being included in an whole day event of a child's day whereby children can have fun and play in different activities. I will be posting more details and info on this as I have it as soon as possible.

I have restarted my insurance course at the College of Banking and Finance again after a 6 week break because of a health issue. And I have to say it feels good to break the routine after staying out of contact of the human world for so long. I hope it lasts long - this feeling, that is..

I am in the process of collecting material for my third poetry book, you may find some of the poems that might be published on the new blog Pens of Passion. I won't say which ones, I'll let you keep guessing.

I have also been asked to write one last article for the Sultan Qaboos University Horizon newsletter and then I'm off. As in, let off the hook for writing for them. It seems that they had made a previous arrangement for bringing back their old writer back into the limelight after having left them for a while only to come back and claim the same position. Which means that I am out of the picture. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. I am confident I will find somewhere else that would appreciate my writing, though.

And that's it I guess..

To-Do-List ...The Book

I think I may just get this book; seems interesting enough..

from (blogspot.com) to (.com)

I've recently acquired - with the help of Blue Chi - a (.com) address for Sleepless In Muscat.

So now, instead of having to point your browser to this www.sleeplessinmuscat.blogspot.com, you can directly go to www.sleeplessinmuscat.com.

I have done for this because I am beginning to get fed up with blogger's persistant maintainence and this would save me the hassle, plus I am planning to make big changes to this blog sometime soon to make it more of a general blog that would contain the updates for my other newly born blogs that you see on the sidebar.

If there's any problem regarding the feed or the website, please drop me an email.

Blue Horizon ... now open to general public access

I have worked a lot on this new blog and dedicated some very good hours to understanding how I could shape it to better integrate the Arabic language. Therefore, it gives me great pleasure to announce to all of you - ladies and gentlemen of the blogosphere - my very first serious attempt on an fully dedicated Arabic-language blog: Blue Horizonالمدى الأزرق

I am hoping that this blog will indeed prosper even though I have difficulties with typing out the language as I am not accustomed to it but I am willing to take the challenge and see where it would take me.

Have a look around into the blog, you may notice a lot of grammatical, as well content and theory mistakes - but, please bare with me by pointing them out through the blog. As you all know also I have a policy of not allowing anonymous comments. I apologize in advance for this inconvience because I would rather have serious commeters who have serious issues to point out rather than flood with me with their links, or 'fun' opinions.

Do tell me what you think of the blog - it would mean a lot to me.

Hope of Islam ... now open to general public viewing

After a long long debate and wait of having to think of topics and issues that surround the blog, I have decided to open up the blog Hope of Islam to general public viewing and access.

I trust that you will all treat this blog with the greatest of respect that you would give to anyone else since it is a blog that ideally relies on the topics of Islam and the fundamentals without the need to follow into any other sect.

Feel free to comment on it or leave any suggestions you may have..

"Oh My Stars!"

"Polly want a [censored] cracker?"

We're all brought up a certain way by our folks, and to say that we were brought up wrongly, would be, well – just, wrong. It is the environment that that influences this bringing up on our peers, and our sociable circle and thus, us.

The two types of environment that I talk about are the direct influence group (that directly influences our behavioral change through a certain time period) and the indirect influences (which influence through a certain means or group of individuals).

But where does the act of conversation fall into? Both, I would assume, because of strong influence both groups have on a certain talk module such as word of mouth, direct individual and group relationships and external changes imposed in an direct and an indirect way on both these groups.

However, talk conversations politeness have started going from the easy-going 'Oh my Lord!' to 'Oh, [censored]!' It has become widely common to use street swear slang in normal conversations as it is to wear a sleeveless and shorts in public by both genders.

What's more worse is that we have become more tolerant to the entrance to other street swear terminologies that we have come to not object on them by the excuse of 'being cool'; or 'taking in the trend'; or even 'grasping modern day art'.

Let's face it – the art of conversation is dying taking our very own traditional linguistic high values along with it.

small step for the Omani population - one giant leap for the detoriating environment

It's about time, that's what I can say.

Muscat Municipality has finally dug it's own head out of it's own trenches and looked beyond the matter of profit, and sheer dirt that is lying around it's own neighborhood by launching a small, yet, expandable, project about recycling paper waste in the educational system - starting with a number of schools.

According to the Oman Tribune:

As per the project, school books, notebooks and paper used in different student activities will be recycled. The project, in association with the Ministry of Education and the Omani Environment Association, will be first implemented in six schools in Muscat, in the wilayats of Seeb and Bausher.

Hopefully, in due time, they will expand this project to all the Sultanate of Oman and spread it not only just the educational system but on the public as well as other matters of recyclable content.

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Link:

- Oman Tribune: Paper recycling project launched

Patrol d'France to amaze Muscat on Friday

So you've heard of the Red Arrows (shown above). And you've probably been to their shows more than once if you're about as old as I am.

But it seems, this time, that on the occasion of the Omani National Day nearing - due on the November 18, 2007 - yet another airplane acrobat group has been invited to the Sultanate of Oman. The group is called Patrol d'France.

According to the small article provided by the Times of Oman;

The team has a rich history in air acrobatic shows.

On July 14, 1986, on the anniversary of the US Independence, the team presented a historic show in New York, which was hailed by the media.

In 2000, the team organised an Asian tour and in 2004 the team conducted over 45 shows within and outside France.

From September 24 to November 15, 2004, the team toured several Asian countries including the UAE, China, Malaysia, India and Jordan. The team members are famous for conducting adventurous flights.

The show can be seen above the Intercontinental Hotel in Shatti Al Qurum around 3:30pm. I am sure the place will be more than crowded by that time.

Have a go at it, enjoy the weather, the show and most of all - enjoy the fun of something you may have never seen in your life.

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Link:

- TimesofOman.com: French team to present acrobatic air show tomorrow