Summers and Blogging again

Summers represent a time of leisure, and an upside down routine common in Saudi, especially in the summer. Thus, this is my most active time on the internet, blogging and various online activities.
But due to my lack of consistency, laziness, inherent reserve and value of privacy I've found it a struggle to make much progress in my blogging endeavours.

I feel blogging is like those new year resolutions that you make every, only to fail by February.

Recently , after a very random google search, of something which was bugging me: the extremely annoying process of arranged marriages /rishtas  and potential mother-in-law interview of the potential daughter-in-law I came across a blog which expressed things that I had observed and would have liked to say so much better I was impressed and inspired to give it another go.

If you wish to check out the blog its:

http://mcpagal.blogspot.com/2011/06/how-to-offend-rishta-in-ten-ways.html

Fuel My Blog and Light my Fire!

The past few days I have been spending a disproportionate time on this blog. You may well ask what on earth have I been doing as there have been no new posts.
Well after I couldn't find my blog in Google search results even though I was searching the exact titles of my posts. I became a bit disturbed.  Previously, (think a year ago), after a bout of recent posting I could usually find my blog entries pretty high up on In Google search result. Apparently, blogs are growing faster than the world population and mine has been lost in cyberspace due to inactivity.

Hence, I am going through a blog makeover, new templates, new widgets, joined fuel my blog to encourage traffic, and general research on SEO and how to gain followers. I thought I needed a dummies guide to blogger, I discovered  blog like that and I found that even a bit difficult to follow, maybe because the blogger has been upgraded, but it made feel very stupid, once I get the hang of this I'll make a how to blog for non geeks.  Reading what's out there, in terms of writing style, technical ability, and content, both written and multimedia, it seems I have stiff competition.

Although, I can write about what is not being written, I am not sure I have the confidence to do so, and I feel like if by the odd chance an acquaintance comes across the blog they will easily know its me, and I'm not ready for that not yet anyway-maybe when I'm famous. An alternative way is to play the devil's advocate, but that's just not me, and knowing my luck will probably land me in some sort of trouble. 

Its very late so I think  I will just end from a quote from the film, 'Inception':

"Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange." - Cobb

 

 

Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella- SeriesBook Reviews

Yet another book review of sorts. Intellectual snobs be warned. I am not about to review any heart breaking ground shattering or profound books, I'm afraid I was in the mood for instant if somewhat fleeting gratification. (After reading 4 books by the same author in the space of a short time I'm now  bit fuzzy on the details)

This summer I finally got around to reading The shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella, as well as 'Can you keep a secret?', by the same author. What can I say? Embodiment of perfect chic-lit! If a book were a chocolate with caramel and nougat center it would be the Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Any girl that loves shopping can relate. Any quarter lifer stuck in a  so-so career can also relate. Any girl who manages to land find herself in socially embarrassing sitations, sometimes of her own doing can relate. To conclude, nearly any girl can relate, or at least laugh at Rebecca Bloomwood's shenanigans. As some one who has trouble packing- (think the night before the flight teary, hair-pulling, suitcase-kicking and weighing nervous wreck) I thoroughly enjoyed her travel packing dilemmas.

You don't want to put the book down, because you are enjoying yourself so much, and if you have the next one in the series you will jump at it.  But unlike books of substance you don't find yourself thinking about the characters or events and running through bits in your head again. But then again this is chic lit, a short and sweet affair.

Incidentally, I was looking for by the latest book by the same author Twenties Girl, at Heathrow Airport and I found out that the titles are slightly different. There are different titles for the same book  sold in the UK and US.The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic in the UK is sold as Confessions of a Shopaholic elsewhere. ( I thought that was only the case for  the first Harry Potter, which was titled Harry Potter and the Philosophers stone in the UK while it in the US it was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.)

I would really like to know why they feel the need to change the title, maybe its a legal issue. Do American writers/ publishers also feel the need change to titles of their books when they sell them in the UK and Europe?  Both of these are examples of British writers, but I guess the US market is far bigger and more important commercially, to warrant such a change when compared with the European market.

I feel I may have over-linked this post, but I am an amateur blogger, and I am trying to experiment with one new feature with each post maybe in time my post will improve in quality of content and formatting. Here's to hoping and having faith!

Summer Holidays in Saudi

I think I am one of the few people who don't particularly like summer holidays, I think they are much too long. This time the summer holidays in Saudi Arabia have been combined with Ramadan holidays which will result in a three and half month holiday. Woe to all teachers! Although the Ramadan holiday will be nice especially as it will be quite hot this year, I think they should have extended the school year to make up for the time that will be lost next year.

I think once the initial excitement wears off and you catch up on sleep and errands you get bored. Well, that's the case with me. I have had a few rather unpleasant summers..usually August ..so thats a time of year I can never quite feel comfortable with.


Optimist that I am ..and try to be, I will try and make this summer worthwhile instead of just letting the time slip through my fingers. I'm feeling quite restless so just may have enough motivation to get stuff done.

Mainly, I 'm dreading being stuck at home for the better part of three months. I really do need to arrange for a driver. (Women cannot drive in Saudi Arabia, my pet peeve with this country).

I'm Back

Hi
In case anyone has been wondering, I stopped blogging due to a very bad internet connection, due to a previous;y unheard of problem with the network card installed on my computer apparently it automatically changed the settings and this resulted in only the first page of any website being able to load if at all. Very strange. Anyways that took some time get fixed and by then I had obviously lost my newly developed blogging habit.
Well as the academic year draws to an end and I go on holiday, and will probably have more spare time on my hands I'll be blogging a lot more. I'm trying to at least get one letter publish in one of the local newspapers. need to actually sit down and write an email and compose before the topic becomes to out of date!

Queen of procrastination is another label that would suit me quite well besides being a dreamer.

I have always wanted to write a book,( 25 years old and I use always with such ease)and blogging was always a way to foray into the territory of literary accomplishment. To hone my writing skills and see what exactly I can write about well. After having read some chic-lits (yes its my guilty pleasure)I feel that I could do better job. Hmm alas maybe the critics or audience wont think so as I probably will shy away from references to sex etc. It would be chic-lit for the global market maybe target at young women living in the middle east/ south Asia brought up more conservatively but still having their own girlie enjoyments and pleasures.--Nothing like 'behind the veil' or whatever it was called ... It would be a breath of fresh air as most of the fiction or dramatized fact titles based on the middle east are banned and not something you would want to read if you were brought up here.Here I am generalizing about the majority.