Circumspecte

Hi Everyone, Ok, most of you know me, some of you probably don't. But it's never too late to make acquaintances. That said, I have been thinking about doing this for a while now, but have never actually had the time. Guess what? It's summer, I'm done with college, and I'm willing to do this with whoever is interested. By "this" I mean writing workshops. Yes, writing workshops. A number of people on facebook and off, have mentioned to me that they are interested in writing, but are not really sure about how to go about it. I believe that like everything else, writing can be a fulfilling experience...if you make it your own. Sure, there are general standards that are recommended like good grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure etc, but at the end of the day, you own your style of writing. That said, if anyone is interested in these writing workshops, just leave a comment below this note or send me an email at jabdulai@gmail.com, with your main email address...

Excerpt from Joanne Creighton's (Mount Holyoke College President) message to the College community on Swine Flu Prevention: "Frequent hand washing with soap and water when possible or use of hand sanitizers. Hand washing should last through one singing of "Happy Birthday." A JOY (Jemila-Otema-Yaba) Production: Please note: There are other ways to prevent swine flu, but the producers figured this is one of the most basic ones that everyone can partake in, hence the focus on hand washing. Contact your nearest clinic for additional info on Swine Flu symptoms and prevention.

So I'm supposedly *attempting* to pack. And I came across one of my lil' notebooks. Actually, about 4 years old now. And it's the book I wrote in when I was sitting in a Frankfurt airport terminal trying to pass 13 hours of transit time on my way to Boston and Mount Holyoke College! Amazing the things we say to ourselves. Check it out. Lol. (As for the picture....we gotta be silly sometimes). 3 years, 8 months ago...The start of my college experience. ------------------------------------------------------------- About 11:30am, Frankfurt As usual, when things get a lil' too unbearable, then one goes a-scribbling. I've been sitting here at Frankfurt Main close to 6 hours (!) now and God knows I'm even tired of waiting till 3:00pm when I can start the formalities for getting to Boston. Get this, I'm sitting in a seat which doesn't allow me much space to sleep (yea, and Mr. Jet Lag's decided to show up now!); I haven't eaten in eons (mainly cos I was...

So it's official! I'm done taking undergraduate classes! With exactly 8 days to graduation, there is a lot on my mind, and a lot I would love to share about this AMAZING journey. But, everything's a brewing storm of emotions at the moment, so I'll wait until after graduation, when everything seeps in, and then I'll make that post.  For now... I absolutely adore Paulo Coelho. His books are so inspiring, real and simple. I love the simplicity of his writing and I am always motivated by his words. I came across one of his works, and apparently, there's a free download of this one "Maktub" and some of this other stuff on his official website:  http://www.paulocoelho.com/engl/dow.shtml#ingles   Here are some of my favorite exercepts from his work "Maktub" (which means "It is written" in Arabic.") They are a whole bunch, so I will post them in installments of ten. Enjoy! 1. Do not always try to be consistent.  Saint Paul, after all, ...

Dear Diary, I’m sitting here and finally packing all those school stuff away. I should be overjoyed….generally, yes. I haven’t lost my head yet…..but I’m just thinking. Thinking how much I assumed school to be another avenue by which my peeps could make my life miserable. School sucks! How many times haven’t I heard that? Well for the most part, I’m afraid it’s true. The teachers were sometimes (ok, a little more than sometimes) “yawa”. Always last to class but first to the DC.  Oh yeah, sure punish him if he does wrong but don’t notice if he’s making A’s .  It’s amazing how some of ‘em played security men so efficiently and yet, were so inept at teaching. If it weren’t for my possies and a couple of my teachers, it would have been hell. We had to survive on uneatable “gaso”, “bolus” and tampico. But Mama Tess sure could cook some mean rice at “goase”. Sports and entertainment was also tight, at least it made you forget the wahala for a lil while. But hey, if we made it through that, w...

Dear Diary, I daresay that this will be my shortest entry ever! I went to school, had a great day and came home. End of story. Okay, okay- as if its ever that easy with me- a whole bunch of stuff happened today. And I’m telling you, every single one of them were mere coincidences. I had nothing to do with them….at least not directly. Here’s what happened: I walked into History class today fashionably late. And I do mean fashion-ably late. Even Mr. Chizuyika who has absolutely no fashion sense can vouch for me on that one. I was looking oh-so drop-dead gorgeous that he actually dropped his chalk. He then proceeded to make such a fuss about my “habitual” tardiness to his class. Who can blame me? 8:30 am on Monday mornings is a little too much don’t you think? And besides, I’m sure the fuss he made was just a cover-up for him dropping his chalk at the sight of me. He does have a reputation to protect you know! (As if) Anyways, for some strange reason, my IQ was on a negative-something tod...

Dear Diary, I just had to escape from all the chaos going on around me. We’re preparing for our annual speech and prize-giving day and the already-high stress level just increased by 100%. This term has been like so packed, I haven’t really gotten the chance to study. I wouldn’t be so agitated if it weren’t for the fact that exams is right after the speech day. Darn, that’s barely a week away. Sometimes I just wish I could stop everything. Stop being the President of the Writers and Debaters club, stop being the captain of the school basketball team, and most of all, stop being a student. Physics is already killing me as it is and now with the speech day and its numerous activities, I’m barely living. Even a zombie has got to have more life in it than I do right now. But when I think about Mum and Dad, my favorite teacher Mr. Atiaga and all those people who are expecting something from me, I just can’t drop it all and leave like that. I just can’t. Anyways, as always, you’ve made me fe...

Dear Diary, I reckon you’ve been restless with anticipation about the analysis of my trial period at work? Well, here it comes…. Firstly, I think I like the job very much! (Yea, so much such that I’m already dreading August when I’ll have to leave to go to school!) I mean, what more could a girl ask for? I’ve got a terrific boss, a great working environment, state-of-the-art facilities, interesting experiences to tell my grandchildren about,(don’t be giving me those looks, yea?), profitable usage of my time-I think I would have died from boredom if I didn’t have thins job- and of course, l’argent. I guess you’re pretty impressed with all the stuff I just mentioned yea? Well, sit tight cos there’s more…. Now, to the not-so-encouraging part. Work can be addictive! (O.k. maybe it depends on the kind of person you are; whether you’re… lemme stop before I branch into psychology. Lol!) I mean, I want to have the working experience AND I’ve kinda fallen in love with the job, so what do I do? ...