Pretty much often people get confused with simple words and end up with grammatical shortcomings in an otherwise good writing. Words that seem to convey the same meaning but not mean the same thing can spike all our writing. Have you come across such words? One word of caution though. Don’t take it personally. Any of us can get on the spikes if we are not careful about them.

Is it not common to use one word for another invariably without spotting the difference until somebody else pulls our ears? Let’s face it. This kind of mistake does often find its way in no less classy publications. Only the witty eyes will spot it.

I’m not a grammar specialist. I’m not a mentor. I won’t pretend to teach anybody. That’s not the aim of this post. I just want to share what I read from one of Nick Daws’ posts “Bad Grammar in a Holiday Brochure”. I thought his appreciation and advice about the use of words like “among”, “amongst”, “amid”, “amidst”, “between” are legitimate.

Nick has also been publishing quite a few books about writing and his latest gem is Essential English for Authors.

To your writing.

Alfa King Memories

It can never be overemphasized. Every word counts in writing. It is the words you put on paper that are the building blocks of what you want to present to the reader. Correct use of words and grammar are the lifeblood of your writing. Together they constitute the vehicle of communication between you and your reader. If any of them is misplaced or inappropriately structured you can guess where your well researched piece might end up.

It is not uncommon that you will come across two words with similar connotations that may be easily mixed up; and mess up everything. Will you be able at the first go to make the difference between them? That’s where I want to come up with this post. Hats off if you’re an expert. Everybody isn’t. Be careful. It’s always good to check whether the vehicle is actually conveying what you wanted to.

In my last post I hinted at some words in common use that can spoil your writing if you don’t pay heed. Those are not the only ones. There’s a lot more; we can’t spot them all at a time. As we go along, others surface up; they’re important enough to stop and ponder upon.

Catching up with my reading of some familiar blogs, especially those that focus on writing and tips about writing, I picked up another set of such words - Dissatisfied, Unsatisfied from Daily Writing Tips. Can you see the difference? Not alien words, are they? Take a peek and see for yourself. I still remember in one of the courses I followed about the theories of motivation I was at a loss whenever I encountered these words. Each time I had to stop for a while to make sure I had the right message. Funny, isn’t it?

The use of verb moods is another area that deserves we stopped by. The mood you use will indicate how you are expressing your thoughts. You’ll find useful tips and explanations about the four moods - indicative, imperative, subjunctive and infinitive - at English Grammar 101: Verb Mood. It’s a simple, practical and straightforward guide for beginners and perhaps a refresher for those who are still experiencing difficulty at some stage or other.

So the next time you write remember that no words or verb moods can be taken for granted. If you have other examples of grammar and word use, do share it here.

Alfa King Memories

Uuuhh… It’s the end of my tour. Do you still recall my first post from Rodrigues a week after my arrival here? Well, it’s already time to pack up. As from this evening I’ll be on hot ashes with the arrival of my relief, packing up of my personal effects and handing over procedures. My wife came some 10 days ago. After some quick visits to some sites she is busy doing some shopping so that we can bring little gifts for the close relatives. The specialities of the island are straw hats, bags, chillies, honey, lemons and pickles.

Six months have elapsed. I should say I had a cool moment, far from the rush and stress in homeland. I enjoyed the countryside, the seaside, the fishing parties and, most of all, my visit to Ile aux Cocos. The nice time I had with my son and a very intimate and special companion will ever remain as an unforgettable moment in my life. I have been here on several occasions. This one was indeed special. For the first time I visited the whole island and interested myself in the people’s way of life. And you know what? I had so many visitors, which made my stay really enjoyable.

This morning I conveyed the bulk of my personal effects for shipment. I’ll have to leave my car under the care of my relief to ship it back next week. The boat is expected on 10 August. Back home I’ll have to do without my car until around the 13th on the return of the boat to Port Louis.

I am sorry for having been irregular during the past month. I hope to catch up as soon as I’m settled at home. Until then take care. See you.

Alfa King Memories

And you know the time it takes to get the whole thing fixed again, especially when you have a non-stop rain for nearly three days, from Tuesday evening to Friday morning. Just to give you an idea, the 24-hour rainfall on Wednesday reached a record-breaking amount of 250 mm in the central part of the country; and 270 mm at some places, which largely exceeded the long-term average for September.

The line was restored at last today, not without multiple complaints. Can you figure out having to do without internet for a whole week? Our lives have become so technology-dependant that even a slight breakdown amplifies our distress. I don’t dare look at my list of waiting tasks.

Anyway, when I came back from Rodrigues I went straight to my office the next working day. Usually after a tour of service we go on leave immediately on a priority basis, if we so desire. Instead I chose to have some vacation leave as from the second week of this month. I’ll resume my full time job in the second week of October. Plenty of time to recuperate and get settled. Right?

Ok. Now, what have I been doing? To be frank I was idle. So why didn’t I keep you posted? I have no straightforward answer. But I had to check back all my routine matters, banking, car insurance and road tax, utilities and the rest of other personal matters so that there’s nothing outstanding.

I also wanted to have a deeper look over this whole issue of blogging again. The break allowed me some time to go through my pages and readership statistics. It was a fruitful exercise and I came up with some quite interesting clues as to what they’ve been looking for. But there’s yet another reason for my absence: I was contemplating a change in the look and design of my blog. We’ll talk more about this in my next post.

Watch out.

Alfa King Memories

As I told you in my previous post, I had in mind to change the look of my blog. Are the same theme and the same design still appealing after some time? This question has been haunting me since a while. If for some reason or other we tend to resist change, I have a whole different view of this pertinent issue. On-going change, I believe, favours fresh enthusiasm and commitment at the service of the customer. We shouldn’t keep out of mind that what we are is what our customers want us to be. We have to live up to their expectations if we want to survive.

What are our readers looking for? They need to know not only what’s new but also how it’s new. The content is vital; the wrapping is even more. Have you ever halted a while in the shopping mall? Have you noticed people carefully choosing the wrapping material for their gifts? Why are they so selective on something that’s only going to serve as a cover or blanket only for the moment it’s handed over to the recipient? Once the gift is in hand they forget about the wrapper. Isn’t it? This is what I’d call the appeal factor. The stuff that wraps gifts is as important, if not more, as the gift itself. I hope advertising agents won’t contradict me on this matter.

New Hosting Service

It all happened when my webmaster told me he was in the process of making a new design for his blog. He was at the same time looking for a more reliable web hosting service for Wakish Wonderz. We had enough of the erratic service we were having.We’ve been discussing about this during the past months. He was determined for a change. He also proposed to give my blog a new look too. I agreed to that, and so I decided that I won’t resume blogging until all this would have been cleared.

Side Bar De-cluttered a bit

It took quite some time. That’s the “other reason for my long absence” I mentioned in my previous post. And we came up with this new design for Alfa King Memories. You’ll notice the new logo and avatar; a slight de-cluttering of the side bar; and the posts appearing only partly to allow more space per page. The archive has been moved to a separate page. Some items that I consider don’t make any difference have been removed. There’s still some more de-cluttering to do and we’ll tackle this as we go along. What do you think about it?

Forward with Determination

From the bold “first step which was the hardest” some 18 months ago, Alfa King is “forging ahead” with renewed vigour thanks to your support and encouragement. There’s a substantial growth in my visitors’ list; and I hope to have a still bigger number with posts that need to reconcile both readers’ interests and areas of expertise I feel better at ease.

So there you are folks. Keep visiting Alfa King Memories. There’s lot more to dig out and learn together. Feel free, as usual, to air any suggestions or thoughts through my comment box.

Alfa King Memories

While many people thrive with various slimming and weight loss strategies often at onerous costs, I chose the natural way, healthier and with no extra penny. Just do what you are capable of and don’t rely too much on the over-the-counter formulae which will do no more than deplete your purse, slowly but surely. So what did I do? Simple. No magic formula.

I adopted a health regime with respect to my bodily constitution, which I maintained after my return from Rodrigues. Believe me, as simple as it might appear, it worked. I made it a point to do the following on a sustained basis:

- walking (briskly at least an hour on each occasion) four to six kilometers;
- swimming;
- avoiding oily and fried foods;
- cutting down on rice and all that make heavy meals;
- favouring raw salads and boiled veggies;
- reducing salt content, and avoiding it altogether where possible; and
- above all keeping regular medical follow up.

One more thing: I don’t drink or smoke. All for a healthier lifestyle.

Interested in knowing more about how you can adopt a healthier lifestyle? Go back to my post “Five Rituals for a Healthier You”.

Alfa King Memories

The introduction of this measure however didn’t go without controversial voices from various quarters. Will the electricity charges go down in real terms? What will happen to those religious beliefs that attach special importance on birth dates and specific prayer times? Will it not impact negatively on the health of people with a disturbance in the circadian rhythm? These and many other questions are still not clear in the minds of the common people for whom it means no more that getting up earlier in the morning.

Mauritius has its own specificity with a diversity of cultural heritage. In the absence of prior study on the real impacts of this new system we will have to wait for the answers at the end of summer time. Let’s hope the government comes up with a comprehensive feedback on the practical implications of this innovation to find out whether these are in consonance with the main objective. Only then can it come up with a definite stand on the implementation of such measure in the future.

It’s worth mentioning that such measure was implemented for the first time in the history of Mauritius in 1982 when the MMM-PSM alliance won all the seats at the national elections. A spokesman who was Minister of Energy at that time said in a radio broadcast last week that it did indeed bring about a decrease in the electricity demand by 5% which was quite conclusive in his opinion.

Alfa King Memories

I was having dinner unusually late. My system was still on the old clock while we stepped into summer time last week. We tried old granny’s method, taking lumps of dry bread and rice, to get it out; no success. The bone was indeed stubborn. My son drove me to the hospital.

The doctor could not locate the intruder in my throat. “Sorry,” he said “you’ll have to stay.” I had no option. After the formalities an attendant brought me to the male ward. A nurse then brought me to Queen Victoria hospital at Candos for an x-ray. When I came back at the ENT ward it was already past 11.00 pm.

The ENT specialist examined me in this morning. “Lay down on the couch,” he said in a hard voice while he asked the nurse to bring the tools. “Tilt your head backwards and open your mouth.”

I couldn’t bear the presence of the forceps in my mouth. It’s nauseating and I was indeed uncomfortable. “Please understand that you must co-operate else we’ll need to resort to complete anesthesia,” said one nurse. “And this is not without risks.”

I started getting more apprehensive. But I controlled myself. I took a deep breath and relaxed. The surgeon drove the forceps down the throat after a couple of attempts. I yelled with pain. “How do you feel, Sir?” he asked.

I sat up and made a swallowing gesture. There was no more pricking sensation. “OK, you can go home now,” the surgeon uttered in a smile. He prescribed some antibiotics and painkillers. I was relieved to be discharged.

It was my first stay in a hospital. I always dread staying in hospitals. Those who’ve had such experience will tell you how uncomfortable it is to be amidst patients whining with pain and snoring at night, especially when you are struggling to sleep. And when you have to go for washing it’s yet another chore.

Any experience out there?

Alfa King Memories

As I write the death of one of our fellow-countrymen makes the local news headlines. He is one of the victims of the cold-blooded killings at Taj Hotel in Mumbai on Thursday last. As bank chief executive he was on official mission in India.

His wife who had accompanied him was luckier. She had left her room for the business centre when terrorists perpetrated attacks in the hotel. She was immediately brought to safer locations while her husband was still in his room. They exchanged a last phone conversation at around 11.30 am Indian time. No news since then until she was called to identify his corpse.

We also learned that the anti-terrorist chief in India was shot dead in an encounter. Several innocent people are reported dead following gun fires and bomb blasts. The target seems to be clear. Hotels like Taj and Oberoi are known to lodge high profile international travelers.

Attacks like this one reminds us of the September 11, 2001 episode of the twin towers in New York. The world is becoming ever more insecure. Terrorists seem to be everywhere and they can strike any time. No country can be said to be safe.

Is there any means we can identify and annihilate such moves? Can anybody find out why terrorism strikes? Is there a terrorism profile? How is it that the security services are not privy until the terror has occurred? We always have to indulge in fire fighting. Can the world come up with effective prevention strategies?

These and many other questions still haunt the minds of all people around the world. As silly as it might appear I am tempted to ask whether terrorists are human beings. Any human being worthy of his name cannot commit such cold-blooded killings without any particular motives. If there are motives, what they?

May be if we can go down to the source of these motives we might come up with some sort of explanation. And only then can we find possible means to bring terrorist attacks to a halt once for all. It’s not a one-person concern. Every body should be in as an anti-terrorist ambassador. Remember terrorists do not discriminate. Their hands are always on the trigger. They hit; and they hit hard. They kill. They act like robots.

Alfa King Memories

When I started this blog in March 2007 I haphazardly talked about writer’s block when I felt no idea would flow on one occasion that I had to write a post.  I was still a novice then. I had a daily writing schedule for my blog at that time. I took up this pertinent issue a year later at this post.

Today I came across an interesting post at The Write Place blog  where Shaun Fawcett says “You too can Beat Writer’s Block”. “Writer’s block is fear-based”, says Shaun. And he comes up with 7 secrets he has identified for beating writer’s block. I thought this post might be of interest to anyone in the writing world and I’d commend it.

Alfa King Memories