Pepsi Street Skillz 08

The "Pepsi Street Skillz 08" event has been held in four different countries in the GCC; Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman at the same order. The objective of this event is to show off you street football skills in front of a panel of judges for a maximum of two minutes and the judges will score based on your performance.

The winners of this competition could get the chance to become a member of Pepsi Street Skillz 08, travel to Europe and spend time with Pepsi super stars and get free branded outfits.

The Oman "Pepsi Street Skillz 08" event was held on 27, June at City Center's parking lot. The participants had to register at 5pm and the event started at about 6:30pm. The event also featured the very popular freestyle group called SNK that usually performs in public events like these.

Although the event served the purpose and did what it said it would do, it felt very slow and not as exciting as I thought it would be. Not as many people attended as I hoped and I am sure the organizers felt the same way. And although the idea of having an event where you could show off your street football skill sounds fun, it really wasn't all that competitive and exciting.
How it worked was, there were three panels judging three different players at once and every player did there own thing. And every player was put at some distance from the other which means, you only get to follow one player at a time. And lucky for us, about 85%, if not more, of all the players couldn't do as much as kick the ball in the air without dropping it and that's pretty much it.

The only part which I actually found entertaining was when the hosts asked the audience if they had any talent that they wanted to share. They kept on asking for about 10 minutes with no response until these two guys came out of the blue and started rapping. I found that the rap was good and it had great beat (thanks to the DJ) but the accent was so funny that I kept on laughing the whole time. Even so, I admire the courage that it took those guys to come out and entertain us so I thank them.

I was hoping for more and I thought that the idea was great but I wasn't, personally, very much entertained and I eventually left early. Let's hope for more entertainment in next year's event so keep it Axem, don't let my words discourage you.

Here is a slide show of some of the picture that I took from there. Please give it a few moments to load.

Friendi Press Conference

I was invited to attend today's Friendi press conference on behalf of KnowledgeOman.com. The Conference took place at the Grand Hayatt Muscat at about 11 am.

Most of the questions were answered by Antti Arponen, CEO of Friendi mobile Oman. This is as much as I can tell you guys for now. I will be doing a full report on this in next week's KnowledgeOman.com front page update which will be on a Saturday.

For more information about the company, here are a couple of Blog posts by some fellow Bloggers who wrote about it (Link and Link). And here is a link to the official Friendi website.

The Omani Who Hits The Indian

Here is another odd story that has happened to me. One night while chatting with my cousin over IM, he sent this video of an Omani guy hitting this Indian shop keeper. Watch the video below then I will continue with the rest of the story.

I was shocked when I watched this video and even though I knew that the shop keeper might have been scamming them and might have been wrong, the Omani guy had no right hitting him.

Anyway, my cousin sent this video at about 9pm and after that, a friend of mine called and we went out clubbing. After coming out of the club at about 2am, there was a guy standing there in a distance with some other guy. My friend told me, "we are gonna go shake hands with these two guys and I want you to have a good look at the big guy's face". I didn't know why but I did.
After we left those two guys, I asked my friend about it, so he pulled out his phone from his pocket and played a video on it. And guess what, it was the very same video that my cousin showed me earlier. And he pointed at the Omani guy who hit the shop keeper and said, "that was him".

I stood there and thought about the odds of that happening. Then I went on to explain to friend what had just happened.
Things like these keep on happening to me always or is it just that Oman is way too small?

The Woman Who Picked Me Up: Part Two

This is a continuation of the first part which you could find by clicking here. Trust me, you don't want to read this until you read part one or it will ruin everything for you.

In the last post I stopped at when the woman shuts the door behind me so here is how it continues: The woman shuts the door behind me and I was a bit intimidated to be honest but before I know it, this woman brings me some papers and asks me if I could help her. I looked at the papers and it turned out to be a question sheet, the same exam which I've just came out from.
I asked her to clarify and she asked if I knew how to answer these questions, I said "yes, I do". So she started going question by question asking me for the correct answers to them and for every question that I've answered she goes to that man and give him the answers when he was also giving those answers to someone on the phone.
I asked that woman, "Is that your daughter on the phone that he is helping?". I knew that if they were helping someone, it would be have most probably been a girl since they could easily cover up while guys can't because of our clothing. The woman seemed embarrassed and said, "yes, it is. Don't embarrass me" with shame all over her face.
I later found out the the woman and the man were both the mother and father of the daughter who they were helping cheat the exam and in my part, I was giving them all the answers even those long article answers. I don't know if I was in some kind of a shock but I felt very obligated to give all of the correct answers and felt like it was a challenge. After giving them all of it, they thanked me and the woman drove me back to school.

It isn't over yet. In our way back to school, the woman asks me, "are you good at the other subject?" and I told her that I am OK. Then she took my number and told me that she might be calling me for the other tests and again, I said, "OK" like an idiot.
The test was the day after and at the very same day at about 12am, the woman calls me again and asks me if I am ready for the exam. I told her that I kinda am but not totally ready though. She said, "no problem, if I get the answers, I will send them to you via SMS but after you come out of the hall, call me so that I can come pick you up again so that you could help me".
That's when I thought to myself, what the hell did I get myself into?! Luckily, the exam was way too easy that the woman got the answers from somebody else so she didn't bother me on that day.

And as the days passed by when we had no exams for some time, I thought that the woman forgot about me but I was wrong. One day before an exam, she calls again and asks me if I am ready for it. And guess what! I said I am.
After the exam was done, she started calling me but I ignored her calls but she still kept on calling so I thought I would just send her some of the answers via SMS and luckily, that stopped her from calling.
I talked to her the day after and told her that I am not very good in all of the other upcoming exams and told her not to count on me. I thought that it was the best way to get her off my back.

It worked, she didn't call me to ask for any help but something even worse happened. At one night, about 11pm, the woman called me and just asked me how are my exams going. I said it was OK and all. I thought she was going to ask me for a favor or something but she didn't! that freaked me out. All she did was talk to me. And we talked and talked for about 45 minutes. Well, she did all the talking and I did all the agreeing just waiting for her to hang up. She started talking to me about her children, about how she was when she was younger and some other stuff I can't remember.
After she hanged up, I kinda felt bad for her. Maybe her husband and children don't listen to her because based on what I saw the other day, her husband was shutting her up pretty often and he tended to yell. So, I did feel bad for her but don't get me wrong, I didn't wanna talk to her again. I mean, first of all, it is so wrong in many levels and second of all, she was so boring.

But guess what, she calls again the very next day just to chitchat again. It went on and on until I told her that I need to go to bed. Then I added, "I will be traveling tomorrow with my family to Dubai so you won't be able to get me. Bubye!" and hanged up.
She didn't call since and I am happy that she didn't. I mean come on, the only decent thing that she could have done was at least introduce me to her daughter whom I helped, right?

Anyway, that was my weird story. There are a couple of thing that I learned from it myself:
1) Cheating is a very common thing here in high school exams especially with female students since they are all covered up and could easily wear an ear piece without getting caught.
2) Many parents here don't bother about the values that they teach their kids as long as they graduate and pass their tests. I am saying this not only based on this incident, I heard about things like this happening a lot before but never had it happen to me until now.
3) This is a bad indicator of what's to come in the near future. We need people who are qualified academically and with good values. If cheating is the way to success then can you imagine how things would get in a work place?
4) Never get in a car with woman who looks 40-ish!!

Combating the Summer Heat

Here is something cool to show you how hot it is getting here. This is an image of a candle that was in a room that no one is currently using and this is what happened to it.

It has melted in a very violent looking way and I just thought to myself, "I have to to take a picture of this!".

This candle was at the same hight as that pot but look at the difference now. This is heat in its finest, people. This is Oman the way we always knew it in the past.

After Googling a little, I found out that the melting point of an average candle wax is 55 degrees C at the minimum depending on the type. 55 was the smallest number in the list and all the others ranged between 60 to 65 degrees C.
Could you imagine that? 60 degrees C in that room? Oh god, what could have we done without today's air conditioners?

I would like to offer tips and tricks on how to combat the summer heat but the truth of the matter is, I really don't know much about. But I will share the little that I know and I hope that you could share whatever knowledge you've got. You gotta drink a lot of water, nothing less than 8 glasses a day to avoid dehydration and possible faint. The best way to do so is to make sure that you always have a bottle of water available when you go out or just hanging around the house. Become more aware of how much water you have drank so far and drink as much as you can even when you are not exactly feeling thirsty.
Another thing is to put on some sun screen when leaving the house. I don't do that myself but don't do as I do, do as I say (what my father always tells me). Make sure that your sun screen protects you against UV rays which may damage your skin and cause skin cancer in some cases.

I would like to hear about your experience with the heat and I am also depending on you guys to share more of your tips and tricks on how to combat the summer heat. What do you do and what do you advice? Please share.

The Woman who Picked Me Up

I've faced this weird situation once and I've been meaning to tell this story for some time now. I am glad that I could finally do so. And hopefully this story might teach you a lessons or two or maybe even give you some perspective on where Oman's future generation is headed.

So it went like this: I had just came out from the exam hall a bit earlier than usual because the exam was easy and so did a few of my friends. We stood in the end of the school wall outside to wait for our other friends to come out. After about 10 minutes of waiting, a car pulled over next to us and a woman pulled down her window. The woman greets us and then asks "which one of you guys is the smartest?" (in Arabic of course). We all stood there not saying a word and looking at each other. She asks again but then she stopped because she had an incoming call on her cell. She answers her phone then stops for a second and says to us "who ever is the smartest, get in the car" and proceeds talking on her cell.
Me, being the closest to the car... and being as nice as I am... I looked at the guys, walked to the back door of the car and said "See ya guys!" and winked at them.
So now, I am in the car and this woman is still talking on her cell and I wasn't sure exactly what she wanted. She started driving the car, she went around the school to the other side, continued driving for a distance and before I know it, we get into a house.
This woman is still talking on her phone so I still didn't know what was going on. And as we arrived at the house, she also finished talking on her cell and I asked her "what do you need exactly?" and she was like "come in, come in, I will tell you".
So I go into this two floor house and as I enter, I see this amazing stair case coming down from the second floor with place all lit up like I was in some ball room or something. The woman asks me to wait for a moment then proceeds to go upstairs. So there I was waiting for what might have been 5 minutes which felt like ages thinking of all the possibilities and what this woman wanted exactly. Then I hear people talking and coming closer to the staircase and now I hear people coming down the staircase but I wasn't able to see who yet. And in those few seconds, time was passing in slow motion.
Suddenly, I see this man who comes running down the stairs towards me. He was fairly dark, over weight and with a weird looking mustache. The guy was on his cell looking as if he is in hurry. He quickly says Hi to me and walks in a room that was beside me.
I waited there for a second and then the woman also comes down the stairs, walks in the room and asks me to come in. And as I entered, what seemed to be a living room, the woman shuts the door behind me!


The story is not over yet, obviously, but I have a couple of things that I need to do at the moment so, I will continue with the rest of the story tomorrow.
Make sure you don't miss it, it might surprise you.

Update: (Part Two)

The death of an Outstanding Blogger

I would like to pay my respects to one of Oman's best Blogger, Sleepless In Muscat and also known as Ali Al-Mehdi, who has passed on a few days back. and was only 29 years old.
Sleepless In Muscat was the owner of his Blog, sleeplessinmuscat.blogspot.com. Personally, I didn't know the guy and never met him. I used to read his posts on OmanCommunityBlog from time to time and that was the farthest I've ever known him. But he has been on the Omani Blogging scene for some time and based on the little posts which I read of his, he seemed like an amazing and intelligent person.
Indeed this is a lose to Oman and to the Blogging world. I wish him the highest of mercy from god and wish his family all the best.

Here are a few Blogs that spoke about Sleepless In Muscat's death. You may get a better idea of the kind of person that he was by going through them. Link, Link, Link and Link.

No More High School

I will give you a brief on how the exams generally went but as to how I feel about it, I think the video says it all.

We had 8 exams in a course of about 3 weeks. The exams were divided into two different groups.
(Group 1) had Islamic Studies, Social Studies, History and Geography all out in one week. Since Islamic Studies and Social Studies are mandatory, those are the only subject which I had to deal with in that group.
The two exams were very easy, even easier than last semester so I am hoping to get over a 90 in Social Studies and top 80s in Islam Studies because my teacher controls 40 % of the score and he doesn't like me very much (don't ask).
(Group 2) had English, Elective English, Biology, Mathematics, Arabic, Chemistry and Physics at the same order. English and Arabic are mandatory and I chose all the other subjects other than Biology which I absolutely hate.
The two English were, as usual, easy. A bit too easy. Too easy that I found that I had very silly mistakes that I over looked. Then came the serious stuff... The first Blow came from Maths which really destroyed my happiness about the previous exams and it continued with Chemistry and Arabic. I am not a hundred percent sure if I passed those exams but I am hoping for the best. The last exam, which was today, was Physics which came surprisingly easier than first semester but not easy enough for me to say that I did great. At least I know that I will have no trouble passing it.

There it is, a brief on my exams. Now, here is the video. I know I will regret publishing this video in a couple of days and think to myself "what an idiot" but it feels right now so enjoy!

I Am Back!

And finally! Oh, I miss Blogging so much. It's true what they say: "You don't know what you have until you loose it" or something like that... OK, so maybe that doesn't fit the situation here exactly but I felt like saying something wise.

Anyway, I am back and I am back strong. My exams are finally over so, I have all the time in the world for you guys. Well... maybe not all the time in the world, I mean, my exams ARE over so I will be celebrating for some time now until it's out of my system but I guess you can also consider my Blog posts a celebration. At least I would like to think so. OK, so you see, this is what happens when you feed on nothing but caffeine during the three weeks of your exams; you start talking shit.

Fwuu.. Now that I kinda got the urge of writing like a maniac a little out of my system (I wrote the previous paragraph in less than 20 seconds), I will start getting a little bit more serious.
Since it is the 25th and I haven't made any posts this month, I will try to make up for it by writing at least two articles per day for the coming five days which will make a total of ten posts before the end of the month. And I am not only making all of these posts just for the sake of making my archive look good and not have a month that looks dead (although that's partly the reason) but because I have a lot that happened that I want to share with you guys. From my exams to a story involving a woman picking me up to Omanis hitting people to a story about a woman offering to give me a massage! I have a lot that I want to share and I will start right away.

Please keep your comments coming, I would love to hear from you guys again. I really miss you'll and I am happy to be back on the scene.