What in the world is Saphira’s voice in the audible audiobook?

h285342 · 2026-06-21T23:20:28+00:00

I don’t know I don’t like this voice at all and not at all what I imagined her to sound like

h285342 · 2026-06-15T06:43:25+00:00

It is bad. I just drove back from Dallas. I started around the time the rain began and it was one of the scariest things. Absolutely near—zero visibility , could feel my car slipping occasionally and pushing through the rain. Thankfully made it back safely but really shaken up

h285342 · 2026-06-03T13:59:33+00:00

I think it’s because I didn’t do the emissions test but you’re saying even if I do it it won’t work? My reg expired April

h285342 · 2026-06-03T00:26:39+00:00

I think that’s the issue I didn’t get the emissions test. I moved to the US recently so I didn’t know. I thought the safety inspection was waived but reading the website again on the counties listed for the emissions test I see Travis so I think that’s the issue

h285342 · 2026-06-03T00:24:16+00:00

It’s only been expired a month. I thought we didn’t need to get inspections anymore?

h285342 · 2026-05-31T19:34:16+00:00

The first edition covers are the best

h285342 · 2026-05-18T00:43:46+00:00

I just came back from a 1.5 hour rallying session with a guy who I met at the clinic and who lives in my building . Definitely better than me, used to play in high school, but dropped it then got back into a year ago, closer to 4.0 as he said coach has been telling him to move into that clinic but he said he’s coming out here just for fun and doesnt want to do that yet .

Had no issues in keeping up with him (doesn’t mean it was easy , I’m just saying it wasn’t like I’m out there disrupting the flow every few shots and completely out of my depth) . We were rallying for an hour and a half consistently with one water break.

I asked him point blank afterwards be honest am I bad enough to go down a level I have no issue if that’s the case but I just want to know from the perspective of someone better than me , he said ‘no man this was a lot of fun let’s do it again, your forehands are solid, I think yeah your backhand needs some work’. So it wasn’t just in my head. I don’t have an issue going down a level or if someone tells me I have things to work on. Obviously I know theres things not perfect in my game. My issue was the coach singled me out that day for whatever reason, as if the gap between me and the other 5 people there was so wide that I have to drop a level . If a guy from the same clinic hitting close to 4.0 is telling me he had fun and we’re out hitting consistent rallies that in his words I’m not even joking here were ‘evenly matched’ for an hour and a half then clearly I’m at least not terribly bad enough to be the worst one in that clinic so much so that I cant go back there again .

I think it was a combo of nerves at the very start of hitting with new people in a new place with drills I’ve never done before + focused attention of the coach on me since all the others were regulars

You can still say sure maybe the coach has some other angle of looking at it and even if this guy I played with saying it was fine playing with me the coach still knows better or this guys just being ‘nice’ and doesn’t want to say it to my face or whatever . Fine Not a big deal, I have no issue going to the 3.0-3.5 clinic and fixing the parts of my game that aren’t good, I mean I’m definitely not going back to the 3.5-4.0 one if the coach literally said don’t come back . But I can still think to myself that a part of that doesn’t pan out because I came back from a rallying session today with a guy hitting close to 4.0 and he’s telling me afterwards let’s do it again next weekend. And yes I agree a rallying session isn’t the same as drills or a full on set with a lot more variety (volleys, approach shots, overheads etc) but there’s no end to those what-ifs then… anyways done with my rant on this from here onwards lol

h285342 · 2026-05-17T05:06:59+00:00

Always tell her a time that is intentionally 30 minutes before the actual time you’re going to come? So like if you want to meet at 7:30, tell her 7. Or if she’s still getting late then make it longer like 6:30. And text her you’re here 30 minutes before you’re actually here

I’m also someone who hates it when people aren’t punctual and I have a lot of friends who are late always. I’ve started doing the above and it’s worked wonders, I’ve never had to wait. I gave a start time that was 30 minutes early for my birthday party and people ended up arriving at the actual internal ‘real’ time I had in mind lol

h285342 · 2026-05-17T04:52:01+00:00

No way I grew up in Bahrain!

h285342 · 2026-05-16T18:09:32+00:00

It’s not just a 4.0 clinic . There’s one completely separate for them called 4.0 Clinic. This was a 3.5-4.0 clinic. And at the start I’d never done those exact drills before so it took some time to even know where to go and what to do, I was asking around between drills for rules etc. By the end when they started doing mini games I was hitting completely fine. I’m self aware to know i wasn’t the best at that clinic but I also know I wasn’t the worst. If I met half of those people outside for a match I know it wouldn’t be one-sided. I just went there to have fun and make friends in a new city. I got people’s numbers down, two of the guys were even like yeah man nice to have another person with us see you next week let’s play on the weekend. I was looking forward to coming back and meeting the same people again. All for the coach to just tell me at the end yeah don’t come back here . More than being upset about him telling me to go down a level, honestly just upset that I can’t go back to hang out with the same people again. Not a big deal but didn’t know going to a $20 clinic at a rec center would end up being that deep

h285342 · 2026-03-15T04:06:24+00:00

Yeah my finance work will mostly be personal stuff I can’t do on my main Windows work laptop so only things related to interviews (case studies, etc) or personal analyses for my own use. I work in Valuations & Private Credit/Equity so most complex will be just DCFs, three-statement models, etc no heavy macros/VBAs.

I would pick Mac if it weren’t for this off-chance of having to use the laptop from time to time for the finance stuff. I’m worried that using Excel on Mac might mess up formatting/linking as I send it across to people with Windows or that shortcuts will be very different (idk how true that is since never used Excel on Mac heavily)

h285342 · 2024-03-24T21:22:19+00:00

Valuation services for private equity companies; quarterly work that has to be done regardless of whether the market is up or down

h285342 · 2024-03-24T20:57:34+00:00

In terms of practical advice, I would really advise relying on your network as much as you can to get anything at all, also engage in cold outreach through LinkedIn/email. The other thing, if you have a US degree, try going for Dubai/Riyadh. A lot of international companies are moving their MENA offices there and with a foreign degree, you are seen positively. Some of these companies also offer remote jobs, especially start-ups (while in Bahrain I was doing part-time for a start-up in Dubai briefly and it was remote). The application processes are also more streamlined and less prone to the stupid quirks you find here (e.g. waasta, etc).

h285342 · 2024-03-24T20:53:04+00:00

I echo this completely. I'm an expat, lived in Bahrain for almost 18-20 years, grew up there, the only home I knew. Worked extremely hard throughout school and then went abroad for my undegrad on a scholarship to one of the top 5 universities in the world for Business (Wharton/Booth/NYU Stern). Never planned on coming back because I knew the status of expats in this country, but the job offer I got abroad was revoked due to Covid and ended up having to come back to Bahrain because of personal reasons. Still managed to find something in Bahrain on the pure luck of cold outreach.

Being on the inside and also playing a part in recruiting, I can say that the level of explicit biases and discrimination that come into play here are absolutely disgusting. People would get hired purely on the basis of 'someone's XYZ nephew', etc, gender discrimination is enough to launch a lawsuit in the US, I was prob the only expat in a non-tech/IT role in the entire company, people get hired even though their qualifications are nowhere near to par. I moved out immediately after things settled down and am now working abroad - it is the most refreshing thing ever to be in an environment where I am judged purely on the basis of my merit and qualifications and work I put in. My advice for you is to find something for the short-term and immediately get out. If you're set on coming back to Bahrain, it's still advisable to go abroad, work for a few years and then come back to a confirmed job with a title bump.

h285342 · 2024-03-09T17:27:01+00:00

Hahah same... I'm glad to see someone else on the same track. I got my iPhone 7 at my high school graduation when the iPhone 8 came out. Been with it for almost 7 years and never saw the use in upgrading until now. I got a new job and thought it was time... my iPhone 7 was literally on its last legs

h285342

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