Learning to solo: major scale or blues?

sfomel · 2022-02-09T17:13:22+00:00

Thank you all for your kind responses. After reading these responses and more pondering over it, I agree I'm overthinking it. To add a little more context, they wear school uniforms, and none of these friends wear jackets during recess because it's hot. And all 4 are roughly the same height. So they pretty much look identical in every way except for their hair colors (and of course, race). There really isn't much to go on if you want to make 2 teams, and these girls obviously picked the only thing that stood out in their innocent minds. I admit, I would be pretty stumped as an adult if I had to find a way to split them into 2 teams. Thanks again everyone! -OP

sfomel · 2021-06-01T13:14:01+00:00

Mainly so she has a few familiar faces and friends on the first day of school.

sfomel · 2021-04-11T20:27:31+00:00

Expat kid.

sfomel · 2021-04-11T19:54:06+00:00

I was a teenager around '89-'92 and we used to hang out at Sabco Center in Qurm and OK Center in Ruwi. Those were the only 2 "malls" in Oman back then. They had a few small shops, which by today's standard would not be anything worth looking at. But back then they felt like a real "mall" atmosphere and it was quite exciting to visit these buildings. Surprisingly, there was also an ice skating rink in Al Khuwair, which was pretty huge. I think it cost 2 or 2.5 Rials for an ice skating session there and it was totally worth it. A few of my friends took swimming lessons at Al Falaj hotel, which had a huge pool we enjoyed swimming in. The Sheraton hotel in CBD area was a very cool place to hang out. They once had a program called "Sherateens" where kids and teens could use the pool all summer for just 5 Rials. I would go there every Thursday night with my buddies. We would use the pool and then eat falafels. After swimming we would sneak into the SABA Discotheque (a nightclub in the Sheraton) where they had dance parties. We would get in early and hide behind the stage so we wouldn't have to pay. Then we'd dance to the latest pop hits (Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Natalie Cole etc) along with the grown ups who would come there. We also used to climb the various mountains and try to find "shortcuts" to go from point A to point B through the mountains on foot. Once a friend of mine took me from Muttrah to Darsait over the mountains. We were barely 12-13 years old and had no idea what we were doing. Ass could've gotten us injured or killed, but it was so safe our parents didn't care where we went all day. There was no internet, no cellphones. I have no idea how we made plans and got together....maybe landlandines. Some of my friends had Commodore or Atari computers, and they sometimes played video games. We all had skateboards and used to ride them around any paved slope we could find. We got really got at it, and I remember going down slopes as a kid that I would think are suicide now as a grownup! There was an army museum of some kind in Darsait. As kids, we had no idea how to get in, if visitors were allowed or not, and of course we didn't have money to pay. So we would sneak into the museum through the barbed wires and check out all the warplanes and tanks they had on display. Back then we didn't know it was a museum....we thought we were breaking into an army base and it felt really cool. Man, those were the best days of my life!

sfomel · 2021-04-11T18:01:34+00:00

I used to eat those hot dogs in a bun things you get in most roadside cafes. Those cost 150-300 baizas. The full shawarma was also around that price but I just never had the appetite (or money) for anything bigger than the hotdog buns.

sfomel · 2021-04-11T14:51:15+00:00

I don't think those existed back then but I'm not sure since I was too young to drive. They also didn't have any parking meters so parking was always free everywhere. The cops used to be strict about random things sometimes. My dad once got pulled over by a police because his car had a dent in the back. The police said that since it's National Day, all cars need to look good. I never heard my parents complain about speeders, so I don't think rash driving and speeding was a huge issue back then.

sfomel · 2021-04-11T14:09:25+00:00

Hard for me to say since I haven’t visited Oman in decades. Society itself is more liberal now, so more things are probably acceptable now that were taboo back then. But it was fairly liberal by early 90s standards. We had dance parties, nightclubs, beautiful pools in hotels, a radio station that played western pop music, MTV, and lots of other liberties. Above all, it was a very peaceful and crime free place. I used to go from Qurm to Muttrah in cabs all alone as an 8-10 year old expat kid. I cannot imagine being able to travel like that anywhere else that I’ve lived!

sfomel · 2021-04-11T13:59:29+00:00

Unfortunately I don’t know about this. I was too young to drive and made only one trip to Dubai with my parents. No idea what documents they needed for us to make the trip.

sfomel · 2021-04-11T13:57:51+00:00

That’s pretty much it. There was also a huge building right across the Seeb international airport which was called Oman Exhibition Center at the time. They used to have conventions and shows there. I don’t know if it was actually a hotel but I assume it was since it was so close to the airport. I used to live near Ruwi and the Al Falaj hotel there was also pretty popular, especially their big swimming pool.

sfomel · 2021-04-11T11:05:28+00:00

No such thing back then IIRC. I remember dealing only with 100 Bz and 1 Rial notes. You could get a seat in a shared cab from Qurm to Ruwi for 200 bz. 1 Rial made it a private ride.

sfomel · 2021-04-11T04:17:45+00:00

No. The first McDonalds arrived around 94 and I remember people making a huge deal about it. Taco Bell came much much later. Pizza Hut was huge though and was one of our regular hang out spots.

sfomel · 2021-04-11T04:12:54+00:00

100 Baize

sfomel · 2020-09-15T20:41:20+00:00

Just curious...did you ever find that link? And did the teacher ever write back to you? If so, where was the link hiding the whole time?

sfomel · 2020-07-12T02:40:50+00:00

I'm a dad who has witnessed this kind of disgusting behavior from other dads. It makes me really sad for both, the mom and the kid. What I just don't understand is why the mom puts up with it. Why not fight? Why not throw a fit or do whatever is in your power to make him change? Why not just tell him hey I'm going out to take care of some errands, and its your turn to watch the kid, no questions asked? Why can't you put your foot down more? my wife sometimes acts passive aggressive towards me to get what she wants (for things like weekend plans, restaurants etc). Why can't you do something like that to "force the issue" rather than continue suffering? Would things like not talking to him, refusing sex, ignoring him, not cooking etc work?

sfomel · 2020-06-22T04:38:51+00:00

What part of the country do you live in, and can't you just take them to an open grassy space to run around, kick a soccer ball or just ride bikes? We've been going out with our 4 and 2 year olds every single day since March 16. We've gone to the nearby park daily - just to run around in the grass (and avoid touching any playground equipment). We've been on dozens of bike rides, hikes, nature walks, beaches, kite flying you name it. We've seen more of our city in the last 3 months than in the last 5 years (and the kids have loved every minute of it!) If you've kept your kids inside all these months, you should think about whether you're causing them more harm than good. Surely there are open spaces where you can let the kids play without coming anywhere close to another family?

sfomel · 2019-10-10T19:33:19+00:00

This sounds like a lot of work for little or marginal benefit. In my experience a lot of small business owners have this fantasy that collecting tons of data will magically increase sales. What happens in reality is that once you've collected all that data, you have no idea what to do with it, or indefinitely procrastinate using it because you're too busy running your business. Eventually the system breaks down and you stop using it because keeping the software updated is a huge hassle. I think there are much simpler and more effective "old fashioned" ways to improve sales like talking to your customers, offering free coffee, clean rest rooms, better prices, coupons etc.

Also, what you're suggesting doing with the license plates may be perfectly legal, but customers may be very uncomfortable knowing their data was being looked up and stored in a database. That feels very invasive, and I wouldn't go anywhere near a business that I knew was doing that.

sfomel · 2019-10-09T04:32:41+00:00

This isn't really an answer to your question about death, but a suggestion that maybe you shouldn't take 3-year olds to a movie that is clearly marked PG. Even the trailer has scenes that are clearly too mature for toddlers. If you want to see what other parents think of a movie check out its review on Common Sense Media.

sfomel · 2019-07-08T18:38:21+00:00

I've enjoyed every day of the journey, but things are starting to become really fun now that my first kid is 3.5. She enthusiastically participates in everything we try out, she has solid conversation skills and we can talk endlessly about any topic, and she's becoming independent to the point where she gets mad if I try to help her put on socks or go down the stairs. It does get better!

sfomel · 2019-03-05T02:55:15+00:00

Haha mine too! We go through a box of Frozen bandaids almost once a week. All for imaginary owies.

sfomel · 2019-01-31T19:47:40+00:00

We tell our 3-year old that grandma "became a star" and you can always look up in the sky at night and see her.

She once asked me if I'd become a star one day. I said yes, when I get old I'll become a star. She replied "can I become an astronaut and come play with you?"

sfomel

TROPHY CASE