Omar's Blog

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 17:34:08 +0800

📺 Widow’s Bay (Apple TV+) - I don’t normally do scary but this has enough comedy that I’ve stuck through it. L and I are nothing really enjoying it. 📖 Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. I am currently scrolling IG too much… BUT one of the book recommendations was this. Interested to see how it goes. 🎵Psyence Fiction - UNKLE. 1998! Still great.

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 08:54:19 +0800

If your answer is more than an hour a day, you’re in Track 3 and you’ll be focusing on choosing books that are hard enough for your intellectual level as well as improving your ability to sit and focus.

I like this idea, particularly as a means to think about my focus. One of the bonus challenges is to watch a film without a second screen…

let’s do a ‘couch to 5k’ for reading - by Naomi Alderman

Tuesday 23rd June

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 09:32:32 +0800

We talk about the Sandlot.

Transcript

S03 E05

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 21:07:53 +0800

We tried recording on the bed. Talked about somethings.

Transcript

Season 3 Episode 4

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 06:08:35 +0800

A quick chat to keep the ball rolling.

Transcript

Day 3 - Yumo joins us to chat some things.

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:33:00 +0800

Transcript

Day 2

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 19:32:41 +0800

National treasure. Awards. World Cup. End of the Year.

Trying to keep in the habit…

Transcript

Summer is coming

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 08:49:16 +0800

Summer is coming, a time for children and teachers to finally be happy(?). Elise and Dad talk a little about what’s been happening and begin our film reviews. Dad agrees to a bet if England win…

Transcript

Breaking the habit

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 10:50:57 +0800

Maybe today is the day.

Is today the day I break the habit of doing 10000 steps. It’s currently standing at 154 days. 22 weeks. What started as trying to get over 10000 steps more regularly, became a challenge with a friend for 10 days in a row became getting up at 5am almost every day to walk or go to the gym. Which is where I am today.

Except today I’m sick. So, I’ve not been getting up at 5am and getting in the steps is proving more difficult when you spend all day indoors. I hate being sick, not being 100% and so not being able to get up early to work or go to the gym. While also having family and work expectations and not really being sick enough to avoid them.

We will see, L and the kids are going to go out later and maybe I’ll take a stroll then…

Late, or early?

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 17:29:44 +0800

Rucked to the gym this morning, partly as a warm up and partly as part of the workout. It’s not far. Maybe 15 minutes. Noticed on the way that there were still people playing majiang and must have been up all night doing it. Still at it at 5:30am. Sometimes, one of the bbq places is still open and has customers too at a similar time. So are they out late or am I up early? Probably both, right?

(Yeah, the dumbbells not being put away bothered me too so I put them all away between sets of pull ups.)

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 09:54:21 +0800

Ultimately, this study makes explicit something many teachers likely already sense. Experienced teachers differ from novices, but not primarily because they know more. They differ mainly in how they look at what is happening in the classroom, and in what they do next.

Source

Media this week

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 11:01:44 +0800

This Week in Media

Reading
Starter Villain by John Scalzi. I really liked this. It was fun and, in an unprecedented moment, actually made me laugh out loud like my 7 year old does (or does he do it like me and I’ve just forgotten how?!). Anyway, it’s not too serious and moved quickly. As always, it was more fun going in knowing very little. The thing with the cats for example I didn’t know about.

Music
Sunrise Sessions III by Ólafur Arnalds Listened to this on my morning walk.

Video

I liked old Scrubs and I like new Scrubs too. Strange that it’s the same but not.
I have never lived in LA and never will but Brian E Morton’s videos of him taking public transport and eating around the city are a kind of comfort video for me.
Did you see the Chinese New Year Robots dancing?
Africa (Toto)…but it lists every country in Africa

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 08:20:05 +0800

“To be happy at home is the end of all human endeavor. The sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal, or two friends talking over a pint of beer, or a person alone reading a book that interests them; and all economics, politics, laws, armies, and institutions, are only valuable in so far as they prolong and multiply such scenes.” C.S. Lewis

Source: Mere Christianity (edited lightly for clarity)

Via 3-2-1: On reducing fear, what matters most, and how life responds to us - James Clear

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 09:00:16 +0800

On Giving Teachers Enough Time

Today’s Unjammed episode is built around a simple-if-implausible idea: what happens when teachers are given enough time to do their work. It’s not just about having enough time to complete all the items off the to-do list, either. (Though that does matter!) More importantly, it’s about what it means for teachers to step into a classroom as their best selves—a win for teachers, yes, but more importantly a win for students.

I feel this one, in my bones. There’s the to do list, but there’s also the deeper worker (spending time thinking, looking after myself, etc etc) and there just ain’t enough time for both.

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 18:41:51 +0800

Day 2 going to the gym in the morning. I think I need to move faster or get up earlier. Got home around 6:40. Which I think doesn’t leave me enough time.

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 11:39:07 +0800

First time having a go at going to the gym at 5am. Getting up and there was fine but need to work on a routine for it I think.

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:21:18 +0800

A colleague added the tones for me…

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 16:23:02 +0800

Managed to get Genius on Spelling Bee today and yet still were words I missed. It’s becoming my favourite NYTimes game.

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 13:56:46 +0800

Ed tech is profitable. It is also mostly useless

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 09:02:06 +0800

We’re All Bad At Being Human | Simon Sinek - YouTube

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 08:01:16 +0800

Connections
Puzzle #972
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪

Did this one with the kids while they didn’t do their homework.

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 06:41:38 +0800

The automatic mechanism from the 🀄️ machine is just cool.

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 19:02:56 +0800

打麻将

100 days of 10000 steps

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 16:17:04 +0800

Today is my 100th consecutive day of 10000 steps. Mostly I’ve achieved it with a walk in the morning before walk and then the rest of the day takes me over the line.

A couple of time I had to go for a short walk to make it and honestly that just feels silly. Unnecessary even. So, I’m considering just changing it to one walk a day for 30 minutes. We’ll see.

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 12:32:01 +0800

牛肉刀削面. So good. New favourite place.