The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

New shoes! Finally! Saucony! Asics! Looking for compression stockings. Prepping for May You May Your Movie, last big creative push for a while. Chinese class at lunch, why are Chinese women so 疯狂？ Show notes up on stevensirski.com Have a good one!

New DJI drone! How often do I fly the other one? Chinese lesson, done! Ukrainian lesson... a lot more Ukrainian than I thought possible So where does this all lead? Getting to the end of April already... time is flying! Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a good one!

Tongue twisters for Chinese? You've probably heard of some of them. 四是四，十是十，十四是十四，四十是四十，四十四隻石獅子是死是活？ (sì shì sì, shí shì shí, shísì shì shísì, sìshí shì sìshí, sìshísì zhī shí shīzi shì sǐ shì huó?) 刘德华唱了一首歌，留的话却没了哇。 (Liú Déhuá chàng le yī shǒu gē, liú de huà què méi le wā.) Chinese teacher from Ha Sa Ka Se Tan, started Chinese when I did... and now...

Former Soviet states aren't countries? Sooo... what about those guys bombing Ukraine? They're Soviet. Chinese ambassador to France (who speaks convincing French) Lu Shaye getting into trouble. Been a while since I talked about it but the socials are pushing it forward aaaand... Ukrainian teacher keeps sending me these articles to read. I guess it's a good idea to learn the modern pronunciation and...

End of week! So what? Haaaa ChatGTP for content creation: ie, language learning materials! Summaries! Other! Good weather so far in Beijing... other than sandstorms and some pollution from time to time. Workouts in: 3 miles at lunch (I'm slowing down) 300 double unders 65 bench jumps Then: 105 pull ups 210 push ups 330 squats throughout the afternoon. After work pump: slow n steady weights. Also c...

Giggle giggle! Grow up! I sound like my father: eat here. It's cheaper. Couldn't justify going out to eat, just not needed as I have food available. Construction again?! Chinese classes... Sun Tze and his ancient language... Apparently he talked a lot and his disciples just wrote down an abbreviated form of what he said. How to scare your teacher and find a hidden camera. Show notes n tracks up on...

Colleague Lewis passed away. Expat liabilities. When do you end? What are you fighting or working so hard for? Why don't you have it now? What more do you need? Ukrainian class, how was it? Finally a happy teacher! Haha From Kharkiv, a trip down memory lane. News or music for language learning? Lots of resources! And another sandstorm! Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a good one!

Would you rather have a really busy day with no breaks or a slow day with lots of breaks? Rotator cuff damage? How?! Reading Ukrainian... slooooow! Chinese class was speaking not writing. Working from home is awesome! How could I ever go back?! Finished reading South China Morning Post! Next up, Financial Times weekend edition! Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a good one!

AI everywhere! Notepad?! Need to sign in... not sure I'm okay with that. Knocked out for the weekend with that Subway Sickness! Workouts in today, but was feeling a lot slower. Middle of April already?! Warming up here in Beijing. SSP38 is up so have a listen if you haven't already. This year marks Year Number 3 of the big cast, Year 2 of the small cast. Newsletter will be out soon. Language Vlog...

SSP38 IS UP! Spotify Google Apple now! Song Wang joins me on the podcast to talk about life as a commercial and voice over producer here in Beijing. From how she got started, to her wedding day pitch, to her future work and travel plans, this episode will interest those who are curious about those advertisements you see allll the time. Sick! Take the subway ONE TIME without a mask aaandd... feelin...

Episode 38 editing... welp, may just have to switch up the source microphones. Gold... when it seems obvious... it is? But it isn't? Takeaway Thursday, what did you eat today? Masks no longer compulsory, but encouraged! Why wasn't ChatGTP made in China? Show notes n.tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a good one!

Another sandstorm or is the other one still going? Hard to tell. Troy's Team and learning martial arts Half day work day. Episode 38 getting finished up! Beijing to Europe 2023: Berlin? Frankfurt? Warsaw? Kyiv? Lviv? Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a good one!

People's War? Taiwan theatre to open? South China Morning Post not too optimistic. Working on SSP38... these mics were supposed to make my life easier! Another sandstorm! And windy! Chinese classes resume Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a good one! Drum track for you, a little something I played over the weekend... was thinking of renting a drum kit.

Heya Happy Easter! Christos Voskres! Voistiny Voskres! Fell asleep after dinner! Almost missed my Ukrainian class! Lessons lined up for the rest of the week. Back to work full on from now until June at least. Working on SSP38, should be done this week. Newsletter out! Overall, how was Hong Kong? Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a great start of week!

Can you hear how tired I am? What would've I done differently? -Planned the hostel / hotel situation a little better -possibly booked my tickets earlier All up only would've saved about $500 CAD, or about 2200 RMB. Probably would've stayed further outside of the city (but keep in mind taxi fees) What about bringing tech n work with me? -Got stuff done the first weekend, but the hotel shuffle destr...

Late posting yesterday's epi cuzzz... I fell asleep! Like zonkered gone! And finally DID sleep! Free ear plugs from the hostel, a towel change up (I usually rent them), a zinc tablet and 6.00 am here I go. Last day in the Kong, finally tries some of the morning fare, sweet baozi? And xiaolong bao I think. Next, walked around to Causeway Bay to see if I could find another pair of shoes. Coffee acad...

Last day in HK, will fly back tomo Breakfast Qingming Festival so a day off today And apparently HL starts their days alot later than the Mainland Got some shoes... Imported goods will be cheaper than the Mainland. Local stuff no. Off to Lama Island... wow quiet! Residence to a lot of foreigners apparently... they like the quiet life. Wish I had known about it earlier! Walked around IFC 1 or 2, I...

How does Hong Kong compare to Beijing? Would it be worth the move? $43 HKD for a venti at Starbucks ~37.68 RMB Switched hotels cause... the other one just sucked. Bad everything, how are they still in business? Oh, no refunds on payments. Keep it, terrible! More bathrooms available Subway stations have shops Warm, muggy Walked around CBD a bit, HKEX building. Last time I sat there was with Dad......

Cell phones are the new papers! Forgot to tick the allow roaming on my phone before I crossed the threshold Travel tips: -eSIM from the Mainland -trains Shenzhen to Hong Kong (gotta look for it) -cash is good cause Mainland Wechat and Alipay don't work, but bank cards do How was Creamfields? How has Hong Kong been? Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a good week!

Notes: digital or electronic? Spoken? The things that survive are the things that are copied, often the originals are lost to history Is life any better with this development of technology? Hotel breakfasts: the careful balance between intermittent fasting, healthy eating and trying something new. How much is too much? When to try, when to not? Or... is some fat just okay and that's a payoff of be...

Out to Shenzhen! Which hotel? Rather troubleless the entire trip. Just wasn't sure how long it would take to get the ticket. Train stations are much faster to process people than airports. 2nd class wasn't bad... if you don't mind being crampes. McDonald's for lunch! That's a first in a while! Hostels n hotels... ah, right, are FOREIGNERS allowed to stay? Got some work done. Show notes n tracks up...

Water on the moon, would it make it any more interesting? Train tickets... asssssemble! Looks like I'll take a later train. Shenzhen? Changsha? Do I even want to travel? The unknown of being able to return! Foreigner deported for smoking ganja... in Thailand! WTF! March Motion a continues. Almost done. Have a few projectss left. How about those Ukrainian lessons? Packing, should have known things...

Will Duolingo Max take over language teaching and testing? Let it! Communication Culture Logic I just want to get through this It's so hard I don't really care I'm just doing this for the pay cheque These will disappear AI researched, funded, and built warp drives?! How will AI change our brains as cooked food did for our ancestors? It's not prompting itself, it still needs that input Ukrainian fe...

People are leaving! More to go! TikTok? Facebook Tumblr Bahahahaha Now I kinda just want to start using TikTok just cause Is wechat any better? Messenger? Sometimes you just want to shut off the news. Why am I so up in the air about Hong Kong? Is it because I'm basically travelling by myself? Ukrainian lessons With all this AI tech, what will we do? Still need someone to have the idea, prompt, and...

Alcohol bad, but drugs good! Pixelmator Pro background removal, this is fun to play with. HK in a week, forgive me if I'm not excited, I just have other things on my mind and... who knows what lock down could happen before then. Newsletters this weekend, sign up! What should be in a newsletter? Is it like blogging? Workouts done, 3 miles at lunch... how do you know when you just gotta go? 50 pull...