The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

Seems to be a bit more life out now in the city, I guess people are happy to be out. Passport picked up, now the rest has to be done. And now visa and work permit and contract renewals begin. My real fear is updating WeChat and Alipay. If those dont work then life will be 麻烦了 (troublesome). MYMYM2022 nearing completion as finally got to animating one of the vids. Still dont like After Effects a...

Beijing is open! Allowed to dine out again and restrictions are being lifted all over the place! Yey! Happy Jubilee Day! The Queen of England has been in charge for 70+ years! Can you imagine doing the same job for 70 years? Reading The Stand by Stephen King. I like his writing style. Surprised he didnt get any flack for some of the words he uses in his books. New vid up for MYMYM2022. A few more...

What is that feeling called when you wake up but can barely move? Not sore, but like your muscles are ultimately relaxed? Sleep intertia? Yea, tough to get out of bed this morning but still managed the two workouts today. Pizza is a good recovery food, right? Dragon Boat Festival, have yet to eat zongzi, some went to Chaoyang Park but I think you need proof of vaccination. Uploaded a few more vids...

Hot n sweaty! Still don't understand the electronic gate passes NAT sites fewered. Two workouts! Trying out the running with weight vest again. Dropped it by 2kg though so now only 11kg. 2 miles no vest 1 mile w vest 30 air squats 30 pushups 12 pulls ups 1 mile run + 2 pull ups Then spent most of the day working on... the Iron Man HUD! This was a neat one! Multiple layers and required some work bu...

New month! New life!? Or same ol same ol? Language Vlog: stop being so pseudo academic! Vlog your language! Calling myself out. Getting things done and making sure I've covered as many bases as possible. Show notes tracks n vidz up on stevensirski.com. Have a good one!

Beijing AND Shanghai opening up, right on schedule! Does that mean the generator will be on again at that school? The lights were on... Market turnaround? Looks like it as China reopens. Was it because the Western media chose monkeypox instead? A few new vids up for MYMYM2022, should be the end but have got a few left to do. Tried out some Discording, I see it's use but my connection isn't stable....

May You Make Your Movie - spent much of the weekend trying to finish up a few vids and only got through some. Will ppst soon. Got distracted! Old travel vidz! Old vlog attempts! Cringy! Beijing case numbers are down and I see a few places have opened again. Still no dining in but it is good weather for a cold Tsingdao. Listening parties? I've thought about this before and I'm not sure why I hadn't...

Workouts completed and yea, still need to work on hip mobility! Tried an online combat fitness class and, well, yea, had some difficulty. Still a decent workout though! Animation: difficult to grt through the mind but got it done. Three vids out: -Cereal Animation -Eye See Beijing -Glowing Space Force Will have more time this weekend too. Newly released e-pass for the compound, I thought things we...

Finished The God Equation... looks like we need to find out the Theory of Everything so we can skip universes. Can't help but think of the comedy in that. No compulsory NAT test but A LOT of subway stations are closed. Three Peaks and a Domed House formation, is that what we're seeing now? Or have seen take place? Coal companies are doing well in China, why? May You Make Your Movie final weekend!...

Just when you think the markets are bottoming... they fall further. Check Canadian energy. Beijing case numbers significantly down, compulsory testing today, but only one week till the June 1st deadline. Workouts paused today, back and left hip were stiff so decided to work on some mobility drills instead. Will try to back at it tomorrow morn. May You Make Your Movie, been working on a trilogy of...

First thunderstorm of the year. Curious: if the long-timers are moving with their wives n kids, does that mean the wives are hearing or seeing something that's not being said out loud? Beijing vs Shanghai might be heating up, thought numbers are down. Monkeypox? Will be a busy week trying to finish up all these vids but will be happy once it's done! #MayYouMakeYourMovie Two a day skill development...

Quiet...if I shut off all of the fans. Other than that, it's warm and getting humid! New episode of Language Vlog is in the works, spent the day editing it. New vids are in the works, Eye See Beijing. Appeared on another language web stream on the weekend. Hosted by former colleague Denny Goin, Hobbit English is available on Youtube and Facebook to stream. Talked about motivation to keep up the st...

Do you want to sweat or breathe smog? That's a summer in Beijing. Wu Er Ni! If you haven't sent your gf an wu er ni msg and 5.20, then you still have time. Some say this is the Chinese Valentine's Day but I thought that was March 11. Or when? I think this is really just the beginning of the summer shopping season and leading up to 618, which are lucky numbers in Chinese. Busy day with the two a da...

Chilled soda water tasting pretty good these days as the temperature rises. Possible topic for this week's language vlog: what does it take to become a translater or interpreter? Is it a reasonable goal to set to achieve as a language student? Workout routine: worth scheduling in advance? How much should I plan? Need to find a better method for these two a days. (Nutrient timing means eating withi...

Allergies in Beijing - a problem every spring and late autumn for some reason. What to do? Website updated - audio blog and May You Make Your Movie videos up for viewing and download! After Effects vs Apple Motion? Beatles album - Abbey Road: love it or hate it? Never listened to it before so Saturday was the first time and I got AN EAR FULL! Takes me back to my first issue of Modern Drummer magaz...

Contract renewals, planning one year at a time in advance all the time, Peter Hessler's ousting from China, re-skilling and hope for the future in China. Aaannnd new May Your Make Your Movie up on the socials! Show notes, tracks n vidz up on my website, stevensirski.com.

Not registered for HSK 5 test since all of Chaoyang is still being told to work from home. Since I want to do the paper test, chances are it won't go ahead just yet. New study materials from ANOTHER EXPAT who is leaving! Some Chinese classics in there so now I have no excuse not to read them. Speaking of Classics... new language vlog is up. Episode 4 is now done! All about the Ancient Greek and La...

Friday the 13th! And THE VIRUS GETS CLOSER! So... how does a red spot become not red? Seems it's not an easy procedure for all of these closed off places to get the flag removed. BUT, govt says Shanghai will start seeing improvements within the next seven days. How do they know? More podcast episodes getting lined up, should be good! TOMORROW I will get to uploading! Spent the day doing some editi...

Beijing lockdowns... is that why everybody is buying groceries? Staying put n why. Learning Chinese inch by lonely inch. Building an online presence for what? Podcast #31 in the works! Show notes tracks n vids up on stevensirski.com! Have a good one!

Watch your back when swinging kbells! Probably should have done a lighter warm up weight. Depressing science books: despite all your efforts, the Universe will still either get ripped apart or crunched together. Gee... is this how I want to spend my days? Latin courses throughout the summer? Language vlog this weekend: might talk about ancient languages. Found a course online that will teach spoke...

Time to buy or time to hide? Trading stocks is not for everyone! Beijing is sloooooowwww and cold. NATs continue Is everyone home working killing my wifi speeds? Using mobile data quite a bit. Good thing it's cheap here. Spent much of the morning calling home and designing logos. Found Adobe's Logo Maker so I was trying that out. Then spent some time trying to trace it so I could animate the diffe...

Allergies after the rain! Beijing lockdowns continue and so does NATting! Got some more running gear just in time as businesses told to shuttter themselves. Futures down, markets down, victory day in Russia, for what? Language vlogs up, May You Make Your Movie up, have a good start of week! Show notes n tracks n vidz up on stevensirskk.com Have a grear start of weel!

Tried to get Waimai today cause I didn’t want to cook buuuut after waiting an hour and a half and watching the delivery guy go everywhere but to the restaurant to pick up my order, I cancelled. Got hte money back and I did feel bad. I guess I could have called the restaurant and offered to pick it up instead. So, tuna, kimchi, lettuce and seaweed mixed up and put on a bun. It’s my new go-to meal....

Do Chinese people get treated the same as foreigners do in regard to COVID prevention? One article says yes... buuut, the examples it gives are kinda tangential. So let's think of some times n places where we all would get treated the same... and surely wouldn't want the Bao An's job! May Your Make Your Movie animations done! Took the day to write 'End' + soundtrack the EIGHT SECONDS of footage! A...

May the Forth be with you. Watched more Star Trek esp Voyager but would pref to read books about the universe than watch science fiction. Great marketing gimic though! May You Make Your Movie animation offering: tried two-layers and more movement. Taxes: remember to consult a tax professional! Don't rely on podcasters for your information! Look it up and check your own situation. Subways are close...