The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

Is this another disruption to the supply chain and the truckers in the US? The last time that happened was April 2019. Various cases increase (minimally) but more closures are occurring. Were previous compound closures preventative? Spent the morning getting taxes done. Not overly difficult but I don't do this very often so I want to be as meticulous as possible. Income in, expenses out. No income...

New month new day new cases! Restaurant closures mean takeaway only so good thing we went out on Friday! May You Make Your Movie has begun so you can follow that on my website also through the Instagram account just add @ to the name. Some Chinese done today Recorded another Language Vlog buuut now I'm learning just how unwieldy 4K files can be. May have to settle for 1080p. Show notes, tracks n v...

Paid rent too early and the landlord won't return it, did she spend it already or does she do what I do and put it into short term savings? Equation of the universe? Respect for those who figure in numbers. Is evolution picking us off? Mystical morning musing music Morning mystical music musing Musical morning mystical musing Musing musical mystical morning End of the month, end of the week, Labou...

Current virus counts, which one are we on? And why are there closures for this variant? The virtues of homeworking, or am I just in a honeymoon period? Two-a-days keep going, but not getting the same amount of language study done as a result. Walking vs running in the morning. Abs coming in! Would you drink vinegar in the morning? Stunt double training postponed. Six weeks to HSK 5 test?! How do I...

Finished Interior Chinatown. Brings up some good points. JP Getty taking over oil companies (had never been done before him), Elon Musk taking over Twitter, how can a regular person take over a company? What would I take over? AI, robotics, education and the metaverse. NAT tests - the block beside us got locked down Back to Michio Kaku - electrons as probabilities? Indian food for dinner because.....

Sluggish day, heavy pollution yesterday so was all congested Got through the runs but not much more Work tomorrow... from home Lockdowns spread. Creeping closer! Spent an hour trying to get After Effects to talk to my other programs and it wouldn't. Eech. Updated the website and created a Projects page. Jamuary, March Motion, etc. Put up the FULL track listing for Jamuary and December Drumming, no...

Here be the full track listing for my Jamuary 2022 Song-A-Day Challenge. From beat boxing to EDM to digital garage jams to global sounds, this was a mix of styles and inspirations. Much different from last year's, this year's efforts focused on building something a bit more "cinematic", that is, something I could possibly use as a film soundtrack or something.  Track listing is as follows: 01...

Beijing locked down! Well.... only a part of it. Passport in, mid-May completion and then need to renew visa. If lockdowns continue, what will I do? Still able to work from home. Started a new YouTube channel! Will focus on language acquisition. After Effects continues, getting easier. Gearing up for May You Make Your Movie. Let's hope it doesn't suck! Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com. H...

Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake Mix! Two of them! Added flax and chia seeds to nutrition it up a little. JP Getty, Interior Chinatown, reading these two books is a bit of a contrast. Wearing a suit blazer from my grandfather, I look so professional now! Walk at lunch time and was able to do some Chinese listening but not much more. After Effects working faster! But still pretty slow. Working on so...

Look what I found! A pic taken exactly 5 years ago to apply for my current job! A drop of 16kg: 94 to 78. Nuitrition, working out, not lifting heavy, and mobility. How many homeworkers wear pants during work hours? Chinese HSK 5 books -first read through DONE -writing out characters (still need 1-16) -Grammar & exercises (still need 14-18, 19-36) -Writing 100 characters about each topic (1-36) Sti...

420! Tee hee... and that's all it's really good for. Homeworking continues, and working out a viable structure to my day. Why can't I get any language studies done during work days? Was able to get some Chinese character writing done. Spoke too soon about Skritter? Unlike my previous character writing wherein I copied the character as I saw, Skritter doesn't show the character unless you ask it to...

First day of home working while living abroad! EVisas, are they still a thing? Experience was...? Running after work hampered by sitting so long or because I ate too late in the day? Could just go for a leg-stretching walk after work. Like a party but no one else involved. Reading Interior Chinatown, just want to get through it, but it is a decent read. No Chinese done today but that's because I h...

To the Great Wall (Badaling section) Why did we go? To take the sakura train, otherwise known as the zigzag train that is supposed to go through a valley of sakura trees. The problem? The sakuras are kinda done now. So we went to the Great Wall Why so steep? Did they have rails to assist soldiers getting up and down the slopes? Thinking might go to other sections Noticeable difference in air quali...

Good Friday along with a Ukrainian-Canadian hymn to start the show. A description of Easter weekend as I remember it from my childhood including Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. Church critics move along, this one isn't for you. Historians and travellers will find it interesting. Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com. Have a Good Weekend!

The mental aspect of starting a blog or podcast: what would I talk about? Hosting provider: bluehost, dreamhost, godaddy, squarespace It's like teaching a writing class Obvious candidates: your skills, hobbies, interests, your job (but you need to be careful if you don't own the business cause you might now know the whole situation) Brainstorm, mind map, free form writing What do you want to learn...

Talking about starting a blog or a podcast, what would I do? This episode focuses on the practical aspects in terms of which social media outlets should be considered. For example, taking a longer class-lecture and breaking that into different pieces of shorter content for each individual platform: 15 minutes for Youtube, 3 minutes for Tiktok or Instagram, 1 minute for Twitter, both spoken and wri...

Two years since I started my podcast! Have a listen as the first episode is still up! You can skip the first nine episodes or so and head over to Episode 10 or 11 to take you back to the year 2020. How have things changed since then? What am I doing differently? Am I still enjoying it? Yed. Russian class: teacher was in France and was able to observe the election Chinese: two more chapters read, w...

Hurt my back! Impedes running Crypto conference... heard about it but haven't watches much. Bitcoin was down all of last week. Gold is up? Why? Seasonal play? Shanghai lockdown, could that happen here? The idea to broaden scope of work and reach beyond just one place, one visa, the new freedom? Consequences? One reason I became an ESL teacher was to travel, now? Ukraine... if you read the news you...

DMX and the dancing Ayis for Friday night. Two a days and cookies (remember baking sheets aren't an option). The differences between Apple Motion and Adobe After Effects: ease of use, cost, installed libraries, workflow integration, ownership, flexibility. Show notes up on stevensirski.com. Have a good weekend!

Haircut done, but beard still there! Skritter and writing Chinese. Still like to have something I can see. Put the time in and get it done. To review the APPs I've been using... For Chinese: -Pleco (dictionary) -HelloTalk (not often, social media posts -HSK 5 books (not the newest version) -Qingting (online radio broadcasts, various channels) -Douyin (for colloquial Chinese) -Short term spoken Chi...

What do I even do in Beijing any more? And yes, that was the Ukrainian National Anthem you heard at the beginning of this episode sung by yours truly. A little clarification on how the (Russian) media is skewing things to meet their ends: basically anyone saying Ukraine is a nation is a nationalist. But what does that term mean and refer to? That's where the skew is being played. Passport renewal...

A reading from Marcus Aurelius' Meditations... Why are you reading Marcus Aurelius? His name has come up a bit, thought I should finally take a look. MA wrote down his thoughts on life and the people who had taught him something, anyone can do this. I wrote a blog post about some of the things I remember my Dad saying. The difference in saying 'I can do that' and doing it? The people who do have s...

Cold doesnt sting as much in the morning Cold inside, warm outside Russian class, will use italki for my Russian posts Chinese classes over for now, but studying isnt! After Effects begins! March Motion updates Start a newsletter? I already have a title for it Two a days continue, weights in morn, cardio in the aft Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a good long weekend if you're in Ch...

New day new month! Expat goodbyes. March Motion. The beginning of April After Effects. Living overseas. Language learning. Busy day! Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com. Have a good weekend!

End of the month! Chinese studies... going faster, last class for me this weekend. March motion is (almost) over but I still have a few projects to finish up. April After Effects starts tomorrow so I do want to get these done! Was also playing around with Douyin and Yingqian, the associated video editor. VERY good... and free! We'll see how many socials I want to be on. Are they all necessary? Do...