The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

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...

Ukrainian oil, that was never talked about before but the timeline fits. War continues. March Motion coming to a close, simplifying quite a few projects so I can get them done. Chinese progressing. Richard Sears, Chinese etymology, researches the evolution of Chinese characters (hanziyuan.net). Double workouts and calorie counting, is this sustainable? Podcast numbers... I don't track! They distra...

Cold! Allergies! Whyyyyyyy!? March Motion and the basics of sole computer graphics. Made some vids, will post later. New DJI drone... $45,000! Sweet looking thing, plus a portable dock for on-the-go inspections. Should I become a pilot? Or at least learn how to fly? Might be a useful skill in the years ahead. Chinese.... HSK 5 prep continues with writing out the characters and... posting them on Y...

Omincron reappears, shutting down schools and businesses once again. Chinese class... taking a break? Mission accomplished me thinks n so now I want to directly focus on HSK5 test prep rather than try to do two separate textbooks at the same time. Can I double down on test prep in time to pass the thing in one go? Chinese taxes done, MUCH SIMPLER than Canadian taxes! March Motion continues with so...

Russian classes - tongue twisters На дворе - трава, на траве - дрова. Не руби дрова на траве дрова! Do tongue twisters help with pronunciation? We sure depend on them in class! Synthesia - AI avatar! Was playing around with that during the day. How can I build, develop and deploy? Are teachers being made redundant or are they being forced to change their skillsets? Show notes n tracks up on steven...

Too much news! Is this like the Trump years in office wherein the media only fixated on one thing? Stocks keep going up... or at least in the Canadian energy sector. Sanctions on Russia mean up go the Canadian oil stocks. Sleeping faster - types of sleep patterns = Uberman sleep schedule. Perfect for parents? Two hours of core sleep + specific naps throughout the day. And I made cookies from a pac...

Omicron hits, shut downs increase. Plane crash on Monday doesn't look good, first in over a decade. Some things are out of our control so appreciate the small things in life. Be grateful. Despite all of our technology, we are rather fragile. Working on some automation for Android to help me with studying Russian pronunciation in the morning and being sure to do my Chinese characters. Marcg Motion...

Real Chinese: every new page is a new disappointmentf Russian class: Teacher: as a child I wondered how families could endure a war, now I know from experience. Yes, I continue to study Russian. I suspect there will be more expats aftet this and it's also not a language going away. It does make me wonder how a people can actually defeat an army. Are the Russian people really against this war if th...

Plane crash in China... first in over ten years. Sad to hear. Creative thought: How fast can I do this? Snow here, snow gone! Vid up on Youtube Omicron is still here and causing trouble Pre-recording some episodes or segments? Comedy night in Beijing March Motion and Pixelmator - title sequences and animation Linkedin... worth it? Show notes and tracks up on stevensirski.com Stay safe out there an...

All about studying Chinese and the difference between HSK and 'street speak' learning. What do people do with their time if they're not studying a language? What if someone offered you the money or a scholarship, would you do it? March Motion continues with a 20min tutorial that took three hours to complete! Snow... in March! Actual snow! Weekend is here, stop bombing Ukraine! Show notes n tracks...

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Never did have a beer sadly, but I did have chocolate. Snow on the ground and it's a bit cold outside. Productive day as I managed to get some recordings done in the morning and then failed again to get my Automator to do what I want it to do. But... I DID get Episode #29 of my podcast done and up! Interpreter, translator and teacher Qian Wang joined me on the podcast to d...

Homeworking application in, now I believe it's beneficial for me. Isn't that how brainwashing works? Make the subject think they are the ones benefiting? Uploaded a few new vids for March Motion that I've been working on. Tomorrow no work so I'll have some more time to get things done. THE VIRUS is back and it seems to be hitting hard. Lockdowns and fears are rising that it could spread. How can t...

Damn generator! When it's quiet it's like dead quiet, nap-time quiet. This is what I miss. Putin's power struggle, does he care? People say he's evil, I'd say he looks rather composed and his critics are not. But he is bombing his critics, so... Time. It's important. The older I get the more I realize just how much time is important and that I'd pay to preserve it. Make things simple. Chinese home...

It's Pi Day! 3.14 bla bla bla. Got pie? Paralympics are over, good thing we didn't try to go see the fireworks... there were none! Russia courts China to get involved, I don't think China wants to. Accusations of Neo-Ns in Ukraine, need to look up Banderista's, followers of Stephen Bandera. This is a skew of historical events and not a broad belief within Ukraine itself. Read Sergy Plokhii's Gates...

NFTs... the modern way of affiliate marketing? But how does it trickle down? How does it work? How can teachers or working people take advantage of this new form of 'contract'? Artists are one thing, but what about the rest of us? Did the Russians make scads of cash prior to this war? Paralympics end this weekend. Warming up in Beijing. Have a good weekend. Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.c...

How do you wind down for bed? A day of reading ELT terminology: grmmar, grammaring, order of acquisition, PPP, TTT. What about studying grammar? How do you help a student's grammar ability? What I'm learning from MY language teachers. Beijing getting warmer, China leading the way in the Paralympics, which ends on Sunday. Russia still bombing Ukraine, is this just the first wave? Show notes n track...