The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

Drum rudiments on tablet, practice pad, and a real drum, what's the difference? Tomorrow will be catch up day! Trying out... 'intermittent fasting'! Hip term for what's commonly referred to as 'skip a meal'! Pushing back when I eat and stopping at around 830 pm. Nothing but water and coffee in the morning. How is this different ftom the Chinese belief (often repeated by young students) of not eati...

Finished watching Wolyn, gruesome movie. I was warned that it was worse than Schindler's List and I can see why: the violence is excessive and personal. Truly horrifying to think things like this could have happened, even though this movie's story is itself fictional. Onto December Drumming and making my way through the tracks. Look on my website for more. I've posted tracks under each day. Pushin...

Watching Wolyn (Volhynia), translated as 'Hatred'. Polish movie about a Polish guy and a Ukrainian girl falling in love... and then a World War erupts. Oops. Poland, Russia, Ukraine, all vying for their land. Historical. Makes me appreciated where I've come from and where I am. December Drumming continues as I work on a few solos to catch up to things.

St. Mykolai today! Gold chocolate coins and Mandarin (easy-peel) oranges! December Drumming along, new tracks posted on my website! Have a listen! I like what I'm hearing so far. Website has been slow. Not sure why. May need to look into hosting mp3s somewhere else. Work week begins, more busy than I thought it would be. Spent the morning creating word lists for my Chinese class. Target remains Ma...

All about Track #5 for my December Drumming challenge. This one was a pleasant surprise, and not what I intended at all. I recorded three takes using three different kits: Chinese, Modern 909, and Big Room. After listening back a few times, I decided to go with the third take with the Big Room kit. To edit the track a little, I sent the project to my computer to work with Logic Pro. When I opened...

All about track #4 for my December Drumming challenge. This one is called 'Phone Tap Bap' (though I could have just as easily left out the Bap) and uses everyone's favourite device to make sound: the cell phone keyboard. Recorded with my cell phone, using my cell phone's keyboard, this is a rhythm played featuring the phone's haptic feedback system. I then imported the file into Logic Pro, killed...

Korean food Friday night. When in Beijing, try something exciting? Future of work? Skilling up? What more can I do to prepare? Where else is hiring these days? Could I maintain my current lifestyle if I shifted location? Back to backpacking days? Early 40s, people still ask, after mid-40s, do they still ask if you'll settle down? Today's drum track, want to try messing around with the Garageband s...

Router or rooter, British pronunciation or general pronunciation? The anatomy of a power nap: black out your eyes, take the pressure off of your lower back (lying on your side usually helps), relax your eyes or, if needed, close your eyes and then cross them, that is, look towards your nose while your eyelids are closed. Finally, use a timer so you're not thinking about getting up and set it for 4...

Happy December! Already! Last month of the year! Start of December Drumming, how does Decedrumber sound? Ha! I’ll get things organized… tomorrow. Right? If this start is any indication, I’ve got to get things better organized. Next week should be a bit easier. Today’s track: ride cymbal only! 2 minutes and 50 seconds of it! It’s a play around on the ride cymbal and, not going to lie, I kinda thoug...

Making asparagus with cheese and... sweet potatoes. Two separate meals. Asparagus part of dinner, sweet potatoes part of breakfast/lunch. Will try it out to see if this new time saver works or not. Have you ever tried to eat a grilled sweet potato? They're awesome but hard to peel. Should've thought about the soil situation for my plants, apparently it won't arrive until tomorrow. How do I take ca...

Work week starts already?! Sunday afternoon lapsed into Sunday evening (as it always does) with a few bottles of wine. Not sure how often I want that to happen. NaNoWriMo2021 is almost done, how has your first draft gone? I haven't been writing as much mostly because I was aiming for a collection of short stories and I finished a lot of it last week so I'm happy with my accomplishments so far. Pre...

Vibrators are percussive instruments... and the forming of a muscle knot. Left calf muscle seems to be in the process of knotting hence the need for beating it with my muscle pounder. It's my Thursday night as I work tomorrow yet Saturday night will be spent prepping for Chinese class. ESL industry for life or is there life after it? Same form, or different? What would change? If Apple ever holds...

Happy Thanksgiving Day to our USAmerican comrades! (Canada's is in October... shorter growing season.) Pies in Beijing... expensive? $50 CAD for a 9" pie. Asked if I could eat the whole thing and get it for free... nope. End of November... if you could do your hobby or creative idea as business, what would be the lame, boring, I don't want to do this I'm just gonna put in the time thing that you n...

Chinese studies, vocab, and the plan or idea to work from home in order to master the HSK 6 word list next year. Beard oil? Is it even necessary? Do people even notice? I guess they do if I was asked if I was going to start using some (I don't really care to). And about those Theta Alpha waves, what are they and how do they work? Are they any useful? Show notes on stevensirski.com, have a great da...

Cool jobs... washing windows? NaNoWriMo update, how many words can you write in a day? Made a title page, does that count? Blog notes have gotten shorter, I know. Still looking for a way to automate some things. Theta Alpha waves, ever tried listening to them? Apparently helps with focus, not sure how to test this. Evolution of a drummer? Do you play the same music throughout your career or do you...

NO TIME TO DIE... or is there? SPOILERS!.... New Bond movie, interesting transition. They did offer up a few clues, one that another agent will become 007, but not James Bond. My idea: cloned or stored DNA via nanobot technology. I just wanted him to be happy. I guess if he came back, would he recognize his daughter? Chinese class, need to better prepare. Not just homework but review and then prep...

Hyperproductivity and today's world. Are we always being busy and productive or just busy? Is this a bad thing? What would Thomas Edison think? And what was the chronological timeline of his invention of the light bulb? When did the idea first come to him and when was it fully realized, actualized, and deployed? Doing your job yet saving something in the tank for after to get your own work done. K...

Great ideas disappear, better ideas stick around. AI in China... am I in the wrong profession? Something in the air recently, might get some plants for the apartment. Show notes on stevensirski.com... have a great day!

Making a job for yourself, would you do it? How would you do it? What if I lost my job tomorrow, would I be able to keep earning an income and, if so, how would I go about ensuring that income? These days can be busy, especially if I try to work on Chinese in between clients. New Starbucks opening! Show notes on stevensirski.com Hope the week is going well!

Ever washed a wall? Should be easy but it was the one behind my bed so I had to move stuff. Overall, looks better. Found the audio book version of 三体, Three Body Problem. People say it is a good book but that may be because President Obama commented on it. I found it a little confusing and boring. But will try to read along in Chinese! A digression on how Chinese characters are formed. Learning...

Chinese class on a Sunday morning? THREE HOURS?! But I think it's what I need. Former teacher from Wudaokao! Only three or four students per class. The book we're using basically skips ahead by a book and a half. Will need to work on grammar. Other students speak pretty well, can follow along but when the teacher speaks sometimes I lose the meaning. Whatever the case, it seems to be time for a cha...

Thinks & Thoughts and how long did it take me to go from concept to execution for my podcast and audio blog? Answer: a long time! Other ideas I've had, random yik yak, THE podcast, and this. How long can it go? Aaaand... how could I automate it to make my life easier? It's all a learning experience. Show notes on stevensirski.com

Lest we forget. Have you tried to read In Flanders Fields out loud? With the recorder going? Try it. This here is my attempt. Cell phone in hand, Beijing, China, Ukrainian descendant, ESL teacher, Canadian passport holder. WIFI. Bluetooth. Cloud. Touching. Scary. Heart-wrenching. Let's make a world for all people. Hate me if you have to. Show notes on stevensirski.com Vichnaya pam'yat.

Did it even snow? Cause... it's all gone now! It's Shuang Shi Yi Eve! Are you going to buy anything? November, Movember, remember to get your pooper checked gentlemen! Movember doesn't seem to be in the media much these days. NaNoWriMo... printed out a rough draft. Eeech! Show notes on stevensirski.com

Been a while since I've been back to Canada! Star Trek thinking... what if we are living not in a simulation but in the recorded memory of some thing that has done a reverse analysis of what led up to its current state? There's your thought for the day! Two days away from 双十一！What good is shopping for stuff anyway? Bought a book... a REAL BOOK: J.P. Getty's How to be Rich. Got it mainly for th...