The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

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...

Beijing's first snow of the season! We beat Winnipeg! Gotta get up early if you want pics of the city under cover cause it melts fast! Either way... it's cold! Got some soundtracking done this weekend, finally! NFTs... really? What's the difference between them and a royalty-free digital asset? I might be missing something here. Start of week, have a good one! Show notes on stevensirski.com

Foot is hurting on top, can't be a sprain can it? Forgot to press publish last night. NaNoWriMo2021, coming along. Weekend is here... and I work! Show notes on stevensirski.com Have a good end of week!

An extended disgression on learning Chinese, HSK 5 or 6, what do they really mean? 2500 characters or 5000 words, whatever! All that being said, should I be taking speaking lessons? $600 CAD for 30 classes. Commitment is not the issue, it's... is it worth it? Keeping creative, keeping the juices flowing. 1500 words a day NaNoWriMo. Get.it.done. Show notes on stevensirski.com!

Passport renewal process, should be easy enough. Can apply to RETAIN my current passport while it's being renewed... but I'll have to pay $45 CAD for that 'service'. Overall, doesn't look too difficult and should be rather straight forward since the Embassy is in Beijing. At least I can get a passport as Mainland Chinese citizens can't unless they can prove a need for it. Leisure travel isn't a va...

Feeling better. Chinese remedies vs the remedies I grew up with. Chinese remedies would be hot water, rest, then a pharmacy visit. Strange as most people I meet every day would say go to the hospital. Conflicting solutions? NaNoWriMo - You in? I might just try to write a couple thousand words a day just to get back into it. I'm more looking forward to December. Show notes on stevensirski.com Have...

November already and several Birthdays in the near future. Pipes are warming up in prep for full on heating in another week or so. Head cold or something but I'm fighting something so it's rest, fruit juice and garlic as treatment. How was Halloween? Maybe it was just me not going out? That time of year when you gotta be careful where you step, it could be a dried leaf or a piece of dog poop! Shan...

Back in Beijing no problem!... But the city is cutting itself off. Universities are shutting gates and the city is building what some would call is a 'Beijing Bubble' in preparation for the Olympics. // The process of an audio blog. // Getting into 2D animation cause... always been something I've thought about! // Hope your week has been good and your weekend is set up good! Happy Halloween to tho...

It's the Smog! Jinan is worse than Beijing right now. // Olympics coming up, will we be able to go? Vaxxed, not vaxxed, double triple vaxxed? // Beijing shuttering some places. For all my comments about Canada and now this... // Gaining weight while travelling? Change in workout routines aaaannndd.... egg tarts! // Hope we can get back to Beijing tomorrow! // Have a good one! // stevensirski.com

Another daily audio blog from the road... In Jinan, long time since I've been here!  //  Busy day but still got a work out in: 8 rounds, 45 seconds on, 10 seconds rest: Jumping Jacks, Burpees, Elephant Walks, Mountain Climbers, Bear Crawl, pushups, Kick throughs. Then did two rounds of my usual medicine ball workout but with my suitcase as a weight (almost 7 kg filled with towels).  //  THE VIRUS...

On the train again! This time high speed and on the way to Jinan! // Working from a home office or regular office? Which one is better these days? Which countries will benefit from this change up? // Reading How to be Rich by J.P. Getty. Great book. // Will we be able to get back to Beijing on Friday with the new * that is tacked onto our Health Code APPs?