The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

THE VIRUS has been tamed AGAIN! people without vaccinations won't be allowed in some places and other 'two code' requirements. What will this mean for the Olympics? And are the vaccines performance enhancing? // Riding bikes, talking health, eating, exercise, age.

Breezers are nice, not sure I'd drink these too often. // Started my three days of cross-city cycling. Two more days to go. // Chinese vocab learning and looking for a way to study spoken Chinese in isolation. // Should Tuesday mornings become Chinese movie time? // Will take a break from Russian this week but I'm still thinking of taking one of the tests later in the year! // stevensirski.com

The Sound of The Knife Sharpener! 磨mo剪jian子zi来lai 锵qiang菜 cai刀dao // Zhongyuanjie this past weekend so lots of burnt offerings meant lots of smoke all over the city. // Roasted coffee beans over the weekend. // Trying to find a suitable Chinese grammar book. // Working on a website upgrade. No deadline on this. // stevensirski.com

Python programming FAIL! How DOES face detection work? // New YouTube videos are up, trying out short form to develop a habit of consistency. // Read Derek Sivers' book Anything You Want. He's the guy who founded CD Baby at the very beginning of the tech boom in the late 1990s. // Back to the books for HSK 5 as I'm now using Memrise to go through the necessary characters for this level. Let's get...

Looking into the Russian test, TORFL, how much, when, where? // Python learning and actually got something done! Was able to make a program that spit out a usable QR Code! Go ahead and scan it to see where it takes you! All I can day is... thankyou! // Close to the weekend, but every dat is a weekend now that THE VIRUS is raging. Beijing is still kind of in a bubble. // Working on Blender and thin...

Russian morning on Duolingo and HelloTalk. Are you learning or trying to pick up? // Python afternoon and all I got done was a package installation. That took three hours. // Blender modelling! // Thursday already! // stevensirski.com

BACK ON TWITTER, is this a good thing? Is the site even relevant any more? TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE (if it can even be called that). // AI movie editing IS possible, a couple of methods presented themselves today. Makes me wonder why I didn't figure it out sooner! // Trying out short form videos! // Hope you're having a good day! :D // stevensirski.com

Cottage cheese, macros, and maple syrup. // Next week, trying for 60 miles (80 km) on the bike. // Work cancellations means more time for study. Thinking... Xiaomi phone has some neat pre-built video clips, how can I make these myself? How can I code an AI-video editor for my phone on my own? // Keep thinking it's Wednesday but it's Tuesday. // Have a great day! // stevensirski.com

WALL STREET (English) SHUTS DOWN! Now getting sued! // QR codes and travel restrictions and NAT tests within 48 hours! // Are 'They' harvesting our DNA?! // Trip planning in September and October, will it even happen? // Gotta get going on that HSK 5! // stevensirski.com

Rode 48 miles or about 77 kms in the last two days! Never done that before! // Got home just in time for Russian class! // Want to try out one of the TORFL tests to gauge my current level! // Lockdowns are back! // Take a look at my Instagram @sirskisteven stories for some short vids I've posted! // Have a great weekend! // stevensirski.com

Is it Peak China? Doomsayers say what they will! // THE VIRUS is back and shutting things down. Work trips CANCELLED! // Let's talk about HOW to do things, not WHY THEY CAN'T BE DONE! // Cycling to and from work... 11 miles / 19 kms each way! FIRST TIME! // stevensirski.com

Lying down after dinner is a risky endeavor! Three hours later you WAKE UP and wonder... what happened? Thanks coffee martinis. // Olympics are over, China did well, can they do it again for the Winter Olympics? // Private school restrictions mean that THE GENERATOR is off! // THE VIRUS is back, lockdowns and restrictions everywhere! // Tracking macros, going to try... cottage cheese? // stevensir...

Done with the week! Productive! // Russian pronunciation is getting better, so says my teacher! Question: why does Russian have accented and unaccented О's but Ukrainian doesn't? We'll have to find out. // Finished the video soundtracks, sounds good! Same view, two perceptions! // People are leaving Beijing! Expat Exodus continues! // Have a great weekend! // stevensirski.com

Russian declensions, Starbucks muffins, timed readings, oh my! // Python Coffee Machine DONE! Tinder Bot? Why not? And how to deep fake a pic and scrape a website! // Working on soundtracks, the hardest part are the little tweaks. stevensirski.com

3.5 hours of Chinese study in one block of time, that's a first! // 45 minutes to install a plugin to convert Chinese characters to pinyin with tone marks. Went with Google Docs! // Python PyCharm, spent the day setting that up. // Next up, soundtracking some timelapses! // stevensirski.com

Crackdowns and scrutinizing of education and gaming! More money to fitness! Learn your athletic vocab and you'll have a job! // Looked at how to create a flash card game for vocabulary learning. Will try that out for my HSK 5 word list! // What is possible to make with all of the tutorial works for programs like Blender and Motion? Ideas are a churnin'! // Wasted some time looking at the rumours f...

THE VIRUS returns, variated! // Quiet weekend, SOO QUIET! // Friends and colleagues are leaving. // Back up plan: become a student again. // Saw a band called Peking Floyd. Guess whose songs they play? // stevensirski.com

China is leading in the medals because they have more gold medals. // Resurgence in cases, we can't travel to some cities now, NAT and vax aren't enough. // Whacked my head yesterday, a bit of blood. It hurt. Was looking under my bed for the source of rust stain on my bedsheets when I rose up too quickly and smacked my head against my open window. // Started watching season 2 of Why Women Kill. No...

Productive day. Studied Russian past tense, read some Chinese. // Looked at HSK 5 tests, doesn't look as intimidating as before. This is a step in the right direction. // Tracking macros. Never done this before. Not surprised I'm consuming too much fat, but am surprised not enough protein. // Re-listened to Episode 20 with Anna Bass and made show notes. See my website for info. // Used up free acc...