SSAB – April 1 2022
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!
SSAB – April 4 2022
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 China!
SSAB – April 5 2022
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 something tangible that can be taken and remembered by others. Will try to read more. Qingming Festival ends today so back to work tomorrow… at least for most people. Show notes n tracks on my site stevensirski.com. Have a good Tuesday!
SSAB – April 6 2022
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 here in Beijing, guess I should get a haircut and get some photos taken. Need to remember to tell them NOT to hole punch my current valid (and necessary) visa and work permit. I don’t want to even think of what could go wrong.
Chinese lessons are heavy: euthanasia on Sunday, feelings about life today, being busy, appearing to be busy and… playing Chinese chess. Continuing with writing out the characters and reading the texts for the first time. Need to then go back through all of the chapters and review the grammar and THEN, most importantly, start WRITING. Getting this test done!
Hope your week is going well so far.
Show toes n kracts on stevensirski.com!
SSAB – April 7 2022
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 Chinese book (for class)
- -Three-hour class once a week (now finished
- -notebook for dictation exercises and class notes
For Russian
- -Notepad (for Russian text copies)
- -iTalki for Russian lessons and vocab
- -Поехали! textbook
- -Russian in Exercises
- -Classes 1-3 times a week
- -pen and paper for class notes
Website updated: stevensirski.com. Have a good end of week!
SSAB – April 8 2022
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!
SSAB – April 11 2022
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 hear such things like ‘So and so travelled to this place to meet with officials…’, and yet there are lockdowns after mass vaccinations and mask wearing? Something isn’t adding up. Why do govt officials from around the world get to travel but others get locked down? How long will this last?
Not too busy in Beijing at least which leads me to panic studying to cram everything before we (may) start work again. Hope we don’t get locked down! Eat your vegetables and get some exercise! Be safe out there!
Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com!
SSAB – April 12 2022
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, written.
Where are my mornings going? THAT’S where!
Show notes n tracks (and first episodes from years ago) up on stevensirski.com. Thanks for listening!
SSAB – April 13 2022
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 written word. I don’t think you can be exclusive (only written or spoken) but that may also depend on what you’re comfortable with and how much you want to put into it. Look for free platforms and be willing to test them out even if it means creating a dummy account so you can at least become familiar with the process involved.
Show notes and tracks up on stevensirski.com. Thanks for listening!
SSAB – April 14 2022
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 more about? It doesn’t even have to be very specific it could be as simple as ‘I want to learn how social media works’.
Regional social media. In China: Weibo, WeChat, Bilibili, Douyin, Xiao Hong Shu, Qingting, NetEase, iQiyi, Ximalaya, Kuaishou
Blog, vlog or podcast? Which do you think is easiest for you right now?
I’ve had the best success when I wanted to learn something because then I don’t feel disappointed if no one else likes it. I still learned something along the way.
Show notes and tracks up on stevensirski.com
SSAB – April 15 2022
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!
SSAB – April 18 2022
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 quality from Great Wall to ‘the city’, an hour out.
Happy Easter!
Chinese reading – tomorrow or the next day will tackle Chapter 36, last one
Need to gather references and send in passport. May just mail it in to save time.
Working from home this week, but lockdowns continue across the country.
Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com.
Have a good week! Christos Voskres!
SSAB – April 19 2022
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 have to figure out a system to incorporate it. The philosophy of “home” working… Technology: making us more productive but isolating us at the same time. Is it the same across the aboard or are there strengths and weaknesses we have to take into consideration?
Show toes n cratks on stevensirski.com.
Hope your Tuesday was productive!
SSAB – April 20 2022
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. Good memory practice!
Interior Chinatown… interesting book but I can’t help but feel the whole book is some indirect inditement of movie and TV production in the US. Certainly the flashes of horror aren’t made up, but certainly there are success storiea and this book just decided to focus on the racial profiling that has been said to permeate the US entertainment industry. Will we ever be able to celebrate our differences? Easier said than done I suppose.
Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com. Have a good one!
SSAB – April 21 2022
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)
Still using Skritter for writing practice.
Passport application filled in, appointment set for Monday
After Effects: really taking some time as the layout is a lot more complicated than Motion. And again, unless you know the shortcuts, these take just a little bit longer.
Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a good day!
SSAB – April 22 2022
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 some logos for folks. If you know anyone who needs a logo, let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com. Have a good weekend!
SSAB – April 25 2022
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. Have a happy and healthy Monday!
SSAB – April 26 2022
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, now available on Spotify.
Show pones n tow fotes on stevensirski.com.
Don’t get locked down!
SSAB – April 27 2022
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… you never know when it could end.
Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com. Stay safe out there!
SSAB – April 28 2022
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 pick up my pace? Language acquisition channel could be a good idea. All about my understanding of quantum mechanics after reading Michio Kaku’s The God Equation.
SSAB – April 29 2022
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, Labour Day here, five days off to do….. Virus closing in but very small increments of case numbers
Show notes n tracks on stevensirski.com
Have a good weekend!