Things have heated up here in Beijing and I’m barely able to stay cool and composed while on the way to and from work. No matter if I walk slow or not, I’m dripping in sweat by the time I get to the subway station. Actually, just about any time. I guess prairie boys take a little longer to acclimatize to the heat and humidity. Anyway, you can read more about that in my latest post, “Bring on the Fu and the Sound of the Cicadas”.
I can’t say I’m really bothered by the heat, I kinda like it, but then again, when I’m not working, I’m dressed as if I’m going to the beach. That being the case, we don’t really get any time off for summer holidays unless we simply make ourselves unavailable for work. This suits me perfectly well as it means I can work when I want and then take a few days to do other things I’d like to do (like not get crammed into the subway with a bunch of other sweaty commuters).
With these few days off here and there I’m able to get back to work on a few other projects I’ve been putting off for some time. You’ll notice some new videos up soon. One problem many of us video makers have had is securing rights for music, etc. Well, now that I have access to GarageBand and Logic Pro X, I’ve got quite the sample library to work with. Namely, I’ve got a farm vid I’m working on (some drone work), my scuba diving videos (underwater GoPro footage), and a couple of time lapses that I’m experimenting with (also shot with a GoPro at 4K). I was chatting with a long time friend of mine and he was looking for inspiration to get back to work on some of his musical endeavours. I told him that he had no excuse, that he should be able to get it done quickly… and then here I am sitting on a bunch of projects for months at a time!
I have been reading more, both English books and Chinese books. You can take a look at what I’m reading in two posts I’ve written recently, “Summer Reading: Fiction” and “Summer Reading Non-Fiction”. I’m in the process of compiling a massive book list in case you need some ideas of what to read next. I was debating whether or not to write a bunch of shorter posts highlighting the books but then I thought that would just get boring, not to mention difficult to navigate. This way, in one post, you can scroll through what I’ve read in a few different genres and then pick and choose what you like. I don’t know about you, but I always like looking through other people’s bookshelves.
On that note, I’ve stepped down on my Chinese reading to a simpler level while I also try to learn the characters. You can read more about my current study method in my post, “Reading Chinese”. In my calculation, I’m half way done learning the first set of Chinese characters in McNaughton and Fan’s Reading and Writing Chinese (List A, as it’s called). I try to get between 7 and 10 characters done in a day but, there’s a catch, I only do this when I have time at work, which means it’s often only between Monday and Friday. When I’m back in Beijing and at home, I have other things I need to get done. So that’s the goal, 7-10 characters per day all the while reading some easier Chinese stories in pinyin. Gotta get that language input up to build that vocabulary!
In case you were wondering, yes, I’ve also questioned the need to pursue learning any more languages. I mean, at what point is it enough? Chinese, Russian, French, Latin, etc. I can’t say I’m really looking for a job in which I’d use any of these languages so what’s the point in spending so much time learning them? I do understand that I am living in China and having a grasp of the language makes life a lot easier, but at what point does one stop? I have even briefly considered starting Arabic or some Middle Eastern language just for fun but then I stop myself and ask myself again, Why? And where are these robots that are supposed to do these things for us?!
Not really listening to any new types of of music lately. I’ve sort of moved away from the days of “exploring” music. I download the odd song here, I stream a bit of electronic music and that’s about it. And even though I bought a new computer last year, I’ve hardly moved any of the old music to my new computer. It’s changes like these that make me think twice about acquiring anything new, even if it’s just music.
And speaking of acquiring new things, the one thing I am looking to get is a printer. I’ve never shopped for a printer before as it was something that my brother or my Dad always looked into. I did not know there were so many different types of printers available. Ink jet, laser, colour, black and white, PPMs, cartridges, “this is the best for bla, but this is good for blah de blah” and then it all comes down to what’s actually available! How can something not be available in our modern world?!
That’s all for now. Time to commit to a printer!