Things have been busy for me as of late and, if you haven’t seen by now, I’ve started a podcast! It’s the first new page I’ve added in a long time so I encourage you to take a look and have a listen to my new form of media!
The Steven Sirski Podcast
😀
Why a podcast?
I’ve been thinking about doing one for a while now but never really got around to it. Plus, I’d been doubting the necessity for one. I figured that my blog was enough and that if people wanted to see what I was up to or learn something about travelling or living in China, then the blog was more than enough. But, as I see my own life changing quite a bit, not just because of the Coronavirus, but because of the pace of life, podcasts are simply easier to consume than longer form blog posts. No one really has time for longer form content unless that article is explaining something step by step. Most of my blog posts don’t really fit into that category, they more fit into “life over there” type of discussion rather than a document of procedures.
I still enjoy writing so I’m not going to stop posting any time soon. I recently celebrated the tenth anniversary of this blog and, one week later, I decided to start my podcast. I was actually given a bit of encouragement to just start the thing already after one of my former students, in hearing my doubts, said, “You sound like my colleague who said the same thing.”
Fearing that I’d be one of those people who yak all the time but never pull through, I figured I’d better get a move on. I made a test run the next week and then re-did the whole episode the next day.
I’m not posting videos of these podcasts just yet mainly because I have to use my cell phone to record at the 4K resolution I want. And, since it’s a Xiaomi phone, the video recording duration is capped at about 8 minutes in length, which means I have to pay attention to how long I’ve been speaking for. It’s not a big deal but it is something I’m looking to make simpler for me going forward. Whether I get another GoPro or a 4K webcam I haven’t decided just yet, and I’m not in a rush to buy any more tech at the moment given the current job and financial situation.
“Work”
Work hasn’t re-started just yet and it’s becoming odd why our company isn’t allowed to start yet others are. It may have to do with the groups that we often travel in and, until recently, people were required to quarantine themselves at home for 14 days if they moved from one location within the country to another. Now that that restriction has been eased and the government is currently running its “Two Sessions” here in Beijing, things hopefully will turn around. That being said, it doesn’t look like we’ll start until late June or early July at the earliest. This is where things become a bit problematic.
You know that whole “you should have six months of money saved up for an emergency?” Yes, well, that cash is now being used and, although we’re still getting our base rate for the month, it only barely covers my rent for the month. Easy to say that I should live somewhere cheaper but, as I wrote in a blog post last year, given the cost of relocating and finding another apartment, it didn’t make sense unless it was a substantial savings and, as I pointed out in that article, those savings could only be had if I chose to move further out into the suburbs of the city, much further out than where I live right now.
And my landlord is feeling the pinch too. She called me and requested that I pay earlier than normal and then had the courage to ask for full payment at the end of the month. I refused, citing that, first of all, I gave an early payment out of kindness and understanding of her situation but that, second of all, the government has been clear to landlords that they should be lenient on payment due dates because of the overall lack of work and money moving around. She backed down and will settle for another two instalments over the next month. There is simply no other way.
Plus, who else would take this apartment? It’s not like there are many people looking to move into the compound and, worse still, the ban on foreign arrivals will be limited over the next few months and won’t ease until probably October.
So things are still “tight” here and, if the predictions are correct, it’s going to take a while for them to loosen. The kids will be back at school in June and the Gaokao is scheduled for July 7th and 8th and that’s a very important event to get done and cleared up. (It’s the national university entrance examination.)
Otherwise, I’ve been busy studying and working out. My days are pretty well scheduled from wake up to late noon at which point my scheduling breaks down and my brain simply feels tired. Walk, smoothie, coffee, study, lunch, workout, some Chinese takes up the first six to seven hours of the day and then, after Chinese, usually it’s time for dinner and probably just watching TV or doing more reading, usually business news of some sort. Then repeat.
Baking and Cooking
One thing that has changed is that I now have an oven in my place. I’ve actually had it for a few months but neglected to make the room necessary to actually use the thing. So we took care of that situation a few weeks ago and now I’m able to do some baking. To date I’ve made packaged brownies and pumpkin pie, but just this week I made pizzas (I made the dough, too!) and I tried to make banana-protein brownies but, I think I used too many bananas so it just tastes like baked banana.
Oh, and I made carbonara sauce one night because I saw a video by an Aussie bloke who made it look real simple to do (Nat’s What I Reckon) and, surprise surprise, it was damn good.
Blogging
This post is an example of one of the reasons I wanted to start a podcast: I’m able to go through quite a few topics in one go rather than trying to flush out and organize all of my thoughts and add pictures into a blog post. Instead, with a podcast, I can speak, make some rough notes, and post both. Editing took me a while with the first episode or two but I’ve since improved both my ability to record in one go and to edit any large gaps in the recording.
Otherwise, as you can see, the number of posts I’ve been able to put up in the last six months has been quite a few more than usual.
So I’m quite happy with those numbers so far and am looking to keep up that production.
Videos
One thing I would like to get done in this time off is go through some of my old videos and post those. I mean, both the old videos from the last year and half that I haven’t posted and the old videos from years ago. One thought I had was to create another YouTube channel that would be a vlog-style yip yap about a certain travel video I have. I’m thinking it through and, more importantly, thinking of how and when I could fit another demand into my schedule. It might be fun to both have a look and a talk through some of the places I’ve been before without trying to make them “comprehensive”, rather, a simple discussion of sorts.
Chinese
I have a full write up about my progress on my Chinese studies so far but I have yet to post it. The reason for the delay is because I’m actually done the HSK 4 books but technically I have a few more things to do. I recently hired a couple of Chinese teachers to help me go through the grammar in more detail so that when I do take the exam I’ll be ready. That being the case, my speaking has gotten a lot better in the few weeks that I’ve had Chinese class.
Python Programming
I did hit a bit of a wall with programming in Python but the interest is still there. Now it’s more about finding projects that I can work on and modify for my own use rather than thinking of any sort of career change. I’m not surprised that the more I study the language and its application that the more I start thinking about how to apply it in my daily life. The next big step will be making things simple enough that I can get a program conceptualized, written or modified from another source, and deployed to make my life easier. This will take time to develop but I’m confident I’ll be able to do this by the end of the summer, if not earlier.
Roasting Coffee Continues
And, finally, if you missed my posts on roasting my own coffee, I’ve been entertaining myself with trying my hand at being a coffee roaster right here in my apartment. It’s a smokey affair and I can already say that it’s sometimes difficult to want to go through all of the necessary motions in order to simply get a cup of coffee. However, like the podcast, this is new and I’m looking to simplify things for myself so that there isn’t a huge demand to do things all at once. So far I’ve tried coffees from Yunnan (China), Brazil, Columbia and, most recently, a robusta bean from Java, Indonesia. It’s been fun to experiment with and I’m looking to post videos and pictures and reviews of the different coffees I try.
That’s one of the problems I’ve had is that every time I roast some beans I feel the need to write a thorough review of the whole process. Hopefully, the more I try out, the easier things will get both in practice and in writing.
Conclusion
And so life is continuing on in a rather dilapidated fashion but, for me, these days are whizzing by. This could change at any moment and that’s one reason for my eagerness to “keep going”. I can’t help but think that 2017 prepared me for this in some form so I’m not going to lose another year not any opportunity that comes my way. Some may not like that but I hope you are able to find some way of making things work for you sooner than later.