The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

Generator is off! Maybe it had something to do with he humidity over the last few days?

Textbook tests are harder than practice tests! 45% for the workbook, 62% for the actual practice test! Did a lot better than I thought I would!

Sub BA5 spotted in Shanghai, new lockdowns? Not even sure whatbit means any more! Beijing bars reopening.

Two months to go! How will I trim the beard? Or just shave it off?!

Ten ideas... fot drinking coffee.

Thinking about getting a VA (virutal assistant), might make life a little bit easier.

Show notes tracks n vids up on stevensirski.com

Have a good one!

Joke about guns, and another shooting in the States. This time in Chicago, but most people who are from the city wouldn't be surprised. Sad, tragic and disappointing.

Biden to roll back tariffs and that causes markets to fall? Chinese markets are moving up, including tech. Crypt crushed, USD up!

10 ideas a day, can you do it? Idea comes from James Altechur, not sure if I've mentioned it before. Can be applied to anything: writing, music, teaching, business, money making ideas, how to profit from a falling stock market. Got some ideas for ESL teachers!

Thinking about the guy who is in charge of flicking off that generator, maybe he's locked down? Reading The Stand doesn't give me any good visions of what might have happened to him!

Strangely little Chinese done today but I did get my workouts in. It poured just as I was getting ready to leave in the morning so I had to delay a little.

Website updated with show notes n tracks! stevensirski.com :D

Have a good one!

USAmerica Day! Independence, when the great experiment of 'we can do better than you!' created the US of A, or at least the beginnings, and would later set the borders of where Canada would be.

Despite the seemingly chaotic political environment, ask just about anyone and they'll tell you they'd take the chance to move to the US. Most of my former students are there!

Walk down memory lane with a trip to Chicago for the Cubs vs White Sox at Wrigley Field, and then New York before China. And let's not forget the movie Independence Day!

HSK 5 prep: margaritas help! Or maybe I was just tuned in? 61%! Today's mock test was just a grin and bear it. (49%)

Do I sweat more or less? Generator is on and I can't sleep with that thing running. Have considered finding the source.

Show notes n tracks up on the site stevensirski.com! Have a good one!

Happy Canada Day! Though I know it seems to be a bad thing to say these days. Accomplishments? Honestly? I don't know!

Canadarm on the space station, James Naismith invented basketball, Chris Hadfield - an astronaut in space who played guitar and wrote a few books, Wayne Gretzky, Tim Hortons, the telephone was invented, Red Green, famous comedian, Coffee Crisp, Crispy Crunch, THE WONDERBRA, Java programming language, Blackberry, IMAX, Canola, the telephone (-ish),

Seems it's been a good place to invent some stuff

Nothing like a reality check on my Chinese with a practice test: 48%! Listening was alright, reading was worse than I thought it would be, and writing was abysmal BUT! I was able to craft (grammatically incorrect) sentences with correct characters! This is an improvement.

Show notes tracks n vids up on my site stevensirski.com.

Thanks for listening!

The fkg generator is back on! 太麻烦了(o﹏o)

HSK 5 prep continues with looking at some collocations. 搭配 dāpèi is the word I was looking for yesterday. They make a whole lot more sense now then they did before. Lots of folks I know who have hit HSK 5 level or thereabouts all seem to say the same thing, ' I wouldn't mind getting the 6'... yet none of them have... even though their Chinese is stellar. This does not bode well for me!

Remember that flight plan I had in mind? Yea, it was through Hong Kong which needs a quarantine soooo... there goes that idea!

Been thinking, I used to say it would be easier to cut calories than to increase expenditure. But my new workouts now seem to suggest something almost opposite. It is now easier to up my expenditure than reduce my calories any further simply because what I do eat (and drink), though is less, it seems to be more of a habit. So, how do I change this and do I want to? What happens if I stop working out so much?

Back to reading Chinese!

Show notes tracks n vids up on my site stevensirski.com. Have a good one!

Thunderstorm awakening! Still got the workouts in!

Wages for ESL teachers go up... but they have to be in-country. And those who aren't from the Sacred Seven 'native English spealing countries (and passports)', well, we'll just offer you less.

So... a move away from Beijing? Geez, could I even?

The asterisk is gone! What means? No more travel restrictions. Flights are still expensive $7000 CAD to Winnipeg.

HSK 5 prep, what else am I going to do in the evening?

Show notes tracks n vidz up on the site stevensirski.com

Have a good hump day :D

Hydrate for the weather! Preparing for HSK and making language study part of the evening ritual. A trip down memory lane across Western China. Next VIRUS-like pandemic to be warded off by good health practices? Or are we just kidding ourselves? Show notes tracks n vidz up on stevensirski.com. Have a good one!

Sunburn! First of the year!

Thunderstorms!

Drink your water! Humidity will dehydrate you! And why do we feel so tired?

Cicadas are out in full force now.

Schools being let back in, in-house dining, too, but still no generator!

Have decided to go ahead with the HSK5 test in July sooo... time to hardcore prep! Show notes tracks n vids up on stevensirski.com. Have a good one!

Friday, but who's counting? Work this weekend.

Dual workouts done around work and NAT tests. When will this end?

Working on pistol squats and one arm pushups

Expat living, here or there, what matters? Taxes follow so how to accommodate?

Show notes tracks n vids up on stevensirski.com.

Have a great weekend!

Rain cooling things down, looks like next week will all be rain.

Life must be getting back to normal as construction sounds abound, inside, outside, and all around.

Keeping busy with the language channel if you haven't had a looksee just yet.

Enjoying this Bill Bryson book The Body. It's my night time read. Should be taking notes!

Tech layoffs continue! Surprising given the big push towards AI and robotics. Where are they going?

Show notes n stuff on the website stevensirski.com

Have a good one!