The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

Website updated with latest upload from December Drumming. A little walk through of some inspirational drum beats. Jamuary continues... And Chinese for five hours. But I still don't feel like I accomplished anything. Did better on the practice tests though, scored 55%. Language learning and a lot more. Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com. Have a good day!

Russian class cancelled, will I get credit? Chinese class.. still having trouble understanding despite progress with vocab. Tech and teaching: will THE METAVERSE merge with teaching? How can I automate my teaching while still providing personalized service? This and more in today's audio offering. Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com, have a good start of week!

Have you ever found yourself with a collection of sound bits you've collected over the years as you've lived in a city? No? Well, some of us have. These here are some of the sounds I often hear while living and working in Beijing. Among them are a passenger announcement, cooling fans, knife sharpeners, people eating, and me trying to speak Chinese. Show notes and tracks up on my website stevensirski.com \m/

Missed yesterday cause I fell asleep so a weekend edition it is! Theatre techniques for language learning: put a pen in your mouth. Russian trial classes, interesting to try out a few different teachers to see their style and methodology. Another trial run on Monday. Chinese homework took forever but at least it's done. Sticking better now. New workout for the morning that doesn't rattle my head as much as the others that required jumping jacks or skipping rope. Show notes b tracks up on stevensirski.com Have a great weekend!

Beat Boxin with Claps. Trying it out. As so many others on soc med seem to be publishing electronica and the like, I seem to fall back on Beat Boxin and Body Percussion. Maybe i's the easiest. I'll look to change it up going forward.

The year is 2022! Whoops

Never tell your teacher you have time, they'll fill it with homework. ... Even though I know that languages are learned on your own time, not class time. Classes are mini tests, the real learning happens in your own studies.

Jumped a few percentage points today in my latest Chinese practice test. Hit 42%! Yey! But that's because I went through the chapter prior to the related test. Tomorrow will try to review another chapter. Focusing on learning the teacher's vocabulary to make reading the book easier.

Started Russian again online, this time through iTalki. Wanted to try out the platform and see how the classes are conductes. Integrated classroom with chat and board functionality, but we did have connection issues.

Jamuary continues. Got the tracks done butb haven't posted yet. I seem to be repeating my drum patterns so I'll work on getting away from those.

Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com. Hope you're well!

Well Happy Birthday Dad. Hope you are well.

Dad passed away a few years ago prior to my current employment. He managed to visit China with my Mom the year before he died. The only thing that gets me is that the travel agency suggested he get a ten year visa! I did write a post and later made a recording of it on my website. It's titled Quotes From My Father. I'd encourage you to read it as it has helped me quite a bit throughout life. One of my target audiences for the post are parents themselves, ie, people my age who now have their own kids. It might make you laugh or it might even give you something to use at some point. Show notes up on stevensirski.com. I love you Dad!

Like hoping the teacher won't pick me in class, so I check my work allocations!

Studied Chinese for FOUR HOURS today! Last practice test I took on Sept 20 2020 I scored 9/31, or 29%. This time I scored... 9/31. The exact same! WTF!

Smells different, is it a different type of coal dust in the air?

No more daily health checks! NATs still are.

Jamuary continues...

Updated some more of December Drumming...

Becoming a stock broker, watching Billions again.

Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com

Thanks for listening!

Nice and quiet. People must be leaving as it is a month till Spring Festival... and the Olympics!

Updated the website with a lot of last week's tracks. I see I missed a a few days in December Drumming, though one or two of them I know I recorded somewhere.

Podcast about learning Chinese and why it's so difficult. Few, if any, cognates (words similar across languages), character / sound difference, spoken / written.

Bought a Garmin Heart Rate Monitor. Mi Fit band doesn't seem to be working as well. This chest strap is a bit uncomfortable.

Today's Jamuary contribution...

Show notes and tracks up on stevensirski.com! Happy New Year!

All about today's Jamuary 2202 offering: Building Beats. Using Garageband to mix up an EDM track, here is something I put together in what I consider to be part two of a possible trilogy. Yesterday was the intro, today the main beat, tomorrow, what will it be? Tracks and commentaries up on stevensirski.com, take a look!