The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

Birthday of an old school friend many years ago, but have lost touch. Last I saw, he had a kid. Moved away from the hometown but still in Canada. 

Last Ukrainian class for a while.

Buying more books! But simpler ones now:

城南旧事 - Old Things in the South of the City

伊索寓言 - Aesop’s Fables

宝葫芦的秘密 - The Secret of the Treasure Gourd

一千零一夜 - One Thousand and One Night

会飞的猫 - Flying Cat

汤姆索亚历险记 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

小王子 - Little Prince

中国寓言故事 - Chinese fables

A switch up of the workouts, but nothing done today. 

Setting up Episode 43, another local expat.

Looking at what tools I need if I don’t want to hire people just yet (or it’s cheaper to do myself).

Canva, Otter, website, ??

And X is unreadable today.

Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com

Have a good one!

I confess… I had McDonalds for breakfast. Didn’t post a picture because I didn’t want others to have the same idea. Be strong. Double sausage n egger, double chicken n egger. Hash browns. Soy milk (with sugar).

Workouts in, but changed it up since a bit of a reshuffle at work. Was able to use the treadmill for the lunchtime shift, then weights, then run.

Did weights first then a 6.5 km run.

-Kettle bell lifts for weights

-Used Xiaomi sports band instead of phone app and that threw off the km calculation even more! Counted the cadence and that was right, but the kms didn’t measure up with those before. No GPS data apparently.

Last year at this time, failing DELTA M1, failed HSK5. Where’s the end of studying Chinese?

Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com

Have a good one!

How are those supplements doing? Have not been consistent. Weight is about the same, but body pain has been noticeable.

Organizing the studio - how else can I expand? How much more can I make fit?

Language learning and episodic memory, remember all those times you learned a Chinese character because of what it looks like? This is scene recall

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3501256/

Hate listen on Spotify. Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com

Have a good one!

Stats are in!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/taobao-tmall-11-11-shopping-011100480.html

So how much did you buy? I could’ve bought more but am happy with what I got. I’ve set a goal of practicing for 15 minutes per day with this new Novation board. One of the first recordings follows!

Some articles about brain matter!

Language learning good! More grey matter in the executive brain function area.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150716135054.htm

Exercising in pollution bad! “Overall, the effect of air pollution on brain health was modest -- roughly equivalent to half the effect of one year of aging, while the effects of vigorous activity on brain health were much larger -- approximately equivalent to being three years younger."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211208161118.htm

https://n.neurology.org/content/98/4/e416

How many grey matter particles do I earn for every Chinese character I memorize?

Workouts in!

Lunch time run: 6.55 km in 37.01

10 kg Steel club workout 

After work: kettle bell lifts

And why is my timing always off on my running? Does cadence have anything to do with it?

https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness/what-is-cadence-in-running#how-to-improve

https://therunningclinic.com/runners/blog/why-is-a-high-cadence-useful-for-runners/#:~:text=Running%20at%20higher%20cadences%20reduce,changing%20footwear%2C%20and%20other%20approaches

Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com

Have a good one!

End of the week! Been light this week.

Workouts in!

Lunch:

Did NOT feel like working out. Started gentle on the treadmill with the weight vest then decided, No, I need to go run.

7.52km in 1 hr 2 min 32 sec with the weight vest

-interspersed with pull ups, push ups and squats

-also added sets of split squats

Evening: kettlebell lifts, I sadly don’t have a fixed set up for this.

Side street for dinner “Very Gouda”, Steve, maybe this is why you can’t lose weight?

Chinese reading going well, half impressed! Good side for practicing: mdbg.net has a section you can input text and it colour codes the tones and gives you the pinyin.

Lest we forget, Remembrance Day this weekend.  

Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com.

Have a good one!

             In Flanders Fields

Website update! Finally!

Ahh spending the morning moving cables around… just to put them all back the same way

How was the dentist?!

15% better? That’s exactly what this podcast will do! Read the research:

https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/sitting-near-a-high-performer-can-make-you-better-at-your-job

Flexiclass and group classes - time to try something new?

HSK class YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ_62dd1us_DPCCsXfwuFAixcJ8VnQiYY

Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com

Have a good one!

Pneumonia! Covid, flu and pneumonia all bogging up the hospitals!

Workouts outside again today so we’ll see how I feel tomorrow!

Lunch:

Run 7.54km in 42.17, a 4.52km??

Medicine ball workout = 3 full rounds of 8 sets 

After work:

Slow weights

Work has slowed, this is nice.

Time to see the dentist! Apparently I’m like the only one who hasn’t gone in a long time.

How was Ukrainian class? Struggling…

Show notes n tracks up in stevensirski.com

Have a good one!

New language challenge: read for 20 minutes a day!

Yup, sick. How to deal with this? Usually lasts a day. Need to realize you’re sick and take the needed steps.

PSB visit done for another year, is a green card better?

Nektar MIDI board, will take some getting used to but it looks like a decent piece of hardware. Thinking… tour some time? What would it take to  do such a thing?

Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com

Have a good one!

The heat is on!

Newsletter out

Getting cold outside!

Workouts in!

Lunch 6.4 km in 38 minutes 

Kbell and skipping (need to get a new rope)

After work slow macebell swings

Will be getting some new equipment 

How’s your Double 11 shopping?

Two months left in the year, does it matter?

Are Chinese companies replacing foreign management with local? What will the effect be?

Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com

Have a good start of week!

End of the week! For some! Not for me!

Not drinking this week has helped immensely!

Workouts in!

Lunch Running (a bunch)

60 pull ups with 6kg vest

120 push ups

180 squats

After work kbells interspersed with more work!

New toys arrived buuuuut… didn’t get a chance to unbox them just yet!

Episode 42 is done! Head to The Steven Sirski Podcast on Spotify NOW to stream!

Brad Seippel aka thruoutin, an American-born electronic producer and multi-instrumentalist. He’s been in China for over fifteen years and now runs his own studio here in Beijing. An electric pipa player, fluent in Chinese, and a touring musician, we talk things music, China and business.

Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com

Have a good one!