What I’m doing now

I’m living in Beijing.

My main job is at Beijing Hikers, doing a bit of everything (website/​emails/​​bookings/​planning hikes/​leading hikes/​etc).

I’m doing a read-through of the Discworld novels. (I wanted to call it a binge-read; can it still count as a binge if it’s slow?) Just finished Feet of Clay (19/41), next is Hogfather. Favourite characters so far: Granny Weatherwax, Death. (The World’s Slowest Binge-Read™ is now also The World’s Slowest Live-Blog™)

I’ve finished all the photo editing for a post about the Gubeikou Great Wall. Next is maps, then writing it up.

Chess ratings climb—I’m trying to increase my rating on chess.com to 1000 in 2025 by playing 100 rated matches and reviewing them for improvements. Currently at 33/100 matches and languishing at 566; getting to 1000 seems slightly unrealistic. 😬

Current moustache status: Ulysses Everett McGill.