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 and maps for a post about the Gubeikou Great Wall. Next is actually writing it up.

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 45/100 matches and just around 600; getting to 1000 still seems slightly unrealistic. 😬 (If you get roughly 12 points for a win, I need to maintain a win rate of about 60% for the next 55 matches … against higher- and higher-rated opponents … with a current win-rate of 50% against 500-600 rated peers.)

Current moustache status: Ulysses Everett McGill.