now
This is a “now page”. It’s here to tell you what I’m up to right now, and complimentary to my /about page. You should consider creating one as well
I currently live in Taiwan. Ngl, I have mixed feelings about my time here. I love the cultural expression, and how seamlessly Taiwanese mix their heritage with modern art in a way that is both respectful, though challenging of norms and “canon”. It’s refreshing. I dislike the weather… ok I dislike Taipei weather in particular. Also I dislike the food… ok I dislike Taipei food, there’s plenty of better choices if you trek out of Taipei.
I’m about to start my second session of Road to Mandarin 8 week thematic Mandarin speaking course. I finished the first one last year, and I was really really pleased with the material. I wish we’d focus more on written Chinese, but given I’ve started this year being caught up in way more projects that I can muster, I’d say 1 hour a week for spoken Chinese will help me not become totally rusty.
My theme for 2026 is “community”, i.e. building some. For example, over the past year, I’ve spent a decent amount of time breaking up with the cloud. I’m pretty sure other people in Taipei also have their experience moving from the cloud to a self-hosted life. We should get together and share notes.
Work-wise… it’s complicated. oolongtechnologies.io, my engineering consultancy, is decently successful. I’m often pondering my future as a software engineer.
What I’m reading
- (reading) Technofeudalism - by Yanis Varoufakis - accompaniment to my breakup with big tech
- (reading) Minority Rule - by Ash Sarkar
- (reading) 彩色全圖解！鐵道迷的第一本書 - by 鄧志忠 - I don’t usually like trains this much, but Taiwan has an amazing railway story and I enjoy taxonomy books
- (up next) Walkaway - by Cory Doctorow - suggested to me by a friend, I should read more fiction
Updated 2026-01-20, from Taipei City, Taiwan 
(what’s this?)