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’m starting to realise that Taipei is a scam and that Taichung might be the place to be.
Almost halfway through the Road to Mandarin 8 week thematic Mandarin speaking course. My writing has improved considerably, and I find it much faster to just open a new file and write something in Chinese.
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.
You should follow my journey doing AI Lent this year, where I spend 40 continuous days without any AI assistance.
Work-wise… I’ve recently reduced my client committments to be able to have a semi-sabbatical and go back to researching deep learning topics. oolongtechnologies.io, my engineering consultancy, is decently successful.
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 2026-02-20, from Taichung City, Taiwan 
(what’s this?)