Since you asked...

I have existed for approximately 33 years¹, which in cosmic terms is barely a rounding error, but in human terms is long enough to have made several questionable decisions and at least two acceptable ones.

At some point, I discovered people would pay me actual money to make their websites appear higher in Google search results. This seemed absurd. Google employs thousands of people whose job is determining which websites should appear where. Yet, somehow it worked. I became obsessively good at it. It's like solving a puzzle that pays you, which is considerably better than puzzles that just sit there judging you.

With nothing but a laptop to tuck me in at night, I found myself living in Vietnam since almost a decade ago. Vietnam has everything: lovely people, beautiful scenery, exceptional food, perfect weather, excellent facilities, and everyone treats you like a minor celebrity just for existing. A short flight gets you to mountains, beaches, or deserts. It just works.

Most importantly, it has my dogs. Oops, sorry honey. Second most importantly, it has my dogs. Nobody wants a chihuahua. This is received wisdom, accepted fact. Then I got one and discovered that approximately 3% of all chihuahuas are defective and turn out to be adorable. Mine is either defective or mixed with something that went horribly right. The Pomeranian was a more conventional choice, though "conventional" is relative when discussing dogs small enough to fit in a handbag.

During my time here, I've collected 400-odd second-hand books. Business biographies mostly (47.5%), science fiction (17.7%)², some history and philosophy. My fiancée has made several reasonable requests that I stop. I tend to agree. Our overflowing bookshelf does not.

My business has made the radical shift from doing SEO for local businesses, through about 15 other ventures, back to doing SEO for e-commerce businesses. One of which is my own.

At one point, I decided I wanted to be a personal brand so I started a podcast. 100 interviews and 30,292 subscribers later, I remembered that I don't actually like talking to people. So I stopped.

About the only suspiciously non-nerd activity I do is what fitness people call 'progressive overload resistance training'. Lifting heavy things in a room designed for people who otherwise don't lift heavy things. More commonly known as being a gym bro.

I am not a sports guy. The closest I get is F1, where my participation involves putting it on the television. I did run a marathon once, though. I do not know what possessed me. A marathon, for those fortunate enough not to know, is a 26.2-mile race. "Race" being the word professionals use who actually race, not people who dawdle along over 4 hours while negotiating with their body not to unionise. I have not repeated this experience.

I've also developed some interests beyond optimising websites and hoarding books. I learned to cook macro-friendly dishes, realised they were miserable, and promptly added back all the fats I'd been avoiding. Sometimes I build excessively complex gifts for my fiancée including a custom board game, a custom murder mystery box, and a word search book she was convinced I'd bought from the store.

I've even started learning the piano recently, which I've celebrated by buying 5 suits to wear while watching far better pianists perform at orchestras. A far-cry from a kid that used to holiday in a caravan at Skegness³ (if you don't know what this means, consider yourself lucky).

Anyway, if you've somehow read this much nonsense about an average ape on a pale blue dot, orbiting an unremarkable star, doing incredibly unremarkable things, then your brain is now filled with slightly more useless information. Good job.