Introductions!

Welcome, people! Welcome to my new abode!

We begin our tale with a little backstory: I have far more luck than I deserve, and as a result I'm going to be spending a month in Beijing covering the Olympic Games with the BBC in an unofficial capacity.

A fantastic opportunity, but also a month spent away from my dearest and nearest. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE. So in lieu of actual physical interaction, I've decided to keep you updated on the mundane details of my everyday life in the traditional way of the modern recluse: a blog. But I hate that word, so we're calling it a Diary. With a capital D (and that rhymes with P, and that stands for... Peking! Oh stop rolling your eyes, you know you'll miss me).

Into this Diary will go photos, eyewitness accounts, random musings and details of every single meal I eat. The plan is to update this daily, but that's a lofty goal so we'll see how it goes. Please, I encourage anyone reading this to check back every now and then. Maybe even bookmark me? Comments are always welcome! In all seriousness, if I've invited you to read this, it means that you're either a loved one, a dear friend, or someone whose face I want to rub this in, and I'd love to have some kinda support group while I'm out there.

I leave for Beijing in exactly one week's time. The updates will begin in earnest when I arrive, though I'll probably scribble in some stuff to keep people's attention until then. The countdown has begun, ladies and gents!

再见!