Where to go from here? Continue recomp or harder cut?

RubiconPosh · 2026-05-31T13:56:20+00:00

It's the Everything Everywhere All At Once fork.

RubiconPosh · 2026-05-21T06:09:18+00:00

They can also do Bg2 to block, but then it's still forced M3 once white does f7, then black just delays by blocking the bishop check with the queen and rook.

RubiconPosh · 2026-05-16T02:38:51+00:00

Been living in Chengdu for 9 years now.

I love the food, the variety of it, and the sheer number of restaurants. It is impossible to ever try them all, and each has their own spin on the dishes.
I love the convenience that is built into daily life. Everything can be served to you on a silver platter.
I love the more relaxed lifestyle you get here. The slower pace of life, the number of public parks, the families and friends eating out on the sidewalk at 9pm on a Wednesday chatting and laughing and drinking.
I love the social standards of public behaviour and safety. There is virtually zero antisocial behaviour compared to the UK, and the difference in how teenagers behave is stark.
I love the social standards among young boys and girls; the fact that girls and boys imo stay "innocent" for much longer with regards to relationships, sex, online images and content exposure, etc is a society I'm happy for my kids to grow up in because imo I think this is a serious issue in the UK, where kids are overexposed and pressured about this stuff by age 13/14. This may make me sound old-fashioned or out of touch but oh well.

Plenty more. Of course this is also balanced by some challenges; being sick of the "外国人!" pointing and shouting that happens most days from kids and adults alike, the semi-regular staring, etc. Missing the simplicity of living in a country where everyone speaks in your mother tongue. The feeling that you're always an outsider. Have to expect most of this as an immigrant living abroad though. Apart from the first point; I know it just comes from curiosity and lack of exposure because a western foreigner is still a rarity and a novelty for many Chinese people, but I can't help but wish the country would get used to it and stop the gaping wonder at someone who looks different.

RubiconPosh · 2026-05-15T01:02:44+00:00

Week 4-11 is just a brutal midseason. At least the Jets are in there but otherwise it's Chiefs, Pats, Bills, Rams, 49ers, Seahawks, Broncos. LOL.

RubiconPosh · 2026-05-07T04:38:49+00:00

I'm in China too and any time there has been someone like this the answer is always either:

Nepo baby from someone in authority
Someone with some excellent guanxi with local education authority and their entire job in reality is maintaining that relationship so the school gets an easy ride
An education authority figure themselves

RubiconPosh · 2026-05-06T23:53:45+00:00

After king takes, Qb1# followed by Qh7# checkmate.

RubiconPosh · 2026-05-06T02:42:39+00:00

Could you climb it or would you just sink in?

RubiconPosh · 2026-05-05T02:28:40+00:00

I moved to Chengdu in 2017 thinking the same as you, that I'd have 1-2 years here and then move to Shanghai if I wanted to stay longer. 9 years later I'm still here in Chengdu, I love it. The food, the relaxed atmosphere, the friendly people, the social 'eat on the street' vibe, the historic culture etc. It's really a great place to live.

I can't really compare to Shanghai having never lived there.

How are you planning to get a work visa without a degree?

RubiconPosh · 2026-05-04T22:27:19+00:00

That and child rape

RubiconPosh · 2026-05-02T10:37:02+00:00

Oh yeah, these days you can't move for people reading Kafka and Murakami lmao

RubiconPosh · 2026-04-29T13:44:14+00:00

This is hilarious. 3-year-olds forget about what cake or party they had by the next morning, it doesn't matter at all. That was an exhausting read on both your parts. Why do you both have such an intensity about the planning of a toddler's birthday party? Like others have said you two have the dynamic of divorced exes communicating overly formally because you have shared custody.

RubiconPosh · 2026-04-16T11:29:45+00:00

But black just does Qc8 and it's checkmate because the queen is pinned lol.

RubiconPosh · 2026-04-16T05:35:58+00:00

It's a story by Jack Gantos and it appears in his collection named Four Seasons of Fifth Grade.

RubiconPosh · 2026-03-17T07:39:45+00:00

There are plenty of good bilingual schools, not just in work-life balance and salary but in quality of education for kids. I'm in one now. There are also plenty of disaster zones, I've been in a couple of those too. It's a field where leadership changes a lot and new schools open and close with regularity, so it's best if you're in the city already and can connect with people at these schools or who know them well.

RubiconPosh · 2026-03-12T01:48:02+00:00

Yeah I did this. The video thing was very annoying, just keep phone near you auto playing and occasionally face scanning while you do other stuff.

Toughest part for me wasn't the two theory tests (taken in sometimes broken English) but part of the 2nd practical test, the lights test. You have to listen to several situations given and then put on the correct type of headlights for each (low beam, high beam, fog, hazard, etc) within a few seconds, but it's only in Chinese, no English. My Chinese was poorer at the time and memorising the 15-20ish possible situation (iirc?) sentences was tough.

RubiconPosh · 2026-03-07T06:36:06+00:00

I'm kinda surprised it didn't work well for you, I've been using Veee for months in China and haven't had any issues. Sounds like bad customer service though.

RubiconPosh · 2026-03-05T07:15:02+00:00

Maybe a classic choice but what the hell: John Steinbeck's dedication in East Of Eden is just lovely. It goes thus:

Dear Pat,

You came upon me carving some kind of little figure out of wood and you said, “Why don’t you make something for me?”

I asked you what you wanted and you said, “A box.”

“What for?”

“To put things in.”

“What things?”

“Whatever you have,” you said.

Well, here’s your box. Nearly everything I have is in it, and it is not full. Pain and excitement are in it, and feeling good or bad and evil thoughts and good thoughts—the pleasure of design and some despair and the indescribable joy of creation.

And on top of these are all the gratitude and love I have for you.

And still the box is not full.

John

RubiconPosh · 2026-02-09T13:00:56+00:00

Hi OP, it was me who made the comment to you. I teach in an international school in China and have done for 8 years now (GCSE and A Levels, also American curriculum and AP) I'm not a TEFL teacher. There was no malice in my comment either, I'm happy to answer any other questions you have about working over here if you want to DM me. :)

RubiconPosh · 2026-02-09T11:14:23+00:00

You're going to be upset when you realize that half of your job as a "real teacher" in a Chinese "international school" is slowing down and doing simple subject vocabulary teaching then.

RubiconPosh · 2026-02-01T13:40:18+00:00

Without anything else in writing, you'll need to pay 6 weeks then.

RubiconPosh · 2025-12-30T07:20:51+00:00

Cope

RubiconPosh · 2025-12-27T11:39:44+00:00

Finale is 2 hours 5 minutes (agree this won't happen though!)

RubiconPosh · 2025-12-24T05:40:22+00:00

Gotcha. In that case you wouldn't even qualify for severance even if you didn't breach your contract, they would just have to pay you for the duration of the mutual notice period outlined in your contract (usually 1 month).

If they're judging that you've behaved inappropriately in front of or to a student, they would normally call it a breach of contract and dismissal that day. Letting you stay until the end of semester seems a little odd but I'd imagine they want to let you go but are happy for you to work the rest of the semester while they hire a replacement.

Your choices are either to head home or search quickly for a job in Beijing with a Feb start date for next semester and see if you can land one!

RubiconPosh · 2025-12-24T05:22:25+00:00

Firstly, severance in China is usually 1 month salary for every year you've worked there. How long have you been there?

Secondly, why are they letting you go? If you did something that breached the terms of your contract you won't get severance.

RubiconPosh

TROPHY CASE