I think I should start.
Over the last few months I’ve intensified my study of Chinese characters, and this seems like the next logical step. I’ve installed QQ (the ubiquitous instant messaging program used all over China) and have spent more time speaking to Chinese people in their own written language so my reading and writing skills are slowly improving. I’d guess my character recognition to be in the range of 500 characters by now, which certainly isn’t enough to read a book or a newspaper. Maybe if I keep at it, I’ll get there.