Balance

We spent a lot of time playing go. Seriously considering our moves. Reading, or at least pretending to read. Trying to remember a certain joseki. Lots of thinking.

 

Wherever you looked, there were always people playing go. Outside, inside, everywhere.

 

To balance all that mental work, we took a nice walk every day. On Saturday we walked around a local pond. It is amazing how much better one can play after having been outside for a bit. Feeling the grass between one's toes. Watching the geese in the water. I am glad it is part of our Woodlands routine.

 

This island was quite relaxing. And the walk reinforced the concept of balance both in my go playing as well as in my real life.

 

I guess I'll go to bed before I go all philosophical on y'all.

Back from The Woodlands and The Joys of Focus

We had an excellent workshop at the Woodlands. Four days filled with good friends, good food, and lots of go.

 

There are many stories and games which might or might not get posted, but for now just sharing some pictures.

 

Going to the Woodlands motivated me to get back into doing many go problems every day. Many easy go problems. Every day. No excuses. No bright and shiny distractions. Just the darned go problems.

 

And you know? I realize yet again that half of my issues aren't lack of reading, but lack of focus. Even while doing go problems. I will KNOW the answer and still click the wrong spot. Or click first and think later. Or make many other stupid focus related mistakes.

 

That was the wonderful thing about the Woodlands, I could actually FOCUS on my games, which was awesome. I will need to find that same inner calmness and focus at home. I am sure it is somewhere, and my game will improve just as much from improving my reading as it will from improving my focus.

So my new mantra 'Do many easy go problems and focus, focus, FOCUS.'

I Should Be Packing

Tomorrow I will be going to the Woodlands to play go all weekend.

 

 There will be lots of good food.

 

There will be walks and hikes to offset the sitting on our butts and playing all day.

 

There will be many good friends and there will be Survivor Go. In which I always hope to be voted out FAST so I can just relax without worrying about the pressure... Standing in front of the crowd, with a go stone in my hand, wondering where the heck I should put this stone to find the 'There is only ONE move!' location.

 

Anyway, I am off for the weekend and will come back tired, sun burnt and happy. And heck, I might even learn a thing or two about go!

Take Advantage of Your Opponent's Weird Moves

Imagine me sitting down, ready for a nice relaxed game on KGS, a cup of tea in hand, waiting for my opponents move. Pondering the empty board, trying to get my mind in a state of calmness, and taking a deep breath. This move appears.



I see... Very interesting, and a bit puzzling. I wasn't sure what to do. I evaded the issue by taking some other corners first, but eventually had to come back to this corner.

According to my teacher, the triangle stone would have been a good move to take advantage of the weirdness of black's move.



If black approaches at R15...



Kick him and make him look really stupid.



If he approaces at O17, calmly make a shimari and wait for his reply.



Whatever black does, white will be ok.

Of course, I didn't quite play that move in the real game, and this is what happened. I played at R16 and he pincered. Now it is just like a 'normal game' in which the moves were played in this order.



White lost any advantage she could have gotten from black's weird move.

I guess the lesson is, try to take advantage of your opponent's weirdness and do not be content with reverting to normal game moves if you can avoid it.

Go and Calmness

It is not like I don't KNOW this, but it still surprises me every single time. If I manage to get myself into a calm state of mind, I tend to play better on the goban. This week has had some focus on finding calmness, and I can clearly notice it in my game. I suspect that adding meditation to my daily to-do list would not be bad. In my spare time.

 

Anyway, this weekend I attended an iaido workshop and I could feel the calmness carrying over onto the goban. I might be able to get away with daily iaido instead of daily meditation, just because I am lazy like that. Yes, in my spare time also.

Some day I will learn how to play this game. And some day I will find my inner calmness whenever I want it.

Reading

Yes, I am still trying to do many easy problems. Sorry for not posting a problem last time, Haz, here is a simple one.



Anyway, I am yet again realizing that reading just is Very Important. Yes, I know, that is news for everyone, right? No one ever told me before. Cough.

Not only that, but I have displayed too much lack of reading in my games. Gah.

So I am back to doing problems. Many of them.

Since I restudied L groups and variants, I decided to teach some to a friend. I started with L group and all was well. Then I went on to L+1 and all was well until she asked 'So what other ways can you kill this shape?' And I said 'There are many other ways.' And then I realized that I have no idea how many. Heck, I have no idea which ones work and which ones don't. I do know the 'official attack' but I have no idea which other attacks give ko / death / life. I KNOW NOTHING!

As in any crisis, I looked around for chocolate. But found tea instead. Which
was almost as good. And my brain exploded. Which wasn't so good.

By now I know the other killing moves for the L+1-groups, but am not always sure about the result of the other attacks. Some result in ko, some in unconditional life. Interesting, never looked at it this systematically.

Do Many Easy Problems

Revisiting the L group and related shapes in my project of doing many easy problems.

 

I found out that I still have a long way to go before I master those darned shapes!

Tea House and Happiness

Friday, I found myself in Burlington, Vermont, playing at a wonderful tea house (Dobra). Very quiet and relaxed atmosphere. Wonderful tea. Low tables, with pillows to sit on. Good food.

 

We played. Time stood still. A very weird, annoying, surreal, interesting, and fun game. My soul was nourished just as much as my body from spending time on a slow game in a calming environment.

Never mind the snow storm on the way back. Never mind the crazy traffic. My day was good.

Now I just need to study the taisha again, darn!

Large Avalanche

Well, finally got some one on KGS to play large avalanche against me.

 

Till he escaped at move 50. Oh well. At least I got to learn a new variant ^^

The Joys of Meditating

After talking to a random bee farmer, I decided that I should try to find the time to meditate before my daily game. It would do my game a lot of good, and I am sure it would do my mind a lot of good too. I was full of wonderful intentions.

Last night, I did meditate before my game. I decided to keep it short, just counted 50 breaths. I made it to 42 when my 4yo came down the stairs, crying that her siblings were mean to her. It didn't sound too serious, so I continued and she did NOT see me sitting on the floor. She ran off to complain to an older sibling instead ^^ One meditation crisis averted.

 

I had a nice game. I gave 3H to a guest, and was able to catch up territory wise. Felt good about the game till the three littles started fighting, during the endgame and I totally lost my focus. I mean, TOTALLY. As in losing 25 stones in an endgame stupid atari. Oh well, I am sure there is a lesson in there somewhere AND I was feeling good about the first 3/4 of the game. But it was very amusing for sure.

Too much life, not enough chocolate, but at least I am playing Every Single Day. Against all odds, but I am doing it.

Playing!

As usual, I have been having too much life, and not enough go.

But!

Goddess and my favorite bee farmer convinced me that I should stop making excuses and play already.

 

My new goal is at least one game a day (heck, usually one game a day is the total maximum I can manage in between my insanity anyway). Preferably I would meditate a short time before each game, but that hasn't quite happened ^^

Wednesday, I gave four stones handicap to someone at the Vermont Go Club in Burlington (Finally made it over again!). I lost.
Thursday, I taught go to a 5yo (I can count 9x9 games, no?) and played a partial game at our own go club.
Friday, I played an Indonesian friend on KGS. I won.
Saturday, I played Meepy! I lost miserably.
Sunday, I played a squirrel. I forgot how to read, and lost.
Monday, I played a random guest, who ground me into dogmeat.
Today, I haven't played yet, but will try to get a game in tonight to get myself to 7 out of 7 for the week.

Feels good to be playing again, even if I was half asleep by the time I played last night, and I spent the night dealing with puky kids. I did play!

Blast From The Past

Today, my daughter was organizing my filing cabinet (stop laughing!), and she found this old newspaper proving that I indeed did play go in 1993. In the Netherlands. And made it into the newspaper.

 

The baby is my now 15yo, he was so cute back then ^^

KGS Icon for Macs

I don't have a Mac, but am posting this for a friend. He has made a file to replace the KGS icon which looks absolutely horrible on a Mac. All you have to do to install it is right click on the application (in finder, not on the dock) find the existing icon.ics file, and replace it with this one. If you have KGS in the dock, you'll need to take it out of the dock and put it back so that the icon refreshes there.



Screenshot of the new icon. Enjoy!

Too Much Aji and Not Enough Reading, or How I Got My Car Impounded

First, happy New Year to all of you! Finally getting around to posting more about the Jennie Shen work shop and how we ended up at the impound lot. Yes, that included teacher Jennie. Nothing like showing her the top attractions of Philadelphia.



Did I mention the barbed wire? I thought not. Well, grab a cup of tea and get ready for the story of bad forcing moves. It was Saturday night, it was time for dinner. Since we had a Chinese teacher, it seemed an easy decision to go to Chinatown. We got into our cars and drove to Chinatown. I had Matt, Terri, and Jennie in my car. My rental car, because the Ogg Mobile was out of service for the week.



Everyone had told us how hard it is to park in Chinatown. So when we were almost there, and saw a few parking places open on the side of the road, we marked that in our minds as a possible parking location. We smugly talked about how we would get free parking, AND free exercise, while all the people parking in Chinatown were not as lucky and smart as we were. Always nice to feel superior.

We drove through Chinatown, didn't find parking, but we had our brilliant plan B and parked on one of the last few open spots alongside that road. Life was good, and we walked to the restaurant, happy about being with good friends and the prospect of excellent food. And free parking!



We ate, we chatted, we had a great time, but eventually it was time to get back to the car. This time Peter joined us. We walked back, me looking at my GPS, to make sure I could find my car. (Someone said 'You are the only person I know who marks her parking location with her GPS.' He clearly wasn't a geocacher.) We walked, I half looked at my GPS, we walked more and I stood still. Hmmmm. 'Did we just pass my car? What colour was it again? Why do all those rental cars look alike anyway?' Well, it shouldn't be hard to find, since it had a Maine license plate, and there weren't that many of those in Philly.



We walked back, getting a bit confused and worried. A car won't just disappear into thin air, would it? Peter helpfully spoke up 'You guys didn't park here, did you???!!! This is a no parking zone!' Oh...

Those signs weren't there when we parked, I swear. I mean, how could FOUR intelligent and smart people have missed a sign like that if it actually had been there? (Oh shush!)

Now what?

We flagged down a police car, explained to them that they had stolen our car, and how the heck could we get it back? They laughed at us, but did tell us that they did tow a bunch of cars from there about half an hour ago, and we could find our car at XXX Impound Lot. Maybe. If we were lucky.

Could we walk? Did we even want to walk in the cold? And the dark? And while feeling stupid? Getting a taxi seemed easier.

Right then, a taxi showed up and drove us all around the most seedy parts of town, to drop us off at the impound lot. Matt used the travel time to tell us stories about how he got his car impounded in Baltimore. When he arrived at the impound lot over there, they were closed, and he couldn't even get his car out that night.



We arrived at the impound lot, and phew, it was still open. We went in, and we started the lengthy process of getting my car back. The car of which I did not know the license plate, and of which the rental agreement was not on my person. Only thing I know is that it's a grey impala with a Maine license plate. Matt remarked that this is so much better than Baltimore already. To actually have someone there to talk to. Even if it takes quite a while before she figured out my car. But she did!

While we waited, I made fun of the ATM in the building. Matt continued his Baltimore story which involved a huge towing fee, only payable in cash. And no ATM nearby of course. AND his car windows smashed in when he finally got his car back. Which made the barbed wire here a bit more understandable, but I still thought it looked very unfriendly. Barbed wire, watch towers, people with guns. Well, maybe not the last two, but that was what the atmosphere felt like to me.

Turned out it is really really really hard to get a rental car released if you don't bring your own insurance information. Which was in my van in New Hampshire. Eventually he grudgingly released the van, saying 'My supervisor tells me I have to do it.' He clearly did not agree with his supervisor. We paid $125 towing fee, and then got handed a $31 ticket. Geez, thank you. What kind of number is that anyway? Feels like it should have been a more logical $30 or $35, but I decided not to point that out to them.

Welcome to Philadelphia! Home of the Philadelphia Parking Authority!

Anyway, we got to see the airport too, when it was not raining. And let's just say I am grateful my rental had unlimited miles, because I saw way too much of Philadelphia. Did I mention Philly signage sucks?



Moral of the story: always read before you make a move. And try not to have to carpool with me. Since you might have to spend your Saturday night at the impound lot.

There and Back Again!

I did it! I drove all the way to Philadelphia and attended Jennie's work shop!



I had a wonderful time. I got valuable new insights, played fun games, realized I still know nothing about go, ate good food, and got my car impounded.



Last night I spent driving, so I am slightly short on sleep. Will write more once I get some rest in, which is not going to be easy today, since my life didn't quite stop to give me time to catch up.



I hate the signage around Philadelphia and New York. Or maybe I am just really good at getting lost!

Haha!

Remember that Jennie Shen workshop? The one starting tomorrow? I had it all set up. I would leave early in morning, after getting my kids on the school bus. Drive my 6.5 hours during the day, and arrive in time for 6pm start.


Life is what happens when you make other plans.
- my van broke down
- there were unexpected school complications
- and the weather is sucky

"... Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 1 PM EST Friday...

Expect 3 to 5 inches of snow and sleet followed by freezing rain. One-half to one inch of ice accretion is expected.

Significant amounts of freezing rain sleet and snow are forecast that will make travel dangerous. Only travel in an emergency. If you must travel... keep an extra flashlight... food... and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency."



Life here is never boring ^^



I will still make it to the workshop, but very possibly will not make it to the Friday night part. Oh well, at least I'll be there Saturday and Sunday. I can't wait! Maybe I should finish packing instead of writing blog posts.