Wednesday, November 28, 2007

A Fine Rant (+Progress Report Week 2)

(WARNING: Probable strong language and scenes of ultraviolence)

The Weekly Report--as far as chess is concerned the week sucked.

I rarely get very personal here, usually writing about chess topics and my chess games and studies. All that has been strongly affected by personal crap lately; since the burglary at my home there have been all kinds of distractions, most of which are taken care of now, all of which have taken away from any kind of consistent concentration and study. So...

Week 2 of The Plan, a grand total of about 2 hours snatched at random intervals for chess study, got in my planned 1 hour of Excelling at Chess Calculation (14 positions), 1 hour of Chess Tempo mostly under poor playing conditions, and I sucked, +28 -20, Standard rating dropped from 1648 to 1563. Instead of my goal of 95 percent that's a whopping 58.3 percent. Several times I played the first 2-3 moves correctly and then won a queen instead of mating or something like that, but they all count.

I'm finally back to playing some serious chess this week at the Reno Chess Club--I've missed almost half the frickin' meetings over the last three months due to visiting family members, sick family members, trips, etc. I had to miss the first two rounds of the Western States Open due to some work bullshit and sick family members. I had previously agreed to take off the December Swiss--I feel like I've taken two months off already.

Hmm, despite all of this I've finally raised my rating from the floor of 1600 up to 1650 and I feel pretty good about my game and prospects for further improvement. Maybe this is just one of those phases when things are tough and the tough get going. It damn well better be, because I've basically given up all of my outside activities besides chess in the last few years; I don't hunt, fish, watch football, play golf, go out and drink with the boys, lounge in the hammock, target shoot, watch movies or much else. If I don't have some hours by myself every week thinking about chess and doing what I want to do (on the board) then I'm just a damn puppet on a string, and I might as well go join the French Fuckin' Foreign Legion, where I understand you at least get some leave time each year.

There, I feel much better now. Regular blogging will resume after these important messages.

9 comments:

Polly said...

Doesn't it suck when life gets in the way of important stuff like playing chess, and working on our game? Sometimes a good cussing post like yours is what we need in order to vent our frustrations.

Maybe you can get Samurai to post the video link that I deleted from my comments. :-) (I try to keep my blog f-word free in case my students or their parents find my blog.) However the scene in question is the ultimate in venting.

Blog venting is great. We have an audience that can relate. When I go into one of my rages, my non-chessplaying husband just wants to hide in another room and lock the door. He doesn't understand what it's like to blow a totally won game for what ever crap reason it was that time. All he knows is Polly is really pissed off, and nothing he's going to say will help.

gorckat said...

Oh, man, I feel you! I'm starting to get that kind of crank on some nights, myself.

I've been meaning to have 'the talk' with my wife explaing how I need some time alone each day :D

Robert Pearson said...

Thank you Polly and Gorckat for your support. Yes, I did actually feel better after this post. I'm practically my old smiling self again!

Gorckat, BTW I'll get your blog linked, sorry I haven't done sooner.

Unknown said...

Hi Robert, yep! It sure does suck having responsibilities! If I could eliminate just half of my responsibilities, I would be knocking on the door of Master already.

Don't be too hard on yourself though, because most of us know where you're at. But I do caution you though that Ernie has the Class Championship and the Club Championship in mind already.

That being the case, you'll want to be ready.

wang said...

I'm sorry to hear about the burglary in you house, that always sucks, I've had my home robbed before and it's not pleasant. I also understand what you're going through, life can get in the way of you quest for total world chess domination. But chess will still be there next week and next month and next year. I know it sucks but before you know it you will be pissed that you have become bored with your training regimen and you'll be looking for a way out of that funk.

Unknown said...

there you go, let it out man, let it all out....that's what blogs are really for....

Anonymous said...

Glad to see you didn't give yourself a D this time...

If you've gotten most everything taken care of, it means things can only look up.

A distinct disadvantage of joining the French Foreign Legion: not being allowed to step foot inside of France. (Well, maybe not really a disadvantage. I'm not sure you'd particularly want to go there. Never been myself.)

Liquid Egg Product said...

The thing about Legionnaires not being allowed inside France? Complete faux pas on my part; this appears to be part of urban mythology.

Robert Pearson said...

Glad you cleared that up, because I've got to make it to Paris once before I die, even though I don't want to actually die there, since Oscar Wilde said "Paris is an expensive place too die" and I trust Oscar on this.