*Opens up bag of excuses and grabs a handful.*
- I like the base settings of 30 minutes + 30/5 byo yomi. But that translates into more than an hour if both sides use all their time. So, if I want to play I need more than an hour. This stops me from even logging in a lot of the time. (I should just reduce the base time to 20 minutes for the custom games I post...ok, I will.)
- I don't like to play unless I am "battle ready". I want to feel sharp, and mentally tough enough to play well. This isn't how I feel when I wake up (too sleepy), after a beer (too loopy) or on many normal nights (just not in the zone). (Guess I need to be less attached to the outcome of each game...)
- I care too much about my rating. It keeps drifting up when I don't play and so I want to win a few so it stays at the better rating. (Too much concern for the rating, but it is hard to ignore.)
2 comments:
Since you make up so many excuses, allow me to obliterate them to pieces.
Time : well... reduce the allowed time and/or byo-yomi. Use absolute time. Whatever. I use the default settings in most of my games and end up playing most games in 30 minutes or so.
"Battle readiness" : Not feeling perfectly alert ? That's fine : play a free game anyway. Sure, you might lose, but the lesson I learned the hard way is that making mistakes is an excellent way of NOT making them again. ;) (Provided you DO review your games, of course)
Rating : Well...I really can't help you with this one, since it's all in your head and, well, I was exactly like you not so long ago. I had to lose about 8-9 games in a row, losing 2 kyu, nearly 3 (!) to ponder on the meaning of ranking. I ended up with the following meaning : ranking (kyu, dan) is simply a very approximate measure of your skill. It's not a contest, your life does not depend on it and no, chicks/guys do NOT dig SDKs. Gaining one kyu basically is a kind of milestone telling you "There, you've improved. A little."
Hope you can let all of that wisdom sink in. :D
Wow - I can't believe I missed all the comments on the blog before today. Grrr. Thanks for the comments SolarBear - truth is, I wasn't really ready to actually listen to your advice until a few days ago anyway...funny how that works!
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