It's like those "100 places to visit/things to do before you die" books. Someone fucker gave one of those for my birthday. (Thanks, Sis.) First off, some of those things you could die doing. Bungee jumping and whatnot. ("Today, the personal fulfillment journey begins ... and ends. Aaaaarrrghrhhdsplat.") Second, do I need a book of nagging reminders of journeys not taken, dreams unrealized, hopes dashed, etc.? This book is now permanently housed in the toity collection.
I went to a very small grade school and it was a bit of a shock for me and my fellow classmates when we all had to go to a big regional high school.
I still can recall, vividly, the first high school gym class, freshman year. The gym teacher timed each of us running the 50 yard dash. I was one of the first to run and I ran it as fast as I could.
I had a best friend who I looked up to, very much. When it came time for him to run, he wouldn't. The teacher eventually got him to do it with a combination of encouragement and threats. But my friend still wouldn't run. He just sort of trotted to the finish line.
There was a big scene and embarrassment enough to go around. People who had been my friends for years were now calling my best friend a pussy. I could not for the life of me explain to anyone what had just happened.
After a while I approached my friend and I asked why he wouldn't run. He said, "I didn't want anybody to find out I'm not fast."
Well, that had never even occurred to me but hearing him say it out loud kind of made sense. But I now saw him in a different light, diminished.
So what is the point of this little story? Well, over the years I've pondered that gym class event and I've come to realize that I share some of that same attitude about asserting myself.
Funny that this is the topic. My husband and I just came back from a 4 day trip to the Eureka area and a day trip on The Lost Coast route. from Ferndale to Honeydew, through the Humbolt redwood forest and back. To say that the roads were extremely rough and incredibly steep, winding and very scary in some places is understating it. The scenery is breathtaking and it was very interesting.
This trip was on our bucket list. As we were driving back over the coastal range we said one more down on the bucket list. And something to the effect of "glad we went AND we never have to go there again!.".
Still on the list. A houseboat weekend on a nearby reservoir. Windjammer cruise in the Caribbean (OK I'm dreaming here....better win the lottery for that one). Traveling and doing some leisurely camping and fishing (We just bought a 1978 camp trailer to tow behind our 72 K5 Blazer) Yellowstone....never have been there. That would be on the list.
Already did the white water rafting and glider plane. Checked... two less on the bucket list.
MB: "So what is the point of this little story? Well, over the years I've pondered that gym class event and I've come to realize that I share some of that same attitude about asserting myself.
I'd like to be rid of it before I die."
I hear you. Just yesterday I was considering the possibility of having my own weird look in clothing...but I don't want to look like a freak, which I would, no matter how subtly I tried to carry it off. Is it worth it? Should I do it? Does it matter? My ideas in general are not that far out. At least not some of them. Kind of tweedy jackets with jeans with those clunky 50s-60s 3-strand necklaces our mothers used to wear. lol I actually wore one in orange the other day, with an otherwise regular jeans and top.
But not just that.
When I saw Carter in Fight Club in that cool organza (?) pink bridesmaids' dress, I thought it was cool. Wouldn't do that, of course, but something subtler.
I think of car camping at the beach with my dogs...skulking around, not paying $30/night at a campground.
DBQ, great post. I admire your outdoorswomanship. As mentioned above, I want to do things a little more stripped down. Well, except I'd like to go on one of those Viking Cruises that go up European rivers, stopping at various capitals. Too cool...no need to unpack. But probably too commercial and rushed. Maybe should do the car camping there, like Jimbino.
I was reading a novel, Telling the Bees, in the wee hours this morning and came to this passage about what it's like to put your hand inside a swarm of bees:
"Honeybees are at their most docile state when they swarm. So docile, in fact, that their normally exposed stingers lie sheathed within the hilt of their downy bodies so that their aggregate mass is not at all prickly to the touch as one might anticipate, but rather the feel is infinitely more forgiving, like velvet-covered pebbles slipping through one's outstretched fingers in an ebb and flow of motion as gentle as a lover's caress."
Made me almost want to put my hand inside a swarm of the little critters. But now that I've had my morning coffee, I'm thinking, nah.
I have traveled all over the world, usually by myself, and walked London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Geneva, Munich, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, Honolulu, Toronto, Montreal and plenty of other cities to my heart's content. I would walk until I raised blisters on my feet. I think that's the best way to see a place.
As I mentioned on the opera thread I would like to go to Milan and see an opera at La Scala, but my desire to do that is not so great that I won't regret it if I never get around to it.
I guess my bucket list consists of one thing - to have the strength to continue to work right up until I die.
Kind of silly, I guess, but I have a lot of things I want to create, and anything that keeps me from working is not something I welcome in my life.
Yeah, that's a terrible bucket list. Stay home and work.
My 96 yo mother, who suffered a catastrophic brain injury last fall -- and ensuing burr hole surgery -- flew last month in a 2 seater experimental Coot float plane that a friend of my brother's (and hers) brought into an airshow from Canada just so she could go for the ride. (Did 2 water landings.) She's got the hat and the pix to prove it. ;-)
She's not into bungee diving or parachuting.
Me? I's like to complete a low level eventing competition. (Equestrian -- dressage, cross country and stadium jumping.)
DBQ -- my sister lived in Arcata. Lovely area. Had redwoods in her yard. Lots of rain. Yellowstone? Yeah, baby.
Still on my bucket list is to save one seriously fucked up person and have it stick. I have so many failures in this regard. For years I have helped people in trouble with poor results. It's very frustrating. It seems near impossible to get people to make the smallest changes to the habits that have held them down. I'm a clear example to them of rising out of the dirt. I tell them exactly what they need to do. I give them what they need to start off well. In the end, and usually quite quickly they end up right back in the hole where they were before.
Some people have the right mindset, and just need a little help over a rough spot, and those usually work out fine, but the deeply broken ones who still operate like they are 18 years old with their refusal to change no matter how many times their plan has failed - these are ruining my batting average.
Yes! The Lost Coast. I need to get up there and find it. Couple of friends have been and said it was well worth it. Peaceful solitude, beautiful scenery, not as many hippies as one might expect. I don't know about the houseboat on Shasta Lake (?) though. Every time I drive up the 5 I can see all the banks are exposed about 30-50 down. From the waterline perspective it would be like floating around Egypt but with fir trees on top of the dunes. But maybe that's the point? Good company, decent fishing (I hope), a nice beer buzz (or whatever), and insane scenery.
Yellowstone is a try-to-visit but it's also kind of like going to the zoo. Hyper cultivated. Animals basically controlled though they occasionally bust out and eat/stomp somebody. Lots of people and traffic. (Go in late spring before school gets out if you can.) I went there on a road trip after visiting Glacier National Park. We referred to one area as "Many Ranger" due to the overabundance of rangers running around instructing people and making sure fees were paid. I like the idea of sneak camping. You get charged everywhere now.
Still on my bucket list is to save one seriously fucked up person and have it stick.
Bagoh: Good for you. It can happen, though it can be a long game.
For decades my sister and I were the backstop for our younger sister -- a serious addict, cutter, and collector of psychopathic boyfriends. She made it to 50 and is now mostly too old and tired to get into big trouble anymore.
One interesting thing I discovered about chess ratings is that a kind of Gresham's Law applies -- bad ratings drive out good ratings.
Somewhere in the nineties educators decided that playing chess developed good mental habits which enhanced educational performance. So they began pushing chess programs in the schools. (I suspect chess is also cheap and safe compared to music programs and sports.) Consequently chess tournaments have been flooded with scholastic players.
This has resulted in a black hole which has sucked down the ratings of most older, experienced players and apparently driven thousands of them out of the US Chess Federation and rated tournaments.
I checked the rating histories of my serious chess playing friends and discovered that they all lost 100-200 points in the same late nineties/early 2000s window. Three of them were national masters and one an expert. Two managed to keep their titles, but the others dropped down a whole class and stopped playing tournament chess almost entirely.
That's a good goal. I bet it would work out better than the duct tape and handcuffs.
Buying the camp trailer was one of my 'bucket list' items. We haven't been camping in years and years and being older now, sleeping in a tent isn't really that enticing. Been there and done that! Since the winter is the slow time of the year for The Dumbplumber (my husband's moniker on the net...and he is NOT dumb) we thought that a well stocked camp trailer and time to take off in the winter for warmer areas would be fun. Just going without any real plans or itinerary. I've already started buying mid century modern melamine and Texasware dishes. Gotta get into the mood.
I'd like to go on one of those Viking Cruises that go up European rivers, stopping at various capitals.
Deb....my father and step mother are traveling like crazy since they sold their vacation home in Costa Rica a few years ago and have decided to spend that money on trips. Good for them! They are having a blast and have always loved traveling. In fact, that is how they met. They even have taken all of us on a cruise or two :-0
The river cruises in Europe are really pleasant (they say). They were fortunate enough to be able to take a cruise on the Nile (about 12 years ago before it became such a shithole) I loved the idea of them cruising down the Nile, like something in an Agatha Christy book.
You should do the river cruise! You would love it.
Did you get an Airstream, DBQ? I have driven across the country 12 times, and have no desire to drag a trailer anywhere, these days, I do like the idea of an RV. But as long as my cats and dogs are around, I'll stay put. Maybe someday I'll be on the road again - I have only been to 42 of our 57 states, so I guess there are still some things to see.
Okay - an official bucket list item - go see the marvelous sculpture that Gutzon Borglum carved in North Dakota - bingo!
And while I am in the 'hood, maybe stop by and see how Korczak Ziolkowski's work is coming along.
Go big or go home - I like that saying when it comes to carving.
I love the sea. I have always lived in a coastal city.
I like the idea of a boat and have toyed with the idea of getting one off and on, but it sure looks like a lot of work and the conventional wisdom, "A boat is a hole in the water you throw money into," sounds about right.
We got a Prowler. Airstreams are way past our budget. The Prowler is just a bit newer than our 72 Blazer but the look is a match, even the color of the stripes. The tongue weight is ok, but we are a bit worried about the hitch and stress on it from the weight of the trailer when stopping or pulling. It is an older hitch and probably will need to be re-done or beefed up. Especially since the gas tank location in the Blazer is in the rear.
"Still on my bucket list is to save one seriously fucked up person and have it stick."
Okay, I bow down, that's worthy. You have to be stealthy, though, like a big game hunter. If they know you're trying to save them their "must-fuck-up" alarm goes off and your off to the races.
Yeah, you definitely want to think about what happens should something come adrift. Old Chevies are good, but some of them had some pretty dangerous design flaws. I know because I owned a bunch of them.
But so far, I have not been burned to a cinder in a fiery crash, so there is that.
Let me know when you get over to the east coast - we could have a meet-up with some of the local crew.
Heh. Want my advice? If you want to play serious chess, get a membership to ICC or ChessBase's online chess site. That stuff is mostly speed chess, but there are people that play at slower time controls, and they're organized. (The STC Bunch is what they used to go by.) You can get serious, slower games, but without the stresses of tournament chess. If you're even a little competitive, the blunders and losses will stay with you a lot longer than the good moves and the wins. I say this as someone who has been playing rated tournament chess off and on for over thirty years now, and I had played in big scholastic tournaments occasionally for a few years before that.
Tournament chess is a cruel mistress. Also, get yourself a subscription to New in Chess Magazine when you reach a certain level, and read that. You can get the joys of the game in this manner and minimize the misery.
This has resulted in a black hole which has sucked down the ratings of most older, experienced players and apparently driven thousands of them out of the US Chess Federation and rated tournaments.
I checked the rating histories of my serious chess playing friends and discovered that they all lost 100-200 points in the same late nineties/early 2000s window. Three of them were national masters and one an expert. Two managed to keep their titles, but the others dropped down a whole class and stopped playing tournament chess almost entirely.
This has been a problem, too. But if your friends were getting older (meaning into their forties or fifties) it isn't unusual to see ratings drop. Life intervenes, less time and energy can be spent on the game, etc.
But yes, the juniors helped suck down ratings in the US Chess Federation. The specific problem was the juniors that were improving rapidly: They're usually underrated, so when they win it really sucks down established players. It was one thing when there was the occasional prodigy, but they're all over the place now.
Actually, yes, some advice for handling youngsters. Stay away from theoretical openings, especially those with long, forcing tactical sequences. Stick to slower openings, especially ones where the unwary can end up killing themselves positionally. E.g. I've had good results using Reti and Catalan set-ups as White against youngsters. They just lack patience. Playing into various Sicilian lines, for example, would be nuts. This is for the player that's improving fast. Players that aren't that good should just be treated as players that aren't that good. But it usually doesn't take that much conversation before and between rounds to figure out who the comers are.
And one other thing playing youngsters: Don't let your concentration lapse, even if it appears they're letting their mind wander in a losing position.
I was playing a six year-old a few years back. He was about 1400 at the time. His dad was an expert descending into A territory as he focused on his son's career.
Anyway, I had comfortably thrashed the father earlier in the tournament when he played an insipid set-up as White against my French Defense. (1. e4 e6 2. d3 etc.) Two rounds later I played the son, he had White, and he played the same insipid opening. Anyway, I took space on the Q-side, cracked it open, won a pawn and was rolling him. He was clearly tired and bored and just shoving pieces down the board. I let myself get caught up in his impatience, and started doing the same.
And then I blundered in a big way when he cracked my K-side open with a serious threat to mate. I was clearly on the defensive at that point, and close to losing. The good news is that the game got interesting ONLY at this point, and an imbalanced endgame arose. Eventually the boy and I had a position on the board that had all the masters and experts standing around confused: They all wondered later why the boy had passed on a fork winning a Bishop, having missed the long forcing line that would have resulted in me Queening a pawn and winning the game. Oops! It was fun after the game for me and the boy to show everyone else what they had missed!
I eventually did lose (and only earlier this year found out that I had actually had a draw much later in the game than I thought: I blundered twice to lose the game! AAARRRGGGHHH!) but at least the endgame had been entertaining! Plus, I had beaten that boy several times in the past, and he has since gone on to hold a world Championship (Under 12, but still!) and got his IM title before turning 13. So, one world championship scalp on my belt, sort of!
But the lesson is, I was winning the game easily and fell for the old mistake of hurrying because of my opponent's demeanor. I should have known better. A little reflection on what he was doing and I would have stopped it cold and won a boring routine game. As it was, that game cost me a BUNCH of rating points, as I had him out-rated by at least 300 points. Sigh.
I wasn't thinking of you. Relatively speaking, you've gotten little from me, and you aren't "seriously fucked up", except for finding men attractive.
Unless, you mean you're doing your best trying to get me my Roxanne. You would make the perfect Cyrano to my Christian. We just need to find that woman.
A few years back when I was expecting to retire, I was planning on bicycling across the country solo. I bought the perfect bike for it, and started riding a lot and researching it. It turns out that the two primary age groups who do that are twenty somethings in college and 50 somethings.
Then, I got knocked back with some surgery, and started rescuing dogs too heavily, and never got back to the pursuit. I no longer have enough desire to work that hard for adventure, although it still sounds like fun. I would like to circumnavigate the country in my truck though.
I've been lucky to adopt out two of the current dogs at my house in the last week. If I adopt out a couple more without bringing anymore home, I might be able to load up the last couple mutts and do that trip after all.
Icepick: I was the scary young chess player in my day, but there weren't many of us back then, although I was a teenager, not a six year-old.
Instead of the sharp tactical lines you advise against, I've always been attracted to closed positional systems -- including the insipid, as you call it, King's Indian Attack, which was a Fischer favorite and always contains the possibility of a kingside attack, as you discovered in your game.
Was the kid supposed to play into your pet version of the Winawer or whatever?
BTW, where do you come down on Fischer's mother as communist spy question? I've reviewed it a couple times and always come down on the side that of course she was carrying out some mission or missions for the Soviets. She went to medical school in Moscow in the thirties, then completed her medical degree in East Germany later. Her daughter was awarded a scholarship to study in Leningrad.
That stuff doesn't just happen with the Soviets. I believe that everyone wrote off the possibility as too messy in Bobby Fischer's already way-too-messy life and they were eager to discount it as McCarthyism.
It would be a mistake to take up competitive chess simply to attract women or big money endorsements. That would ruin the purity and beauty of the sport......Earlier in life I did a lot of things that were supposed to make you a better or more complete or happier person. None of them especially worked for me or did much to alter my somewhat dour outlook on life. One of the problems of my life is that I've gotten most of what I wanted out of life--but five years after I stopped wanting it. When I was a kid I thought it would be very heaven to walk into the drugstore and buy all the comics I wanted. I reached that financial goal but only after I lost interest in comic books. Same thing with travel. I have enough to travel anywhere in the world, but mostly I would prefer to stay home and watch the Travel Channel. And don't even get me started on underage Dominican hookers.
I love chess but I hate the competition and culture that goes along with it. There's almost nothing worse than chess nerds.
Palladian: Sure there are. Lots worse. Think about it. And what's wrong with competition?
I fled the chess player/math whiz part of myself into the arts and poetry. I still love the arts and poetry, but I sure didn't find better people in that culture.
If I play chess, it will have to be online with very basic players.
Creeley, I finally found the book I wanted to quote from the introduction; Begin Chess, by Samuel Reshevsky, 1970. I found it disheartening, yet funny...hey, I was making notes in the book and everything!
"This book is for the young, and even for the very young with some guidance from parent or teacher, but it is also for the adult who prefers to tread surely and does not wish to have his intellect stretched in a game."
Not to belabor the point, but playing chess again is a big deal for me. I renounced it when I was 22 to the consternation of my best friend, who became a painter btw, Palladian, though not successful enough to make a career of it.
Returning to chess now feels right, like an appointment with my own tiny destiny. I have no illusions of some future grand achievement -- I'm too old and I don't have enough time -- but it's a gift I had and turned my back on.
Now I want to make that right. There aren't many things I want to do before I die, but it turns out that chess is one of them. That's why I discuss it in this Bucket List topic.
Deborah: Reshevsky is an interesting character. It's almost totally forgotten now, but once upon a time Reshevsky was the hot young child prodigy, who toured the US giving chess exhibitions in department stores.
When Fischer was coming up, Reshevsky was just this bald little guy with glasses who looked like an accountant because he was an accountant. In his day, though, and for decades after, Reshevsky was one of the great world players but unlike the Soviet players he couldn't make a living off chess and had to get a job.
Was the kid supposed to play into your pet version of the Winawer or whatever?
I don't actually have any pet lines, as I'm too lazy to study it! I play the French by process of elimination: If I answer 1 e4 with e5, I hope to play Closed Ruy systems. I LOVE those! However, more often than not the other person replies with some Bc4 system or something else like that and I end up in stuff that I just can't seem to play, for some reason.
I've never liked the Caro, so I won't answer with c6.
Now ... c5 is, of course, for choice! But invariably people do NOT want to allow the Najdorf, and pretty much no one allows the Polugaevsky even if they do allow the Najdorf: No one plays 6 Bg5 anymore, and haven't in the last 15 years. Sigh.
And in all other variations of the Sicilian I always end up with pieces that are completely misplaced and on top of each other in BAD ways.
So, by elimination, I play the French. My pieces are cramped and huddled behind my pawns in most variations, coordination is lacking, but at least that's SUPPOSED to happen!
And I just find the 2 d3 lines insipid, despite Fischer's love of those lines. And usually, online and in person, I crush the people that play that stuff with ease, as I was the boy (Sam Sevian, BTW) until I got careless. Other than the lose to Sam, I've won all my OTB encounters in that line with ease.
BTW, where do you come down on Fischer's mother as communist spy question?
Probably not a spy, as such, but she was clearly a sympathizer, and likely was a contact point for those who were agents. Personally I find the idea that Fischer's father wasn't Hans-Gerhardt Fischer more interesting. Bobby probably wasn't just half-Jewish but 100% Jewish. Doh!
Icepick: If you are willing to dive into the depths of the Closed Ruy or the Najdorf Sicilian, why do you recommend avoiding long forced tactical lines?
Many who use the King's Indian Attack are just class players who don't want to study. You can play that sequence against almost any non-e5 defense. It's the e4 version of the Colle System.
I don't think Fischer's mother was a major spy, but as I said, she must have been carrying out some mission(s) for Moscow.
I consider it almost certain that Fischer's father was not Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, but Paul Nemenyi, a top-drawer physicist and communist sympathizer or worse, who consulted with Einstein to find work in the US.
I fled the chess player/math whiz part of myself into the arts and poetry.
I went through a similar trajectory-- not the chess, but the math whiz part (international competitions, etc.). Left that part of me behind when I went to college.
I sometimes feel a longing to delve into math (& related sciences) again, just for my own pleasure, as a hobby. Would involve a lot of relearning-- then advancing into unexplored areas, fascinating to me. Maybe will, someday, sooner or later.
If you are willing to dive into the depths of the Closed Ruy or the Najdorf Sicilian, why do you recommend avoiding long forced tactical lines?
Two points: First, I recommend not playing long forcing lines against youngsters who are rapidly improving. You're playing right into their strengths. But against "veterans" you can take your chances as you see fit. Second, I haven't played those lines in tournament chess in a very long time. Too hard to get into the lines I want to play.
Many who use the King's Indian Attack are just class players who don't want to study. You can play that sequence against almost any non-e5 defense. It's the e4 version of the Colle System.
And I still don't like it, and I'm always happy to play against it. I think the Colle system is also insipid! This is a personal taste issue, and you cannot sway me with any kind of reason.
...
Somehow this reminds me of playing speed chess with a friend way back when, almost 20 years ago. He was a little stronger than me, about 200 points or so. He was a wild attacking man, always wanting to sacrifice something, anything to get at the other King.
So one day I'm not doing very well with my usual stuff so I played the Fred against him. The Fred (1 e4 f5 2 exf5 Kf7) is probably the worst opening that doesn't lead to an immediate checkmate. It's terrible. Ask Creeley or phx, they'll tell ya. It lost, of course, and pissed off my friend. The next time I get black, I play what I now call the Semi-Fred: 1 e4 f5 2 exf5 Nf6!. My friend went completely berserk, and I crushed him like a bug. From that point on that day I totally destroyed him.
I saved the Semi-Fred for other occasions with him. Eventually I amassed a record of 8 wins and one draw with no losses against a guy rated 2000! Absolutely frickin' hilarious! Every time he saw it he tried to mate me inside of ten moves, and that isn't the way to kill that opening. Beautiful psychology at the chess board! I still laugh my ass off thinking about it!
But I still play the Sicilian, trying for the Polu, sometimes when I play speed chess. And about once a month someone lets me play it! Hot damn! I'd play nothing but the Polu if they'd let me!
There are many math/science types who can branch into the arts. Richard Feynman comes to mind. But art types rarely extend into math/science with the exception of musicians who take up programming as a day job and stay for the career.
Yet you find so many art types who imagine they are superior.
I sometimes feel a longing to delve into math (& related sciences) again, just for my own pleasure...
I used to go to a certain cafe for breakfast and there was always a retired elvish guy with wavy silvery hair working problem sets in a college math textbook. First it was calculus, then it was differential equations. He wanted to work his way up to reading standard physics texts and he needed the math.
He wasn't a genius. He wasn't even an engineer. He had worked as an electronics tech at various silicon valley firms. He just enjoyed learning and that's one of the things he wanted to do when he stopped working. I admired him.
58 comments:
I don't have a bucket list. That seems like asking the universe to kick you in the balls.
"Okay, I've got one easy thing left on my bucket list, and I'm only fifty. *gasp*" and fall over dead. Or worse, just finish it and THEN die.
No thank you.
Well, I detest the phrase bucket list, but it's in general usage now.
Yeah, I don't know where "the bucket list" wording came from, but the first time I heard it was an advertisement for the TV show An Idiot Abroad.
So, having said that, I still want to marry Christie Brinkley and get busy with her. Real busy.
"
It's like those "100 places to visit/things to do before you die" books. Someone fucker gave one of those for my birthday. (Thanks, Sis.) First off, some of those things you could die doing. Bungee jumping and whatnot. ("Today, the personal fulfillment journey begins ... and ends. Aaaaarrrghrhhdsplat.") Second, do I need a book of nagging reminders of journeys not taken, dreams unrealized, hopes dashed, etc.? This book is now permanently housed in the toity collection.
Yeah, not on my bucket list:
white water rafting
hang gliding
parachuting
bungee jumping
base jumping
etc.
Allen, I think you should just concentrate on not getting busy with Mary.
I went to a very small grade school and it was a bit of a shock for me and my fellow classmates when we all had to go to a big regional high school.
I still can recall, vividly, the first high school gym class, freshman year. The gym teacher timed each of us running the 50 yard dash. I was one of the first to run and I ran it as fast as I could.
I had a best friend who I looked up to, very much. When it came time for him to run, he wouldn't. The teacher eventually got him to do it with a combination of encouragement and threats. But my friend still wouldn't run. He just sort of trotted to the finish line.
There was a big scene and embarrassment enough to go around. People who had been my friends for years were now calling my best friend a pussy. I could not for the life of me explain to anyone what had just happened.
After a while I approached my friend and I asked why he wouldn't run. He said, "I didn't want anybody to find out I'm not fast."
Well, that had never even occurred to me but hearing him say it out loud kind of made sense. But I now saw him in a different light, diminished.
So what is the point of this little story? Well, over the years I've pondered that gym class event and I've come to realize that I share some of that same attitude about asserting myself.
I'd like to be rid of it before I die.
Funny that this is the topic. My husband and I just came back from a 4 day trip to the Eureka area and a day trip on The Lost Coast route. from Ferndale to Honeydew, through the Humbolt redwood forest and back. To say that the roads were extremely rough and incredibly steep, winding and very scary in some places is understating it. The scenery is breathtaking and it was very interesting.
This trip was on our bucket list.
As we were driving back over the coastal range we said one more down on the bucket list. And something to the effect of "glad we went AND we never have to go there again!.".
Still on the list. A houseboat weekend on a nearby reservoir. Windjammer cruise in the Caribbean (OK I'm dreaming here....better win the lottery for that one). Traveling and doing some leisurely camping and fishing (We just bought a 1978 camp trailer to tow behind our 72 K5 Blazer) Yellowstone....never have been there. That would be on the list.
Already did the white water rafting and glider plane. Checked... two less on the bucket list.
MB & DBQ: Thanks for your lovely responses.
Currently I'm preparing to make a serious run at tournament chess.
MB:
"So what is the point of this little story? Well, over the years I've pondered that gym class event and I've come to realize that I share some of that same attitude about asserting myself.
I'd like to be rid of it before I die."
I hear you. Just yesterday I was considering the possibility of having my own weird look in clothing...but I don't want to look like a freak, which I would, no matter how subtly I tried to carry it off. Is it worth it? Should I do it? Does it matter? My ideas in general are not that far out. At least not some of them. Kind of tweedy jackets with jeans with those clunky 50s-60s 3-strand necklaces our mothers used to wear. lol I actually wore one in orange the other day, with an otherwise regular jeans and top.
But not just that.
When I saw Carter in Fight Club in that cool organza (?) pink bridesmaids' dress, I thought it was cool. Wouldn't do that, of course, but something subtler.
I think of car camping at the beach with my dogs...skulking around, not paying $30/night at a campground.
DBQ, great post. I admire your outdoorswomanship. As mentioned above, I want to do things a little more stripped down. Well, except I'd like to go on one of those Viking Cruises that go up European rivers, stopping at various capitals. Too cool...no need to unpack. But probably too commercial and rushed. Maybe should do the car camping there, like Jimbino.
Creeley, best wishes, keep us posted. Have you and phx played online together yet?
I was reading a novel, Telling the Bees, in the wee hours this morning and came to this passage about what it's like to put your hand inside a swarm of bees:
"Honeybees are at their most docile state when they swarm. So docile, in fact, that their normally exposed stingers lie sheathed within the hilt of their downy bodies so that their aggregate mass is not at all prickly to the touch as one might anticipate, but rather the feel is infinitely more forgiving, like velvet-covered pebbles slipping through one's outstretched fingers in an ebb and flow of motion as gentle as a lover's caress."
Made me almost want to put my hand inside a swarm of the little critters. But now that I've had my morning coffee, I'm thinking, nah.
Maybe a few weeks in Italy instead.
I have traveled all over the world, usually by myself, and walked London, Paris, Rome, Florence, Geneva, Munich, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, Honolulu, Toronto, Montreal and plenty of other cities to my heart's content. I would walk until I raised blisters on my feet. I think that's the best way to see a place.
As I mentioned on the opera thread I would like to go to Milan and see an opera at La Scala, but my desire to do that is not so great that I won't regret it if I never get around to it.
I guess my bucket list consists of one thing - to have the strength to continue to work right up until I die.
Kind of silly, I guess, but I have a lot of things I want to create, and anything that keeps me from working is not something I welcome in my life.
Yeah, that's a terrible bucket list. Stay home and work.
Currently I'm preparing to make a serious run at tournament chess.
One way or another, you'll be sorry about that.
My 96 yo mother, who suffered a catastrophic brain injury last fall -- and ensuing burr hole surgery -- flew last month in a 2 seater experimental Coot float plane that a friend of my brother's (and hers) brought into an airshow from Canada just so she could go for the ride. (Did 2 water landings.) She's got the hat and the pix to prove it. ;-)
She's not into bungee diving or parachuting.
Me? I's like to complete a low level eventing competition. (Equestrian -- dressage, cross country and stadium jumping.)
DBQ -- my sister lived in Arcata. Lovely area. Had redwoods in her yard. Lots of rain. Yellowstone? Yeah, baby.
And while bumble bees are not honey bees, I do take time every year to pet bumble bees. They are my friends.
Still on my bucket list is to save one seriously fucked up person and have it stick. I have so many failures in this regard. For years I have helped people in trouble with poor results. It's very frustrating. It seems near impossible to get people to make the smallest changes to the habits that have held them down. I'm a clear example to them of rising out of the dirt. I tell them exactly what they need to do. I give them what they need to start off well. In the end, and usually quite quickly they end up right back in the hole where they were before.
Some people have the right mindset, and just need a little help over a rough spot, and those usually work out fine, but the deeply broken ones who still operate like they are 18 years old with their refusal to change no matter how many times their plan has failed - these are ruining my batting average.
Someday I hope to ask a woman out on a date.
Yes! The Lost Coast. I need to get up there and find it. Couple of friends have been and said it was well worth it. Peaceful solitude, beautiful scenery, not as many hippies as one might expect. I don't know about the houseboat on Shasta Lake (?) though. Every time I drive up the 5 I can see all the banks are exposed about 30-50 down. From the waterline perspective it would be like floating around Egypt but with fir trees on top of the dunes. But maybe that's the point? Good company, decent fishing (I hope), a nice beer buzz (or whatever), and insane scenery.
Yellowstone is a try-to-visit but it's also kind of like going to the zoo. Hyper cultivated. Animals basically controlled though they occasionally bust out and eat/stomp somebody. Lots of people and traffic. (Go in late spring before school gets out if you can.) I went there on a road trip after visiting Glacier National Park. We referred to one area as "Many Ranger" due to the overabundance of rangers running around instructing people and making sure fees were paid. I like the idea of sneak camping. You get charged everywhere now.
One way or another, you'll be sorry about that.
Always with the negative waves, Moriarity.
Still on my bucket list is to save one seriously fucked up person and have it stick.
Bagoh: Good for you. It can happen, though it can be a long game.
For decades my sister and I were the backstop for our younger sister -- a serious addict, cutter, and collector of psychopathic boyfriends. She made it to 50 and is now mostly too old and tired to get into big trouble anymore.
Knock on wood.
One interesting thing I discovered about chess ratings is that a kind of Gresham's Law applies -- bad ratings drive out good ratings.
Somewhere in the nineties educators decided that playing chess developed good mental habits which enhanced educational performance. So they began pushing chess programs in the schools. (I suspect chess is also cheap and safe compared to music programs and sports.) Consequently chess tournaments have been flooded with scholastic players.
This has resulted in a black hole which has sucked down the ratings of most older, experienced players and apparently driven thousands of them out of the US Chess Federation and rated tournaments.
I checked the rating histories of my serious chess playing friends and discovered that they all lost 100-200 points in the same late nineties/early 2000s window. Three of them were national masters and one an expert. Two managed to keep their titles, but the others dropped down a whole class and stopped playing tournament chess almost entirely.
Someday I hope to ask a woman out on a date.
That's a good goal. I bet it would work out better than the duct tape and handcuffs.
Buying the camp trailer was one of my 'bucket list' items. We haven't been camping in years and years and being older now, sleeping in a tent isn't really that enticing. Been there and done that! Since the winter is the slow time of the year for The Dumbplumber (my husband's moniker on the net...and he is NOT dumb) we thought that a well stocked camp trailer and time to take off in the winter for warmer areas would be fun. Just going without any real plans or itinerary. I've already started buying mid century modern melamine and Texasware dishes. Gotta get into the mood.
I'd like to go on one of those Viking Cruises that go up European rivers, stopping at various capitals.
Deb....my father and step mother are traveling like crazy since they sold their vacation home in Costa Rica a few years ago and have decided to spend that money on trips. Good for them! They are having a blast and have always loved traveling. In fact, that is how they met. They even have taken all of us on a cruise or two :-0
The river cruises in Europe are really pleasant (they say). They were fortunate enough to be able to take a cruise on the Nile (about 12 years ago before it became such a shithole) I loved the idea of them cruising down the Nile, like something in an Agatha Christy book.
You should do the river cruise! You would love it.
Did you get an Airstream, DBQ? I have driven across the country 12 times, and have no desire to drag a trailer anywhere, these days, I do like the idea of an RV. But as long as my cats and dogs are around, I'll stay put. Maybe someday I'll be on the road again - I have only been to 42 of our 57 states, so I guess there are still some things to see.
Okay - an official bucket list item - go see the marvelous sculpture that Gutzon Borglum carved in North Dakota - bingo!
And while I am in the 'hood, maybe stop by and see how Korczak Ziolkowski's work is coming along.
Go big or go home - I like that saying when it comes to carving.
I love the sea. I have always lived in a coastal city.
I like the idea of a boat and have toyed with the idea of getting one off and on, but it sure looks like a lot of work and the conventional wisdom, "A boat is a hole in the water you throw money into," sounds about right.
Still. Maybe I'm missing something.
@ Sixty
We got a Prowler. Airstreams are way past our budget. The Prowler is just a bit newer than our 72 Blazer but the look is a match, even the color of the stripes. The tongue weight is ok, but we are a bit worried about the hitch and stress on it from the weight of the trailer when stopping or pulling. It is an older hitch and probably will need to be re-done or beefed up. Especially since the gas tank location in the Blazer is in the rear.
"Still on my bucket list is to save one seriously fucked up person and have it stick."
Okay, I bow down, that's worthy. You have to be stealthy, though, like a big game hunter. If they know you're trying to save them their "must-fuck-up" alarm goes off and your off to the races.
Geez, bagoh2o, I'm doing my best!
Yeah, you definitely want to think about what happens should something come adrift. Old Chevies are good, but some of them had some pretty dangerous design flaws. I know because I owned a bunch of them.
But so far, I have not been burned to a cinder in a fiery crash, so there is that.
Let me know when you get over to the east coast - we could have a meet-up with some of the local crew.
Always with the negative waves, Moriarity.\
Heh. Want my advice? If you want to play serious chess, get a membership to ICC or ChessBase's online chess site. That stuff is mostly speed chess, but there are people that play at slower time controls, and they're organized. (The STC Bunch is what they used to go by.) You can get serious, slower games, but without the stresses of tournament chess. If you're even a little competitive, the blunders and losses will stay with you a lot longer than the good moves and the wins. I say this as someone who has been playing rated tournament chess off and on for over thirty years now, and I had played in big scholastic tournaments occasionally for a few years before that.
Tournament chess is a cruel mistress. Also, get yourself a subscription to New in Chess Magazine when you reach a certain level, and read that. You can get the joys of the game in this manner and minimize the misery.
Icepick: I've played tournament chess before. Conceivably we attended some of the same events. I do remember that it wasn't a lot o' fun.
I assume that players aren't allowed to smoke cherry blend pipe tobacco or any tobacco these days. That would be an improvement.
I'm already in the Slow Chess group at chess.com.
Any more advice?
This has resulted in a black hole which has sucked down the ratings of most older, experienced players and apparently driven thousands of them out of the US Chess Federation and rated tournaments.
I checked the rating histories of my serious chess playing friends and discovered that they all lost 100-200 points in the same late nineties/early 2000s window. Three of them were national masters and one an expert. Two managed to keep their titles, but the others dropped down a whole class and stopped playing tournament chess almost entirely.
This has been a problem, too. But if your friends were getting older (meaning into their forties or fifties) it isn't unusual to see ratings drop. Life intervenes, less time and energy can be spent on the game, etc.
But yes, the juniors helped suck down ratings in the US Chess Federation. The specific problem was the juniors that were improving rapidly: They're usually underrated, so when they win it really sucks down established players. It was one thing when there was the occasional prodigy, but they're all over the place now.
I recommend the following websites:
The Week in Chess for the very latest news.
The Chess Mind as an exceptionally good blog, even if the proprietor (Dennis Monokrousus) doesn't post with his old frequency.
ChessVibes, which is another, newer news site.
ChessBase, which is the website of the world's biggest provider of chess software.
And of course the Internet Chess Club. They apparently offer a free one month membership now.
There's also the Free Internet Chess Server, which is the best of the free game sites in my opinion. But ICC is better.
I've got a few other sites linked over at my blog in the Chess links section of the blog role. And, of course, the search engine is your friend.
That's a good goal. I bet it would work out better than the duct tape and handcuffs.
That depends entirely on the woman.
I'm already in the Slow Chess group at chess.com.
Any more advice
Well, no! I didn't realize you had already been an addict. In that case, welcome back to Hell, brother!
And I've mostly played in Central Florida and Baltimore, with a side tournament in Atlanta back in 1984 and a trip to West Virginia back in 1982.
Actually, yes, some advice for handling youngsters. Stay away from theoretical openings, especially those with long, forcing tactical sequences. Stick to slower openings, especially ones where the unwary can end up killing themselves positionally. E.g. I've had good results using Reti and Catalan set-ups as White against youngsters. They just lack patience. Playing into various Sicilian lines, for example, would be nuts. This is for the player that's improving fast. Players that aren't that good should just be treated as players that aren't that good. But it usually doesn't take that much conversation before and between rounds to figure out who the comers are.
And one other thing playing youngsters: Don't let your concentration lapse, even if it appears they're letting their mind wander in a losing position.
I was playing a six year-old a few years back. He was about 1400 at the time. His dad was an expert descending into A territory as he focused on his son's career.
Anyway, I had comfortably thrashed the father earlier in the tournament when he played an insipid set-up as White against my French Defense. (1. e4 e6 2. d3 etc.) Two rounds later I played the son, he had White, and he played the same insipid opening. Anyway, I took space on the Q-side, cracked it open, won a pawn and was rolling him. He was clearly tired and bored and just shoving pieces down the board. I let myself get caught up in his impatience, and started doing the same.
And then I blundered in a big way when he cracked my K-side open with a serious threat to mate. I was clearly on the defensive at that point, and close to losing. The good news is that the game got interesting ONLY at this point, and an imbalanced endgame arose. Eventually the boy and I had a position on the board that had all the masters and experts standing around confused: They all wondered later why the boy had passed on a fork winning a Bishop, having missed the long forcing line that would have resulted in me Queening a pawn and winning the game. Oops! It was fun after the game for me and the boy to show everyone else what they had missed!
I eventually did lose (and only earlier this year found out that I had actually had a draw much later in the game than I thought: I blundered twice to lose the game! AAARRRGGGHHH!) but at least the endgame had been entertaining! Plus, I had beaten that boy several times in the past, and he has since gone on to hold a world Championship (Under 12, but still!) and got his IM title before turning 13. So, one world championship scalp on my belt, sort of!
But the lesson is, I was winning the game easily and fell for the old mistake of hurrying because of my opponent's demeanor. I should have known better. A little reflection on what he was doing and I would have stopped it cold and won a boring routine game. As it was, that game cost me a BUNCH of rating points, as I had him out-rated by at least 300 points. Sigh.
"Geez, bagoh2o, I'm doing my best!"
I wasn't thinking of you. Relatively speaking, you've gotten little from me, and you aren't "seriously fucked up", except for finding men attractive.
Unless, you mean you're doing your best trying to get me my Roxanne. You would make the perfect Cyrano to my Christian. We just need to find that woman.
I was told that if you adequately feed the wine hole, then the cuffs and duct tape aren't really necessary.
A few years back when I was expecting to retire, I was planning on bicycling across the country solo. I bought the perfect bike for it, and started riding a lot and researching it. It turns out that the two primary age groups who do that are twenty somethings in college and 50 somethings.
Then, I got knocked back with some surgery, and started rescuing dogs too heavily, and never got back to the pursuit. I no longer have enough desire to work that hard for adventure, although it still sounds like fun. I would like to circumnavigate the country in my truck though.
I've been lucky to adopt out two of the current dogs at my house in the last week. If I adopt out a couple more without bringing anymore home, I might be able to load up the last couple mutts and do that trip after all.
"After a while I approached my friend and I asked why he wouldn't run. He said, "I didn't want anybody to find out I'm not fast.""
You can't fail if you don't try.
I know *exactly* how that thought process goes.
Icepick: I was the scary young chess player in my day, but there weren't many of us back then, although I was a teenager, not a six year-old.
Instead of the sharp tactical lines you advise against, I've always been attracted to closed positional systems -- including the insipid, as you call it, King's Indian Attack, which was a Fischer favorite and always contains the possibility of a kingside attack, as you discovered in your game.
Was the kid supposed to play into your pet version of the Winawer or whatever?
BTW, where do you come down on Fischer's mother as communist spy question? I've reviewed it a couple times and always come down on the side that of course she was carrying out some mission or missions for the Soviets. She went to medical school in Moscow in the thirties, then completed her medical degree in East Germany later. Her daughter was awarded a scholarship to study in Leningrad.
That stuff doesn't just happen with the Soviets. I believe that everyone wrote off the possibility as too messy in Bobby Fischer's already way-too-messy life and they were eager to discount it as McCarthyism.
I love chess but I hate the competition and culture that goes along with it. There's almost nothing worse than chess nerds.
It would be a mistake to take up competitive chess simply to attract women or big money endorsements. That would ruin the purity and beauty of the sport......Earlier in life I did a lot of things that were supposed to make you a better or more complete or happier person. None of them especially worked for me or did much to alter my somewhat dour outlook on life. One of the problems of my life is that I've gotten most of what I wanted out of life--but five years after I stopped wanting it. When I was a kid I thought it would be very heaven to walk into the drugstore and buy all the comics I wanted. I reached that financial goal but only after I lost interest in comic books. Same thing with travel. I have enough to travel anywhere in the world, but mostly I would prefer to stay home and watch the Travel Channel. And don't even get me started on underage Dominican hookers.
I love chess but I hate the competition and culture that goes along with it. There's almost nothing worse than chess nerds.
Palladian: Sure there are. Lots worse. Think about it. And what's wrong with competition?
I fled the chess player/math whiz part of myself into the arts and poetry. I still love the arts and poetry, but I sure didn't find better people in that culture.
Maybe I will one day, DBQ.
If I play chess, it will have to be online with very basic players.
Creeley, I finally found the book I wanted to quote from the introduction; Begin Chess, by Samuel Reshevsky, 1970. I found it disheartening, yet funny...hey, I was making notes in the book and everything!
"This book is for the young, and even for the very young with some guidance from parent or teacher, but it is also for the adult who prefers to tread surely and does not wish to have his intellect stretched in a game."
Not to belabor the point, but playing chess again is a big deal for me. I renounced it when I was 22 to the consternation of my best friend, who became a painter btw, Palladian, though not successful enough to make a career of it.
Returning to chess now feels right, like an appointment with my own tiny destiny. I have no illusions of some future grand achievement -- I'm too old and I don't have enough time -- but it's a gift I had and turned my back on.
Now I want to make that right. There aren't many things I want to do before I die, but it turns out that chess is one of them. That's why I discuss it in this Bucket List topic.
Deborah: Reshevsky is an interesting character. It's almost totally forgotten now, but once upon a time Reshevsky was the hot young child prodigy, who toured the US giving chess exhibitions in department stores.
When Fischer was coming up, Reshevsky was just this bald little guy with glasses who looked like an accountant because he was an accountant. In his day, though, and for decades after, Reshevsky was one of the great world players but unlike the Soviet players he couldn't make a living off chess and had to get a job.
Was the kid supposed to play into your pet version of the Winawer or whatever?
I don't actually have any pet lines, as I'm too lazy to study it! I play the French by process of elimination: If I answer 1 e4 with e5, I hope to play Closed Ruy systems. I LOVE those! However, more often than not the other person replies with some Bc4 system or something else like that and I end up in stuff that I just can't seem to play, for some reason.
I've never liked the Caro, so I won't answer with c6.
Now ... c5 is, of course, for choice! But invariably people do NOT want to allow the Najdorf, and pretty much no one allows the Polugaevsky even if they do allow the Najdorf: No one plays 6 Bg5 anymore, and haven't in the last 15 years. Sigh.
And in all other variations of the Sicilian I always end up with pieces that are completely misplaced and on top of each other in BAD ways.
So, by elimination, I play the French. My pieces are cramped and huddled behind my pawns in most variations, coordination is lacking, but at least that's SUPPOSED to happen!
And I just find the 2 d3 lines insipid, despite Fischer's love of those lines. And usually, online and in person, I crush the people that play that stuff with ease, as I was the boy (Sam Sevian, BTW) until I got careless. Other than the lose to Sam, I've won all my OTB encounters in that line with ease.
BTW, where do you come down on Fischer's mother as communist spy question?
Probably not a spy, as such, but she was clearly a sympathizer, and likely was a contact point for those who were agents. Personally I find the idea that Fischer's father wasn't Hans-Gerhardt Fischer more interesting. Bobby probably wasn't just half-Jewish but 100% Jewish. Doh!
Icepick: If you are willing to dive into the depths of the Closed Ruy or the Najdorf Sicilian, why do you recommend avoiding long forced tactical lines?
Many who use the King's Indian Attack are just class players who don't want to study. You can play that sequence against almost any non-e5 defense. It's the e4 version of the Colle System.
I don't think Fischer's mother was a major spy, but as I said, she must have been carrying out some mission(s) for Moscow.
I consider it almost certain that Fischer's father was not Hans-Gerhardt Fischer, but Paul Nemenyi, a top-drawer physicist and communist sympathizer or worse, who consulted with Einstein to find work in the US.
The wiki photograph of Nemenyi clinched the deal for me. That's Bobby Fischer's biological father.
Nemenyi's other son became a prominent mathematician who also had mental problems.
I fled the chess player/math whiz part of myself into the arts and poetry.
I went through a similar trajectory-- not the chess, but the math whiz part (international competitions, etc.). Left that part of me behind when I went to college.
I sometimes feel a longing to delve into math (& related sciences) again, just for my own pleasure, as a hobby. Would involve a lot of relearning-- then advancing into unexplored areas, fascinating to me. Maybe will, someday, sooner or later.
To get away from words.
If you are willing to dive into the depths of the Closed Ruy or the Najdorf Sicilian, why do you recommend avoiding long forced tactical lines?
Two points: First, I recommend not playing long forcing lines against youngsters who are rapidly improving. You're playing right into their strengths. But against "veterans" you can take your chances as you see fit. Second, I haven't played those lines in tournament chess in a very long time. Too hard to get into the lines I want to play.
Many who use the King's Indian Attack are just class players who don't want to study. You can play that sequence against almost any non-e5 defense. It's the e4 version of the Colle System.
And I still don't like it, and I'm always happy to play against it. I think the Colle system is also insipid! This is a personal taste issue, and you cannot sway me with any kind of reason.
...
Somehow this reminds me of playing speed chess with a friend way back when, almost 20 years ago. He was a little stronger than me, about 200 points or so. He was a wild attacking man, always wanting to sacrifice something, anything to get at the other King.
So one day I'm not doing very well with my usual stuff so I played the Fred against him. The Fred (1 e4 f5 2 exf5 Kf7) is probably the worst opening that doesn't lead to an immediate checkmate. It's terrible. Ask Creeley or phx, they'll tell ya. It lost, of course, and pissed off my friend. The next time I get black, I play what I now call the Semi-Fred: 1 e4 f5 2 exf5 Nf6!. My friend went completely berserk, and I crushed him like a bug. From that point on that day I totally destroyed him.
I saved the Semi-Fred for other occasions with him. Eventually I amassed a record of 8 wins and one draw with no losses against a guy rated 2000! Absolutely frickin' hilarious! Every time he saw it he tried to mate me inside of ten moves, and that isn't the way to kill that opening. Beautiful psychology at the chess board! I still laugh my ass off thinking about it!
But I still play the Sicilian, trying for the Polu, sometimes when I play speed chess. And about once a month someone lets me play it! Hot damn! I'd play nothing but the Polu if they'd let me!
yashu: No wonder we are so sympatico...
There are many math/science types who can branch into the arts. Richard Feynman comes to mind. But art types rarely extend into math/science with the exception of musicians who take up programming as a day job and stay for the career.
Yet you find so many art types who imagine they are superior.
I sometimes feel a longing to delve into math (& related sciences) again, just for my own pleasure...
I used to go to a certain cafe for breakfast and there was always a retired elvish guy with wavy silvery hair working problem sets in a college math textbook. First it was calculus, then it was differential equations. He wanted to work his way up to reading standard physics texts and he needed the math.
He wasn't a genius. He wasn't even an engineer. He had worked as an electronics tech at various silicon valley firms. He just enjoyed learning and that's one of the things he wanted to do when he stopped working. I admired him.
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