It's been a long time.

I've been really busy though, and still am. Hopefully this "break" I am currently taking in part to write this post will not take a horribly long time. I have homework due tomorrow and on Friday, after all. This week I've adopted a new strategy of having lunch at the Kimmel Center, right next to the library and the main building. This has vastly improved my productivity because it keeps me away from my dorm during the day, and thus stops me from procrastinating and surfing the internet and thus avoiding doing work. Instead I can use the time between my classes (often a couple hours) to study and do homework.

It's also a good idea, I think, to get to class a few minutes early instead of right on time. This is because you can study/work in the few minutes before class starts, and I have found I am amazingly productive at these times. You'd be amazed how much you can accomplish in 10 minutes! Of course, I don't mean doing homework due that day- that's a very stressful thing to do, something I figured out....junior year of high school.

As for Go, I've finally reached 2k! The 2 weeks I was at home in January, I spent many hours on Go, and it has paid off, though a little slower than I had expected. I'm not sure how long it will take to reach 1k- I'm cautiously optimistic that it won't take as long to move through 2k as it took to get through 3k. It was a real barrier for me, and of course I didn't play very much last semester. When I did play last semester, I tended not to be very focused on the game, and it was often when I was very tired. Improvement at Go is hard work, but it is also exhilirating and fun. I don't think I'll have very much time for Go this semester, but I'll try to make the most of it- that is, treat every game I do play seriously, and not to play when I am tired.

2008 in Review

Wow, I haven't posted in a month. Well, between finals and Christmas, I never really thought about this blog until now. I had started a game review back in early December, and maybe I'll finish it next update, but for now, here are my stats for 2007 and 2008:

2007:

Games: 578
Wins: 335
Losses: 243
Win Percentage: 57.96%

Black: 189-159 (54.31%)
White: 146-84 (63.48%)

2008:

Games: 689
Wins: 401
Losses: 288
Win Percentage: 58.2%

Black: 191-162 (54.11%)
White: 210-126 (62.5%)

Note that I only began playing in August of 2007, so the average number of games per month fell off drastically, from 115.6 to 57.4 (and 115.6 counts August as a whole month even though I only started at the end of August, so the 2007 number should really be even higher). But, I am pretty sure the average time spent per game also went up a lot in 2008.

Total win percentage and win percentages playing as black and white remained remarkably consistent, despite individual months often having wild swings in these stats (for example, in December 2008 I had a 38% win rate with black, and 70% with white). It should be noted that I played a much higher share of my games as white in 2008; that means I played more against even and lower ranked players, and less against higher ranked players.

Monthly win percentages:

8/07: 38% (18k-16k)
9/07: 53% (16k-11k)
10/07: 59% (11k-10k)
11/07: 59% (10k-9k)
12/07: 67% (9k-8k)
1/08: 66% (8k-6k)
2/08: 64% (6k)
3/08: 60% (6k-5k)
4/08: 60% (5k-4k)
5/08: 55% (4k)
6/08: 68% (4k)
7/08: 51% (4k-3k)
8/08: 51% (3k)
9/08: 44% (3k)
10/08: 48% (3k)
11/08: 60% (3k)
12/08: 56% (3k)