I am not in Singapore. So here's a couple of pictures. Blogging overseas is bleeding inconvenient but kinda fun.
That youths are always dismissed is obvious. I have always wondered why that is so(partly because I am one myself). At the first glance, it's because of experience; but that seems one-sided, imbalanced. It suggests an inferiority that is inherent with age. Yes, we should respect our seniors but I would like to know the reason to it. Just like how not respecting anyone gives one too much of an inflated ego, respecting an individual too much washes away personal retrospection- one seeks to much to be someone else, you don't learn who you are.
And I think perhaps, teenagers have something superior than that of adults. Depth of thoughts. It is proven for example, our most active activities pertaining to our brain came when we were toddlers. Our existence was vague to ourself and everything was a mystery. Language, objects, even our own existence. We merely existed and learn from extern stimuli. But learning. That learning we did surpass any Einstein. Our parents might try to get us to pee, patting our stomachs, putting us on infantile toilet seats; but the final action of peeing was deduced all alone ourselves. When our parents pointed at themselves and said "mama, papa", we had no previous experience of the pointing gesture, or of the difference between common sounds and languages. But we knew. We deduced. Not for nothing can we master languages at the fastest speed before the age of 21. Our minds are the most plastic then.
Adults' biggest mistakes are thinking that their experience triumphs all. And our biggest mistakes is thinking our depth of thoughts triumphs all. Each thinks the other as a negligible trait. Adults hate thinking themselves as lazy thinkers. To them not thinking is the euphemism for stupidity. Yet most don't. It's simply too tedious to do both when experience can substitute thinking. It's tedious for the teachers to treat their students with equivalent respect because superiority makes it so much easier to teach. It's tedious for the parents to treat children as though they learn twenty times faster- simpler to get them to follow the rules. Make no mistakes, there are exceptions. Some do both, and these adults are the one truly worthy for us to learn from. I am not supporting the lack of respect but rather, the tempering of it.
Similarly, youths trust their depth too easily. There's a difference between retouching of a hot kettle and the warning of the danger. Perhaps some don't see it. It's similar to the warning of the dangers of speeding and crashing it after speeding. Such experience leads to death. The only difference between both examples is that the stakes were upped. I have valued my thought processes too highly at times. When I am right, I affirm the righteousness of my thoughts. When I am wrong, I think back to the times in which I was right.
Balance is often the hardest trait to seek out in our lives. The finding of the conditions for both sides is so tremendously hard. As we grow, to consciously maintain our depth of thoughts while welding our new-found experiences together will be one of the most challenging things to do.
The whole of this week was the Japan Othello World cup held at Tokyo, Solamachi. There was the team game, in which it's Team World vs Team Japan. There was also the conventional swiss pairings -individual standing matches. It's not arrogance. Japan is an Othello powerhouse. First, second, third went to a Japanese. And fourth went to Arnand. I was rooting for Makoto Suekini, partly because he worked in Singapore for awhile. While I have never met him, that he came Singapore does differentiate him from the rest. :/
He also excels in subtle complexities. The moves might not the optimum ones but always seek to confuse the opponents.
I have learnt a lot. This few days, I have been begging my aunt to return to the hotel at an earlier time, so I have time to watch the game live and join in the live chat. Yesterday, what made me a little irritated was that I stated a couple of moves in which top rated players(yes, everyone was in that chat, weirdly) chastised my judgement on move 36. I shut up. This, of course, is a very recent personal example of my blogpost. Turns out, as I ran the match(Junya vs Okamoto, for those interested, you can see the match on www.liveothello.com) on a computer playing out the last part of the game in perfect play, I was right. Moments like these made me happy. I know my middle game is pretty strong now; I ran all my moves in the computer and most were similar. My opening is weak and my end-game takes me too long. But I know I am not at the same skill level as I was two months ago. As with skills, you plateau at certain points- and you stay there until you found a way to climb again.
I wish more people share my passion for othello. It would be so much more fun. I know four who did but their passion petered out. My brother is left. Then again, we are brothers. Who else?
Picture 3 is in Kenting. Fucking beautiful places. Picture 2 shows Junya after winning the competition. Six hours of playing top players. Mentally exhausting. Picture 1 shows my correction of Junya and Okamoto's moves. The circles with asterisks means I am right and my moves were better. Circles without means I made a mistake.
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