My progress bar: 0.00000001%

(portion of Ukiyoe by Hasegawa Sadonobu)

In the few short months that I have been studying Go, I have learned one thing: I have a long way to go in Go. When I was 12 years old I bought my first Go board, but the small, cheaply-made American game had horribly written instructions, and I had no outside source of information on the game. No bookstores carried books on the game and none of my friends had the attention span to make it past 4 stones of play. And so with the advent of the internet, a decade of tough times that refined my concentration, and a lot of life-learning, I finally take my first real steps in this amazing game. Though it would be great to have 15 years of the game under my belt, I feel fortunate to even be able to play at all.

I began taking pro lessons last week, playing a game against my teacher with 13 stone handicap. I didn't stand a chance. Just finishing my last lesson before the small hurricane blew into town I am exciting to move a bit forward

[9-1-05 add]

the small hurricane that blew into town knocked out our power, air conditioning(computer-kgs) and

plumbing for about 15 hours. That night, high up on the 14th floor, I watched as the Category 1

hurricane shook and lifted both huge glass balcony doors. While looking out at the mass of darkened

houses, I could see the long pane of glass pend sharply in the wind. After traveling across land, we had

guessed the hurricane would lose strength. Of course, Katrina only got stronger and left tragedy in

her wake. Though it was hot that night, we should be thankful we woke up in a house at all.