Tag Archives: learning

Chess For the Rest of Us

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I want to keep some notes on my playing chess. What better place than my blog which keeps better track of what I write than I do? I became interested in Chess again earlier this year. We go to bookstore for coffee on Thursday nights and a Chess Club meets there. The club members set up boards and start playing each other in rotation. It made me think about time before computers, when people socialized in person and used their minds more. Back when there were coffee shops and chess cafe’s where players would study their moves, and afterwords discuss life over coffee.

I watch the club players from a table or two away. Until recently I have not played chess  for many years other than a game or two on the holidays when the family is around. I tried to get serious in seventh grade when one of the teachers was a chess player, but chess ground to a halt as other interests took over.

I am grateful for modern computer chess, where I can tone down the computer opponent to a level where chess can be a challenge and not a slaughter. The last time I bought a chess game for my computer, the challenge was to survive longer than twenty moves. When I played the computer the first time a few weeks ago on the default settings, I made it to twenty-one moves before the game was over.

I found a few free online chess sites, and played a few games with them. One, a university site has one of those computer chess games who’s job it is to show you how bad you play. I made it to twenty-three moves

I was searched chess clubs around my local area, and saw there was a chess tournament coming up. I did not understand all of what the post said, but I did understand one-thousand dollars in prize money. That was enough to get me interested in chess again. Go play a few games and pocket some serious money? How hard could that be?

I read more chess sites, and I found a chess server where I could play online. The server gave me a preliminary rating of 1200 which I understand is an average rating of online players. I was not sure what 1200 meant, though I read about a teenage chess player who has a rating around 2800. I knew I was no where around 2800, but I was sure I would be rated over 1200 after I played a few games. The number 2000 had a nice sound to it. I decided that number was attainable. I decided I could improve from there as I became more familiar with chess again.

I have now played a few rated games. I can write with certainty that the number 1200 is indeed a fine number to be rated at. My rating as of this weekend is almost 800, with enough deviation to settle in at a lower level when the smoke clears.  It is always nice to know there is room for improvement.

I get to play a number of 1200 and above rated players so all is not lost. The reason I have been able to play them is there are so many of them, and so few players at my level. After having watched them take my chess army apart move by move, I can appreciate the effort they have put into achieving their ratings.

I played one bored player who rating was in the1400′s and it was like watching a Michael Jackson video the way his/her pieces danced around the board in seeming randomness, cleaning the board of my pieces no matter how I tried to save them from slaughter, or mount an attack of my own. The game ended with me capturing a pawn or two, and being offered a draw rather than accepting another loss.

I neglected to mention that before venturing online to find what my skill rating is I bought a book or two. When I checked the books out in the bookstore, they seemed to be pretty straight forward, and I thought they would be good for me to brush up with. After trying to follow the verbiage and envision the moves, I found a book or two geared towards those people in the lower ranks of the rating system. People like me who have a tentative rating of about 800 on a good day.

I may update my progress or adventure as as I progress, if I do. For now, if you think you may be interested in playing chess yourself , you can search: chess, chess tactics, and online chess. Your local library and bookstores are also good sources for books. If you want to find a chess club in your area, search chess club and your city and state.

At the moment, I am a little too humbled to think about joining a chess club. Maybe after I break the 800 level I will give it more consideration. What I have found interesting is the only difference between a high level book and the books on chess I can understand is the presentation. One book has lots of words and a few big pictures. The high level books have few words with lots of chess move annotation and small pictures.

On the artistic side, I have been able to watch some very skilled players play out their games. When I replay their play games what they are doing is pretty to watch and appears so simple. When I try to match their artistry, it lasts about nine moves. I have a little more understanding to grasp before I will be a danger to anyone with more than a few games under their belt.

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Learning How To Be Grateful

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Being grateful is a state of mind and a learned habit. Some people of course are naturally grateful, though the rest of us have to learn how. Once you teach yourself to see the magic in the world, and learn to appreciate what you observe you are well on your way to living a grateful happy life.

I was not raised to be a grateful person. Gratefulness was only mentioned in negatives. “Eat that food, do you know how many children are starving around the world?” “Do you know how long I worked for that?” “Do you know what I had to sacrifice for you…” That was my introduction to being grateful. How can anyone learn how to be grateful for being alive when gratefulness is wrapped in negativity.

Like anyone else I enjoyed some things in my life. For the most part enjoying something in my life was more of an observation, and not any realization of how special those things were in my life. Until they were gone, of course. Then the full weight of how special something was in my life weighed on me. The death of a family member, a pet, or a friend moving away. Only after the fact did I realize how important those people and animals were in my life.

grateful1Growing up, I saw sunsets, sunrises, thunderheads, snow storms, mountains, and misty lakes in the early morning. All sights that make anyone think how lucky they are to be alive and be present in the moment. But being grateful was not part of my feelings. After all the mountains did not move, the sun rose every day, and snow fell every winter.

It was not until much later I heard someone say something that showed me there was more to life than observing what was important in my life. It was not directly related to being grateful, but started me down the path. I was fortunate to be introduced to a unique person. He was always happy, and he had a magic about him. He was Mason, but I know that was not it, because I knew other Masons and they were not like him.

I overheard him one day after relating a frustrating experience when trying to make a deal on a few cars he was trying to sell. The deal had gone sour, and rather than being bitter or frustrated, after telling the story, he smiled and said, “I sure like people”. Like people, I thought, some guy just took away your income for the month, and you say, “I like people”?

I heard him repeat the same phrase, “I like people”, a number of times while I knew him. One day I asked him why he said that all the time. He told me that he had a choice when things did not go right. He could be bitter and feel like he was not getting his fair share, or he could be grateful for the opportunity to have the experience and learn from it. He said he chose to appreciate the experience and learn from it.

I thought about what he was saying, and decided if he was so happy with his life, and he could be grateful even when plans went awry, there must be something to it. I started to think of one thing each day I was grateful for. At first it was hard to think of anything, as my world seemed so dull. Over time I learned how to be grateful, and allowed gratefulness into my life.

Here was my day of gratefulness thoughts from yesterday. Alarm goes off at 05:00. Not already, I am tired, maybe I should call in sick. My bed is nice and warm. My bed is nice and warm because I have a job that pays me enough to afford a place to live and heat. It’s freezing out here in my truck. At least I am alive and able to feel the cold. Every work day, a cook is in the cafe to make my breakfast. I sure am lucky to be able to afford to eat a hot meal for lunch. It’s late, I am tired, and I want to go home. I am fortunate to have a job I can get tired at.

And so it goes. As you can tell I am not a shining beacon of gratefulness, but I am getting better at it. As you allow yourself to change what and how you think, being grateful becomes easier, and life’s magic shows itself more often. One more short thought for gratefulness. I am grateful you took time to read this when there are other things you could be doing instead!

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Spirituality in the physical plane – mature content, 2 of 2

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Though it does seem on a physical level that here is some women with absolutely no self worth or self esteem being kept as a pet by one or many men over a period of time, spiritual thinking can see the relationship as something else. From a spiritual point of view these relationships can be thought of as quite dynamic. It can even be said that these relationships are an example of love at its highest representation.

If you accept as a basic concept that we are here on this earth to learn and become better human beings, these relationships are not terrible, and there is no exploitation. It takes is a rethinking of what we see from a physical to a spiritual process. For many people it is too big of a jump, and their minds can not accept that something horrible is being done as an act of unconditional love and growth for another.

I think this is true, and relationships like these are an obvious example. I think that growth and high level love are shown in many horrible things that take place in this world daily. Going back to the idea that we are here on this earth to learn and grow spiritually, who is it we are learning from? There is no supreme being that takes us by the hand and leads us through our life, and shows us what we need to know, and we understand the learning, and are grateful for the instruction.

We humans do not operate like that. We humans learn by making our own mistakes and committing our own crimes. For example, there is a savage murder yesterday. It is a terrible thing and the killer should be banished to prison for life, or executed as soon as possible.

This is the physical side of our thinking in action. What we do not think about is the spiritual side of what occurred. What about the victim, what did they learn from this experience? There is nothing obvious for the victim. Probably because of circumstances, or bad judgement they died a horrible needless death.

What about the possibility that they lived their life for this moment to happen, to willingly be the victim for the killer? While this thought is shocking and perhaps revolting, it can be seen as a possibility on a spiritual level.

The killer in this heinous crime needed to learn something from the killing. Why should someone who is here on this earth on their own journey, be randomly murdered, halting their path of learning and spiritual growth? There does not seem to be any balance or justice in this thought.

What about the possibility that these people agree to be in these positions for the sole purpose of being the victim out of love for the person(s) who need(s) to learn from this experience? While agreeing to be a victim, and be abused, tortured, or murdered is disgusting and repulsive on a physical plane, on a spiritual plane, it is an example of love on the highest level.

What more could a spiritual being do than volunteer to be a victim for another beings spiritual growth? Again the idea is repulsive, but history is full of people who have chosen to be a victim rather than allow another innocent person to be a victim. The most recent example to me is the holocaust. Many, many known and unknown people stepped up in place of another knowing full well what the consequences would be for them. Yet they did it anyway in an act of supreme love.

From that perspective, is the idea of one person living their life until some predetermined moment when they are to be a victim unreasonable? I do not think so at all. In a realm where everything is supposedly perfect, no matter how unjust it appears on the surface, it makes complete sense. Many of the worlds religions are of the belief that everything that happens is the will of God. The idea of a human being agreeing to be born to be a victim of another on the physical plane, is nothing different than Gods will being done on a spiritual level.

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Spirituality in the physical plane – mature content, 1 of 2

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This post and the one following is a two part post. You may find them, unsettling, disagreeable sick, or revolting. If you are not open to thinking from a new perspective, I suggest you skip these next two posts. Thank you.

From time to time I have been at social functions, where I see young women who I know are being exploited. They are willingly sitting in a chair ignored for hours at a time. The man shows up or summons them to him for something. That is their life purpose by all appearances, to be totally dependent on one man in a one way relationship.

It is not obvious unless you understand the type of man they are with. I imagine they are everywhere, but to me they are only visible when it is a social gathering of some type. These are men who think the whole world serves only them, and that is how they live their life. Perhaps they are sociopaths to some degree, or maybe something different, but their views on how the world works, are far from normal.

The women are usually young and of course pretty, who are not in the rocket science league of brain power, but I am sure they are smart enough to do something different with their lives if they made the effort. I am not sure how the process works, but it must start at home when they are children. They are somehow turned into possessions instead of human beings by their fathers I think, or so it appears.

So they grow up and graduate high school, and maybe try out college, or living on their own. But it is not easy for them as they are used to being Daddy’s pet, and they miss that life. All they had to do was be cute for Daddy, and make him laugh, and everything else was okay. Daddy took care of their survival needs and that is all they needed

When these women are out on their own, perhaps before, male predators know them as soon as they see them. That is what some men specialize in, finding these women. They know some Daddy’s raise their little girls like this, probably because they were raised in the same type of environment. They spot these young women, and start working on them almost before they have lived on their own in the adult world.

So here is young woman, some toy a certain type of man picked up, and can afford right now. As long as she doesn’t act too stupid, or start thinking she is important, she will be what most people think of as a kept woman. She will have clothes and things, and she will get her own, cell phone, car, and probably spending money. This is not a Sugar Daddy relationship, because the woman is not out on her own and living in her own place. She is totally dependent on a man taking care of her.

The worst part of it in my opinion is that these women, and their men see this type of relationship as totally normal. If you try to tell them how abnormal the situation is, they will look at you like you are talking in a language they have never heard of before.

Of course the time comes, when he starts thinking she is not quite what he wants, perhaps he wanted her to do his bidding once or twice and she was not home, or she is spending money a little too fast, or maybe her mouth is getting a little smart for his liking. It could be as simple as she is starting to get boring to him. At any rate, sooner or later he will get tired of her and throw her out, or give to one of his friends as a pet.

I am not sure what happens to these women as grow into middle age, but I imagine that life does not improve for most of them. There is an alternate spiritual view I have been introduced to over the years, and it paints a whole new paradigm of what is happening in these relationships.

Part two tomorrow.

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