My Eternal Rival - NOT DEAD AFTER ALL

When I started playing go the first person I called my rival was a guy named Sparks[17k]
He was a bit stronger than me at the time, but he showed me a cool chatroom called stream of go stones
and introduced me to some of his go colleagues. In fact he might be one of the main reasons I got as strong as I did. Anyway I took a break from go for a month or so and when I came back he was gone. Hadn't seen him since untill today. Sparks has been playing under a pseudioname which he kept secret so his ex girlfriend  stalker couldn't find him. Great to know my eternal rival is still alive. unfortunetly at this time I can not reveal his identity

I beat a rival Kalin1[5k?]

Some days he plays well and some days he plays poorly. He's been a huge obstacle for me during my go journey. He's kalin! He plays on kgs 6-7 days a week. I've been looking forward to being able to play him as an equal for months now. This was a huge motivation booster for me, as you can probably tell since I decided to write about it. :P oh here is the kifu

87.5 w (kalin1)

110 b (me(dukedaniel))

Dsaun's shape lectures.

Dsaun[1k] taught me sooo much today using one of his lectures. He teaches an audio lecture almost monthly (which is available for free on kgs, you can view recordings of his past lectures for free, although they do not include the review games he does afterwards reinforcing his points) After the lecture he went through 7 high dan games showing examples of how to use shape as he went. I learned how important good shape can be and how to use it effectively. I would reccomend every player struggling with shape or who does not understand shape to come to one of his lectures. I'll be writing a post as soon as his newest lecture is scheduled.

about Dsaun

He was born in germany (as an U.S. citizen.).
He speaks french.
He loves go (especially teaching it).
He started playing go seriously in 1993 though he first learned the rules in 1975.

12k

Hey I got to 12k matches are getting a little harder now.
sorry for this mostly blank blog entry. haha.

What do I do in my spare time? + A WIERD COINCIDENCE

So when I'm not learning Japanese, playing Go, or writing a blog about learning Japanese or playing Go, What do I do? Well lots of stuff but A big thing I do is design and program video games. In fact today I was doing just that. But as any good programmer knows, programming is not fun if there is noone to share it with. So I was in my usual programming chat room! It had been a while since I had visited that room so of course one of my acquaintences asked me were I had been for the past few weeks. When I told him I was playing Go he had no idea what I was talking about. (now here is where it gets interesting). So we had a short conversation about what I was going to be working on and then another of my friends logs in. The first thing he says is 'So does anyone want to play go?'
I thought he must have had an alt logged in or something. But nope. He had no Idea I had been playing Go. I asked him his rank. '12k' he said. This must have been the biggest coincidence ever.

Played against a 9d on kgs with 15 handicap stones:

Yeah I was black. I had FIFTEEN handicap stones. I lost by over 50.

In this game I was 13k btw.

Egad should stop fooling around with kgs and go pro haha.

13k a sense of weariness

Yesterday I got to 13k but today I feel like going on is pointless. I don't know why but I have absolutely no motive to continue in my go studies today. I think this will probably change but as for now I feel unmotivated. Uhg... will post further updates as to my mood. cya good luck everyone don't give up.