...I suspect the opening. In fact, I know it's the opening. That's what it always is. I can usually fight back pretty well in the middle game, but if I've got myself this far behind to start with there's not much hope.

If anyone could help me pinpoint what I am doing wrong, I'd be very grateful. I'm white:

_________________
Poka King of the south east.

You opening seemed rather fine. It's probably the middlegame that needs work. You should not be afraid to invade.

Some thoughts:

Overall, your opening was good. But you sort of lost focus as your groups got separated and lost liberties.

62: first serious mistake, B is captured so this just wastes a move.
76: Slice through. B13 starts an easy ko, C13 does horrible damage to his position.
100: A waste of a move. For cutting off black, H15 and J15 are equally good.
130: I see that you're trying to live, but in general it's better to cut first (o16). This gives your opponent liberty problems and so on. After he responds, you can go back to living.
138: Again, cutting first (p16) seems better than living directly.
143: The exchange you tried is an interesting idea, but B can easily surround your stones because of L8. Blocking is much better.
174: p7 first.
184: Now do you see why I like the idea of cutting at P16 before living?

No. It's the exact opposite -- it's almost NEVER about the opening at these levels.
In your most recent 15 rated KGS games (back to August 2012):
NONE of them was won/lost because of the opening.
In ALL of them, every single one of them, the biggest problem is in the basics (both yours and your opponents').

Many beginners tend to over-estimate the importance of the opening
and under-appreciate the importance of the basics.
It takes time (and level) to fix this misunderstanding.

If you continue to post your serious games here on L19 (or KGS) for comments,
you'll find out most likely all of your games are won/lost not because of the opening,
but because of the basics.

Some comments on the opening.



Main focus: Be wary of strengthening your opponent.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. They are very helpful. I think the moral of the story is "Don't play moves that help the opponent strengthen himself".

_________________
Poka King of the south east.

Personally, I like the way Janice Kim described it:

"The idea of the opening is to set yourself up in the most favorable way you can so that the middle game and endgame go your way, but you can overcome even a horrific opening if your opponent makes one bad mistake afterwards...everyone is making bad mistakes pretty much all the freaking time..."