Life In 19x19

Boidhre wrote:1. Varies. Sometimes a few minutes doing problems, sometimes hours spent playing out variations, reading books, doing problems etc. Depends on my mood.

2. Computer games and books. I don't really juggle, I do whichever I feel like doing. My kids tie up most of what was my free time so something that I can pause and that requires not too much focus is usually preferred. I'm also ill a lot of the time so again, not too much focus but good for killing time are common themes.

3. I don't speak or read Japanese. I'd like to but I'm focused on Irish as a second language due to my wife and kids speaking it.

I started learning the basics of Irish like 3 years ago, after writing a guest post and exchanging a lot of interesting emails about language learning with the owner of bitesizeirishgaelic site (I even have a fridge magnet from them .) I love languages, a pity my time is so limited and I only have a vague acquaintance with so many languages :/

RBerenguel wrote:

Boidhre wrote:1. Varies. Sometimes a few minutes doing problems, sometimes hours spent playing out variations, reading books, doing problems etc. Depends on my mood.

2. Computer games and books. I don't really juggle, I do whichever I feel like doing. My kids tie up most of what was my free time so something that I can pause and that requires not too much focus is usually preferred. I'm also ill a lot of the time so again, not too much focus but good for killing time are common themes.

3. I don't speak or read Japanese. I'd like to but I'm focused on Irish as a second language due to my wife and kids speaking it.

I started learning the basics of Irish like 3 years ago, after writing a guest post and exchanging a lot of interesting emails about language learning with the owner of bitesizeirishgaelic site (I even have a fridge magnet from them .) I love languages, a pity my time is so limited and I only have a vague acquaintance with so many languages :/

This books series is old fashioned (from the 60s iirc) but is considered to be the best spoken series out there at the moment: http://www.omahonys.ie/catalog/bunt%C3% ... 59166.html

I have it, the speakers are native speakers with a very good command of their language.

1) not enough - well I play my moves on DGS throughout the day and try and find time for tsumego, especially when I have a commute to do.

2) yes - this is my problem (in terms of Go). Astronomy, esp. telescope building. This is what I spend all my spare money on (rather than Go) and all my free time right now. Luckily it's often cloudy so it's good to have something to do indoors. It's nice to do something that is almost completely devoid of competition.

3) BadukTV on GoGameGuru streaming games, lectures etc. Non-English basic subscription is very cheap - sorry it's not some secret, free Asian content.

3.These are just sites that somehow found there way in to my bookmarks and I honestly haven't really read that much of any of them, but they must have all had at least one page I thought was worth reading.

http://mignon.ddo.jp/assembly/mignon/go ... ikan0.html - This isn't actually about go, but rather the people who play it, with short biographies of some of histories greatest players.

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/kkm3/e/a0cd717e9c ... 3f529ad7e0 - Seems to be a blog by someone who wants to share their journey from beginner to wherever they end up. It's continued at http://blog.goo.ne.jp/godiary

http://mrkigo.sakura.ne.jp/ - This is a similar thing, but probably much better. As well a writing about his experiences Mr K has also collected a huge number of useful links. Notice the リンク集 (link collections) on the left.

http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/postin ... =10&t=9852 - Iirc this is a blog bythe same pro who did the go lessons at the end of Hikaru No Go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPxT6_jLM_E An NHK documentary about Shusaku.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj3pB_R9AaU A Ted talk entitled 人間の能力を発現させる囲碁のキャパシティ/Igo has the capacity to reveal unlimited human abilities. I don't think I ever got round to watching it so it may or may not be rubbish.

Finally, if you search Youtube for 囲碁 you'll also find a few commented pro matches. (But not many)

Thanks for all the replies everyone! I've enjoyed reading them. Also, thanks for the links...I'll defiantly be checking those out!

CnP wrote:telescope building. This is what I spend all my spare money on (rather than Go) and all my free time right now. Luckily it's often cloudy so it's good to have something to do indoors. It's nice to do something that is almost completely devoid of competition.

I love Astronomy but my god its an expensive hobby. I have not gotten back into it as much as I used to since my 4" reflectors primary mirror was scratched from cleaning. Its very cool that you can build your own, my dream scope is in the 22" range and I would love to get into CCG imaging (my eye site isn't the best and I love computers so why not use it?).

I love Astronomy but my god its an expensive hobby

.. it really is! - or can be. I'm not really rich enough to play with the "big boys" (my largest mirror set is 10") but if you forget about GOTO or astrophotography (which seems like the most efficient way to spend money ever invented), you can get a decent 8" reflector on a Dobsonian mount for £279.00 GBP here in the UK (what I should have done). Not no money but not not huge amounts - as long as you can resist buying more and more stuff. But if you're into imaging yes, you need a lot of cash & time to get good results..(though spending hours processing data is sort of my job so it does appeal if I ever have a couple of thousand pounds to spend).

btw, right now my dream scope is a 6" reflector that I can take anywhere and can set up in 5 minutes.