Beginner's Mind

by Aria von Elbe

March 15, 2004

We insomniacs have one thing going for us: we can accustom ourselves to Japanese time and therefore have no problem with staying up until all hours of the night watching the fabulous Kisei matches online. Maybe my mind analyzes better at 1 a.m., but pro matches are starting to make sense. It's not that I'm reading things through, or that I'm even trying to predict what Hane sensei's response will be to Yamashita sensei's kakari, but the moves... make sense. This is odd, considering I have had hardly any time to practice in the last few weeks. Not for lack of trying; that one haphazardly scheduled exam on Friday just really throws off normal Thursday club. (But my exams did go pretty well, for anyone who's interested.) Okay, so it's not good to be staying up until 2 or 3 a.m. You don't need to tell me that, but if I'm up, I might as well watch Yamashita sensei defend his title. Wouldn't you? Especially considering what a fabulous rollercoaster the series has been. Who'd have thought that the game I went to Seattle to see would end up in sudden death. True, when I was in Seattle I had pros to explain the moves, but to be honest, even the explanations were over my head. So why am I getting it now? Have I really gotten better? I mean, the pros are, always have been, and always will be, on a different level, but it's nice to get a glimpse of that plane once in a while. Thank god for the IGS. But who am I to say anything? I'm just an 18 kyu. Maybe I'm just imagining it.

-15-year-old Aria von Elbe is a 10th-grader in Miami, Florida.

Back to Columns