Beginner's Mind

by Aria von Elbe

August 9, 2004

Wandering around the empty Congress rooms at 5:30 Sunday morning definitely leads to some soul searching. After a week of insomnia, what's one more night anyway? Apparently not much, as people were still up, playing games, reviewing matches, giving lessons... It didn't seem possible than in just a few hours everyone would be gone. Even sitting in the airport now, I don't feel like it's really over.

Later Sunday morning, I went back down to the main playing area, and there was one single person, reviewing a game. The sound of the stones hitting the board, the noticeable difference between the lighter white stones followed by the heavier black ones as they struck wood, I can't believe that I won't hear a room filled with those sounds or the cacophony of beeping clocks, along with the babble of electronic Chinese and English stating that black's time is beginning. Everything has become so routine that not waking up and having a game to play will seem abnormal.

It's not just the nonstop go, the lectures, the pros and the go problems that I'll miss, though. Just hanging around the goban is what I'm going to miss most. Having a group of friends stare blankly at the same problem until our 1d shows up and points to the right intersection, or the impromptu get-togethers in my room where stones go flying as somebody accidentally sits on the bed. I'll miss the go, but I'll always have the go, what with all the books that I bought. It's the friends I've made that I can't take with me. Then again, maybe I can, thanks to Internet go.

I know I got stronger last week, but it's not just about getting stronger any more. While I do want to improve, I want to have fun as well and learn as much as possible not just about go, but outside of go, through go. At the Congress last week, I learned as much about life in general as I did about go. Which may be why the game is a metaphor for life. So I guess I can deal with go and my life going hand in hand, since that's already the path I'm on. I just hope it'll lead to next year's Congress in Tacoma. See you all there, right?

-16-year-old Aria von Elbe

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