Beginner's Mind

by Aria von Elbe

August 23, 2004

It wasn't until I returned to Miami that I realized just how much the U.S. Go Congress had instilled in me. Not just determination, dedication, and, amazingly, new skills, but also a goal. Not the weak, I-never-got-around-to-following-it-though one that I thought I had after returning from Seattle in January, but one that I am really set on reaching.

I know that trying to become a shodan by next June is a stretch, but it's precisely because it's so far out there I yearn for it all that much more. Besides, this is the girl who, before she went out to Seattle for the Toyota/Denso, hesitated to even dream of becoming a writer for the Nihon Ki-in's Shuukan Go and ended up becoming a columnist for the E-Journal and got a contact inside the Nihon Ki-In to boot.

I guess the unobtainable seems just a few inches out of my reach, and that's okay, because I know I'm going to grow. Naturally, though, that's not to say that it won't be a challenge. I'll have APs, SATs, ACTs, and let's not forget that this will be my junior year in high school, "the year that counts". Not to mention a go club to run on top of all that and most probably some random other endeavor that I will take on, but "the best way to learn is to teach!" Oh, wait, that's not a proverb? Well, it's a new one, one I'll be living by for a while. That and "Procrastinate now, don't put it off!" I mean...

But I've always liked challenges, otherwise I wouldn't have started playing go, right? You know what I mean, the waiting and waiting to get stronger. But there's just so much for me to look forward to: the club, of course, but also the RSC Tournament at the Sea Otter Go Club I heard about at the Congress. Team matches with high school clubs! If I can get a club trip planned, Texas here we come! There's the Oza again this year, where ever that'll be I'm there. I can just say I'm college hunting. And of course Internet Go. With all the people I met from the Congress, and all the screen names I have, it'll be back to playing during Chem class. I'll be a shodan in no time, just you watch!

-16-year-old Aria von Elbe

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