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I learned the game in about 1988 or 89 when I was about 11. My dad worked at the historical society in Chicago at that time and somehow got involved in a go demonstration for some kind of Japanese heritage festival. He was a bit of a chess player, but he got a set and put it with the other board games. At that time my friend and I used to play a lot of games just the two of us and have discussions afterwards about strategy. Strangely we didn't play chess. But at some point we did bust out the go board. We played a few games but I'm sure you can imagine roughly what they looked like. The rules pamphlet had some examples of high-level games and it wasn't too hard to puzzle out the diagrams and play over the game, but of course the actual game was utterly mysterious to me.
Since then it has been really off and on with me. I have tried to teach friends. I have at times joined clubs, and later on when I finally got a computer (2003) I was able to explore some of the resources on the internet (I've played a fair bit on KGS and IGS). I have done many tsume-go and read many pages of English go books. I have even taken some lessons. On the other hand I have never gotten very strong. Probably my peak was about 7k kgs or something.
I think the biggest thing holding me back from getting better is my own inconsistency. Often I will get passionate about something and then pursue it pretty intensively for a time and then at some random time just switch to something else. For the last 3 years I have had a fairly steady interest in chess and have pursued it, though again, I am not setting the world on fire with my talent there either. I also think sometimes my own attitudes about improvement are a hindrance.
Recently, my interest in go has picked up again. But I have kind of decided to do some things differently. I currently live in Taipei and have been able to meet some players to sit and have games with them in real life. So far this has been pretty nice. When I first got here, I went to a go club or playing hall. It was just a really big room with a lot of folding tables and chairs. Although I was welcomed it was extremely smoky, and it wasn't somewhere I wanted to spend a lot of time although I'm sure from a strictly go perspective it would have been an amazing school, if one of hard knocks.
Anyways, I've already seen some cool discussions and content here so I will be happy to keep poking around.
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