All around me are familiar facesWorn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
And their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
'Cos I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World
-- "Mad World" (Tears for Fears) from the movie Donnie Darko.
And so life goes on on this crazy insane planet. We are all one year older, not necessarily one year wiser.
Why all the depressing mood, you may ask?
According to psychos, err, I mean, psychologists, getting back to work after the hols is a major pain in the backside.
Psychologists and other medicos report a rise in the rate of depression around the Yuletide season and post-January 1 blues are not uncommon.
They're the result of unmet expectations about the festive season and disappointments about our achievements – or otherwise – of the previous year.
There's also the stress of Christmas itself – the buying, planning, cooking, socialising, travelling and spending time with family – followed by utter exhaustion when it's all over.
Having a holiday is a perfect way to release some of that stress, says Sydney psychologist Susan Nicholson, but it's while we're relaxing that we're also more likely to reflect on ourselves and our lives and seek answers to those big questions – am I happy? What do I want in life? Is this really the job I want to be doing?
While watching Karsten Muller's Endgame DVDs, it was also quite depressing. Well, ok, he's not depressing. He's kinda funny in an odd sort of way but the way he explains it makes me realise just how hard endgames really are. And that's what is depressing. Even GMs have problems finding the right moves, what more, mere mortals like us?
For the new year, I'm going to continue to concentrate on perfecting my endgame techniques.
Convekta's Endgames is driving me up the wall. Some moves are so counter-intuitive it beggars belief!
I just need to remember the techniques and ideas behind endgames better.
One of the difficulties I have is learning which pawn to push. Crazy as it sounds but pushing the wrong pawn can be fatal.
Many a time, I've pushed the wrong pawn in my games. So I guess I'm not cut out to be a pawn pusher for the moment.
Perfect song to a perfect movie.
ReplyDeleteindeed! :)
ReplyDeleteI love that song and movie. The holiday was not what I expected it to be, but it was a good for reflection. I started out wanting THIS and THAT, and by the end I realized what I have already is pretty darn good! Now, about which pawn to push, Nimzowitch said "Candidate in front!" which is generally a good idea. In other words, if you have a pawn majority, you want to push the pawn that is not directly opposed by any other pawn in hopes of creating a passer. You definitely don't want your candidate to become backwards! And of course, once it's passed, passed pawns must be pushed.
ReplyDeletehello likeforests,
ReplyDeletethanks!
I liked the movie as well. The only reason I remembered it was because our local channel showed the original entire movie over the New Year. I found that the original songs in the movie were "changed" to keep costs down and the only OST CD available from the movie was sold only in the UK and even then it was very hard to find. Very frustrating.
A huge thanks for that note! i'll be sure to remember it.