Oh yeah baby... the big one is over. And I can honestly say, I've never been happier to see it so.
Actually, I don't think I've ever been happy to see Christmas over. This Christmas was different somehow. I had a wonderful time, I got a cool gift or two... I got to watch my kids open a Wii... and squeal with delight. I got to play hero by putting together my kids toys... a task I like to complain about.. but secretly it's something I look forward to.
There was family and food and caroling and food and football and food.
There was also a ton of stress. Stress that is now over. Stress that somehow Christmas wasn't going to be Christmas this year. An unfounded stress. Christmas came, and it was Christmas, all was good, and I just sighed relief, and slept for 2 days straight.
Ever have a game of chess like that? You play chess for fun... for the most part anyway. But sometimes after move 10.. or 12.. or whatever.. the feel of the game brings on a dread... like you've played this variation before and lost... and now you are here again and you don't know how to improve on it. You go through the motions knowing full well you are going to lose and you feel there is nothing you can do about it.
Christmas came and it was Christmas after all.
If there's no more rope, tie a knot and hang on for dear life, cuz unless you are playing cheater_1, there is always hope my friends.
I've always liked Tony Miles' fighting spirit. His games feature wild combinations sprung from what many times looked like dead lost positions.
Two such examples:
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Miles was the hunted in his celebrated game with Ljubo, but his resourcefulness and never-say-die approach yielded a miraculous win.
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Bouaziz nearly had the victory of his life, thoroughly outplaying Miles in this positional gem... but Miles struck again, from a dead lost position.
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Tie a knot, and look for daylight. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not... but if you find it once, you will never fail to look for it again!