I was going to write this post before I was struck by stupid lightning for what that’s worth.
I’ve been drinking the Gatorade and Powerade Zero and buy them in 8 packs of 20 oz bottles. Today I bought 4ea of 32 oz Gatorade (2 Lemon Lime, 2 Glacier Freeze) because they were a quarter cheaper and I wanted a test run. I reach into my fridge to get an older single from the 8 pack plastic and I graze one of the 32 oz ones. It starts to roll, falls off the shelf, and lands cap first on the tile spilling everywhere. Why does it always land cap first?
What started this post was a chess rage that I can’t comprehend. One quality to always improve on in life is not getting mad. Nothing is that important and rage doesn’t lead to good decisions. Chess is one of those games that can upset me. Golf has the same tendency, but there’s a physical element that allows you to place the blame on more moving parts. Chess is your brain vs another person’s brain.
The specifics of the game are not important, but I was on a 5 or 6 game losing streak. I didn’t think I was playing that poorly, but kept losing. So on one particular loss where I blundered a piece, I lost it. I jumped out of my chair, stomped my foot on the ground, and then pounded my desk 4 times harder than I should. While I was doing it, I thought to myself, “this is how people break their hands”. It didn’t matter though, the frustration had to come out and my hand was taking the punishment. Fortunately, it was only a bruise.
I share this experience because I rarely get that mad. I took a deep breath, gathered my composure, and asked, “what the hell was that?” The best answer I can come up with is being stupid. Mentally, the game was proving I was stupid. I don’t always play like that, but at that moment in time, I was tilting. It’s a real human emotion and chess is different than them all because there is nothing and no one to blame. Poker has a luck aspect to offset some of that stupidity. It was a learning experience though. Don’t hit wood with a support underneath. Hit dry wall or throw the mouse through the screen.
