I occasionally went to the library during lunch in HS to browse internet porn (kidding) and there were always 2 chess tables with peope playing, watching, betting (one guy still owes me $20!) and like in all human endeavours, trash talking. Our school wasn't ghetto but it didn't have a Six Flags or any other amazing activity. There were sports but hardly enough time and everything was far too crowded. I suppose there was swimming, but that involved getting wet. Going off-campus wasn't easy either both because the rules prevented it and there was a tall red fence, as if drenched in blood surrounding the perimeter (can you tell I have Math HW due in 6 hours?). I don't mean to put chess in a bad light but I had no special interest in it before then. I learned it from my dad when I was fairly young and we had some fun games but that was the extent of my chess exposure. I liked it like a fish enjoys watching the WSOP... probably without much understanding. Anyway, I was curious and took some shots at the games. Soon, I developed friendly rivalries with other regulars and began to appreciate the game more. I became passionate and started to read books, watch videos, and to play in tournaments at my local chess clubs or school tournaments. It was a fun experience and like most things I get into, probably too consuming.I was obsessed with finding the truth in certain opening lines because it bothered me that I could make a suboptimal play without the game even really starting. I filtered ChessBase's 4.5 million game databse to just International Masters and narrowed it down to a few openings I thought were theoretically soundest. I found that every opening for Black seemed to have some problematic line and every opening for White also seemed to lead to equality... a strange paradox. So, I armed myself with more ammunition in the form of chess engines, computer chess opening books etc. I had Fritz, Shredder or some other chess engine grinding along or playing computer matches for all the variations I was curious about almost 24/7. Eventually, I decided it was futile since chess is an infinite game and the truth doesn't slap you in the face to tell you it's there when you find it. Even today, opening books typically have a lifecycle of just a couple months before holes are found in the analysis and better lines are discovered.And, it doesn't matter until the highest levels. No chess player knows the absolute truth since the game is far from solved. We also don't have perfect memories and even if we did, our opponents tend to deviate in the first 10 moves or so. What's the use of perfect opening play when you don't have perfect strategy and tactics to follow it up? After all, you need those in every stage of the game and a good opening doesn't gurantee a win. Studying the opening so much was just an itch I had to scratch but there were other areas of the game that would have helped me improve far more dramatically. I've continued to play chess in college but just casually and without studying it anymore. I no longer have dreams of Najdorf Sicilian lines either :D. It's an amazing game with a lot to teach. It's a constant challenge so you'll never get bored and it's also a hobby that ages well. For instance, if my hobby is some random console game, my skill is irrelevant when the game becomes dated and unpopular. Chess rules don't change so you just increase your expertise with time. That was part of my frustration with Age of Empires and other strategy games (with the exception of StarCraft). They were fun and all but I knew almost no one would be playing them in a few years and that I'd want a shiny new game too. Poker is one of those enduring hobbies too, with the upside of generating an income too.In fact, I learned about poker from watching IM Greg Shahade's videos on chessvideos.tv. He used to make free live videos of him playing 5-minute games on ICC as (curtains) and he was/is? a professional online poker player as well. He talked about playing SNGs when I was watching his vids but I think he switched to cash games later. In any case, I had no idea about poker and was actually annoyed that some people were comparing it to chess. It just seemed like a low-skill game mostly based on luck. I really had no clue but with PokerStars sponsoring chess tournaments (Shahade's USCL) and the obvious fact that he was winning consistently, I decided to reevaluate my opinion of poker and tried to learn it.That was probably the longest response I've ever typed but I wanted to procrastinate some way anyway. No cliffnotes for mjw either but if anyone got this far, congratulations! Your patience will take you far in life. ;p Back to differential equations for me... Luckily, I'm a biopsych major so we're only scratching the surface because I saw some of my dad's books on this stuff and it looks very intimidating. Although Mers would probably be like, pffft.