I admit that as a result of my own tangential relationship to employment, I know very little about what employers do, or how the net has changed it. But I care very little about what other people think (of me), and I've organized my life so that it rarely intrudes.

Will i be saying the same thing in 3 years... Absolutely not!!

I have to be out of this city by then, failure's just not an option, but i'm already doing really well because im not *thick*.. Daft, yes, but not thick..

I'm not like you guys, some of you are really really intelligent, but not everyone needs degrees and the like to make money *legally*, and have a happy home life..

And it hasn't all been bad, and i *do* have things to show for my life so far, but while most people consider that starting their adult life aged 18 or 21, i look at my adult life OD and AD (on, and after drugs!)..

When your on drugs you're a criminal (and NO... Iv'e never hurt another person physically for money!) and you know that the odds are against you, and you're gonna wind up in the big house.. You just have to deal with that, it comes with what you get up to!

I'm probably saying too much as it is lol...

But iv'e done my time, cleaned up my act, and haven't touched any drug, or committed any crime in a long long time...

I was shopping in my local Asda the other day (who asked me for I.D when i bought 4 tinnies btw! Apparently you have to be 25 to buy alcahol in there :)) and i was just buying some plain white t-shirts when someone said "well well, long time no see, how are you getting on Mark?"...

It was some "policeman" in uniform, that i certainly couldn't remember.. I kinda felt embarassed that the guy recognised me at all, it didn't bother me one bit that he was making polite conversation, and generally asking how i was...

That's one of the reasons that I am anonymous here. Not because I need to hide, but to protect myself against stalkers, lies and slander.

Its just you seem a *little* more streetwise than you let on...

And i really really did think you'd had a top notch job, working for a newspaper, meeting the rich and famous etc..?

Or is something going strait over my head here haha..

And best if they come equipped with n-dimensional matrices. :)

<Dom> looks like a good find, this one. ;)

Regards,
AK-74

I somehow managed to do both that and the other thing at the same time. Gawd knows where I found the energy.

Being defamed isn't trivial. But, in my case, the defaming party has apologized, and that's fine by me. No real harm done, in my peculiar universe. So water under bridge.

When you have time I'd like to hear your opinion about this ultra-delayed draw in the Ultra-delayed Variation of the Gruenfeld Defense.

S Maze vs Smirin, 2012

mark, can you think of any *other* purpose for throwing people's real names around, in such contexts? no?

Ya, me and Carlsen, we're like *that*...

<I didn't know the agencies had such good taste.>

Shulda bitten them sooner.

Pat? Quite. We even play on the same team, where I'm normally a couple of boards higher. But here we could be playing in the first round, on account of his FIDE rating.

*And* he's giving me a lift to the tournament.

I hope they don't base the draw on FIDE ratings followed by alphabetical order. I've checked, and a couple of players near the start of the alphabet have national ratings in the 1300s, while some 'lower down' are around 1900.

Wowzer. You're one of those guys who dangles from a helicopter plucking babes offa cliffsides and drowning sailors from the wreckage of their yachts? Plucky.

From a letter written by William Burroughs to Truman Capote, 1970:

<You have placed your services at the disposal of interests who are turning America into a police state ... You have betrayed and sold out the talent that was granted you by this department. That talent is now officially withdrawn.

Enjoy your dirty money. You will never have anything else. As a writer you are finished. Over and out. Are you tracking me? Know who I am? You know me, Truman. You have known me for a long time. This is my last visit.>

So I guess Truman put Bill on 'ignore' and went back to his dirty money and celebrity cocaine parties. Never did write anything much worth reading again, though.

I've had an email from the organizer assuring me that players without FIDE ratings will not just be listed in alphabetical order. National ratings will be taken into account for the draw.

That's a relief. I reckon there are maybe five players with a realistic chance of winning, and I should be one. But I was alphabetically listed as the 16th seed, putting me in the bottom half of the draw ... which would be unfair to whoever had to play me.

The alphabet also 'ranked' me below two players with national ratings in the 1300s. So I'm very happy to hear that the draw is *not* alphabetical.

Easter used to be a good time for me, tournament-wise, when I was starting out. In the 1970s, Dublin hosted a strong event at Easter: I first played in '76, when Tony Miles won the masters/open, and I came 2nd in the 'minor' with 6.5/7. The next year, I came 2nd in the 'major', with 6/7, still unbeaten. Finally, playing in the top section in 1978, I lost a game in round three.

"When my correspondents reproach me for tardiness, I can only say that I give as much attention to a letter as I do to anything I write, and I work at least six and sometimes sixteen hours a day".

But I've spent a fair amount of time in this or that community & tiny scratches can eventually become open festering wounds & the only cure is amputation, "geographical's" are multi-purpose.

I don't think I've got a point, just waffling, so no change there. Except, its probably human nature. When we lived in small, close knit groups there was an accepted hierarchy, probably family based, oh, & the occasional murder, maybe thats the problem, if there is one, here, you cant get at the bugger with your shillelagh.