Neko Fang

Mrow~

Hiya everyone! ^-^

Where to start, where to start? I'm NekoFang, Wintrmelon, and Sourmango on KGS, also commonly known as Neko, Neko-chan, stick, SK, and many other such weird nicknames that my friends manage to come up with. *pokies them*

Go to me is simply amazing. The intricacies of it amaze me.

Feel free to leave a comment anywhere on here, but make sure to bold it or I might look over it... or get pocky on it by accident (those stains can be nasty, ya know ^_~). Otherwise, leave a comment at the bottom.

I <3 kitties ^-^ My sorta pet kitten used to be named Midnight Angel and is quite illiterate. She usually says something to the effect of, "'jkhwuigbjkfwhlewe' Mrow~" to everyone out there. :D

Waaah, I miss her~

I'm usually highly sociable, though I can be a bit weird and random at times. :D I am also known to be overly verbose (as you can probably tell from this excessively long page)

Table of contents Mrow~ More about this NekoFang person... Sensei's Library My Go Life My Motto About Go Random Thoughts Goals~ Teachers Senpais Rivals Special Friends and Those Who Have Helped Me Friends' Stuff Tips for improving at Go:

More about this NekoFang person...

shiori says : She loves to read other people's mind -_- Be aware of the stalker!!!!!! xD

Stalker?!? Where? Is it that suspicious-looking mind-reader kid named Shiori over there? :O

XD

My hobbies include writing; drawing (and being highly critical of my products); playing piano (send me any good pieces you know... I'm constantly on the lookout for new sheet music and requests X3); being a grammar Nazi; reading manga; playing video games; and, of course, Go. ^-^

Pretty much the only times I will get annoyed with you is if a) I'm in a bad mood already (*stormcloud*), b) you do something I have repeatedly asked you to stop, c) if you attempt something dishonorable such as lying, cheating, or impersonation, or d) you attempt to steal my pocky (You have been warned ;D).

It's generally pretty hard to annoy me, but if I'm angry, you'd better watch out. ^_~

Also, anyone who ticks off or hurts any of my friends shall answer to me! >:O

*takes out pocky stick and holds like sword*

*shiori chomps on pocky stick*

H-hey! *sigh * Why does that always happen to me? :D

*Narushi gives Neko-chan a box of strawberry pocky.

*Awww.... thankies :3 *hugs mousie-chan*

Sensei's Library

Sensei's was actually one of the first places I started out in Go. Here I found out about KGS after finding IGS not to my tastes, and, well, I guess I'm back where I started. ^^U

I decided to create a page here after my overflowing list of friends and wonderful senpais and senseis became too much of a burden for the 1,500 character limit on user info in KGS to carry without leaving out significant parts of my wonderful friends' descriptions, so.... here I am~

My Go Life

Ah, yes, Go. 'Tis simply an amazing game.

Every since I discovered them, Go and KGS have become a big part of my life, something more than just a board game. Ever since I signed up for KGS on June 9th, my aspirations have been great. Many of them may seem impossible, but they and my rivals are the very fire that drive me to reach great heights, and I shall never give up on them.

I'm currently around 6~7k-ish according to rankings, though I've quickly learned not to trust those.... take cono-senpai and aibou, and, well, pretty much everyone I know for instance. ^^U *hugs everyone*

My Motto About Go

To become truly strong, to develop one's skill to its true potential, one must find his/her pride, and in it one's love for the game. The unique passion and meaning one finds in it.

Adapted from a conversation with Antiphet

Find what you love about the game.

What makes you really really happy...

Like, "Hehehe, I get to play THIS move!!! Bwa-hah!"

Like, do you like attacking?

Defending?

Tenuki?

Fighting?

Playing good shape and thick beautiful moves?

Making giant moyo?

Yose?

Fuseki?

Mid-game?

For example, I love the intricacies of complicated fighting and situations, of elegant solutions.

Antiphet loves tenuking. He says it's like saying, "I will show you my understanding! Your play was too small. THIS is what matters!"

Find your own special love in go, and that and your skills will flourish and bloom.

" "You should play Go like you're falling in love." --Takemiya 7p

Your pride in Go comes from your love.

If you look at your unhappiness...

All the areas you suck at.

All the people who are better...

Then you have no pride in your Go.

Then your game is weak and spiritless.

You don't believe in your moves...

How sad!

Every stone tries so very hard to help you win.

They do their very best!

You can correct your technique and understanding, but not your love.

Your love is perfect, and will grow if nurtured.

Play games that express that love with all your heart and soul.

Random Thoughts

Neko has numerous opinions about a wide array of things. She tends to try to express these opinions unless it may seem offensive to someone.

Here are some random thoughts she has about Go, KGS, and other such randomness~

• Go is about balance. You can't take everything all at once. You have to give and take. It's also about maintaining a balance in one's life and aspects of oneself.

• Everyone's Go is unique... one should never place people of a certain rank into a general grouping.

• Like all things, there are lots of discouraging factors in Go, but no matter what, I shall always try the best I can.~

• I tend to be overly philosophical and sentimental a lot, don't I? ^^U

• I usually see or at least try to see the different sides of an argument or comment and avoid jumping to conclusions on possible misinterpretations. Lots of misunderstandings can be caused on the internet, so I try to be as flexible as possible in my judgements. ^^

• Everyone on KGS, newtimers and oldtimers, should be treated with respect and honor, regardless of rank, playing skill, or any other factor unless they are being dishonorable. One should help everyone who needs it. After all, that's what makes KGS what it is~

And, as my sensei Shinato says, "Beginners need our support because without them, teachers wouldn't exist, and we would run out of interesting rivals."

^o^

Goals~

• {x} Reach SDK by July 26th

• {x} Surpass conover/kyuboy (*glares fiercly* >:O)

 He says I've surpassed him, but I know he's not far behind...

• {?} Surpass moon98 (*electricity crackles* >:O *hair sticks up* T.T Nooes, wispies!)

 I've only surpassed him in game appearances. >_> I don't think I've seen him go all out on me before, so I wonder about his true strength...

• {} Become an AWESOME rengo team with my aibou~, ne-chan, and wen

• {} Introduce/recruit a certain real life friend of mine to the world of Go (*pokest* That means you, silly little tiger~) ^-^

• {} Reach dan in less than 8 months

• {} Catch up to Shii-nii-kun and become someone worthy of being his rival. ^o^

• And my biggest goal of all is to make some sort of change in this vast world of Go...

Teachers

I am extremely grateful to all my wonderful teachers who are willing to teach a weakling like me. I wouldn't be where I am now if it weren't for all your help and instruction.

*bows deeply*

Gack, I have 8 senseis now! I feel like a sensei manget or something... o.o I've been trying not to take on any more because it makes me feel bad to be troubling this many people. >_<

Though they're all so unique in their own ways, and I'm very lucky to have each and every one of them. *hugs all of them*

Here's a list and complimentary glob of info on all of them. ^o^

Shiruko

So many "Shi"s.... @_@

Shiruko-sama used to be a sensei of mine--the first one, I believe, but then he disappeared one day in early June, and I haven't heard from him since.

Aguydude

I believe Aguydude was my very first sensei who's still here. It's been so long I've forgotten how we've met, but it was around the first week I started.

He helped me with a lot of the basics and gave me a big push when I was in my 20k's.

Aguydude can seem like a walking Go dictionary a lot of the time. ^^ Very handy to have around~ :D He hasn't been on very much recently, though. :(

GET ON MORE OFTEN! ;P

Shinato

Shii-nii-kun is a very special person to me. Not long after I started, Tan, another good friend of mine, offered to introduce him to me and have him teach me.

I was extremely grateful for the offer and gladly accepted. So we got to know each other, and we've become great friends. Shii is one of the coolest people I know. He's extremely nice and usually the first to point out a possibly hurtful comment that someone's made.

When I first read his Sensei's profile, I found all his goals rather inspirational. It made me want to train even harder to become someone worthy of being a rival to such a person. I shall train my hardest to make him proud and become his equal~

Oftentimes throughout this path of Go, he has been and is my fire and inspiration.

But as I aspire to become someone of his level, I also remain his student, and he also remains a great teacher who teaches me a lot and watches a lot of my games. :3

He seems to have developed an affinity for chomping on go stones lately.... *bops him on the head* Silly Shii. ^-^

Aside from being my teacher, he's also really fun to talk to. His reviews never fail to make me laugh, and I'll always be grateful to have met him. *hugs* ^-^

Zahlman

Also known as Karl, the invisible pocky guy (from whom I steal invisible pocky to munch on during my games ^o^), and my sensei, I met Karl by chance one day when having a silly argument over an undo with one of my friends~

After the game ended, we got to talking, and he became my friend (~~and perpetual source of pocky~~) and sensei.

Karl (like all my other teachers) is a great teacher. He watches and reviews lots of my games when he is on. I learn a lot from him too~

I wanna go to the anime convention where he teaches at least once, to watch him teach and, of course, to steal his pocky~

Kyaa~ I luffs Karl and his pocky~ <3

eires

sei-chan is, as Shiori-chan calls him, the "lazy teacher", though he's very nice and fun to talk to. I guess he's sorta more of the "casual teacher". :D

*nudges on MSN*

He's more of Shi-chan's teacher than mine a lot of the time, but he's almost always there to chat with and poke, and that's good enough for me. :D

His art is amaaazing. :O

*hugs* sei-chan rocks ^^

Honte

Ho-chan is another of Shi-chan's teachers that I'm "sharing" with her.

He's really strong and fun to talk to. He's also a great teacher who comes to watch and review a lot of games, though tea-shortages seem to be frequent on his end *gives him basket full of tea*~

Kyaaa~ nekoneko no Ho-chan wa totemo kawaii desu! (Honte's kitty is so cute!) >< *glomps*

dinnertime

Tom is a longtime friend of Shiori-chan's. He takes go very seriously and trains very hard. In fact, he reached dan in around 8 months. :O

I was very honored when Shi-chan asked him to teach me, and he accepted.

GoRival

Ri-sensei is another passionate soul in the pursuit of improving at Go that I met. He aims to become a go teacher, and plays/teaches me a lot of the time.

I'm always trying my hardest to surpass him, or at least be able to play him without taking any stones.

Antiphet?

I met him by chance one night while rengoing, and we spent a while tossing clever banter back and forth and getting to know each other. He's a really amazing person whom I admire quite a lot.

What's even more amazing is that he says I've re-inspired him in his go and that he's done the same for me, not only in go but in other aspects of my life.

I must say that I'm really very lucky and happy to have met and made a good friend like him.

Senpais

conover/kyuboy Cono-senpai is more of a rival to me at times. He's the youngest senpai I have and one of the youngest players I've ever met. While his teasing can be slightly annoying sometimes (^_~), he's still a great friend who's willing to support me in almost anything he knows I truly care about. His go is very well based on a solid foundation, and I envy how his game flows. He's also a big rival of mine. ^_^

MysticXG Myst-nii is a very nice person~ He's done me the favor of reviewing my games several times, and I do <3 my reviews~ ^^

He seems to be hungry a lot of the time when I talk to him... Hmmm, maybe I should give him the location of my secret pocky stash.... but Shiori-chan probably wouldn't like that very much. :x

(hugs him)

OrangeKyo Kyo-kun is quite amicable and really fun to talk to. He's almost always willing to play if you ask. We've had a lot of fun times together, and I know he's always there to whack me when I make a really stupid mistake. XD

He makes such an awesome pet cat when he transforms. :D

Rivals

conover/kyuboy

Somehow I get the feeling that even if I do get to his rank, I'll still be weaker than him. His grasp of the game is very well-based, as I said before, which I very much envy. I shall keep training to surpass him!

~~So, he says I've surpassed him, but I still feel weaker somehow... like I miss all the points obvious to him. I guess he's just one of those special rivals. ^_^

moon98

(*sighs *) Moon, moon.... him and his bazookas. :)

I'll never forget the time he ghosted for me when I was around 20k. His strength and comments that made me very eager to become someone of his skill level or greater.

His occasional cocky comments bring out the cocky side of me, too, which I can't say I mind much about. No matter what, moon's always going to be one of the people responsible in pushing me higher. ^^

Shiori

You helped pull me up to where I am now. Now it's my turn to pull you. Ganbatte, aibou! ^_~

For some reason, aibou doesn't think she has very much potential, but that's why Shii-nii, Ho-chan, ei-chan, neo, wen, and I are here. ^_^

You can read the giant glob of info about her down in the special friends section for more. ^o^

neonaifu

Ne-chan was Shiori's very first rival. I was so happy when I finally got to meet such and important person to Shi-chan a few weeks ago.

I don't know ne-chan very well, but to me, he's the great friend of a great friend, and that's enough for me. ^-^

I hope in the future I get to know him better, and we can forge a friendship and future just as bright as the one he has with Shiori.

wenkang

At first when wen came along, I didn't get much of a chance to get to know him. Before I knew it, he had become my aibou Shiori's rival.

After that, I got to talking with him, and found that he, too, aspires to improve extremely rapidly.

For a little while after that, I didn't get to play him due to time differences and availibility, so it wasn't until I was on vacation in New York that I got to play him in the middle of the night at around 1:30 a.m. in our first ever game.

His solid style rather surprised me and seemed to counteract mine. When playing him, I felt the same frustration that aibou said she felt, and even though I won, I felt as if I were fighting a losing battle the whole way through and vowed to become a rival of his.

Afterwards, when I got to know him a little better, I also found that he gives great advice and is fun to hang around with~

candystarr

A real life friend of mine and fan of Hikaru No Go who sees herself as a Shindo to me as Akira. While she just started on August 17th, she wishes to catch up to me, and as her best friend, rival, and teacher, I shall do my best to help her do just that.

Having a rival who lives close to you in real life is always exciting. I can't wait until she catches up. ^_^

Special Friends and Those Who Have Helped Me

Close and special friends to me~

~~KGS~~

Shinato

Shii-nii is an awesome friend.

He's always there for me and supporting me from up in the wings of 1 kyu~1 dan-ness, not only in Go, but as a great friend.

I could write pages about him, but then you'd be bored out of your mind and hate me and my overly verbose walls of text. :D

More about him up there in the Teachers section~

My Aibou ~Shiori~

"aibou = partner (as in a partner in crime) in Japanese"

Shi-chan, my partner in crim-- er, go, and I met each other by chance one day and have hit it off ever since. Aibou is amazingly like me in many more ways than meet the eye.

She occasionally uses this to read my mind, or mayhaps she's just using our FBI gadge--er, fancy gadgetry to freak me out.... Not that I mind much, since I seem to return the favor quite a lot. ;)

Anyone who ticks off or hurts my aibou shall answer to me and my pocky stick! >:O

• brandishes pocky stick again*

• chomps on pocky again*

shiori says : Aibou..you best be careful, me loves pocky ^_~

~~

Aibou says I scare her with my progress and potential and that I remind her of the old her chasing after neo. Whenever I read that, I sense a hint of nostalgia from it. I'm afraid that it's discouraging to aibou sometimes, what she thinks ^^; , but if Shi-chan tries hard enough, she, too, can climb to great heights, which is why I will try my best to ignite and feed the fire of motivation within her. So she can live up to her true potential~

No matter what, being with aibou is always great, and we have an awesome time. I love my aibou~ ^-^

shiori says : aww, I love you too ^^

tannguyen8

Tan was one of the first people I met on KGS, and it seems like he's always somewhere alongside me whether I'm playing or training.

He was the one responsible for introducing me to my wonderful teacher Shinato as well as a few other people.

He's a really fun, helpful, and motivational friend, and while I surpassed him a little while back, I'll always know that he's not far behind.

Lately, he's become responsible for reminding me that I keep forgetting to put my clan tag at the beginning of a clan game. I''m sorry, Tan.... I shall try harder to remember.... next time. ^_~

Evilameba

A great friend of mine and Neva's who I met around my first week. He's supportive and fun to talk to~

Now if only he were on more often... *pokies him* I misses you D:

Zahlman

Karl is a great friend~ He's very sweet and supportive as well as fun to talk to. We've had some great and hilarious long late-night chats~

More about him up in the teacher's section.

conover/kyuboy Cono's always been a great inspiration to me, ever since we met, always teaching me and showing me stuff. He's a great, awesomely supportive, competitive friend. What more could I ask for?

narushi/kerugin

Naruuushi-chan~ Kyaa~ *hug* She's one of Shii-nii's newest students. Her rank says she's 17k, but she plays like a 15k when she's serious. :D

She's really fun to talk to and on a lot. If I don't watch out, though, she'll be catching up soon. ^_~

Antiphet

This guy is a mystery. Somehow, a bullhorn always sounds when you're saying his name. ^_~

I met this guy by chance one day in mid-August while playing late at night, and after telling some great, funny, insipirational stories in a game review, we go to talking and exchanged some very amusing witty banter for around half an hour. It was definitely the most fun I'd had in a long time.

Since then, we've become fast friends and rengo partners in training. I'm very glad to have chanced upon a friend like him.

Gambatte, Mr. *bullhorn sounds*!

~~Real Life~~

Geoneva

Neva was the very first person I "met" on KGS. But that's kind of because we already know each other~

She's one of my real life best friends, with whom I'm starting a Go club in our school next year. ^^

I have her to thank for being there for me at times when it felt like there was no one else, for being ever-critical of me and pushing me to improve in nearly everything, for getting me into Go in the first place, and for being one of the most caring friends I have.

I love her, and I wish she would know that her criticism and support are always taken into consideration and appreciated.

~~

One day, in the middle of June, we both decided to sign up for KGS. Back then, our love for the game was red hot. We'd often play on 9 x 9 or 10 x 10 boards, just for fun, not knowing who would win, chattering and laughing the whole way though. I wanted to surpass her so badly.

Now, after she took a three-week-long break from Go and KGS, she's finally back. At first, I was disappointed that my very first rival had been gone for so long and had lost her fiery motivation. I longed for the old days. But I've seen that she's happiest taking it at her own pace, so I'm happy just watching her improve and teaching her what I know, helping her along the way.

Max

One of my best friends in real life. I've been trying to show him Go and see if he'll join up on KGS.

He's always been inspirational to me, and I very much look forward to being able to teach him and having him as a rival. ^_^

Friends' Stuff

Random Ideas from Shinato-nii-kun's page that I agree with wholeheartedly

Passing on ze wisdom ^_~

• "KGS should be able to delete accounts without notice. There have been instances where people constantly disobey the Terms of Service (TOS)", which I have personally experienced (and it was a daymare), "and thus they should face punishment by losing an account that they worked hard to make. Not only that, but perhaps a permanent IP ban, not allowing any of their other accounts from logging on. "

• "The fastest way to become stronger is to play stronger people even. I usually play people about 3-4 stones stronger than me max. I usually put my rank as [-] so I can embrace the concept of losing more easily and not be so concerned with my rank. "

You will improve even faster if you review or get a higher-ranked player to review the game for you, as well.

Tips for improving at Go:

Teaching

Seeing others improve makes me very happy, and I'm always glad to help. I don't know of how much service I can be to you, but I will try my best. Feel free to ask for a teaching game with me anytime. I encourage everyone to do the same with less experienced and/or weaker players.

Stuff to Do

We all like and hate different stuff. If you hate one study method, choose another, but don't neglect the method completely, as you will have to tend to it eventually to improve.

For your convenience, here are some methods and tips for improving at this wonderful game ^-^:

• Do life and death and tesuji problems on http://www.goproblems.com, or download some. Go to the Problems page from the top bar and search for either type of problem (tesuji or life and dead) from your current rank to 5 stones stronger. (For example, if you’re 20k, you’d search for 20k to 15k)

Try to read out the solutions before clicking, and try not to look at the solutions. I believe it was Janice Kim who once said that you should be willing to bet your life on the solution to a go problem before moving on.

You can also bookmark ones that were hard for you so you can come back to them.

• Review pro games. Try guessing the next move, and try understanding why each move is there. Reviewing games with commentary or with a higher-level player can help. http://www.eidogo.com and http://www.go4go.net are both great sites for downloading pro games.

To load them onto the server, just go to File---> Load file in ---> and pick a room to load it in.

• As mentioned above, playing people stronger than you even is a very fast way to improve. Just remember to review your game, preferably with someone stronger, and take a look at your mistakes.

• Memorize some basic joseki. http://www.eidogo.com is a great site which has a lot of them and pretty much all the variations.

• Go Teaching Ladder: http://gtl.xmp.net/

This is a great site I'm part of. Here you can submit games to be reviewed by generous stronger players for free. :O Help spread the generosity by offering your services yourself when you become around 15k or higher. We could always use some more reviewers. :3

(This page shall be completed later... I know there are a lot of incomplete sections and people I've left out... sorry about that. I'll get to it as soon as I can. >.<)

• We are sorry to interrupt this broadcast. The writer of this page is currently too busy with cramming her Go studies into a byte-sized amount of time to write a page about herself and/or figure out how to format it correctly. :D If you want to know more about her, talk to her on KGS. She's usually quite friendly and doesn't bite... unless you provoke her kitty. ~_^

Have a nice day~ ^^ ~^.^~ kitty <:3 )~ mousie

tannguyen8 : hehe, have nothing to do so I edit your page a little bit. And I'm not the one responsible for the unfinish discripsion of wenkang.

NekoFang: Hiya, Tan~ ^-^ Ungrounded tomorrow! Let's throw a party with you, aibou, Shii-nii, and everyone, 'kay? ^_~