My first CTF game

(Whispering...)
I have a confession to make.

I have a problem:
I can't stop learning -
I just love it so much.

I wake up with an ebook,
I fall asleep with a phone,
I take a shit while reading the news and blogs.

My girlfriend is jealous of me and my computer.
I had to put meetings with my friends on my TODO list to keep up with social life.
PS Is there any anonymous learners club?

And recently I went really nuts. I discovered a new way of learning!

I'll share a secret, but let's keep it between you and me, okay? Otherwise all sneaking out-of-bed late at night and coming back early in the morning will be wasted.

(Leaning forward)
I just finished my first CTF game.

Hush!! I know you're also excited, just don't draw attention!

What? How was it?

Ohh...

Breathtaking!

Book/Blog reading is awesome, coding challenges/side projects are exciting, but this CTF stuff got me melting from joy... I didn't even mind not seeing the Sun for a few days. Or eating what was fastest to make (ofc pizza). And yeah, I was no longer reading news in the toilet.

This CTF reminded me times when I was participating in various maths and physics high school competitions (nothing more exciting than spending a few hours boiling my brain with other geeks):

One more challenge.
Which theorem to apply?
Okay, let's try Fermat's stuff.
No, doesn't work.
Maybe AM--GM inequality?
Yes, bingo!
NEXT CHALLENGE!!!

CTF can make boring stuff interesting (who said learning can't be playing?).

CTF can make debugging exciting.

I can't wait taking another challenge!

Only after that well deserved nap...

...and reading all those news I've missed.