(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.