I accidentally discard the original post :'( Luckily I have the backup :) (but all of the comments are gone, though :( ). Let me repost it.
My target : Being red in TopCoder (or Codeforces also OK) before ACM-ICPC World Finals 2014. I remember watching live scoreboard of last year's ICPC WF in ahmed_aly's site. In that site, beside the team's name, there are the TC handles of the team's members. I want to make my handle red :p
Story : 12 June 2014 (1.5 weeks before ICPC WF), my TopCoder rating is 2182. There are still two more SRMs before WF. One of them, TopCoder SRM 624 was at that night. I failed it because of stupid MOD issue :'( (At practice mode, I resubmit after fixing that issue and got AC). I was very depressed, as I really want to be red that night. (If I got AC, I would be top 100 and definitely be red) My rating decreased to 2138.
Switch to Codeforces. My Codeforces rating was 2131. I participated Zepto Code Rush yesterday without any desire to make it red. But unpredictably, I got +72 and become red in Codeforces :') I take this as a comeback! (I failed several last rounds, including SRM624 and GCJ Round 2) I will keep this rating until World Finals (I will rest from Codeforces until WF) :)
PS : This comeback will be complete if I can make my TopCoder handle red at the last SRM before WF, TopCoder SRM 625 :))
Update : Comeback complete. I was ranked 29 in SRM625 and become red coder! :)
congrats! u are now red in both TC and CF! :)
What a nice story man!
I hope one day I will become red coder too. A lot of times I set different deadlines for me — to become red before WF semi-final, to become red until the end of 2013, to become red until I finish university but never accomplished them. I even lost 1000 Russian rubles to my friend because we had a bet 3 years ago that I will become red on TopCoder until I finish university (and I finished it on May 27th) and I'm still yellow there :-(
But even though I'm not that excited about contests anymore, I cannot give up until I make it to the red color on both sites and I hope it will happen until the end of the summer 2014 :-)
Awesome story. Congrats. Your target was the same as mine, apart from the fact that you achieved it. See you at the WFs.
Congratulations :D