Today was supposed to be my day...

I needed only a single point of rating to become a grandmaster once again. And I had the best round of my life, taking the 6th place. Perhaps I would have skipped GM entirely and jumped straight into IGM, but to no avail. Of course, I also lost the chance to win a prize.

Sometimes, because of such events, which, unfortunately, happen all too often here on Codeforces, I'm thinking about abandoning CF for good. But I won't. I want everyone reading this to know that we all have bad days and bad rounds, and even if something as unfortunate as what happened to me today happens to you, you shouldn't give up. Your rating and material awards are not as important as your actual skill. And even if you never reach your desired rating or color or even skill level, the experience you'll have gained will last a lifetime. By participating in Codeforces rounds, you're always a winner.

-I