EverydayCoyote131

I've been noticing something that's been bugging me lately... when people do calligraphy, they often focus so much on the flourishing and ornamentation that they forget about the actual lettering itself. I mean, shouldn't the letters be the main focus?? Doesn't it defeat the purpose if they're all sloppy and inconsistent? I guess what I'm trying to say is... can't we find a balance between decorativeness and legibility??

I've been playing chess for a while now, and I've recently started to memorize some opening lines. Not just the basic principles, but actual move sequences. I've got a few friends who play at a similar level, and none of them seem to do this. They just wing it or use a chess engine to analyze during games. Is it normal for people to memorize these lines, or am I just being overzealous? I've sunk a decent amount of time into it, and I'm curious if it's paying off or just a waste...