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Kyuu's Running Record

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 For now, I shall note my road racing history in my adult life: Road Racing Record: Kyuu Date Race Distance Time Bib Number 03/31/08 NEIU Golden Eagle 5K 0:26:34 66 05/01/08 Race for a Safe State 5K 0:26:09 67 07/10/08 Bastile Day 5K 0:24:55 921 08/31/08 Nike Human Race 10K 0:55:41 0268550 04/19/09 Prarie View 5K 0:24:21 76 07/09/09 Bastille Day 5K 0:22:16 2446 10/11/09 Chicago Marathon MAR 4:08:34 32399 03/21/10 Shamrock Shuffle 8K 0:37:22 9865 04/24/10 Race to Wrigley 5K 0:21:59 2021 07/07/10 Bastille Day 5K 0:22:33 541 08/01/10 Rock n' Roll Chicago HMAR 1:50:29 8739 10/03/10 Twin Cities Marathon MAR 3:53:25 3543 05/28/11 Fleet Feet Soldier Field 10Mile 1:26:11 1991 08/14/11 Rock n' Roll Chicago HMAR 1:51:11 3264 11/05/11 Hot Chocolate 15K 15K 1:16:43 50174 04/29/17 Race to Wrigley 5K 0:40:08 2826 Had things turned out differently, I would still be running today.  However, a bunion during the 2012 training season knocked me out permanently.  Sure, I did get it one more ...
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Year 2025

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Let's see. My personal review of mahjong last year : Tenhou 214 games. Fresh account to 3dan. This is much lower than expectations, but the push continues. KyuuMJ stats . I also retain my old main account, KyuuSC, where I only played a game once a month to keep it alive. Mahjong Soul: 329 games. KyuuAA stats . Almost returned to M2 after 3 years, but it took a kokushi deal in at a "rank up" game to stop that. I even deranked to E3 but bounced back up to M1 quickly. Riichi City Might have to wait on the Riichi City annual report. Though, one thing not looking forward to - a reminder of the suuankou tanki, that I dealt into. For now, my numbers of the last 100 games . Pulled some characters, notably Shalltear via Overlord collab. SegaMJ Largely inactive throughout the year, until the Hololive Cup just a couple weeks ago. I grinded 111 east-only games in the two portions of the event. Even crossed R1800 briefly. Week 1 . Week 2 . IRL Chicago Area Mahjong club ...
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The following are words to the 2025 ARA Invitational :  The invitational weekend is here.  Some have already arrived or are on location.  Others will be traveling today. To everyone participating, once again - congratulations for making it to this tournament.  A few of you have played in a single open tournament to qualify; while the rest played in multiple tournaments last year.  It is both a cost and a commitment to play in these tournaments. Nevertheless, we do so because we want to. I for one apply this very principle to my own mahjong, to my club, to the Internet, and certainly to the country and beyond.  We only play mahjong because we want to.  Yet keep in mind: Participating in a qualifier-based invitational is a privilege.  In fact, every tournament is a privilege, but it is more so here because of the entry barrier.  You all should feel this; you earned your way to get here. As a reminder, all players have eighteen hanchan in nine t...
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Banned from Mahjong Soul Discord

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It is unfortunate, but I did my part lightening up the place in there.  However, that was not enough.  Instead, I ended up with multiple infractions that render this ban.  After all, it is their house, their rules: Am I guilty of these infractions?  Yes.   Was it my intention to trigger this ban?  No. For the record, this is the list of infractions: June 14, 2020: Case ID: 257 Posting a borderline NSFW image of Hisa. July 4, 2020: Case ID: 276 Political criticism, where I said, "Trump sucks". July 11, 2020: Case ID: 288 and 289 Unsolicited harrassment, where I pinged one mod who I perceived as a friend at the time. July 30, 2020: Case ID: 1074 Unlisted and unrecollected warning.  This must be the first ban warning. October 22, 2022: Case ID: 1177 Inadvertent off-topic discussion regarding Starcraft with a few others. December 7, 2022: Case ID: 1238 Typed a basic German sentence, but failed to provide an English translation. December 12, 2022: Ca...
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My Last Address to the 2023 Chicago Area Riichi Tournament

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Now that the event is over, we go forward from here with another tournament as a memory.  Some of us have a collection of tournament participation in the past, while some have this one as their first one.  Either way, it was certainly a collective experience.  Hopefully, plenty of us have found moments, where we can think and/or say: "I like how things are right now."  This thought first appeared at 2022 Riichi Nomi; in turn, I naturally gained the ability to produce puns.  Likewise I was getting plenty of such thoughts this past weekend.  To those who could not attend, future events are around the corner. Unlike anime conventions with their "post-con depression", everyone should walk away from this tournament feeling good.  Even if your mahjong results were not as you hoped they were, you can be happy for being there feeling the "synergy" or as I had been corrected: "the flow".  As mahjong players, that feeling of "flow" feeds off of e...
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Where is the US Riichi Community now?

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First of all, what is the US Riichi Community?   It is composed of every player of riichi mahjong in the United States - may they be individuals or members of a club.  Right now, we are all located in our respective parts of the country - where we should be - enjoying the game - as we should be.  Everyone has their story and direction with riichi.  This includes how we all started - why we play it - and so on.  Whatever may be your reason and story, you are here.   Here's to mahjong and the reasons we have to subject ourselves to it.  The purpose of this Discord is to connect as many riichi players in the country (and more).  Then we can share, laugh, and cry about this game.  Here's to riichi mahjong! Anyways, that was the opening text to its Discord:  US Riichi Community .   My general purpose is to gather as many players in the US as much as possible.
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Good Bye Tiger

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Of my three cats, Tiger ended up as my last one.  Just over night between 3 AM and 6 AM local time, he passed away at home.  My plan was to hope for him to last long enough for veterinary assistance, which opens up at 8 PM.  However, he did not make it.  Instead, I had brought his dead body to the veterinary clinic for cremation. In the days and hours prior to his death, I had decisions to make.  They were all wrong in terms of keeping him alive.  Via Google, the search term "signs cat is dying" produced a list.  His condition fit all the descriptors.  He was dying.   The only thing I did not know was when.  From here on, everything is hindsight which is 20/20 vision.  In terms of happenstance, this was how it was meant to be.  He died on a carpeted floor all by himself at home, where he wanted to be. In light of everything, I express my satisfaction in having spent my life with all my cats for so many years.  Their m...
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