Mahjong Life and Living

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

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.

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 memories will be cherished.   Here are all my cats: Maki , K

Day 1: Saturday, Aug 31, 2019 Tournament Day 1 (round robin) and Dinner Session The round robin portion of the tournament was covered in the first day: three before lunch and three after.  Each hanchan observed the time limit of one hour.  Games normally finished through S4 well before that.  This day covered a bulk of the weekend's events. With 40 players, the event used ten autotables: eight AMOS JP2, one AMOS JP EX, and one older unknown table. Before the tournament begins, the opening ceremony covered a general introduction of the pros and Saikouisen.  Then it was followed by a performances of Japanese calligraphy and a guitar solo to get everyone in the mood.  Naturally, as soon as that was over, the tournament begins. My first game featured Rachel, Kazuki, and Kyle.  I've faced Rachel before in the North American Open last year.  In a practice game, I edged out Kazuki by 100 points.  Then Kyle took on Hiro in the Tornado Alley Open (Oklahoma) and won that t

My mahjong this year regressed so hard, such that it has fallen to 3dan twice.  On top of that, any prospect of climbing tokujou at 4dan was nonexistent.  This was not the case 3-4 years ago.  It was actually easy to do, but that has not been the case during the past 2 years.  I do not understand why, but the rank struggle cannot be shaken off. The current game count is at 4463 ranked games.  While it is tempting to round out the count at 5000 games, the cap will be at 4500 or 4600 instead.  Perhaps, I could just bring it back up to tokujou and end it there.  Then there's the end of this cursed year of 2020.  To match it with the end of Tenhou flash, the synchronous end might be poetic. I'll see how I feel about it.  Anyways, here are my numbers currently. I put plenty of my mahjong history into this account.  This is the account where I've taken stats screenshots roughly every 100 games .  However, it may be time to move on from it.  The game play just says it all.  The en

Due to  Kai's passing , I shall be taking a month long break from all mahjong play, effective immediately.  His sudden and quick death has me rather shaken.  This is added to the fact that Maki died six months ago.  Thus, I have some reflection to do. As a way back to mahjong, I will plan to play in the online tournament,  Riichi Montreal 2020 .