Mahjong Life and Living

I managed to find a very interesting quote from the #mahjong IRC days: Many years later, I managed to embrace the  ⑨.  If you do not know what that is, then you are not aware of Touhou.  The  ⑨ is one of the more prominent memes .   When it comes to mahjong, I shall admit to being bothered about being called an idiot or my suggestions labeled as stupid.  That is only when I am taking things seriously.  Otherwise, in pure  ⑨ mode, I can just lay back and smile at everyone.   In terms of my mahjong (and even chess) play, I've had plenty of silly moments.  Case in point, I had a feud with the player named Rosti and even much longer ago xkime.  If you mix in a passion for something and the wish to display your thoughts and ideas, sometimes these things clash.  Arguments get heated, and it becomes one big internet mess. At the end of the day though, it is all bygones bygones.   With xkime, I can go as far as personally  endorse his Patreon .  As for Rosti, conditions are ci

The yakuman hands are some of the more difficult to attain in the game. The key to scoring yakuman stems on the recognition of a decent chance of building it and then winning it.  Like with any hand, tenpai is not enough to score.  The hand must win.  But alas, plenty of times do these hands fail to manifest a win. As they often say, if you do not try, you will not get it.  Kyuushuu kyuuhai this?  Absolutely not.  This haipai actually looks rather favorable: just 2-shanten for kokushi. Plenty of hands look very good, only to not be scored.  Many players may get upset at the concept of  "what could have been".  However, that is the way of mahjong. Nevertheless, chances and success do appear.  When they do happen, cherish it. From here, how to score each yakuman? Kokushi musou .  Good starts begin with a ten-start unique honor/terminal types in the hand.  Per rule, a nine-start has the option to abort and reshuffle.  However, an attempt from nine can be fai

This generally has nothing to do with mahjong, other than it was my main activity just prior to mahjong.  This activity ended when my left bunion enlarged.  If my body allows it, I can hope to give one more marathon a go.  This attempt may be more tortuous, than my two marathons primarily because my running health is not as efficient as then.  That is a natural case after aging 9 years. As for my running years then, I do not need to say more other than quote some of my entries written in my Facebook titled Running Reflection and Goals : "Looking back I am glad to have pulled off the sub 4-hour marathon, because right now and from now on, I do not see myself ever achieving that mark ever again.  Personally, it is an achieved mark; and so, I no longer need to hit that mark.  Will I ever do a marathon again?  For now, I can hope so.  This ultimately depends on my conditions.  Until then, I can direct my energies elsewhere. After the 2009 Chicago Marathon, I made a point to hit

To you? It is one of the many key questions to living.  We must ask ourselves: "What is important (to me)?"  In doing so, we manage to set our priorities and our values.  From there, we direct our efforts towards our goals and what not. How does this connect to mahjong?  Simple, we deal with this question with each and every tile draw.  Every tile call and every riichi applies too.  We are faced with many game states asking this question.  WWYD (What would you do) questions allow us to look at these situations with greater time, detail, and collaboration. Here, what would you do? Do you value your hand? Do you value staying safe? Do you want everything? Are you hungry? What is important to you? Such are the questions.  Just in case you're curious, here was the result of the above hand .

This was an interview series conducted by the Los Angeles Pride of Mahjong (LAPOM) group.  The above is the fifth episode featuring me.  Right now, I cannot believe, that it was last year.  My odd perception of time made me think that it was longer than that. I suppose.  This is largely due to the development of the Northwestern University Riichi Mahjong (NURM) club, as mentioned in the interview.  The speed at which they picked up the game is phenomenal.  It has been a year now, and I am happy with the progress here. As for the rest of the series, the play list can be found here .

Wow, just like that, I found my own blog after completely forgetting about it.  Lots of things have happened since then.  Most of it can be summed up in one word: Mahjong.  Yep, the mahjong life has been great and much fun was had.  Though, constant immersion of mahjong does take its toll, as I had been involved with the game not just by playing the game.  I am literally living it.  In any case, it is time I open up myself on a more personal level with this game, through here. Many things have changed since my last post, and I am better for it.  My greatest revelation last year during Anime Central 2018: I like myself .  I thank much of this to my interaction with people via mahjong. Moving forward, I will look to note various insights to mahjong living.