Mahjong Life and Living

This was an old bit of writing dated: April 21, 2010.  Fast forward to today, I decided to include into this blog, as it is a piece of myself.  And yes, in terms of memory lane, I went as far back as my childhood life in the Philippines.  This was before 1986. Learning the Bicycle Here is a story of how I learned to ride a bike, and the pattern it had set me for life.  Yet, only recently, I had realized this pattern. My parents were buying a bicycle for my sister.  As for me, I was outright refusing a bicycle.  Yet, regrettably, it was I, not my sister, who ened up riding that bike more often.  Or at least, it appeared that way in my memory.  With the training wheels on, I rode it where ever I could.  Eventually, one or both of the training wheels would break.  If only one broke, then I still would ride it.  In the case of both, then I'd wait (or ask) for them to be replaced. One day, my neighbor decided to help me.  Why?  I'll never know.  On this day, she held the sea

As of this post date, this individual managed to qualify into the next World Riichi Championship in 2020 by placing second at the Tri Nitro Tiles 7th Detonation Tournament .  Congratulations! Now we turn back the clock. One of the items received in the WRC swag: a booklet listing all of the tournament participants.  Most everyone responded to the survey and submitted their photo.  One person took the liberty of collecting everyone's signature. When she collected mine, I was very much surprised that anyone would ever want my signature.  Quickly, I realized her goal.  So, I decided to help out, as I had a decent familiarity recognizing who is who.  She did the work; I simply helped out a little.  As the signature collection grew, it really became easier as everyone was more than happy to sign upon seeing previously collected signatures. Of course, the collection came to the last day with a remaining uncollected few.  The last day was particularly pressuring as some were on de

As of May 24, I began a general haitus from Mahjong Discord.  I needed to get away from there.  On that day, I had left for my Las Vegas trip to witness my nephew's high school graduation.  Regardless, I was advised to play no mahjong during that trip. By this point in December, it is already near the end of the year.  What happened since then? I could not stay away from any mahjong related activity.  I simply could not.  Part of this plan involved the creation of a second Discord account.  This was especially true pertaining to NARMA related activity and the recently new English Majsoul community. Immediately upon my return from Las Vegas, I was slated to participate in the Catfood Bowl .  It was a opportunity to play in this exclusive tournament, and I could not pass it up. As that tournament went on, someone formed a subgroup of Majsoul players.  Eventually, I ended up taking it over and we renamed to Connect Kan .  With this group, we've been playing some "pick

I am sorry to say: The riichi community is fractured .  This is natural due to three main reasons: Geography, Circumstance, and Personalities. People in different areas tend to group together.  Anyone outside that group is viewed as a stranger.  Our response to " stranger danger " differs from person-to-person.  The variance falls on our ability to be welcoming or not.  This is assuming people of one language.  The natural barrier stems from people of different languages.  That's a whole different set of separation altogether. I learned to be welcoming.  For the sake of my own club, I cannot afford not to be.  As long as a person plays mahjong, then the player is welcome unless there is a reason not to be.  If a person is new or visiting, it is best to get a game together and know the person a bit as possible. What about the Internet?  Here, geography is irrelevant, as we are capable of interacting with anyone on Earth at any given time.  Well, we are fractured here

I got to 1000 games (correction 1002 games) of chess under the rapid format in Lichess.  Chess has served as a secondary game for not-so-serious ranking purposes.  So, upon reaching this point, how did I do? Sept 18: Peak rating (1561) Win rate: 50% Best streak: 10 wins Worst streak: 8 losses Strongest win: vs rated 1613 I had crossed the 1400 line back in June and have not looked back since.  In general, I'm hovering around the 1500 line.  Now, with these numbers, am I playing for rank?  To some degree yes, however, I'm better off putting rank out of mind in order to concentrate (or not) with each game one at a time.  Do I really care about ranking?  Yes, but only to some degree, because I don't expect myself to get anywhere at a strong level with chess.  I just to play it for fun. The game serves as a way to off-balance myself away from mahjong.  For now, I'm enjoying chess and growing into the game steadily. Here's to the next 1000.