Mahjong Life and Living

I have not practiced Lent in a several years.  Once I completely stayed away from the Internet, but that was many years ago.  In my opinion, Lent is a voluntary practice rather than a mandatory one, when it comes to giving something up for a period of time. This time around: I'll pledge to stay away from online mahjong play - until after Easter.  That is till April 12.  Can I keep away from real tiles?  No, that is my social circle.  Given a big change in my life this year , I need to at least play with real tiles to maintain my mental health. My Tenhou accounts, main and tonpuu , are safe due to recent game.  I won't have to worry about my Majsoul account either.  If anything, this huge break will be nice.  Hopefully, I return nice and refreshed with ladder ranking.  Many years of ladder ranking had rendered me utterly miserable about ranked play.  An even greater break will be a nice reprieve. In my meantime, my blog posts will continue.  I have plenty to think ab

As of 3:17 PM US Central Time, my cat Maki had passed away via euthanasia.  It is a tough pill to swallow, despite anticipation for the past year.  It has finally happened.  Her cancer had reached a state of infection, where it was finally necessary to end her suffering.  She needed regular daily doses of pain medication for the past couple weeks.  She did well, with spirits kept up and even surpassed her 20th birthday.  As for today, the time was right, as her behavior indicated as such.  She knew it was time to go. It was great knowing her.  I miss her already.  When I have myself more collected, I will write more about her.  For now, this was her sleeping earlier this morning.

Late in 2018 just prior to Thanksgiving, I spent a weekend crying. For a few days, my cat was not really eating.  We found her in a very weak condition, barely eating if at all.  Reading the situation, I had to make a decision: Do we put her down or not?  I had never experienced this before, so it was rather emotionally stressful.  The thought of her being dead so suddenly was too much to bear.  Had my decision gone through, she would not be alive right now.  When the "last hope" of her eating was dashed, my mind thought: "that was it".  My sister managed find some added information; and her nausea was relieved as the vet prescribed some medicine. In my tears and desperation, I did write out some words on paper.  One year later, I do not know where that writing went.  It's somewhere.  I have to find it; when I find it, I'll type it out.  The basic jist made me realize how much this cat meant to me.  Before then, I never really made this realization.  She