pong pong hu

Its CNY & there’s much to be said abt reunion dinners, long car rides across the causeway, sleeping, feasting, reading, pineapple tarts, firecrackers (in msia you get that) & seeing relatives you haven’t seen in a year. But all that pales in comparison to my latest, darkest achievement. *drumroll* I finally, finally, finally learnt… MAHJONG!!! Abit of background. Im quite the games freak. I like card games, board games, action games, word games, even & esp dumb group games. The embarrassing part about being a self-professed games freak is this – I hadn’t yet master the fine art of playing the two lauded (what ive been told), smartest games on earth 1) mahjong & 2) poker. So. Beyond & below the lofty aims I made for the new year (you know like, greater godliness, be more sacrificial, disciplined etc), I also made a secret resolution to master these two amazing games by year-end. At least then, I can finally know what it means to pong! & what that intelligent poker face looks like (on me. hehe). The main obstacle to that resolution was finding the RIGHT people to teach me – patient, articulate, with a passion for the game. And as luck (gasp!) would have it, I stumbled into the perfect opportunity to learn mahjong last night! Contrary to what you might expect, it had nothing to do with CNY. I didn’t learn it visiting or in my case, vegetating in sleepy msia town with my paternal relations. The chillout company I was in happened to have revived the mahjong craze over the wkend & were itching to play last night. They needed players & I was ms eager-pls-teach-me and so to my delight, I was taught. My Si Fu was very clear & systematic in laying out the types of cards & the methods of scoring. He taught the proper names (hong zhong, bai ban, ping hu etc) vs English synonyms (eh, paddychicken? Now you know what is a hu!). And I was a very good tu di if i may say so myself – I took meticulous notes ok! After a good introduction to the cards & rules, we started playing… A couple of pongs & chis later, I managed to hu* THRICE in a row with at least 2-4 tais each!!! I even managed a kang in one round. And a ping hu in another! Call it beginner’s luck but that made me a very happy little disciple. THANK YOU SI FU! Now, im rather hooked on the game and willing to teach the amateur rules of it to any willing learner :) Of cos, deeper skills of strategy & reading others are beyond me at this point. That, you would have to learn from my SI FU (if he wills to take you in) &/or through experience like everyone else. (and no, I cant just give you a photocopy of notes - it's my mi ji). my first winning combo. think i had a flower/animal accompaniment but they werent in shot. at least 2 tai :) happiness. For all the hype & mystery that surrounded the game, I must admit now (as a late entrant) that it IS a beautiful game that requires mind & strategy… challenging, very fun & addictive! I can imagine why grannies would like to sit around playing it too. You can actually have decent conversation, catch-up over mahjong. brilliant. Now. If I can only find an equivalently good poker teacher, my repertoire would be complete & I would then be game extraordinaire with world domination^ at my fingertips… muahahahahahah Okay. While im at this, HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR to all! Hopefully the next entry wld be less floozy :P _____________________________ Footnotes *For the uninitiated, hu = win. Tai determines the power of 2 you win at. 2 tais = 22 = 4 points, 4 tais = 24 = 16 points. Therefore, the more tais you win with, the better. ^I’m only kidding about world domination. Really, I am.