School is starting again. After 3 whole months of not going to school, the idea is not exactly very appealing. And of course, the fact that I can't play mahjong every week after school starts is not very comforting either.
Speaking of mahjong, it is really such an amazing game and I can't thank the person who invented it enough. I can't exactly pinpoint who was the inventor but there were rumours that it was Confucius (?!) because the game was founded in one of the province right after he left the place. Well, if it really is him, I guess I can afford to forgive him for coming up with almost-impossible-to-understand philosophy of how a 'gentlemen' should behave.
Anyway, since I HAVE been playing mahjong every week for the past month and a half, it got me thinking about how I picked up mahjong. I remember going to my auntie's place every sunday with my mum and I would lie on the bed or sit beside my mum when she was playing and I just looked at how they played. The times when I get to touch the tiles were when my mum has to go to the toilet and so I would set up her side of the tiles for her. And if she was slow, I even 'collected' her tiles for her. As time goes by, I think I've learnt enough through watching and she also decided that I was good enough to play. So when she gets bored or irritated of playing for whatever reason, she would ask me to take over. And soon, my aunties too decided that I was a good extra 'leg' to have around because I could take over when they were tired. And so, that was how I ended up playing mahjong, with my relatives at my aunt's place. As I was telling a friend recently, maybe I have an added advantage over others who play because I started out playing with adults who included an uncle who would scold me if I were to throw tiles out for others to win. As compared to others who started out playing with friends who might be of the same level as them, I might, maybe have a little advantage over them. But again, it might be that I have 'mahjong luck' as a friend put it. But they say, 情场失意，赌场得意。I wonder how true is that.
And I just read an article about how playing mahjong would increase the probability of epilepsy and the best way to prevent this is to avoid playing mahjong. Seriously! How can that ever happen? And if you guys are interested in the short article, click here!
