Lockdown 2.0

Lockdown one sucked. I had to cancel WRC 2020 and all my other mahjong plans. I’ve now not played mahjong for eight months. People say to just play online! But it’s not the same. It can’t even compare with the level, focus and tension of a real match. I feel I’m more aggressive online rather than embracing the principles of healthy competition. I miss chatting with friends about games we’ve played, hands we’ve seen and rules we disagree on!

I did manage to organize the World Riichi Online Festival in the spot that WRC 2020 should have been. That was a bright spot in my Summer. It was awesome to see such a huge number of professionals and amateurs attend. The professionals had a real run for their money this time with two non-Japanese making it to the top table! Hopefully, that bodes well for WRC 2021.

Right now I can’t even really work toward 2021. I don’t know what next week will look like, let alone next year. I can speculate on what sort of procedures we’ll have to consider and how we manage the player lists and event but it would just be speculation.

So as I enter Lockdown 2.0, I feel a little spare and unproductive. Lockdown 1.0, I did very little but unpick my life plans and cry. I’m definitely more prepared this time and I want to use it to tackle some of the things I’ve left hanging. (This blog being one!)

So my plan is…

1) Write my blog once per day

2) Read more mahjong strategy books so I can kill it when we can play again!

3) Plan a mahjong project for next year that won’t require offline events

None of them are particularly easy but I’ll try!