The Emperor's Mah-jongg

Ok I will explain… the other wicked reason for postponing my blog posts as well as hiding from family and friends, for not answering e-mail, getting the car washed, weeding my sister’s garden or prune a single rose bush is because I became addicted to the Mah-jongg game installed on my computer. Brutal was my dedication to the game which like a magnet would attract me in the morning after I brushed my teeth but before I made a cup of tea, cruel to let me microwave a cup of soup but would not give me time to eat, wet the jade- plant on my balcony or make my bed… In self-loathing I unistalled the demon before I went to sleep only to reinstall it upon waking up…

It was not a simple addiction to a game. To recognize and memorize character and symbols on the Mah-jongg tiles and find the match, was a challenge and the 12 layouts blinking (were they winking?) kept testing my wits and ability just as promised on the CD cover. Persevering, I discovered that mere visual recognition of the symbols on the tiles was a mere smidgen, a token scratch in the pursuit of the - Scroll of Wisdom - , starting with the first mission which consisted of 12 tile “layouts” named and shaped to represent the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. Of course for the removal of ALL the tiles the player needs a strategy…

And when a strategy for each of the first 12 layouts became revealed, I realized that the challenge really was - SPEED-… To progress through 6 levels of 12 dissimilar layouts each at escalating speed in the quest of meeting the 12 Emperors!
Maybe in 12 years of 12 months each...

Mah-jongg and the Seeds of Wisdom

In search of elusive wisdom what did I not know about the Chinese Horoscope and the game of Mah-jongg I discovered during a swift excursion into the TONG SING, the Chinese Almanac. Nothing however wise, could release me from the masochistic pursuit and after playing an astronomical number of solitary games I resolved to plunge into the Emperor’s Challenge…
By now to remove from each of the 12 signs of the Chinese Horoscope 100 out 144 tiles within 6 minutes was easy enough; half way through the ordeal I became an APPRENTICE, upon completion I was reward with 12 Parcels of Knowledge, a symbolic RUBY GEM, and by Emperor's decree ordained DISCIPLE.
With creepy perseverance I regained a small degree of self-respect by the additional achievement of being deemed TEACHER, as one white-night I succeeded in removing the required number of tiles of 10 following layouts within 5 minutes, and in so doing I received additional Chinese Wisdom, all of which is posted on the right side of this blog…
In the futile quest to become ranked as Emperors one must progress through 72 layouts grouped in 6 different themes:
1– Horoscope, 2– Crafts, 3– Nature, 4– Scenery, 5– Martial Arts, 6– Emperors.

I should give it a miss, as proclaimed by Parcel of Knowledge No. 2:

Of all stratagems - to know when to quit is the best!