EPTFirst and foremost, a huge thanks to the TL community for being a great informational tool, and overall interesting group. The activity here is strong and it's nice to see it. To all those who do regular live streams and whoever worked on the Wiki, kudos to the max.
Tonight, getting off work, I felt tired and really dragged down. I called my mom like I do commonly, at least twice a week or so because it's always been just me and my mom, no matter who came and went in my life, she's been there, good and bad. After moving from Newfoundland to British Columbia, me and my friends only have video games to keep us together, and I like that, we like that, and it works. I felt like just watching some tournaments and Day[9] today though and looking at my Starcraft game and seeing what I should improve on. Upon watching some of these I started to think about what I enjoy, in the midst of a tough day, some video games relax me, and that is what most of my night revolved around, having dinner, listening to some music and enjoying some video game related stuff.
This process led me to thinking, what gave me the greatest joy in life? What was it to this point that kept me feeling like I wasn't always bored(and boring?), plain, and drifting...well that was gaming. Like a rock, gaming kept itself solid and true. Remembering some of my best times with my friends involved music or games. It was never parties where everyone got drunk, and started fighting, it was the games. I was never a sports person, skateboarding and paintball I have taken a shine to, and am not bad at either, but gaming I've always picked up faster. I started assessing what I really want to do, and I have been having a tough time, since I moved from Newfoundland to British Columbia, finding what it is I am truly passionate about. I have been a great advice giver to others, can spew out 1000 good tidbits of advice or analyze someones polarity towards A or B or just general direction, but never been able to counsel myself or analyze myself in any way. I've taken several directions from the time of being about 15 to now, where I am 20, and soon to be 21.
Here it is: I want to involve myself in video games in some way, I want to share my passion for them and have everyone understand exactly what it is that makes them so intriguing and fantastic to me. My ability to articulate makes it easier for me to explain it to my mom, who has interest, but doesn't have the desire to do it to the level I do, or with the same types of games I like (she enjoys The Sims, I enjoy multiplayer with thought and planning.) I feel that this is where I need to take my life. I love competitive gaming, I did a lot of tournaments for Call of Duty 2, 4, Americas Army and Counter Strike Source, and I've found great enjoyment from it, not only just the gameplay, but the planning behind it, and the anticipation for the unknown plans for the match. This has been dormant for the past year, lying in wait for me to find another game that can feed that hunger, Starcraft feels like it may be it. Not in a long time have I taken such an interest in anything to this degree. My girlfriend supports this fully, and feels somewhat the same about this, which is pretty cool, and will definitely help me feel good about it in the long run.
I plan on really diving into the little things. I'm gonna get into tournaments and more activity with this game, and see what happens, see if it leads me in a direction I feel is comfortable. Maybe I'l organize some tournaments (local or otherwise) to gauge how well it goes and see if I can make it a regular thing. I think it would be just a fun time. I'm feeling rather compelled at this point to do this.
TeamLiquid has been a phenomenal resource, the whole community in general has been amazing, and the live streams going on have been introducing more intriguing thoughts into how I, and probably many others, view Starcraft. I wish to see Starcraft get more popular, and become more widely enjoyed over the world. I also would like to see "Esports" become more popular in North America, it holds interest to me, and I would love to see it continue.
