EPT2007
When I moved into Binghamton University in September 2007, I was bored one day, so I was trying to recall obscure websites and try to look how things have changed. I lurked through the website, as any newcomer would, and saw that the GOMTV MSL S3 was going on, and that the Round of 8 Brackets was posted. I looked through the other forums as well, and felt that this community suited me well, with intelligent posters. However, I felt that I couldn't contribute to the community, so I didn't register.
As the Round of 8 progressed into the Finals, I saw that there were much more Bisu fans than Mind, the newcomer who took the tournament by storm, so I decided to cheer for Mind. This was my first series of live Starcraft that I was going to watch, and it did not disappoint, as Mind took the series from Bisu 3-1. The game on Loki II was nail biting, as Mind made cloaked wraiths against Bisu's carrier force that didn't include an observer to win the finals.
I don't remember much from 2007 for Team Liquid in my perspective.
2008
Wonder why I created my account on July 14, 2008? This was due to my stupidity as the Facebook picture thread popped up, and I saw myself. I was shocked, but later learned that this was just how Facebook sourced images. I was certainly made a fool that day, and I vowed myself never to be duped by the Internet again.
I watched games constantly while in school; in fact I was watching games late at night, and causing me to wake up 5 minutes before my final. At this point, I thought I probably should scale back on the amount of games I watched.
I still maintained myself mostly as an observer to the website, as I didn't log in every time I surfed, and made very few posts. I think the reason is that when I read the Ten Commandments, I felt obligated to not spam one-liners. (I still try not to write one-liners and contribute to discussion, if possible.) I did go to the website everyday, and find interesting threads to read throughout the day.
2009
I guess the addiction of Team Liquid started this year. In the Spring, I participated in our school's SC 1v1 tournament, and talking with people who have the same interest in Starcraft that I do. We wanted to play more games after the tournament was over, so we exchanged information and train with each other. I did notice that CSL was undergoing their first season; we had decided if there was a next season, our school would play, but I knew that our skill level would probably not match other schools.
As my sophomore year ended, I recalled the failed meet up in NYC by another member. I wanted to meet some local players, and the meetup threads started for various locations. With New York City, I thought that there would be plenty of Team Liquid members. Gathering information, I decided to initiate a meet up. There would be no prizes, the meet up was only for playing games of Brood War.
The meet up consisted of Fanatacist, Clazziquai, masami.sc, NeVeR and I. You can read more about the LAN adventure here, by masami.sc.
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Junior Year started, and I had signed our school to be on the Collegiate StarLeague. Also, in the works was trying to get the Starcraft Team started in our school. Although our school only had one win, there were many good moments throughout the season.
This is DragonDefonce's battle report of the ACE match for the only win for the year. I was selected for the ACE match primarily because I was Random, and that I would have to cheese in order to win. However, I never did biomech much so the execution was sloppy; fortunately, we got a lucky break.
For those who haven't seen, on the ace match, our random spawned as Terran on HBR against a protoss. Tried bio mech push, but Protoss scouted it and started cannoning up. We thought we lost for sure, but terran moves out anyways. About 6~7 dragoons come and try to snipe the tank, but protoss forgot goon range upgrade. The goons just walk around trying to get past the marine medic to get to the tanks, but by the time protoss realizes it, all the goons are dead, terran pushes and wins.
I became a manager for the now-defunct Liquid Kickball League. At this point, I wanted to be something more, so I participated in community events. Although it was short, the league was a lot of fun.
To cap 2009, I wanted to meet as many members as possible. Thus, I organized two meet ups in separate locations (one in Manhattan and one in Flusing) so that I would have the chance to meet them. In the Manhattan meetup, I met SLoG and ThisIsJimmy, which made the meet up more fun than usual. In Flushing, I finally got the chance to meet Micronesia in real life. Also, everyone that came to dinner was amazed on how much I can eat on Korean BBQ.
Recap of Flushing LAN on December 26th, 2009:
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2010
In regards with the Starcraft Team, we finally got approval with funding! The downside was that no one actually contacted the E-Board whether we could do promotions and advertisements. Although we didn't get our message on campus, we did find a few Koreans during the middle of the Collegiate StarLeague, which allowed our team to make the playoffs, but ultimately lose to Duke.
When the beta for Starcraft 2 was released, I started to play a lot in the beta. I got my beta key via a Twitter contest that I first saw on TL. Once I got the beta, I played as much as possible; waking up and playing against IdrA was certainly not a fun experience.
At this point, I believe I broke my final barrier of being shy that I had exhibited. I participated in a lot more threads in 2010, as I played Fantasy Baseball, and played a round of mafia. Those were great times.
In regards to NYC meet ups in 2010, there were a lot of things that happened. There was finally a conclusion between the grudge of QuickStriker and Pokebunny as both were present. In a best of 3, Pokebunny won the series 2-0 in a convincing fashion.
Koreatown in Flushing was full of disappointment in the next meetup due to South Korea losing the day before; we were having fun with Korean BBQ, having a cake, and playing billiards after the LAN.
When Starcraft 2 was released, the number of people attending these LANs increased a lot. I never knew that SC2 would garner so much attention and participation within the community. It was hard keeping track of newcomers! Also, these meet ups were fun enough that I spent money on bus tickets just to go to one of them! I never knew how much a Carnivorous Sheep could eat; we will have to settle this contest one day.
Ending the year with the Dave & Busters meetup turned out very well, as I got career advice along with meeting new people. When we tried to exchange for prizes, the group didn't know what to get; I suggested 4 horses for the TLHQ. Eventually, we got a gray horse to complement the brown horse; the horse is safe with Sheep. You can read more about it via Kibibit's blog.
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http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=179856
2011
What will 2011 bring for me? I wish for a bright future, as I'm trying to look for a job once I graduate from school. In fact, members of TL have helped me with my job search, and what I need to do.
In regards to the D&B meeting today, I will stop by Barnes and Noble in Union Square. An unusual habit of mine is to go to Barnes and Noble and look at books/listen to CDs; I usually do this biweekly when I'm back in NYC. I wonder if other members of this forum share the same habit as mine. This time, I will look for The Starcraft Bible, look for recommended books in the book thread on TL, or go back to...
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![[image loading]](http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs525.snc3/29839_1269275815965_1351920002_31153017_2927786_n.jpg)
I want to say thank you to the Team Liquid community for making this place fun, as well as getting through the boredoms of college. Hopefully, the career advice that I got would help me land a job in the future.
Cheers
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