EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/iZLzP.jpg)
It's story time, TL. Prepare to be jelly some more.
I spent the weekend at WCG with some fellow TLers. The event was a lot of fun, and so was staying in Busan. I even got a nifty hat out of it all:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/vxTYV.jpg)
I took the train to Busan with Kiett (whose blog you should totally read and 5 star) which was more or less uneventful minus one particularily creepy drunk korean man approaching us at the station. We arrived, took the subway to our hotel and cabbed our way to the main stage, where we were just in time for Proleague! You may have seen my beard once again appear on the stream, and again with lovely Bisu ears :D It was a shame that I had forgotten my camera, but I pledged to take photos on Saturday!
After WCG wrapped up for the day, we had some delicious Korean BBQ, beer and soju and then proceeded out for more drinks with a bunch of other fellow nerds. A few pitchers and bottles of soju later, we were back at the hotel where I tried my hardest to pass out but in the end didn't get too much sleep.
Unimpeded by my fatigue, I joined my friends the next morning for more WCG. We watched Starcraft 2 and I for the first time watched some League of Legends, which I found surprisingly entertaining. It was my first experience with the game and it was quite enjoyable. Sadly I remembered my camera but left my SD card back at the hotel in my laptop. I hit myself for being so forgetful but promised I would get photos the next day!
For lunch we had spicy Korean food cooked on the table in a big pan (I have no idea what this is called). It was delicious, and we happened to share the restaraunt with Tasteless, Artosis, Moletrap, Wolf and Jeff (Sons of Starcraft director and good friend of Tasteless). We refrained from approaching so they could enjoy their meal, but little did I know that it would not be the last time I'd see them this weekend.
The day at WCG was fantastic - there were a ton of people and lots of nice booths, cute girls and free swag. I ended up in line for Stork's autograph at a signing event:
![[image loading]](http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7487/38144210150524545987150.jpg)
Kiett ended up with the winning bid for Stork's awesome jacket (read her blog to see it). Starstruck and pleased with the day, we retreated from the convention center to a PC방 for some good old fashioned gaming. I absolutely destroyed Kiett and David in a FFA match of Brood War (I attacked with guardians and mutas as Kiett took her natural) and then got a chance to play some SC2 on a silver league korean account (wherein I won a few, and lost a game where I tried to carrier rush).
When we had had our gaming fill, we proceeded to meet up with some fellow nerds for more drinks! The Germans we were staying with took us to a bar with a massive selection of beers and treated us to some German beer:
![[image loading]](http://www.austrianbeer.co.uk/images/paulaner.jpg)
That bottle of Paulaner was by and far the BEST beer I have ever had the pleasure of drinking. I mean, I'm a guy who likes to drink fairly often, but I've never had a beer like this before. Drinking the pitcher of Cass mixed with soju was an affront to taste after having experienced such deliciousness.
Drunk and happy, we proceeded to another PC방 for some 1v1 Starcraft 2 (as we now had two Korean accounts to play with). I won a ZvZ against a dude who had never played before (I'm so gosu) and then won a PvT versus a player better than me, but thankfully drunker than me as well.
We eventually returned to the hotel, where I passed out and slept quite well. Little did I know that my real adventure had not even begun.
Cue Sunday morning. We packed our things and headed to the train station to stow our stuff and buy our train tickets. We agreed to take a late train - 10:30PM - to give ourselves plenty of time. We chose economy class and ended up paying 35 000 won each for our seats (keep this in mind for later).
Thankfully I remembered both my camera and my sd card this time, and I got plenty of photos. The SC2 finals were less than exciting, but fun nonetheless, and the LoL finals were entertaining as well (though for some reason they didn't show the first game on either stage... it was weird). The Fifa finals were hilariously lopsided, though it was kind of exciting when the game crashed.
As the closing ceremonies approached, we had a friendly encounter with Moletrap, Torch and Rachel. She is not only absolutely gorgeous, but quite friendly as well.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BPiNg.jpg)
Torch and Rachel retreated to take photos and whatnot, but Moletrap stayed with our little group for most of the ceremony, which was really cool. For the record he's a really, really nice guy.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/6eflU.jpg)
The closing ceremony was long, fairly uneventful and seemed like an excuse for them to play that AWFUL, AWFUL, AWFUL theme song a few more times. Moletrap left after the SC2 medals went out, but we stayed for some more photos and whatnot. When all was said and done, we went out for some Japanese cuisine and made our way back to the train station - where the real story (for me) began.
The KTX train was going to take us from 10:30 in Busan to 1:15 in Seoul, so I preemptively bought a couple beer for the ride. However, waiting for the train I saw something cool: Tastless, Artosis, Wolf and Jeff were all getting on the same train we were waiting for. Fanboy mode immediately activated, and I worked my way up from car 13 to car 4 in the business class section where I found them seated. I'd met Tastosis before and had met Wolf a number of times, so after introducing myself to Jeff we were all acquainted. Tasteless was kind and shared his beer and soju, and suggested I ditch my friends in car 13 to chill in business class and get drunk with them.
I have never been more down for anything in my fucking life.
I scurried back to grab my beer and returned. Now remember, I had payed only 35 000 won for my shitty seat, so I was worried that the ticket lady would tell me to return to my seat. I got nervous every time they went by, but each time they said nothing. To the dismay of all the other passengers, we were getting drunker and louder, and Jeff was showing off some footage he had taken for his documentary Sons of Starcraft. I won't reveal too much, but the footage he showed was incredibly legit, and I have almost no doubt that the documentary itself will be worth watching.
We continued to buy more beer, and as time went on, more people complained about our behaviour. Business class has an enforced quiet policy, and we were breaching the hell out of it. When the stewardess approched me, I swear I thought she was going to ask me to get out of my seat. For some reason she approached ME, of all of us, the one among us who HADN'T PAID for his seat, and told me that we all had to quiet down. I apologized, and we toned it down for long enough for her to leave the car.
Wolf and Artosis were locked in some serious games of scrabble, but we were all having a good time. But it got to the point where we were simply too noisy, and something had to be done. The stewardess approched us again, and told us that car number 2 was empty, and that we could move up if we wanted.
To reiterate that, she was offering us our OUN PRIVATE TRAIN CAR in BUSINESS CLASS.
The five of us moved up, and boy were we excited. Between jumping around the chairs, pelvic thrusting the air balanced on headrests, eating pringles, and drinking more beer (we drank the train out of Cass so we ended up having to settle for Hite. bleh) we were having an AWESOME time. There were empty cans of beer littering the train and the bathroom reeked of urine that hadn't quite made it in the toilet. The train staff probably hated us, but my GODS it was worth it.
When I planned my trip to Korea, I didn't even realize I would be attending WCG. I didn't even know it was happening here. But fuck I am glad things worked out the way it did.
TL;DR
I am the luckiest Starcraft fan in the fucking world.
So, how about I share some of the photos I took?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/aXceg.jpg)
The main stage during LoL
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/t3Fh3.jpg)
The history of WCG. Some good names on those.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/zcok6.jpg)
A decent crowd, but it certainly got bigger.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/HqHva.jpg)
SC2 on the main stage. We had good seats.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/te5SD.jpg)
There was smoke, lights and pyrotechnics to jazz up the stage.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Le3Iw.jpg)
Ignoring the blurriness, look in the middle a little to the left. That gray blob is a person. Doing a front flip.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Uh8UD.jpg)
Dancing!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/JbpnW.jpg)
Parenting: You're doing it right.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/B8RtJ.jpg)
...spoiler alert!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/HkNT5.jpg)
Victory!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/sP29C.jpg)
The winning LoL team
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/GtDbV.jpg)
Showing pride during the medal ceremonies
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/nQBSS.jpg)
The heroes of the day
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/iSnJy.jpg)
All of the winners
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/yJnLY.jpg)
Busan is incredible.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/EYLTH.jpg)
This is a tree.
Thank you all for reading, I hope I didn't rape your internet connections too much with the photos. This has been incredible.
