I just went through a personal moment and thought I should get it down here.
I was cleaning my house to make space for my wife and came across my WWI and Blizzcon bags. WWI was the "World Wide Invitational" held in Paris in 2008. I only attended Blizzcon 2008 and 2009.
Anyway, at these nerdy conventions, they always give you a loot bag. It's filled with a lot of advertisements, some figurines, etc. To be honest, I never really cared about that stuff so it has literally sat in my closet for 5 years. I was saving it thinking it might have some resale value in 2010. That came and went and it's just been sitting ever since.
I lined it up to be thrown out and thought I should go through it just to see what's in there just before I throw it out. As I said, there was a lot of ads and garbage, but there was so much nostalgia. There was a Team Liquid business card that Kennigit had printed for me. There was a cigarette lighter phone charger that I had accidentally taken from Haji. There was a card with the Korean players names that we had used to get everyone to chant "1 2 3 ___ Fighting!" before the matches. So I rounded up all the cool stuff and kept it in the WWI backpack and tosses the remainder.
That's when nostalgia hit me hard. I know I was never competitively good at Brood War, but I was much more a player than a fan. I know the majority of the staff here watched all the big events daily, but I rarely watched Starcraft. I just loved to play it. Playing Brood War really was a huge part of my life. I think I played Starcraft and loved playing Starcraft much more than anyone on this site realized. When that world began to cross with the real world, it was exciting times. It led to meeting tons of great people, travelling to France, US, Japan, and Korea. It gave many opportunities I never would have had otherwise. And it led to the TSL, which was the culmination of this journey for me.
Through it all, I still loved playing Brood War. I'm not sure Starcraft 2 could have ever lived up the expectations Brood War set for it in my eyes, so it quickly became evident that it felt flat to me. The life Starcraft 2 injected into this community was amazing, and it brought so many people into the RTS genre. But that day will always be a little bit sad for me when Brood War was definitely gone. It's clear to me nothing will ever fill that Brood War gaming hole.
So as I was cleaning out my house, I just felt like finally "Chill" is gone, and it left me sad. It was a good run and things change. It made me thankful for the mementos people have left me that will always remind me of those times. I've kept as much as I could and I hope one day I can show them to my children to explain those good ol' times to them.
I've still got the pony shirt we all signed in Paris. I've still got the signed Sea cheerful I was supposed to give to Fakesteve (sorry Steve) I've still got the note FireBlast! left on my fridge when he left Calgary. I've still got my CJ keyboard bag and my team shirts.
I'm starting to realize as I get older and my memory fades, it's important to surround yourself with things that remind you who you are.
PS I'm still upset I didn't get to meet Zileas at the TL dinner
My biggest regret is not going out-of-my-way to attend live events during BW's heyday, but it's very cool that you were able to do so much. I can only imagine how much harder you notalgia'ed though since you lived through everything, and hell, MADE BW history yourself with the TSL. I understand exactly what you mean about SC2, and in all fairness, it probably never had a chance for some of us.
Chill although you've moved on for the most part, it's still awesome that you've got some of those things to always remember the good times in Starcraft! So even if it's a small part of your life now you haven't completely lost it Plus, don't ever forget when you beat Salv in the TL vs SC2GG match on Andromeda! :D I hope Starcraft will always have a special place in your heart
This was really hard to read for me. I'm really young, but I always dread the day that I walk into my attic/storage room and find my old mouse and keyboard and just question where did the time go.
I really enjoyed your showmatch vs combat-ex, it was what prompted me to switch from watching progaming exclusively to playing BW myself. Its weird to think that its been 5 years since then, and so much has changed in everyone's lives.
I know you as the Starcraft strategy section lord and ruler. In that sense you were the most renowned back then. But "internet stardom" or fame in general has a short shelf life for happiness.
It must've been cool to travel around. I didn't do that stuff. Am I safe in that I can't lose that part of myself? Nah, gotta take risks bro
You know I was just sitting here reminiscing about BW with a friend, going over how competitive me and another friend became in 2v2 during the PGTour/early ICCup days and I miss the hell out of what that was to me as a kid/teenager. So much great memories,. Then I hop on TL and this is what I see. But I must thank you Chill. Some of the last great memories I have of BW were listening to you and Day9 cast the TSL2. You guys were awesome and I was really happy that you actually casted the grand final. In retrospect, it felt like such an exciting and fulfilling ending to the BW era for me. It is just sad though knowing that I will never be able to truly relive those glory days so to speak. My good friends I used to BW with now have other things which occupy their time, so the odds of us ever all playing together is a bit slim. But at least I made some really good friends and I will never forget the impact this game and community had on my development as a person, from some little twerp named Monkeyspanker who tried to get you to webcam with his mom, to whatever the hell I am now.
I really wish I was able to go to some of the big BW events in person a number of years ago when the scene the still huge and I was streaming and posting 125+ posts a week. It feels wrong to say that I would have enjoyed it so much more back then than I would now, but it's true and I know it. I feel like if I were to go now, even to an SC2 event, that it would just remind me of BW nostalgia and make me a little depressed.
I can't imagine how that feeling is for those who registered on TL before me and started getting into it all before I ever even knew it existed. I can't imagine the sorrows of the nostalgia being intensified more than I already feel after barely experiencing the adventure that was BW.
Absolutely can relate. I don't think I've ever been as emotional (about anything not women related at least) as I was at the final OSL. Those games were so epic + Show Spoiler +
Dat jangbang ><
and I knew nothing would ever even come close to that. I guess the loss I felt illustrated the magnitude of the awesomeness that I was able to witness for so many years.
One of the 1st youtube BW "tutorial" video that I watched when I got into BW in the Summer of 2008. I laughed so hard when you went "yaya...ya" and someone types "shut up" Good times.
EPT
although you've moved on for the most part, it's still awesome that you've got some of those things to always remember the good times in Starcraft! So even if it's a small part of your life now you haven't completely lost it 
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