Long Time No See!! ♥

Long long time no see there TL! I missed you!

Boring/long personal update, TLDR on the bottom for the lazy.

Oh boy, where to start… I’ve been gone for the past few months from the interwebs as a result of my cross country move, from the east coast to sunny California! So many things have happened since the end of last year that prevented me from being active in scene, and I seriously miss all the people, events, EVERYTHING!

I guess there’s no better place to start than… the beginning!

A Series Of Unfortunate Events...
Towards the end of last year, a lot of bad things happened all at the same time. Few “highlights”:
We had received news earlier in the year that my grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. I live in the states, while my grandmother is on the other side of the earth in Shanghai. I love my grandma more than my own parents since shes the one that brought me up until I was 12 or so and came to the states. To receive news like that made me extremely sad, because I can’t just pick up and go back and be with her. Around the same time, I had a few medical checkups and my health was in question. I had to get a biopsy done to check for suspicious cells. No one likes to hear things like right?

Around the same time I went to IEM San Jose as my last event of the year. I was not in top shape emotionally, but I wanted to go to the event and get some coverage for the community. I was also able to bring Shiro out with me so she can enjoy the event too That was a really fun excerpt in my otherwise dark and gloomy month.

My grandma passed away this year right after new years day. I know she’s in a better place now, and I know she’s watching over me every day. My test results came back and I’m fine! So that was great news to hear. A lot of other sad things happened around the same time, but I tried my best to stay positive, knowing that it’s always the darkest before dawn. Corny I know, leave me alone.

I really got by with a little help from my friends… My real life friends and my TL family. TL sent me flowers and tons of loving messages around that time… and I’ll never forget that. It doesn’t matter how far apart we all are, I feel truly blessed to have friends like you guys. I would do shoutouts here but I’m definitely going to forget someone, so you know who you all are… My constant contributors to my skype alerts.



Hanging In There…
With all the negative things happening, my only goal was to make it better. I needed a change of scenery since I was starting to hate my job, and let’s face it… Jersey’s just boring.
I’ve always wanted to move to California and see if I’d like it, because I’ve visited both north and so cal and loved every visit, and want to see if I’d like living there too. I was looking for UX/UI Designer positions in the bay area, and got an interview with a company in the location. And as luck would have it, within a week, I actually got an opportunity to interview for an eSports position with Kim’s awesome team at Blizzard. They were looking for a Project Manager, something I’m not very familiar with, but I was very flattered and honored to have an opportunity to meet the team and talk about their process. I was amazed at all the things they do behind the scenes, and Blizzard campus was fun to visit . I didn’t tell anybody that I interviewed with Blizzard, mostly because I know I wasn’t quite a great fit for the position of a Project Manager. I have a ton of #passion for eSports, but my skills are in design. That didn’t match up with what the team’s looking for, but I’m not sad about it. Nonetheless, I still feel happy that I got to speak with the team, and have lunch with Kim at Inca’s! Om nom nom food.


:D giant gryphon plus in the lobby

Yay Happy Times!
Fast forward a little bit, I accepted a new position in the bay area for a DNS company, leading the UX/UI efforts for the company’s application products. I started in March, and so far it’s been the most challenging and fun job I’ve ever had. I’ve learned more about how internet and servers work in the past 2 months than I have my entire life. I’ve been flying back and forth between California and NJ on a weekly basis while looking for a new apartment, so that limited my free time. I moved into the new apt 3 weeks ago, and I have a waterfront view! :D
I’ve also been dealing with how to move all my stuff across the country, and packing/unpacking is such a pain in the butt. I finally got the stuff last weekend (WELCOME BACK MY DEAR PC) from the movers, and am currently unpacking everything. I expect to be back and be more active in the upcoming weeks, as my crazy on the go life is finally winding down and things are looking up.

As for this year’s events, I don’t have any major plans yet. I know I won’t be able to make it to WCS in Toronto due to the move, and I’m sad about it . Sorry jer, zero, etc) I will definitely keep an eye out for upcoming events for the year, and do my best to attend as much as I can and bring content for TL.

So yea, that about sums up my life for the past 4 months… I feel guilty not being online and on skype to help out with the site with Shiro, I’ll make up for it D: <3 Also, IM READY TO WIN SOME HEROES GAMES KBB!

This has not been proofread to any degree… Sorry for all the typos and weird phrasings everywhere :D

Oh, and for those of you IN or NEAR THE BAY AREA!!!
I need suggestions for FOODS and THINGS TO DO! give me ALL THE THINGS! :D I want to explore and eat and be a fatty! And, if you want, send me a msg and let's hangout!!


TL;DR - Had a shitty end of 2014, moved to California for new job in 2015 and things are looking up. Happy and excited for the future and looking forward to doing more coverages for TL!

Until next time!

And the usual plug here . My Flickr for the event photos, and my twitter @misayi Cheers!

♥ Meru