EPTTHAT NIGHT:
For anyone who's interested, I played a lllllllllllllllll barcode protoss before my promotion, and I decided to test a straight roach opening, especially after I realized there was no probe scout. I remember thinking, "Oh, well if he's not gonna scout, then I'll just go right to roaches.."
Right before my roaches popped, I saw 4 zealots headed my way... so far, that's the most I've ever seen and that fast...I wasn't able to overcome as 4 more zealots came in. I had to tap out and GG.
A few games later, I ran into another lllllllllllllllll protoss on the same map, same spots. I ask, "Are you the guy I just played?....Wait, you probably won't tell me anyway
"He says, "Oh, it's my first game of the day..."
I thought, well since it's a different guy, I'll try the roach thing again....hopefully not to be cheesed...
To my surprise, and lack of drone scouting again, I saw 4 zealots coming in again... the same time, right before the roaches. This time, I said "Screw that, I'm gonna fight to the end.."
It looked pretty bleak, but when I saw I had a few more roaches that rallied from my natural up to my main and that I could move all my drones to the expo for a short period of time, I kicked it in a higher gear..
I ended up out microing his zealots using stutter step tactics with only a few roaches. I used my drones to block the zealots as best as I could, and ended up not losing a single roach.
I chased him back with the roaches and found his FOUR proxy gates right outside my natural as I suspected from the previous game, and made some lings to hold off the other zealots that were ravaging my main base.
He tried to brute through and I ended up losing only a single roach to over 12 zealots. In my head, I thought for sure he would have shit at home, like air units or cannons, and I would have to do some catching up..
I headed towards his base with my roaches and started to produce drones and go to retake my mainbase, not sure what I'd see when I hit his ramp. I had my overlord in position, ready to give me some vision upwards.
I saw three pylons and broke my way through....
"lllllllllllllllllllll has left the game"
..... BOOM! I got my promotion to masters again, first time in LoTV. !!
This llllllllllllll barcode protoss ended up being Masters 1, top 25 in his division, with great statistics.
This happened a few days ago, and I wanted to get around to posting this at some point... but when I finally went to do it tonight, I couldn't find the replay for quite some time....I realized that he had changed his name from llllllllllll to a real ID, and I saw that his aka is "MariK" and he is a Grandmaster Protoss...made me feel like I actually earned my promotion. I've beaten numerous GMs back several years ago in HOTS and WOL days, but I wasn't sure how I compared these days. And obviously, the strategy he used was very all in, but it was one hell of an action packed couple of minutes for us.
(If you're reading this MariK, I'm sure you can smash me--but think of how you helped me feel important for a minute! haha
My career summary shows I've been Masters since 2010 Season 1 (Introduction of the league), but it's been over 3 years since I've touched SC2, minus a few games about 6 months ago (Before I made a complete exodus to BW for awhile)
TLDR:
Masters again! Was a fight.
Being proud of oneself isn't always easy to be, and I am often way too hard on myself. I don't mean this to be a "brag" blog, and I don't want to sound condescending to lower level players.
The first game against him, I lost to his cheese and totally got wrecked. The second time, I showed concrete proof (without scouting again) that previous experience helped me overcome challenges that had at one point overcome me. When i saw his zealots, at first I thought "Oh, this guy again...Shit, I shoulda scouted.." I took a lot more damage than I thought I would have, and got discouraged for a second that I was gonna lose again. Then, something snapped--and I realized I really do have a chance and my mind went into beast mode, responding to the high stress situation, and somehow ended up saving myself towards victory.
I had to devote a lot of time and effort into StarCraft to get the mechanics to be a Masters and above player, but towards the end of my first run from 2010 to 2014, I lost most of the "fun" factor and got way too involved and way too hard on myself.
REPLAY OF THE GAME (If even one person watched this, I would be very happy)
http://ggtracker.com/matches/7057111/replay
GALAXYZERG STREAM?
On a side note, I used to stream quite often and had a lot of friendly regulars under the user name GalaxyZerg....
My SSD died, and I'm using a really slow HDD now, so unfortunately I've been unable to stream at all. My computer runs like complete garbage atm, but hopefully I'll be able to get one of those Ballistix SSD's that TL just partnered with
It's sad because I had a junk CPU in 2010, and met someone named Brandon Marcy during WoL days. I told him I wanted a new computer, and told him what I planned on buying... a prebuilt iBuyPower PC.....
He instantly tried to talk me out of it, and after a few days (Money doesn't just appear or I may have made another bad choice in PC buying) I eventually started to take his advice. Several weeks of discussing parts, as to which ones were better, and finding deals (as well as arguing since I am sometimes bullheaded and rage quitting SC2) went by, and I finally ordered my PC...so I could play SC2, and stream as well.
My windows index score was 7.7 out of 8 at the time, and my PC was super fast, especially for the price range of about $1,000. I was proud I made a machine with SC2 and streaming in mind. This was early 2011 I believe, and just a few weeks ago I started having my first problems. It took me nearly a week to troubleshoot and locate my Windows CD.
I surely wan't to get back into streaming very soon, as I had a lot of people who were very kind and frequently cheered me on. My own emotions are what kept me from growing as a streamer, and I am eager to give it a new "go"
Plus, this time around, I have my girlfriend of nearly 5 years to hulahoop in the background
It took up until recently to find a healthy balance between playing SC2 seriously and not upsetting my girlfriend and sleep schedule. I think that she is a big part of why I stopped playing/streaming SC2 altogether for so long. Getting yelled at for playing games all the time and staying up until 3-4 AM, then being grumpy in the morning was enough for me to make a change and focus on my relationship. There were a lot of times when she wasn't home or was "alright" with me playing for awhile, but was also hard for her to grasp how serious and hard I wanted to play to keep my form in good shape.If your girlfriends dont know you play SC or aren't supportive of it, then you probably should find a new one! (Kinda kidding, but 4realz..)
I know people who have destroyed relationships because of games, but I feel from my experience there is possibility of a healthy medium if you understand how it affects those around you, and what your own personal tendencies and pitfalls are. Plus, if you can't be yourself, then you're just living a lie!
[GIRL BLOG] TO THOSE LOOKING FOR LOVE:
The ending of this rambling is for all you "nerds" (as Artosis would say) out there:
There are a lot of girl blogs on TL, and I know that a lot of you are lonely.
I was there. I had crushes on women that never worked out, friends that never became more, and also the general uncertainty of what I really wanted, almost like I was at times trying to fit a puzzle piece in a spot that just didn't fit.
I hit an all time low, and at the age of 21 ended up having some weird fit, or tantrum in my room at my parents house, and both of them were concerned. I finally let it out vocally, to my parents while very upset that I wanted a girlfriend. I mean, shit, I wasn't a virgin at the time and had relationships before, but after a few dead ends it gets frustrating. The following week, I ended up eating LSD again for the first time in a couple years at a music festival. A lot of my friends were tripping all weekend with some liquid someone in the group had.
I had not taken LSD in several years since I had an experience with some liquid where I took a little too much for comfort, and was also alone at the time. I had eaten LSD before this time as well as other psychadelics, but not this much, and that gave me a very egotistical mentality despite never trying it in liquid form before then. Even since that time in the next year or two, there were a couple times where I felt like I was almost tripping again and had mild anxiety attacks from it, one time especially when I was driving on the highway to work. (Not a panic attack--I've seen these and they are much different and more serious) I felt like I was gonna vomit and melt and pass out all at the same time, and my first thoughts went back to when I was tripping the last time and the way it feels.
Anyway, back to the music festival....
A friend of mine bought a few hits of liquid that were put on some sour patch kids gummies to hold and eat later. He popped one in his mouth, and offered one to me, but I declined. I still couldn't mentally bring myself to do it yet. He didn't pressure too much further (other than wanting me to trip with him), but told me that if I wanted one I could go up to his campsite and grab one out of the cooler. I still couldn't mentally bring myself to do it yet, and sometimes It's funny to watch people so eager to eat drugs when you're feeling very afraid of them.
Shortly after, I ended up going out into the main stage area to support the bands and relax for a bit. I remember sitting there, and thinking about how most of my group of friends was eating that liquid and having a great time. It was sunny and beautiful weather, and at one point I just "grew some balls" mentally, and in my head I finally dared myself to do LSD again. I knew that it was very eye opening and pleasant the times before (even the intense trip) and I got my ass up out of the chair, started walking up towards the campsite without saying a word to anyone, reached into the cooler, grabbed a gummy, and then threw it right into my mouth. A second later, of course I felt a little fear, but I said, "Fuck it, it's too late now. Gotta deal with it now."
....It took a few hours to kick in as per usual, but long story short, I had one of the most amazing fucking times of my life. It was the first time I ate LSD at a music festival (definitely not the last!) and it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! It was only one hit of liquid, so the dosage didn't get too insane. It was so pleasant and beautiful outside; everything became more vivid and greener, and the sun was shining it's wonderful rays all over the farm. I had next to zero negative thoughts or emotions the rest of the night, and by the end I was laying in my tent, closing my eyes and seeing and feeling the spiritual and uplifting thoughts that good LSD can bring. I was scared for nothing. I wasn't afraid of LSD, I was afraid of too much LSD without being ready for it. This trip was 1/4th of the trip I had prior years back.
The next day, I felt great. I felt like I just went on a journey, and it would change my life forever. Of course, despite all of this, being lonely and yearning for a partner in crime can be pretty hard to avoid. However, that day I felt comforted in myself, like I didn't need anyone to make me complete; like life wasn't about getting a girlfriend or having sex, it was just about being alive, and being in a constant state of amazement at the glory around us.
The following week went rather quick for me. I had been very uplifted from my experience with the LSD, and happy I no longer was terrified to take it again. There were numerous times I had been offered mushrooms as well as LSD that I had to decline, but next time I knew I would at least consider it.
Before I knew it it was Friday evening, and I was playing a gig downtown on the corner of Market Street and 4th, two of our main roads. They had started doing music there that summer for "First Friday", celebrated the first Friday of each month to support the downtown businesses and arts. I remember it being 5'o'clock sun and real hot outside, mid summer.
After the show, a girl with red hair came up to talk to me. She was very pretty, and was there with my friend who had the LSD at the festival. We talked for a brief moment before they left to go to the bar down the street. My band and I had another small gig at a newer restaurant/bar in town, so we headed there. I still remember during the show that I kept thinking about going down to the bar where that girl was at. Of course, it was just a thought at the time.
The following week was the 4th of July. We all met at a friends house to watch the fireworks. While we all were out back watching them, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was the girl with the red hair to my surprise, and looking back I could tell she was trying to get my attention. I said a few words back, but we didn't talk a whole lot that night.
The next day, I got a text from her. One of my bandmates had told her to look me up on Facebook, but I didn't have one at the time, so she went back and asked him for my number. I texted back, and we ended up meeting up at her place that night. The rest is history! I had tried to make pieces fit for months before this with the wrong women, and it wasn't until I finally gave up and said fuck it that I was given what I was looking for.
We've had our differences as any couple, but we've never broke up or intentionally spent the night away from each other since then.
Once you know who you are, and what you're looking for, life has a funny way of giving us surprises. Don't give up hope, and be realistic with what you're looking for. It's a golden rule that if you can't take care of yourself, you'll never be able to handle a relationship as well. Everything in life has it's purpose, and sometimes we are put into situations just to learn and grow to be able to handle more difficult things.
