EPT
I'm finally legal! Celebrated my 21st last Friday, had fun getting to show off my ID when going out so that was great. Got pretty drunk throughout the day as any newly 21 year old should.
Moving to the bulk of the writing, it's about time I take a step away from Starcraft. I don't know how long this might be. It might be a few months, it could never for good. I need to start studying for my LSATs and prep for law school. Starcraft, especially casting, has sucked up a good portion of my time that I cannot afford to lose right now. The casting hours are too taxing on me and my health to be casting at 3am.
But even if I do take an indefinite break from Starcraft, I can only say this was perhaps one of the best parts of my life for so many years. I joined a little over 7 1/2 years ago as an immature 13 year old still in the 8th grade. God I can't remember how many damn modnotes I have but it was a lot. But it was well worth it to grow as a person and honestly, I'm glad the mods stepping in to set me straight. I remember hitting 1k and being so happy about, and now I'm nearing 8k and the exciting feeling is still there. The KeSPA days were simply beautiful for me, waking up at 4am while on vacation in Acadia to watch KT win and cheering them on to the point where I woke up my parents. Then the heart wrenching days of Violet passing away, the match-fixing scandal, and the end of the KeSPA era. It was sometimes too much to bear for me in those days.
But we bounced back, as we always do and suddenly I found myself in a position where I was asked to join the Brood War staff to help with coverage of tournaments. I was able to publish my first article on Fighting Spirit that launched my writing career and never forget how many of us went from loving the map to hating it:
Fighting Spirit Imbalance: Fact or Fiction
The casting quickly followed and it was unfathomable to me that my dreams of being able to show my passion in the game would finally manifest itself. I am now in my final year of college. I got to make so many friends here, write for the site, and cast for many to watch. I couldn't have asked for anything more (except get a jacket with my ID on the back).
As far as casting goes, I know I've received my fair share of criticism and praise. I started off with just using my laptop microphone which was total garbage, and finally bought a real mic that I still use today. From there, it was all about game knowledge and how to word my thoughts properly which was the difficult part. But learning public speaking really aided me in my journey and I was able to get help from Bisudagger. I still remember our hilarious first cast together for an SC2 LotV tournament here:
It was all AfreecaTV after that and what a joy it was to be able to cast ASL alongside some great people and share my thoughts to those who would tune in to watch. Regardless of how many people tuned in, whether it was just 5 or 80, it always made me happy knowing that there were people out there who enjoyed what I had to produce. Growing pains or not, casting made me so happy.
I will still remain on the Brood War staff in case they need someone to put together an emergency article, but I will take a back seat. The staff is currently in fantastic shape, with our revamp during the Remastered release. Some great writers who are passionate and ready to develop their writing skills even more. I'm also happy to see Bisudagger make his return back into 2018 for casting, and seeing more people want to step up and making videos and casts for Brood War makes me incredibly confident in the future of the game.
I hope to still see most of you on the forums, in the LR threads, and chatting about
+ Show Spoiler [Shoutouts!] +
prech: Thank you for allowing me a place in the staff and giving me an incredible opportunity.
Bigfan: Thank you for being dodger in chief of the Brood War forums... I mean uh, Editor in Chief. No but seriously, thank you for all your advice and help. Much love and let's play more!
Bisudagger: My first real casting buddy. You gave me a great intro to the casting world and congratz once again on lildagger! Send him my love and damn it I need more baby pictures. Is the reaver costume done yet?
EsportsJohn: I'm glad to have brought you on the cast and there wouldn't be another person I'd want. We've grown together so much and our chemistry has developed so much. Let's play more 3s man and can't wait for us to tear up the 2v2 ladder! (soon tm).
Blind-rawr: We've had our ups and downs but I want to let you know you mean a lot to me. Thank you for your friendship and your writing. Will miss our fights for the FlaSh articles haha.
v1, cerb, 2pac, kwark, ty2, ziggy, shiro, ninazerg, lemmata, and everyone else on the BW staff: Thank you all for a wonderful time, you guys are the best group of people to work with and I will always love our conversations and our articles together <3
The_Templar: From SC2 map maker to Banling. Congratz man, I remember our times together in the map forum. Never forget my 3rd base stamp of approval.
Bigfan: Thank you for being dodger in chief of the Brood War forums... I mean uh, Editor in Chief. No but seriously, thank you for all your advice and help. Much love and let's play more!
Bisudagger: My first real casting buddy. You gave me a great intro to the casting world and congratz once again on lildagger! Send him my love and damn it I need more baby pictures. Is the reaver costume done yet?
EsportsJohn: I'm glad to have brought you on the cast and there wouldn't be another person I'd want. We've grown together so much and our chemistry has developed so much. Let's play more 3s man and can't wait for us to tear up the 2v2 ladder! (soon tm).
Blind-rawr: We've had our ups and downs but I want to let you know you mean a lot to me. Thank you for your friendship and your writing. Will miss our fights for the FlaSh articles haha.
v1, cerb, 2pac, kwark, ty2, ziggy, shiro, ninazerg, lemmata, and everyone else on the BW staff: Thank you all for a wonderful time, you guys are the best group of people to work with and I will always love our conversations and our articles together <3
The_Templar: From SC2 map maker to Banling. Congratz man, I remember our times together in the map forum. Never forget my 3rd base stamp of approval.
Oh, and for those who want to see where my casting has started and ended... well, here's the first cast that's still on my youtube channel with my laptop mic:
And here's my most watched video on the channel with a new mic and better understanding of the game:
Man, we've come so far haven't we?
Best regards,
FlaShFTW
P.S. KT HWAITING!
![[image loading]](https://i.imgur.com/sKpPQKN.png)
I think I'll join you and step away from BW and TL, too. I had my fun; now I should spend my time on more important things. 
GL in life!!
