EPT
I thought today would be a good time to make an announcement I've been meaning to say for a while now.
I'm soon going to be retiring from doing Live Report threads. Next year (2013) I'm entering 5th year Medicine, and I expect to be much more busy. I was lucky that this year (4th year) I sort of had a break, since I was doing a research project, which does not require that much time commitment.
I've followed StarCraft II from about the first GSL WC. I used to play a bit of BW and WC3 casually for fun, and I got SC II from a friend when it came out. I finished the campaign on easy and never touched multiplayer (I'm one of theose people haha). While searching the internet on walkthroughs for harder difficulties, I came across liquipedia and from that, Team Liquid's forums. While I had heard of dominating players like Boxer and July, it wasn't until I overhead some friends talking about how foreigners were beating Koreans in the GSL WC that my interest perked up.
From there, I followed SC2 on and off for a few months. I made my TL account in August 2011 after a few months of lurking, but it wasn't until early this year that I started posting a lot. I probably would have been an average lurker fan, save for the fact that I discovered a really cool site while following SC2 that made me so much more invested in it. esbl.co (it's down now) was a fake-betting website that allowed people to bet on who would win certain matches, and by following that site, I could play another "game" by watching that game. It's kind of hard to explain, but esbl.co was what got my really invested in StarCraft eSports.
My first LR was GSTL Season 1 Finals - StarTale vs. Prime, and the IPL4 weekend. That was a killer weekend for me. Being Australian, my time zone is hardly suitable for any event save for GSL. I remember that IPL weekend being something like 2am until 5pm for the final day, and staying up and updating the OP was pretty epic. The only other time I've been as tired updating OPs was for Battle.Net World Championships, where I was coordinating Live Reporters as well as keeping an eye on four streams at once for about 12 hours a day.
One thing you may not be aware of is that just about all the major events on the calendar have been submitted by me for about half a year. We had a period of time when events would not be on there. One positive aspect of making the LR threads well in advance is that I can submit the events to the calendar, too.
I've made about 150 Live Report Threads and many more premade OPs - probably in excess of 250. At any one time, I've probably got a thread active :p. It's been a lot of fun staying up for MLGs, IPLs, IEMs, DHs and the like, and spending my dinner watching GSL and GSTL.
StarCraft II has provided me a great year of entertainment, I've become a fan of many great people and players. My favourite team remains Prime (closely followed by FXO) and my favourite players are probably MarineKing and Creator. It's definitely a great feeling to have the person you're cheering for and invested in win an important match. MarineKing beating DongRaeGu in MLG Winter Championship, Creator's 4-gate against Rain at Battle.Net World Championship and GuMiho's all-kill of SlayerS in GSTL Season 2 were probably the best moments of my year, when I was cheering most hard for their wins. I've made a lot of new friends (and new enemies) but hey, that's life on the internet.
I suppose the year in StarCraft still has been more of a positive experience for me, and there's a few I'd like to thank, I guess
- LR Illuminati - including, but not limited to - shellshock1122, fragile51, dodgin, lichter, haxxspetten, KAG, asha, fusilero, mrcon, hassy, mcdayc, and the rest; thanks for being around in LR threads and skype spam conversations! and for my massively overrun TL PM inbox. thanks for managing the LR threads when I can't, am capped, or when I feel tired - that's a major factor contributing to how I haven't burnt out over the past eight months or so. I hope that whoever LRs after knows when to take breaks
seeker - butt heads though we may, you were my predecessor and set a high standard. You contribue a lot, which TL knows and appreciates
all the LR posters - thanks for making the LR experience such a fun one. we've certainly got a nice community, balance whine aside haha ;p F5 qualifier threads, GSL, GSTL, and weekend events certainly would have been less fun watching by myself
storywriter - for being the only other sc2 person i know in my course, lol, and for your epic translations. the original insta-translator and the best!
fellow prime fans - you make it easier for me to keep faith in prime, through times thick and thin. shellshock1122, fragile51 and the rest - you guys are awesome haha (and stop me look like i'm monologuing in creator's fanclub :p) ps @neo - creator's fanclub is the best fan club around, not drg's!
creator, marineking, leenock, gumiho, tear, bboongbboong, maru and byun - for being my favourite sc2 players!
zerosc2, masterkang and elephant fans - thanks for providing me good argument material! healthy doses of drama are fun once in a while
monk. - thanks for being an awesome mod that I can PM from time to time, and for giving my ownership of Creator's fan club! creator fan brofist
Waxangel - your humour is strange, but thanks for being such a consistent and awesome contributor to the site.
Fionn - i admire your work ethic, haha. it's tiring stuff writing something every single day for months on end, and I'm glad there are more writers now like stuchiu and porcelina to help out.
Rest of the TL staff and contributors - congrats on running such an awesome site! it's not easy with so much to administer haha.
probe1 - for the short while that you did live report threads as well, I got to know you a bit haha. thanks for sticking up and nominating me!
wo1fwood - for overhauling the SC2 LR Resources page as well as your BBCode guide, much of which I have used in my LR threads! pity I can't use CSS, I would have loved to make spiffy LRs
All the SC2 personalities - casters, organisers, managers and all - you guys do an awesome job keeping the SC2 train running along. things may not be as rosy as they were a year ago, but SC2 is still a damn awesome game
I'm sure I've missed people - so I'll try to add to this list over time haha as I remember this.
All that waffle aside (I wrote this without prior planning), after HomeStory Cup 6, I'll stop making Live Report Threads. For a time, I may continue to premake LR threads in my Resources Thread. However, I'm hopeful that other zealous StarCraft fans can take up the task over time and continue on - there's a vast number of threads already made that you can base your work off!
I hope I've helped out and haven't been too obnoxious a poster to you guys! You're all pretty awesome so keep it up :D I'll still be around, posting and contributing and spamming the new LR threads, but expect a bit less of me! I'm sad that I've never attended an SC2 event live, but maybe in years to come, when SC2 is kicking ass, I'll go to a big one :D But for now - study and finish medicine first~ hehe
GLHF all, and enjoy the end of the world~
opterown
ps - if anyone wants to take over Unofficial World Champion, Team Prime fanclub or Creator's fanclub let me know.
Thanks for all your help! Best of luck with your education and medicine! 
