When Waxangel's passion lost its deathmatch against Tasteless' and was taken from us, lichter (does this count as a shoutout?), Zealously (did you know he's really good at swimming?) and I (... I like Whiskey?) were contacted about taking the step up from regular writing staff to actually useful staff (no offense scrub writing staff). Now, the other two I immediately understood. Lichter, although currently trying to prove to me that he can be as lazy as I can be (a misguided quest), seems to never run out of passion and ability to do literally everything. Probably because of his experience in the field of running a merciless, child labor driven weapon selling company (NOT SC2 writing staff, but very similar). I think Zealously was writing for TL before I even registered and recently got a book published (or not published, I'm out of the loop), so you can see why he'd be chosen.
Me though? I mean yeah, I've been doing this for over a year now. I have a high post count I suppose (compared to your regular TL poster, not freaks like Shellbot). I get along well with pretty much everybody who wants to get along. Maybe my social skills were the deciding factor, I don't really know.
Anyway, I feel like I'm contributing a little more now, which I'm very happy about, and I'm about to take another step towards the true ESPORTS life soon. Not only will we release something ridiculously awesome very soon ( ) but... DRUMROLL...
I will be at MSI Beat IT in Taiwan, doing written live coverage and some other cool stuff from the event, while I try not to get destroyed by jetlag. The event takes place on November 1-2. There are still two invites TBA, and they'll definitely get you interested if the pretty sick lineup hasn't done that job yet. Why do I get to go and do that? Apparently I'm not terrible at what I do, a circumstance I'm still not really aware of. MSI will be the first event I'm going to (never been able to afford it) and getting to fly out to Taiwan to do something that started with me posting a half-assed "community preview" for WCS America last year (which honestly I was only interested in because HerO was in it) is absolutely blowing my mind. I know "speechless" may not be the exact word I'm looking for (considering the amount of things already said) but it's what I keep coming back to.
Two weeks later I will be at HSC X. I'm going to meet some of my friends from SQRL, the clan I've been in for the past year or so, lots of ESPORTS people and everybody from TL who wants to meet up there. I got a Premium ticket for the full ESPORTS experience and I'm eagerly awaiting the invites and announcements for all the amazing people I'll hopefully get to meet there. Don't expect any coverage from that one, I'll be too busy having a great time (the free drinks part will definitely aid that cause) and celebrating this new ESPORTS adventure of mine.
Just to recap, I went from posting on TL, to posting previews I wrote in my spare time because I enjoyed it, to writing previews as TL staff because I enjoyed it, to writing/editing/posting previews, articles and recaps (because I enjoy it) to flying out to SC2 events to do coverage. A lot of people would use the phrase "I could get used to that!" in my shoes, but it doesn't really describe the feeling. It'll take a long, long time for me to get used to that - assuming I don't mysteriously disappear in Taiwan of course. I'm extremely grateful for the opportunities I'm being given and I'll do my very best to show good coverage, so keep cheering for me~~!
Shoutouts here will be very simple: Plexa, Bumblebee and everybody else involved for being super awesome and handling all the flight/hotel stuff for me.
Jamie Skinner (you may know him as the ASL caster that
And then Zealously and lichter (whose snapchat I have!) for putting up with my laziness, as well as Meru and shiroiusagi for their tireless efforts at rescuing our previews, as they would look too ugly to be released without those two.
EDIT: And also R1CH for rescuing this blog from the "void of the pseudo-fake-featured-blogs forum".
I hope I get to meet some of you at these two events or somewhere down the line. This ESPORTS life has just begun for me and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.