This is my blog.

Share your story on how you found TL and how you got hooked.

I've been a fan of SC since 2004 - when MBC and OGN were my only friends in lonely Cheongju, Korea. As much as I enjoyed watching all of the games, there was one player I really had an interest in: Kang Min. I watched Kang Min play his games, watched all the specials they did on him and never ever even dreamed that I would meet him one day.

October of 2005, I went to Blizzcon and there, to my surprise, was the protoss god himself - and on the final day scurried my way to get a picture with him. I was a happy girl.

After returning to the States in 2006, I did not know how to watch games anymore (since I was void of my Starcraft channels) and became busy with graduate school and wow (No matter what, I just can't get away from Blizzard games).

However, in 2007, I decided to attend Blizzcon again in hopes to meet Min for the second time... and I did. I mustered up the courage I had to go and ask for another picture.. and to have dinner with me that night. He and I chatted and he took down my number to call me later on that evening. Around 6:30, he calls me and asks me to come to his hotel. Although I am at an event, I dubiously exit and go to his hotel lobby. Apparently, he had gotten locked out of his hotel room and needed someone to explain to the front desk. Ha! "You were the first person I thought to call", he says. I help him get his room door open and we talk and I tell him that I want to finish up the event first before heading out. He says that that's fine - and around 8pm we meet up again for dinner of steaks, beers and conversation.

Around 10:30 we head back to the hotel and see that there is a staff party going on at the lobby bar. Rounds of tequila and whiskey and the bar is closing. Min says that he needs the restroom and I sit in the lobby waiting for him. About 20 minutes later, he comes back with Tasteless behind him. "Are you his translator", Nick exclaims as he proceeds to invite Kang Min to a party up in his room. Min looks at me apprehensively and says, "Well, I'm only going if you go - I can't communicate with them!" At this point I call my friend to tell him to just meet me in the morning and that I won't be heading back to his place. I was going to spend the night with Nal_rA!!

I tell Nick that we'll head up and we all go to his room for some more booze. When we got there, there was a bunch of people in the room - people from a community called TeamLiquid.

A community of SC fans... who weren't Korean?! This opened my eyes. I had no idea!

In Tasteless' hotel room, I met mnm who introduced me to these forums and I was done. And the rest is history.

-- So the rest of the story is that we drank and drank and drank. Min made Nick drink a whole glass of soju while the guys taught him how to shotgun a beer. The night could have gone well into the morning but Min had a match to play and so we headed back to his room around 3am. He inevitebly lost his game the next day due to being hung over, but when I asked him about it, he said it was worth the loss to have been able to hang out with TL members all night. <3

... well as of now I don't know if I'm going yet - but for the last 2 events, I've always dressed up in costume. In 2005 I was a succubus (warlock pet from wow) and in 2007 I was a pirate (along with my ninja friend - savory delight effect from wow).

This year, I'm having a terrible time thinking up costume ideas. Kerrigan has been done AMAZINGLY and I don't want to be mediocre compared to her so not doing that. Medic and NE has been done over and over again too.

Something that's relatively easy to make, but not too easy (*ahem* DT would require a cloak and... that's about it) and creative (I've thought about Hydralisk but... yeah.)

Any ideas?

edit:

2005


2007

Maybe it's the beer I've been drinking tonight.
Maybe it was the company I kept.

We are 5 months into 2008. I shed something terrible in 2007 and begged that this year would be different, something completely uncertain. And so far, it sure is.

I started the year spending 2 months in Korea, followed by a month and a half in Europe. One month home and I leave for Korea again tomorrow evening. My summer is set for me, however, my fall and winter are clouded by possibilities of "what ifs". And I think I like it.

Had dinner with a few of my closest friends tonight. The five of us sat around our steaks and beers and just talked - about how far we've come in life, where we used to be, our college days, etc. (All mixed in with some wow talk and baseball and basketball playoff talk, of course). It made me sad to know that the people I love the most are the ones I don't see very much anymore. But at the same time, the idea of living back at home made me feel suffocated. I come back to Jersey every now and then, simply to see my friends. To be able to pick up where I've left off.

People say that home is where the heart is, but I've never had a "home". I've moved around tons of times, been to several different schools and never had a place to call my own.

And off I go again.

I wonder if I'll ever be satisfied with what I have in life. I realize that I will never be "happy" but that ultimately, I am searching for a sense of "content". Until then, I will keep moving...


"in a field i am the absence of field.
this is always the case.
wherever i am
i am what is missing.

when i walk i part the air and always
the air moves in to fill the spaces
where my body's been.

we all have reasons for moving.
i move to keep things whole."

-mark strand

March 13-17

From Paris we headed out to Barcelona. Flew in quite late and by the time we got to our hostal (after searching around) it was near 2am. And what a shithole it was! It was quite late though, and Jamie was cranky again, so we just went to sleep and got out of there ASAP the next morning. Found an internet cafe and booked a hotel near the ocean and headed out there.

Friday the 14th was our first day out. The evening before, my brand new baby laptop (ASUS eee) died on me and so we were internet-less again. Went to an Irish pub and had some drinks and lunch and just walked around Las Ramblas and visited the Boquaria. Walked down to Port Vell and just chilled out and walked back. Around 6pm I was feeling sick so we headed back to the hotel with the intention of heading back out around 9:30... but after my bath we both passed out and that didn't happen

Day 2 was better - booked a bus tour to see all of Barcelona as true tourists. I used to hate these bus tour things, but this one was pretty chill, and it allowed us to get on and off wherever so it worked for me. Plus, Jamie's too lazy to actually walk to all these places, so being carted around a bus was ideal for him. There are 3 routes on this tour and we figured we'll do all 3 in one day. Went to see Sagrada Familia - thought it was more impressive from the outside than the inside. Not worth spending the 10 euros it cost to go inside to see the construction crap. Didn't get a chance to stop at all the parks but now I know what I wanna go see the next time I'm in Barcelona. Around 7pm we went to see a cute fountain light show at Montjuic and at 9pm headed out to enjoy some flamenco dancing and paella. By the time we got home, it was 1am and we passed out.

Our last day in Barcelona was, of course, sunny and beautiful - 21C. After checking out of the hotel and leaving our luggage there, we decided to head out to Barceloneta beach. I could have sat on the sand for hours, it was just simply wonderful. Around 3pm we went to Casa Batllo (one of Gaudi's works) because I just couldn't leave Barcelona without seeing his artwork. After that, went back to get our stuff and headed to the airport again.

I completely fell in love with this city. If I can somehow get a work visa, I'd move to Barcelona in a second.

Pictures:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2286850&l=4a890&id=8826617

March 10-13

Paris: We went to Paris for 3 days. There was no hardcore partying or anything of the sort as the weather was yucky and Jamie was sick most of the time. I did get to see most of the sights I wanted, minus going up the Eiffel Tower because the queue was ridiculous on both days we went there.

On the first day, Jamie was pretty much dead and didn't want to leave the hotel room, so I wound up going out and exploring Paris a bit myself. It was rainy and miserable and I called it a day once it started getting dark.

The 2nd day was better - though it was still raining on and off. On this day, (after drugging him thoroughly) I made Jamie come out and walk around with me. We started from the Arc de Triomphe and headed down the Avenue de Champs. Wanted to go to the Louve but they were closed that day. By then it started to rain a lot, so we headed towards the Museum D'Orsay to get out of the rain. From there, we went to the Eiffel Tower but even in the rain the queue was long so... we headed back to see the Notre Dame Cathedral instead. Of course when we got there it started to get sunny.... as the sun was going down. =/ We had reservations for a dinner cruise on the Seine at 6, had a lovely time and called it a night around 10pm.

Day 3 was of course sunny and beautiful - the day we were leaving France. Around 10am we figured we'd give the Eiffel Tower another try - but the queue was still just as long. We were both in a better mood, however - he was feeling a bit better and it was sunny. headed out to the Louvre again but decided not to go inside because it would take too long to explore the whole place. Strolled out to take pictures of Moulin Rouge and then went back to our hotel to gather our bags.

Took a lot of pictures, but didn't want to post all of them. (Mainly because Jamie just looked so miserable in all the ones he's in!) But here you go:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2286272&l=b4b41&id=8826617

Ever since I could remember I wanted to take a trip out to see Europe - I guess it's just one of those American things where we see that continent as something completely exotic. Well, I leave today for Barcelona, Paris, Dublin, Stockholm, Geneva, Ljubljana and London. ^_^

Ok, so I prolly won't be doing all the crazy things that people normally do when on a trip to Europe, but I'm sure I'll have my fun anyways, since I love history, culture and am pretty adaptable to whatever situations.

I just wanted to share that with you guys. If any of you wanna meet up while I'm on the road, I'll have internet access, just let me know. I'll be posting up pictures if I get the chance too.

Once I get back, I'll be moving back out to Korea to assist Nick in his conquest to rule over the English speaking SC league.

Can't wait, can't wait - heading out now!

Ever since I started watching SC a few years back as a mere giddy fangirl, there were only 3 players I absolutely needed pictures with: Nal_rA, Boxer and NaDa.

I will continue to post pictures as I get them with other progamers, but as I stood next to NaDa to complete the collection, I realized how far I've come since 2004 when I didn't even fathom that I would be as involved as I am now in 2008 with the starcraft community.

Starcraft is more than just something to play or to watch, but it may even offer me a career. It's amazing how a videogame can determine the direction of my life, but here I am in Korea, meeting people I normally would never have met, facing opportunities I never would have dreamed of.

Oh, and Happy Valentine's day~! <3



Here is the link to the whole collection as of today:

My Progamer Collection

The other night I went out with Rekrul, Midian, HonestTea, Tasteless and PuertoRican in the good ole' Kangnam area of Seoul.

Tasteless got into Seoul on the evening of the 16th and Dan promptly texted me to meet up with them to catch some dinner at 8:45. I had talked to HonestTea earlier that day and knew that Jamie was going to come out also, so we made it a date. At 8:50 we all met up at Exit 6 (minus HT, he came later and plus PR)and headed out to get some Galbisal to eat to our heart's content. It was a delightful meeting of several TLers and we were able to share that time together with plenty of bantering and laughter. To welcome Nick to Korea, we felt that drinks were in order and so after dinner we went to this little place that apparently Dan often frequents.



After a few drinks, Midian and HonestTea felt that there was an undeniable attraction between the two of them.



But what M didn't know was that HonestTea is actually a manwhore. He was found later cuddling with Rek...



... and smooching with Tasteless.





Other than HonestTea's shenanigans, it was a good drunken night that had me hurting the next morning as I walked to work at 8am. Nick was definitely the most trashed of all of us - but at least he was able to sleep in on Rek's couch.

Here are some more picture of our festivities. Watch us get drunker as the night progresses.

Went to COEX tonight to watch the MBC Hero vs Airforce game tonight. The ACE boys are headed back to Daejeon where they are stationed and this was their last game.

When I walked into their room before the match I was pleasantly surprised that the guys remembered me - including my school-girl crush, Mr. Lim himself. Had some small talk, even got to the point of just talking with them in the comfortable Korean (there's a polite form and familiar form of Korean, kinda like the 'usted' and 'tu' forms in Spanish) and it was nice. Best of all, I got my picture. My collection of pictures with progamers is growing and I have still 1 more person that I absolutely need a picture with. But I'm here in Korea for a few more months - nothing is impossible



<3

Today I hung out with Daniel Lee, head coach of eSTRO. He took me to the players' house to check it out. I think they were pretty uncomfortable to have a female in the house, but oh well.

It was fun - I got to watch them practice a bit and then at 4, had a late lunch with the team. All the players listened to Daniel and I talk in English and at some point I started talking in Korean.. to which they just looked up at me - in unison - in awe. It was quite silly.

i was impressed by the house. I'm not sure what I expected really, didn't really have any idea of what kinda place players actually lived in. And I'm gonna assume that most of you guys don't know either. So I will share with you - the eSTRO house.

Outside:


The players' shoes!


First room on the right:


What you see when you first come in.


Me in the livingroom:


My view of the livingroom:


Bedroom #2


Bedroom #3


Kitchen area with their cook and laundry lady


The door to the dungeon:


The stairs leading to...


Practice Room #1 - they spend 12 hours in here.


Practice Room #2 - it was hot as fuck downstairs, btw.


Sorry for so many pictures. But yeah, so that was my day.