I write things here.

I woke up from a dream this morning.

I dreamed that I was attending some kind of event. There's no more context to that, just an event. No idea what it was. Very fancy building. Very, very fancy. I go to the bathroom, spotless marble floor. I start washing my hands.

Then I notice someone next to me is also washing their hands in the other sink. He's wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Splashes some water on his face. I take a good look at him. I don't know why, I just felt compelled.

It was former Zerg progamer Kang Do Kyung aka H.O.T-Forever.

My mind goes completely blank and I don't know what to say. Somehow, he read my mind through my eyes and then we started crying and hugged.

Then I woke up.

What. The. Fuck.

I have never been intrigued by any foreign SC player for as long as I have been alive. But I find Suncow to be tremendously interesting. His story is just incredible to me.

From what I can gather, he was a Saudi Arabian immigrant to Poland and was sort of a bad kid. Then he moved to Korea to try his hand at progaming. After leaving, he moved to Egypt to become a tennis instructor at some type of fancy resort. He can speak German somehow. This guy should write a fucking book.

Now, it appears like he's coaching kids for the Dubai Tennis Championships: http://www.timeoutdubai.com/kids/features/6384-dubai-tennis-championship (his name is David Al-Dughaither)

Any Polish fans who can give me more Suncow stories and information, please do. I fucking love this guy. SUNCOW FIGHTING

My friend and myself are going to spending some time in Sweden within the coming months and I would like to know all about the country. I already started teaching myself Swedish. Hur år låget?

1. How is the public transportation? It's impossible to live in the United goddamn States of America without a car and I hate it. If I get into a wreck (and I've been in a few) then I can't go out and do anything. Literally.

2. How is the internet? I heard from some Scandinavians that Sweden has the best internet in Europe. I don't really care, as long as it's broadband, I'm just curious.

3. Exactly how expensive is Sweden as far as comfortable living is concerned? I am not a picky eater, I don't buy many tech-related gadgets, and I don't generally waste money. I'm not the most financially responsible person who has ever lived, but I consider my judgement to be pretty good.

4. Are LANs/internet cafes popular? Would anyone want to meet?

Today, I met someone through a friend and was having a nice talk with him this morning when I realized that he was Dutch (actually Dutch, from the Netherlands, not an American of Dutch descent). I immediately flipped the fuck out and proceeded to tell him about how much I love Johan Cruyff and how he has been my hero for I don't know how long. I even attempted to use any Dutch phrase (even Cruyffisms) that I've picked up along the way. The guy was really taken aback, but charmed in a weird way.

And then I realized that I post on TL.net and there are tons of Dutch posters and the founding members of TL were Dutch. So, when all of this came together, I thought I would notify all Dutch people on TeamLiquid and let them know:

I love you because you gave me Cruyff (and TL).

This is all. Good day, my friends. Ik how van ye.

I've been back for a while now. If you've read one of my previous blog entries titled "The Start of Something", you'd know that everything reminds of progaming. Well, actually, only if you've read the last reply, which was made by me ... while intoxicated.

But I want all of TeamLiquid to know that I want all of you to be able to experience the joy of progaming. The true joy. The kind that I feel. Because as much as I move on with my life, the less I expect to think about progaming.

And do you know what happens?

I end up thinking about progaming even more.

I know that I say that I don't keep up with the current scene and all, but honestly and truthfully, this has been a big part of my life (even during the times when I had nothing else) ever since I was 12 years old.

So, I've been thinking of compiling a progaming/diary type of document specifically for TeamLiquid.

Please, my fellow Americans (although I am an immigrant myself), do not take any offense when I say that I remember where I was during the SKY matches between Yellow and Reach just as much as I remember where I was during 9/11.

I'm thinking of calling this document "Here and There". Now, this can go either one of two ways. Either blend in my contemporary experiences with progaming (as I've kept a hidden diary since the age of 13), or just a flat-out, straight-put, history of progaming. And when I say flat-out, all you of you should know that my previous blogs were written with the idea of some sort of restriction in mind. For example, I typed my H.O.T article in OpenOffice and I became extremely discouraged when I realized that my writing had reached almost 8 pages. This is why I left out things like his relationship with )IS)Side and his rivalry with NaDa. Because I was scared of taking up too much space.

As I'm starting college in January, I want to leave TL.net with everything I have. But as I have grown to love this site (it used to just be a fucking gigantic annoyance during my Google searches for anything progaming related), I have come to realize that this is where the SC progaming fans will always flock to. This site and nothing else.

So, in shorter words, should I mix my life in with this, or should I just keep it a bare-bones, nothing but analysis, report which covers progaming from roughly 2002 until now?

If you want my advice, I take progaming on a deeply personal level. I'm going to be 21 next year. I started following these now 20-something Korean men when I was 12. So, even though I could go either way, I'd rather go with my gut, with my life.

But, alas, like I said ... I want this to be for TeamLiquid and TeamLiquid alone. What if some newbie 5 years from now visits and says "What the fuck is this guy talking about?"

I leave it up to you, my dearest friends.

(Note: This is something I wrote a long time ago and never posted because I didn't like it. But as I'm moving/deleting files for a reformat, I thought I'd just post it rather than delete it.)

Choi Jin Woo wasn't a special case. Sleeping in a PC room and surviving off of the barest of essentials, his love for StarCraft was sometimes painfully evident. He stared at a computer screen until his eyes were about to rot, just like thousands of other teenagers.

But he was different in that he was being watched by someone. Someone who dreamed of becoming a coach for a professional baseball team.

Although for now, he had to settle with coaching a professional game team. Jung Soo Young started a StarCraft team with Jin Woo (FreeMura) in 1998 called the Raptors. His wife's salary from her job at a Korean airline was put towards supporting his players which included names like [z-zone]Khan, [Oops]January, [DaK]JoyO, and Autumn.

After three KPGL individual league wins and one team league win, he was offered a position to coach Samsung's new progame team called Khan.

He refused.

Holding out until he could find a sponsor for his own team seemed impractical and entirely irresponsible. To him, it seemed like a choice which may as well have not even existed to begin with.

He had a dream.

To see game leagues for disabled and women gamers, to see games enjoyed by all people, young and old, to see games build a new culture for the enjoyment of everyone around the world. He was going to lead his poor team into a revolution, even if he had to take care of them himself. He was a caring and concerned man.

But he wasn't gentle.

He couldn't be soft with his players or praise them. It was part of his intensely strict training routine he developed in the KTF house. To this day, the early MagicNs were the ones who endured the hardest practice schedule in the history of progaming. But it was all apart of his plan.

He was dreaming.

Kim Jung Min (TheMarine) and Choi In Kyu (ChRh) were living together in an apartment in Seoul with fellow progamer Yoo Byung Jun. Continually qualifying, performing strongly, and then eventually having to knock each other out of the precious, prize-ridden game leagues, they needed a change to survive.

During their next tournament, the NATE 2002 OSL, they would meet the King of Terran vs Terran, Han Woong Ryul (ArtOfHan). After this tournament, these three people will go on their separate ways and will each build a proud history and reputation.

Though they took different paths, their dreams will cross each other again one day.

KTF MagicNs (formerly Raptors) head coach Jung Soo Young had formed his dream team, the Real Madrid of e-Sports. Hero Toss Park Jung Seok, Fireworks Terran Byun Kil Sup, and Cowboy Zerg Jo Yong Ho were on their way to his team. Though Lee Yoon Yeol declined to sign another contract, Hong Jin Ho didn't. And soon, he would be back in the KTF uniform as well.

Two other boys are also in the KTF uniform now. Noble Terran Kim Jung Min and Classic Terran Han Woong Ryul. Han had lied to Coach Jung to skip practice so that he could go see his girlfriend. He was subsequently banned from the team. Coach Jung also put in a bad word for him to every other progame team, effectively ending his ability to call himself a “progamer”.

Eventually, the two hard-heads reconciled. ArtOfHan was now in his second month of playing for KTF once again. But the atmosphere was different. It wasn't the same, and neither was he. His skills which identified him as a unique existence in this world had left him completely.

After Jung Min and In Kyu switched to KTF and Samsung Khan from G.O, they had become ghosts of their former selves.

Kim Jung Min and Han Woong Ryul vowed to let go of their pride and their pasts and began to practice harder than the usual KTF schedule required. They congratulated their juniors when they defeated them during practice instead of becoming upset with them.

They had a dream.

Coach Jung had declared 2004 to be the year of good manners. He constantly groomed the MagicNs to shake hands after their matches. If Coach Jung couldn't lead by having the best proteam in terms of sheer results (due to the rivalry with 4U), then he could surely lead by example.

Spreading sportsmanship and good manners to all corners of e-Sports, he was still dreaming away.

January 27, 2004.

This would become a day which all three of these old boys would remember for the rest of their lives.

OnGameNet Challenge League, Choi In Kyu vs Cha Jae Wook.

LG IBM Team League Winner's Final, KTF vs 4U.

Barely qualifying and needing to win this series to advance to the Dual Tournament, In Kyu promptly lost the first match to Super Rookie Terran Cha Jae Wook (ClouD). In the next game on Paradoxxx, he switched races from Terran to Protoss.

This was something nobody had seen from him since the earliest days of progaming.

He was originally a Protoss-based Random progamer.

And he was also originally a champion.

Jae Wook surrendered a GG as In Kyu's Arbiter flew towards his base.

With a dry smile, In Kyu switches back to Terran and, as if in a trance, played one of the most beautiful TvT matches ever witnessed.

During this time at the MBCGame studio, something very strange is happening.

TheMarine is ahead in his match of KTF vs 4U against Kingdom. Through a thick screen of blue vapor, TheMarine receives the GG.

Terran Emperor Lim Yo Hwan will be sitting on the other side of the screen next. Both SK Telecom and Yahoo! Korea were fighting to sponsor him and his team.

TheMarine was fighting just to be able to keep his name on the 1:1 roster.

After their meeting in the SKY Starleague semi-finals, the Emperor held his throne. However, it was the last time TheMarine would ever see himself advance that far into the OSL. The Noble had become a peasant.

But he certainly didn't play like one on that day.

With his tanks popping into pieces, Yo Hwan sends the GG.

Choi Yun Sung ended Kim Jung Min's journey, but it was too late. The Cheater Terran would face the original King of Terran vs Terran next, Han Woong Ryul.

This old king was about to face a new monster.

And after having his resources hastily shut down, his army looked pitiful. His secret expansions were continually cut-off and he surrendered. Even Cinderella Terran Kim Hyun Jin (kOs), with his famous mechanic control, couldn't stop the TvT King.

The matches were over.

Choi In Kyu 2-1 Cha Jae Wook

KTF 4-2 4U.

Coach Jung Soo Young couldn't believe it. His team had made it into the Team League finals because of these two players. He must have been dreaming.

We must have been dreaming.

A Terran revived his Protoss spirit.

A peasant reclaimed his nobility.

And an old king had slain a new monster.

The KTF team would go on to lose to 4U in the finals of the LG IBM Team League and ChRh would be eliminated from the Dual Tournament by Prince of Zerg Sung Hak Seung (MuMyung) and Straight Zerg Byun Eun Jong (JJu). The games he won against ClouD would be the last series he'd ever win.

But as Coach Jung proudly watched his kids shake hands with the losing team, he saw that his dreams for e-Sports were finally being realized.

He then looked over at Jung Min and Woong Ryul and saw tears in their eyes.

He then realized that, at least for that day, their dreams were being realized as well.

You were deaf, but it didn't matter.

You were as handsome as a prince.

We were poor at first. Neither one of us had any toys.

But you played with flies on the screen door with me.

You even found a paper cup in the street and we spent hours rolling it back and forth in the garage.

I remember when I was so excited when mom was finally able to buy me a new pair of shoes for kindergarten.

You chewed them to pieces. I was upset with you.

I cried.

And you licked every single tear from my face and then licked me until your mouth went dry.

When we lived behind the high school, so many kids would cut through our backyard.

You'd get so excited when you saw new people.

But they didn't know. They didn't know you couldn't hear them.

It was okay. When that boy yelled at you and you didn't listen, he hit the side of your face with a stick.

I jumped the fence and punched him in the mouth.

Did you think he deserved it? I bet you didn't.

You were the absolute sweetest.

I wish I could be more like you.

I cried again today after you died. You weren't there.

You couldn't get those tears off of my face.

But you would have. You would have.

And knowing that is the hardest thing.

My Jojo. I miss you.

(I'm sorry, but I had to write something somewhere. No one really understands what that animal meant to me.)

It's a simple list of things I hate. No order needed or given because they are all hated equally.

- My friend who always tries to correct lyrics I'm singing when I'm right and he's wrong. He just listens to what the lyric sounds like and then picks a word which sounds similar, but just similar enough to the point where most people would mistake it for something else even though they're not mistaken to begin with. For example, "Livin' La Viva Loca" instead of "Livin' La Vida Loca" or "Do You Believe In Love After Life?" instead of "Do You Believe In Love After Love?" Though the worst was when he tried to tell me that TLC's "Don't Go Chasin' Waterfalls" was actually "Go Go Jason Waterfalls"

Also, not really related, but he had a goddamn screaming argument with me about the fact that the one guy's name from Dawson's Creek was Casey and not Pacey. (It is, infact, Pacey).

- When I'm talking to a person I don't know that well on the phone and can't understand a single fucking word coming out of their mouths. If it's a close friend, I can just say "Dude, what the FUCK are you telling me?" and they'll just say "Whatever, I'll just tell you when I get there." Not the case when you're not very close with the person. I just say "Ohh, okay." and then embrace the white wall of silence edging ever closer as the response I gave had nothing to do with the apparent question he had just asked me.

- When I've been talking to a female consistently for half a year and get to the point where I can call or text them whenever I feel like it and they'll drop everything and respond. And then one fine, sunny day, they just decide to stop replying to any of my texts and not answer any of my calls. I'm going on 5 days of no contact with the most recent case! Hoping we can go all the way!

- How people always seem to have the most outlandish, fucking incomprehensible reasons for not calling a particular individual when the truth rarely stretches any further than "I'm too shy to call them." or "I don't wanna bother them right now." Instead of just saying whichever of those two statements is holding true at the moment, they'll just spout some nonsense and expect everyone to accept it when the evening is depending on contacting this human being and no one else in the party has their number. "I can't call him because I've already texted him!" or "I can't call him because then he won't call me back for 8 days!" or whatever the hell.

- How my friend would always say the same Cruella de Vil quote from 101 Dalmatians in a really fucked up, high-pitched, annoying voice when we were in high school. At some point during your day, you'd hear him say "Bring me the puppies!" and everyone would laugh. God, I hated him.

- How my mother always waits until after I've eaten the biggest meal anyone has ever eaten in the history of the world to ask me to do something. And it's never "go check the mail" or something simple. No, it's always some goddamn Tolstoy-esque struggle which I have to complete before sundown. Which is just what I need after I've just finished basically eating all of my motivation and will to live.

-_-

Around this time last year, I wrote about the Storm Zerg Hong Jin Ho.

Around this time last year, I was in love with a girl.

Around this time last year, I didn't drink near as heavily nor did I chain-smoke.

Now, I'm going to write about the Hero Protoss Park Jung Seok.

Now, I'm in love with a girl.

Now, I drink heavily and chain-smoke.

It seems like not that much has changed, but it couldn't be more untrue.

Mr. Park forms the other half of the Mi-nam MagicNs (Handsome Boy MagicNs) with Mr. Hong. While Jin Ho was intensely passionate, Jung Seok was as cool as a cucumber. His coolness bordered on shallowness. But it was a line he didn't see because it was a line which didn't exist.

He is a man. Men are not shallow. A true man lives with a goal and a dream. A man living without those things lives a truly shallow and empty life.

Let's talk about music for a moment, okay? I want to do this because 1) I've had 4 (working on my 5th) irresponsibly large glasses of half Jack and half Sprite and a whole lot of purple Kool-Aid powder and 2) Because Park Jung Seok loves music.

He loves pop music.

If the Emeperor is best personified by classical artists such as Albinoni, the Hero is best personified by Beyonce.

TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT. EVERYTHING YOU OWN IN A BOX TO THE LEFT.

IN THE CLOSET, THAT'S MY STUFF. YES, I BOUGHT IT, NIGGA PLEASE DON'T TOUCH.

(And that song is one of Reach's favorites, by the way)

Yes. A bouncy, shallow sounding pop tune. That is what [Oops]Reach is. But every once in a while, you find one with lyrics which cut deeply close to your heart. Let's have a look at his song.

So, Park Jung Seok. He was born on December 27, 1983 in Pusan. His mother is quite a ghastly looking woman. She does not look Asian at all. She has a very pointed and angular face. His father is quite an intimidating looking fellow. He has thick and knobby features and a wide nose.

These two human beings from opposite ends of the "unconventionally" attractive spectrum combined their genetics to make a son with a very specific face.

I first saw this face during a VOD streamed from a PC room's website who's name I cannot remember for the fucking life of me, you, and everyone in our families.

This was before he was the Hero (and even before he was the Power Punch Protoss) and before he made any TV appearances. He made it to the finals of this PC room tournament and defeated Fireworks Terran Byun Kil Sup in the finals. It wouldn't be the last time they would meet, though. They'd find themselves on HanBit together where they would each win a Starleague and then left together when KTF bought them.

And then in KTF, they fell apart like all of the other megastars they bought. Aime Jacques, the coach of the French football team which won the World Cup in 98, said a team needs a genius to be successful.

But what if they have several? They start to fight. They don't co-operate. They don't listen. You know the kittens have gotten too big when they no longer sleep with each other.

But that's another topic for another time.

So, the camera panned up to show him smiling widely as he picked up his winter coat off the back of his chair. This was my first exposure to [Oops]Reach.

I guess it's no surprise that he was a Tae Kwon Do student in his younger days. He threw away his dreams with this sport when he found StarCraft. When Reach's song was first sung, it was with another person. A duet.

He was a 2v2 specialist.

When HanBit coach Lee Jae Kyun still had the SM team with H.O.T and Kingdom, he himself was quite a 2v2 legend. After HanBit Soft asked him to coach their proteam (as long as he kept Kingdom in it), he began to go on a scouting spree.

I believe it was [Oops]Lee who introduced Reach to Lee Jae Kyun. Either way, H.O.T and Reach formed the fiercest 2v2 team ever in the history of progaming. Thanks to Lee Jae Kyun's sharp eye, his team dominated both the Starleague and the Proleague. He knew what made a good 1v1 player and he knew equally well about what made a good 2v2 player.

Park Jung Seok still qualified for the Starleague, though. But he was nervous. He was scared of losing. The practice of a progame team was something he couldn't adjust to. As a result, he was eliminated without a single win. I think. I don't remember. It was the Coca-Cola Starleague and I've ingested a lot of alcohol.

However, things got very interesting next year, 2002. This was known as the darkest year for Protoss due to the maps. This was the year which would make Park Jung Seok into who he is today.

The people who thought they knew him well enough from the GhemTV Starleague (where he was dubbed the Power Punch Protoss from his game against IntoTheRain) were in for a very rude shock. Reach had two very positive things going for him at this time.

1) Boxer's coach was trying to make him into a superstar and was taking up more and more of his practice schedule with media appearances.

2) The HanBit coach basically told Reach to start practicing however the hell he wanted.

No longer having strategies shoved down his throat, he pushed in his own style. And holy fucking God, what a style it was. His games against Yellow in the SKY 2002 Starleague were some of the best examples of masculinity in existence and he fucking sucks at PvZ.

I'm getting ahead of myself, though. Everyone sort of knew something was up with his performance in the KPGA Tour. Maybe he was lucky?

No.

He was a fucking man.

Sure enough, history repeated itself as he once again defeated Boxer in the Starleague finals. He ended the period of darkness for Protoss, created the Legend of the Fall, and was hailed as the Hero.

After the games, Garimto had commented that a progamer is very lucky if he can show even 50% of his skill in a televised game. And he had just seen Reach show 200%.

This was Reach's chorus. This was the part of the song where everyone who walked in half way said "OHHHH DIS MY JAM."

Reach was now one of the Big 4 along with Boxer, NaDa, and YellOw. He was part of the generation of progamers which made the game channels gear their advertising from game characters to actual progamers. The OGN intros no longer contained CG StarCraft clips. They featured the progamers themselves.

2003. This is when we really got to know Reach.

"A regular person can function on 5 hours of sleep. I use 4."

Manly.

"Thanksgiving isn't a holiday for me. I practice."

Manlier.

"I don't look at statistics. The game I'm playing now is all I think about."

Even manlier.

This is where his cool, manly persona started to really catch hold. However, during the MyCube (let's just skip Panasonic, okay? T_T) Starleague, his calm and cool persona would be stretched. It would produce perhaps his manliest move to date.

A week before the MyCube Starleague round of 8 moved to Reach's hometown of Pusan, something happened.

His grandmother died.

He hadn't seen her since his senior year of highschool. His coach told the press that he would be taking some time off.

He did no such thing. He knew he had to prepare for Perfect Terran Seo Ji Hoon.

"I live for the game, but I live because of my family. For my parents, my hometown, and my grandmother in Heaven, I am going to win."

He won.

He won in front of his entire hometown after such a tragic loss. In the post interview, he said he wasn't nervous at all.

The tempo of his song took a very bright turn after such a somber interlude. He would continue showing us his Mudang Storm, the Zealots which he held as his pride and joy, his insane winning streak in the Proleague and why he was called the Emperor of Paradoxxx.

Eventually, he had to switch up his playstyle to become more strategic minded. His love affair with macro maps was being pushed violently to the way-side as the new maps were increasingly harder for him to adjust to. He particularly had trouble with Zergs, more than he ever had before, as they were presenting so many new styles during this time.

But he kept his cool. His heart stayed steady. He won and he lost.

However, slowly but surely, his name fell out of conversation. Just like BoxeR, YellOw, H.O.T, and TheMarine, he was getting old.

I want to take a giant leap forward to 2007. This is about Reach and 2007 was about Reach.

DAUM Starleague. This was his 11th appearance in the OSL and his first since SO1. Reach was supposed to win this Starleague, just like he was supposed to win the MyCube, NHN, Gillette, and EVER OSLs.

He didn't win, but he won his games in his own style. It didn't seem like anything had changed that much, but that couldn't be more untrue.

For the first time while he was on that stage, his heart pounded. For the first time in his entire career, he actually said he loved his fans. For the first time in his life, he let us have a tiny little peek behind his masculine wall. For the first time, we finally sung his chorus again, like we did 5 years prior.

I don't know how he'll do with Air Force ACE. Nobody does. We can't predict the future. Even though his song is light and bouncy, I can't turn it off.

I just love the lyrics too much.

that could possibly happen to anyone has happened to me.

I hurt my right index finger.

T_T

I fell on it (or something. I was severely intoxicated when this happened.) and it scraped the left side of the finger pretty bad and knocked the nail out of place. It is now very obvious that my nail is now crooked as shit and that the scrape isn't healing very well even with regular bandage changes and soaking in epsom salt and water. It leaks pus constantly which then dries and makes removing any type of dressing very fucking painful.

So, what should I do? It's been 3 days and I'm getting really irritated with it. Time to just get it cut off? Exactly how long would it take before my nail grows back and looks normal again?