Ok guys, I'm back in Tokyo and I've officially landed on planet earth. I've slept through all the jet lag, calmed down and come back to my "senses".
Whatever happened, happened. There is a lot that can be said about it but it's done, it's over. I forgive everybody and I have nothing but love for all you gamers out there. Stay frosty.
All I have to say to anybody who thinks i was 'on' something is; rarely in my life have I ever become angry. And most of my friends even those whom I've known for 10 years or more have rarely, if at all, seen me angry. I know what I am capable off so I pray to god that if I do get angry, nothing too extreme will happen, but guess what ...
Here's my story.
I've been living in Tokyo, Japan for the last 10 months. Studying Japanese, Practicing karate and partying / DJ:ing on my spare time. One thing you need to know about Tokyo is that there are SHITLOADS of people and I live in a dorm with 10 other people, I literally have no private space. Also there's almost nobody to talk to since the foreigners are few and the Japanese aren't much for everyday chitchat.
So I was a caged animal that was unleashed upon the U.S.A. and I got to re-experience what it was to be truly alive again.
I flew all the way from Japan to the U.S.A. to play Quake Live. First thing that happens when I arrive to Chicago is that a cab driver rips me off. I got his plates and thought that I could get back at him. But you know what the concierge says at the counter when I explain my situation? "Welcome to Chicago".
- Strike one.
Sure you could say that was my own fault. But from that point on I was steaming and on my toes. Unleashed buys me some drinks and we buy some bangin' pizza and chill out.
I'm all good.
Next stop - Iowa. Because of floods we have to ride a bus instead of a train. Mind you I'm packing some heavy load, monitor, computer and all (about 35kg in total). We ride on the bus next to this awesome elderly christian couple and we talk through the whole trip, they actually even gave me their bible which i was reading in from time to time.
Anyway... We arrive at Iowa...
But we forgot something... Our luggage is still on the bus. HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE!? Thanks to Virgil at the train station we get them back the next day without any problems.
Then we arrive at the BigBang convention and we're BANGIN'! The Bridgeview center was awesome and I just couldn't wait to go and play quake. But guess what, there's a major update from ID which prohibits us from playing quake. Also due to some misunderstanding between Syncerror and myself I thought I was not in the focus but I was (holy sh*t). I have to learn a new map, battleforged and learn how to play aerowalk. Hurray. Now I'm even more steaming. We can't play quake until the final day and I play a few games against dkt and one game against rapha, but those three hours was only warmup I didn't even get into the real mindset.
- Strike two.
Although Steve-o (Steven), Ice (Adam), John (ESL John Clark), Tom-Toms (Jenny in particular) and Johnatahan (Fatal1ty - happy birthday!) helped creating an awesome atmosphere and an experience which I will never forget I have nothing but mad love for you guys!
Sidenote: I entered the gamer of the year competition where I was owning, but I was late one hour in the fourth round and got booted (even though I could still participate) and I was amongst the top (I WON THE HUMAN VS. ZOMBIES ROUND!!!)
The event is over we have to pack down. Next stop is Chicago. I stay up most of the night drinking with the host of the bar Tom-Tom's (she invited me to her room) and we had a great time until 05 in the morning. I take a cab to the AM-Track train station at 06 thinking it's best to sleep in the station so I don't miss my train which leaves at 09:30. Mind you there's a RAGING thunderstorm going on, the sky is POURING and ROARING. I get to the station, the taxi drives away and I yank the door of the station ... It's locked.
So there I am, a Swedish boy in f*cking Iowa in the middle of no-where drunk of my a** in a raging thunderstorm, so what do I do? I shiver like a little girl on christmas from the cold and wetness and try to grab some Z's lying on my backpack ...
anyway three hours pass. I sleep a bit more in the station and talk to an Amish family inside the station (they were awesome). The train is late because of floods and when we finally get on it rides really slow ...
Finally back in Chicago I hook up with Kim Rom for some nice steak and chillax at the sky lounge on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building (I LOVE YOU KIM!). That made me happy, relaxed and got me back into my mode, but then what happens the second day?
Ricardo (Cirka) invites us to the frat house DELTA TAU DELTA BABY! Where we practice. At some point i decide to go out and get a beer, I go half naked cause it's frikkin' hot! I get a ride back to the frat house by the police - lol. Apparently it's illegal to go half-naked in the state of Illinois? ;)
- Strike three.
Anyway later I decide to grab a few drinks on my last night in Chicago, flying solo. What happens? A loong story short, some girl steals my cap, goes into a club, I take it off her head and the bouncer literally takes the cap out of my hands and gives it back to the girl (WHAAAT). The doorman says I can't come in cause I'm drunk, mind you I was so sober it wasn't even a joke.
By this point I'm raging. No love from Chicago ...
I walk up to the nearest police car and ask for a breathalizer test. And this police officer was the coolest guy I had met in Chicago (except for Kim ;)). He's like what happened? I explain it to him, he literally goes into the club and gets my cap.
I go home but my credit card is lost (F***CK!).
- Strike four.
Anyway, I land in Dallas thinking now finally all my troubles are gone and I can show the world what my last 2 months of practice has been all about.
We arrive at the Hilton Anatol which is HUUUUUGE! Can somebody please give me a GPS so I can find my room? All you do in this place is HAULING A**! But the art was amazing and it was a truly beautiful hotel with awesome staff and bangin' sights!
We party a bit the first night. But I'm still at the registration at 6:30 giving everybody some good energy and hyping up (cause that's what I do!) for QuakeCon.
The line is a mile long and nothing is moving, I ask who is in charge and at that point it was superpumper (madprops to you man! you were the only big guy actually hauling ass and trying to get everything set up).
So I'm screaming my ass off trying to keep a good mood and helping people get ready to tag their stuff (partially why I lost my voice) so we could get in and play. Finally I'm in, although I've been up since 6:30 I think I'm in the tourney area at about 12 or 14 or so...
- Strike five.
Nothing is working and it's hard to get any directions. Steve-o did the best he could, man he stayed busy! But there was a lot of miscommunication going on. And as for myself I was like a boxer ready to go at any moment (even though I lost my voice). So at this point I'm steaming, people think I'm crazy cause I can't talk (I'm writing notes on papers) and all I wanna do is hit something really hard. Finally Steve-o says "go to the stage, now!".
I go to the stage and I ask where my spot is so I can hook it up and the answer is "we don't know". I'm awed, truly awed. Then I'm asking the tech guy who actually gets up and gets into my face like he wants to fight or something, I back down (for which I think I deserve a medal of honor) but still I have to wait.
- Strike six.
I come back a little later and they say NOW YOU HAVE TO GET ON STAGE NOW NOW NOW! So I hook my stuff up, play my game and I lose because of a bad rj in the last minute and he gets me in the last 15 seconds. Nevermind, I still got Losers bracket and a helluva lot more quake in me to give.
Directly after the sparks game I'm just steaming I go to the pool to chill out. I just jump off the stage, leave my stuff on the table and go, thinking now it's their problem see how they like it. I go to the pool and swim it off. Then Unleashed comes and gets me and says: "we have a CTF game NOW!". I head back with my pool pants, go to the stage to pack my stuff and they stay "YOU CANT BE HERE, YOU ARE DRIPPING ALL OVER THE PLACE!" at which point I just jump down go to my computer and change pants. I'm nude for about 2 seconds, I go out for a smoke before the CTF game to get my mind into it. When I come back I'm met up with the executive organizer, I don't remember his name but he's like "that's indecent exposure you can't do that you're out".
- Strike sixtynine.
I'm like "ok" not even resisting or giving him a hard time about it cause by now I know that I'm f*****. The police comes and gets me and it takes about 2 hours to check me out of the event and all I have to do is sit in the corner and stay frosty ... I was sad, angry, mad, disappointed and ashamed at the same time.
The name of the event is QuakeCon but not even half the people know who I am, not that it really matters I just think it's weird that I get such a hard time... Aaaanyway, they get me everything but my screen (a DELL screen, black and gray, I got the base but not the actual monitor) and the police walk me to my room and gives me a lecture.
- Strike onehundrednine.
I stay in my room for three hours, shave my head just as a protest and head on out to the pool where I stay most of the remainder of QuakeCon. In the evening you could see me drinking and dancing the anger out of me and if you ask anybody boy was I owning that dancefloor.
So now I'm home, my name if I ever had one is even more tarnished than before and everybody thinks I'm crazy. What does a Swedish boy living in Japan have to do to get to play some decent quake? All I've had to play these last months are Japanese and Korean players which to be honest aren't really that much of a challenge (granted unleashed is my biggest challenge thus far). But you get me.
Sidenote:
Mad props to Artisan, my boss Kobayashi-san in particular, even though I made a helluva mess he didn't get too mad and I tried promoting the mousepads (which actually are truly awesome, I really do believe in the product) outside of the event as much as I could.
Also much love goes out to my fellow brothers and sisters: Cooller, Coollers brother, Carnage, Dahang, Dkt, Link1n, Matteo, Rapha, Smokes, Stermy, Steve-o, Spart1e, Strenx, Ice, Relic and all you others whom I fail to remember at this present moment.
So all I got to say is: TEXAS WHERE'S MY BRISKET AT?!
Keep it sexy and stay frosty everybody!
MAD LOVE.
I'm out.
/Cyrus 'proZaC' Malekani
ps. Check
www.artisan-gaming.jp out, it'll be up soon and they're mousepads are BANGIN'!
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