It feels odd to start a post that way (especially on a pro-gaming website; see First Principles), but I want to make that point clear at the outset. Now that I have you good and defensive (sorry about that), I can present today’s premise: when you are gaming you are probably not contributing anything to anyone else.

By “contributing,” I mean providing some good or service that someone else requests (even if indirectly). When interacting with other people, it’s not uncommon for them to ask something of you. Your friend or roommate might ask you to make them a sandwich or give them a ride to the airport. Your employer will definitely ask something of you, whether it be “stand here and take people’s movie tickets” or “analyze this spreadsheet and determine whether we should acquire this new company.” No one, however, has ever asked me to “save the princess” or “vanquish this race of alien creatures” in real life yet, nor has anyone ever asked me to “beat/play this video game.”

I am not implying that games are worthless. Gaming allows me to relax, to challenge myself mentally, and to bond with friends and family. I am suggesting, however, that my game playing might be worthless to other people. When I slay the Queen of Blades and save the universe from a Zerg infestation, I’m doing so because I enjoy the challenge, not because the universe actually faces a threat from the Zerg (at least to our knowledge). When I build you a house in The Sims, it’s because I enjoy the process of designing a fake house, not because you actually need a place to live.

I doubt few people would disagree with my sentiments so far. Our trouble comes, however, when we as gamers lose sight of the fact that our in-game actions do not directly contribute to our “real” lives and allocate a disproportionate amount of time and energy to gaming. Video game companies have gotten very good at making games feel like work/productivity. When I was leveling my Mage in World of Warcraft, I had days where my primary goal was to gain X levels, X achievement points, or X badges. And no, I don’t mean my primary goal for World of Warcraft that day, I mean my primary goal for the whole day!

Dedicating one whole day to playing WoW is fine, but anyone who has played WoW knows it takes a lot more than one day to reach Level 85 (and even more time to get gear). If you don’t think about it, you can easily invest weeks or months in just one game or character. Again, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with that, as long as you remember that other people probably don’t care about you playing video games. Think about that for a minute. Can you tell me how many achievement points all of your friends have in their respective games? Can you tell me the names of all their characters/teams and their respective levels? Do you even care about that? Do you care about anyone’s video game playing except your own? Likely not, and similarly no cares as much about your video game playing as you do.

When interacting with other people, you need to contribute something to them (at least if you expect anything in return), and that something most likely can not come from a game you played. You can’t pay your rent with achievement points, you don’t get free groceries for being in Masters League, and your grandmother (probably) doesn’t want to hear about your latest Magic tech when you visit her this weekend. In each of those circumstances, you have to contribute something from outside of gaming.

What About Pros and Casters?

What about LiquidTLO, Destiny, Day9, TotalBiscuit, and djWheat? Don’t we care about them playing video games? Don’t they make a living from gaming?

True, they make a living from gaming, but we don’t necessarily care about their actual game playing. We care more about they way they make us feel. Each of those celebrities (and plenty of others) has the ability to influence us through their game playing or commentary. TLO, for example, makes us feel excited and keeps us on the edge of our seats, as we never know what sort of crazy build he might pull out of his bag of tricks. Day9 breaks Starcraft down and makes us feel like we actually can improve. He gives us a sense of possibility. TotalBiscuit entertains us with his shoutcasting and gives us early access to content (his Cataclysm beta videos, for example). These people have all figured out a way to contribute non-gaming things (emotions, information, etc.) to us through a gaming platform.

In essence, progamers and casters provide us with entertainment, much like LeBron James does in basketball or Kayne West does in music. They know they are creating something or putting on a show for their audience. They know they are contributing in their own way.

What About You?

If you are a progamer or caster, well… then thanks for reading my site! If you are not, then take a close look at your own gaming. Does it contribute anything to anyone else? Does anyone care that you do it? If the answers to those two questions are “no,” you don’t have to stop gaming. You just have to make sure you have classified gaming under the category “things I do for myself.” There are plenty of activities I engage in simply for my own benefit, such as reading, running, gaming, and watching television.

Take some time to measure the time you spend doing things for yourself and the time you spend doing things for other people. If you want people to contribute to your life (whether it be through money, friendship, attention, etc.), you have to contribute to their life. If, in any given week, you spend 70 hours gaming (for yourself) and 10 hours relaxing from gaming (also for yourself), don’t be surprised when other people aren’t contributing to your life. You’re not contributing to theirs either. If you want more money or more friends, try to contribute more to other people’s lives in any way that you can.

The more you want out of life, the more you have to contribute. Are you getting what you want out of life, and if not, are you contributing enough? Does your gaming get in the way of your contribution? Only you can answer those questions, but they are important enough to spend time answering.

Until next time, happy leveling!

Read about 30 Day Trials – http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/04/30-days-to-success/

Read about Seth Godin and shipping - http://zenhabits.net/the-reason-you%E2%80%99re-stuck/

Video from Seth Godin on shipping (20 min) – http://vimeo.com/5895898

This week, I wanted to play more games than usual. At the recent Red Bull LAN event, WhiteRa told LiquidTyler to play 30 games a day, so it seems I had the right idea. I played more, but instead of laddering more, I became distracted with FFA achievements. I can’t say I was practicing in earnest. Fortunately, I did have a good practice session with Mike on Friday night. I feel like I actually learned some things, even if we didn’t play that many games.

Tuesday 9/27/11

I thought I would warm-up with a FFA game, but I became obsessed with getting the FFA Destroyer achievement when I came in second (I only needed to a Zerg win). 75 minutes and 6 losses later, I was still achievement-less but now on tilt. Time to ladder! I dropped 3 quick games, and I was clearly frustrated, as I didn’t even bother to take notes. After 3 more FFA losses, I took a break.

In the afternoon, I tried another FFA and secured my victory on the first try. Mike was on, so we played some 2′s. We went 3-5 and realized we might not be as close to Masters as we think.

After dinner, I should have done “something productive,” but I decided to ladder more. With my head clear from earlier, I went 5-4, losing only to cheese and Zerg. For the life of me, I still cannot beat Zerg as Protoss. My Terran builds all involve FFE, and against Protoss I went DT into Chargelot into Archon (should the game get that far).

Time played – 470 minutes. FFA games – 10. Ladder games – 12. 2v2 games – 8.

Wednesday 9/28/11

After yesterday’s FFA debacle, I resolved to do nothing but ladder. In the morning, I went 4-8, losing to everything, including what I eventually label as “stupid shit.” What’s the best thing to do when you’re losing? Play some more! I racked up 2 more losses in the afternoon, and then 3 FFA losses after work. Tilting is the best.

Time played – 280 minutes. Ladder games – 14. FFA games – 3.

Thursday 9/29/11

I only had time to ladder for an hour, but I ended up going 3-1. Unfortunately, I only played terrible, terrible Silver players, which made me worry about being reclassified to Silver myself.

Time played – 60 minutes. Ladder games – 4.

Friday 9/30/11

Mike came over in the evening and helped me practice for 3 hours or so. First, Mike watched me play to get a sense of what I needed to do better (hint: everything). Then, he played a couple games so I could watch for general tactics. After that, I played some games with Mike yelling at me over my shoulder. I was amazed at how many things he could juggle in his head at one time: Probes, scouting, Chrono-boost, upgrades, army position, army composition, expansions. The experience made me realize just how much more slowly I think compared to Masters players. Finally, we ended the night by playing some 2′s. I don’t have notes from the session, but I know we played for about 3 hours.

Time played – 180 minutes.

Saturday 10/1/11

Travel day!

Sunday 10/2/11

Travel back day!

Monday 10/3/11

I logged on just before bed to find Roger and Mike both on. We played 2 games of 3v3 and split them. They both had to go to bed (and technically so did I), but I held on for one more ladder game. I finally beat a Gold Zerg player, but he never expanded and didn’t rush me. Apparently I can still beat really bad players.

Time played – 75 minutes. Ladder games – 1. 3v3 games – 2.

Weekly totals: Time played – 1065 minutes (17 hrs, 45 min). Ladder games – 31+. FFA games – 13. 2v2 games – 8+. 3v3 games – 2.

I spent a large amount of time playing, but outside of Friday night, I didn’t actually improve. I did not even play 1 practice game this week, which speaks to the lack of improvement. I have a couple of Mike’s replays from Friday that I can watch and extract build orders from. If I practice at all this week, I will surely look over those games. If I don’t practice, I will probably stay in Gold league forever…

1. I’m still writing. I told myself I would work at least 6 months on the project, possibly even a year without results before I gave up. 6 months later, I am still working. Personal victory.
2. I wrote 55,000 words. Another personal victory, as I have now written more words than required by NaNoWriMo (even if I did it over 6 months). It doesn’t actually mean anything, but it is a big number to point to.
3. I had a reader… once. At one point, we had a regular comment contributor here, and I didn’t know him in real life! We even went so far as to play 5 2v2 placement matches together. He has since disappeared from the site, but it gives me hope that I might someday have another reader.

In an effort to remain positive, here are my Top 5 posts from the last 6 months:

Plan Your Day Dungeons and Dragons Style – I had this idea about 10 minutes after reading through the Player’s Handbook for the first time, and it only took me 18 months to get the idea to paper (to be fair, I didn’t even have a blog when the idea originated in my brain). I like that it’s a direct port of game rules to real life. You can’t build an actual Starport. You can’t summon an actual Planeswalker. You can pick a standard, minor, and move action for each day, though.

Metaphorical Server Maintenance Day – The idea that spawned a blog.

Meeting LiquidJinro on 2v2 Ladder – This post is the only this I’ve ever cross-posted on teamliquid.net. As of today, it has a 4.8/5 rating and 1218 views. Though it’s not directly related to personal development, it was a cool experience.

Are You Gemmed and Enchanted – I love this post mostly because of my fabulous MS Paint art. I can’t draw to save my life, but I think I captured the essence of the situation in this piece.

Five Components of Achieving Long Term Goals – My second longest post, this one took a long time to write but not much effort. I had the sections/steps already broken up in my mind, and writing the piece was just a matter of filling the spaces in between.

Looking over my favorite posts, I clearly prefer longer, more in-depth articles. 4 of those 5 are in my top 10 longest posts, the exception being the LiquidJinro post.

As of this moment, I have no idea what the next 6 months will hold for me and this blog. I plan to continue with the work, but clearly I am not hitting my goals. I need to change something, but I am not exactly sure what that is (sounds like the state of my Starcraft 2 play as well). With traveling this weekend, I won’t even really have time to think about until Tuesday, which is both a blessing and a curse.

Until next time, happy leveling!

Fortunately, the answer was “mostly.” I woke up at 9:30 on Sunday, which forced me into bed by 10:30pm that night. I don’t usually go to bed that early, but I was tired from my second show on Sunday. On Monday, I woke up at 7am on the dot. Apparently, I don’t need the snooze button after 8.5 hours of sleep. Even though I succeeded in waking up at 7 on Monday, I still say it “mostly” works because I pushed myself to sleep only 5 hours on Saturday night, and I went to bed very early on Sunday night. I don’t know if I could sustain that sleep schedule on a long term basis. Looking at the rest of the calendar year, however, I don’t think I’ll have too many more late night shows, so I can continue on my 7am schedule for the time being.

Now, we get to the $64,000 question: do I want to continue waking up at setting my alarm for 7am? For the foreseeable future, I do. I have always known that I am not a “morning person,” but my “morning” is always the first hour or two after I wake up, regardless of the actual time. When I set my alarm for 10, I move like a zombie until noon. When I set my alarm for 7, I move like a zombie until 9. The latter scenario obviously gives me three more hours in the day. I have been going to bed slightly earlier (between 12-1 instead of between 2-3), but I never accomplished anything between 2-3 anyway (except checking things off my Netflix instant-queue). In the morning, I can write blog posts, practice music, or run errands that I can’t don’t do late at night. In the last 30 days, I only missed one blog post, I practiced more guitar than usual, and I even organized and cleaned my office. I have had a productive 30 days indeed.

On a side note, I didn’t eat any sandwiches for lunch in the past 30 days either (though I did eat a few “fancy” ones for dinner that my roommate prepared). Two successful trials!

I don’t know exactly what my next trial will be yet, but I have one more day to figure it out. I will be traveling this weekend, so I might not start my next trial until Monday anyway (depending on what I decide). Either way, I will be starting my next trial at 7am 7:24am sharp.

Tuesday 9/20/11

As I waited for the servers to go live, I busied myself with other things. Then, somehow, it was time for bed.

Wednesday 9/21/11

Roger logged on soon after I got on, so we decided to work on some of the 2v2 co-op achievements. Today, we worked on getting 2v2 Coverage versus Insane AI. With one or both players as Protoss, we were able to cannon rush our way to victory. As double Zergs, we 7-pooled. As Terran, we lost hard and repeatedly. We still need TT and TZ to get our 10 points.

Roger had to go to class, so I dipped my toes into the ladder pool. After crushing a portrait farmer, I lost my first real game by way of terrible macro. In the third game, I decided to try and 4-gate, even though “you can’t 4-gate anymore.” Turns out you can.

Time played – 120 minutes. Ladder games – 3.

Thursday 9/22/11

After watching LiquidHero FFE against everybody, I decided to try it against the Very Hard AI. I went 1-1 before getting bored and “practicing” my Terran vs Insane AI. Still no victories…

Time played – 60 minutes. Practice games – 2.

Friday 9/23/11

I had to go into work early, as everyone else at the store was on vacation, so I didn’t play any Starcraft.

Saturday 9/24/11

I had a long day of teaching followed by a show at night, but I did get an hour’s worth of laddering in-between. I went 2-3, going 1-1 with FFE builds. My FFE loss happened against a fellow Protoss opponent. Apparently, FFE is not a valid build in that matchup. My most frustrating loss was against a Zerg who 10-pooled me. I thought I learned how to deal with that nonsense.

Time played – 60 minutes. Ladder games – 5.

Sunday 9/25/11

I went 5-2 during a 2 hour ladder session. My last 5 games were all versus Gold Terrans, and I won the 4 where I went FFE. I lost the game I tried to 4-gate. I lost another game where I tried to 4-gate a Zerg, but I did successfully 4-gate another Protoss. I don’t understand how people say you can 4-gate your way to Platinum, as I can never get that build to work against T or Z.

I also checked out my APM for this first time with this new patch. In 1.3, my APM sat around 50-60 for a 20 minute game. Today, my highest APM was 41. Spamming may not have affected my actual game play, but it sure did boost my self-esteem.

Time played – 120 minutes. Ladder games – 7.

Monday 9/26/11

One of the worst feelings in the world is waking up to a dead internet (hyperbole… kind of?). Fortunately, after an hour without internet, the magical fairies that connect my computer to the outside world arbitrarily decided to get back to work. I planned on laddering for a few hours before work, but I settled for just one hour. I went 1-2, beating another Terran with my FFE build. I lost a game against a Gold Protoss when I 1a-ed my army of Zealots, Stalkers, and Sentries from my natural to his natural. I didn’t realize that all 3 units moved at different speeds, and so he killed all my Stalkers, then all my Zealots, then all my Sentries (or maybe my Sentries and then my Zealots – I don’t remember exactly). I had a supply advantage and an army advantage, so I think I would have won if I had controlled my units differently. Next time, I will 1a near his base, and then 1a into his base.

Time  played – 60 minutes. Ladder games 3.

Weekly Totals: Time played – 420 minutes (7 hrs). Practice games – 2. Ladder games – 18.

Again, I am running into the problem of not enough play time – or at least not enough play time to actually improve. I should probably be averaging at least 2 hours a day of actual practice/ladder time, but clearly I am not. I don’t foresee that happening in the near future either, which makes me begin to doubt this quest. Next week will mark 6 months, and I have only progressed to Gold. I fear I don’t have an accurate enough practice plan, and I also fear I don’t have enough motivation to really dig in and improve. Maybe I will never get out of Gold…

I don’t mean to sound like a Debbie Downer, but this blog should also chronicle my mental state (at least as it relates to SC2). Right now, that mental state is not good. Maybe something will improve this week, but I am not even sure what that could be.

I might be inclined to believe the internet (double-faced cards do seem like a pain when using sleeves, and the PwP system seems easy to “game”), except that the internet has cried wolf too many times before. Remember when Wizards changed the card face during Eighth Edition? Thousands of people vowed to quit Magic forever, as the new card face “would ruin Magic as we know it.” Somehow, Magic survived (and I actually much prefer the new card face). Remember a few years later when Wizards removed combat damage from the stack in M10? Again, thousands of players vowed to quit Magic because “Wizards was dumbing down the game.” Again, Magic survived. Hell, with more people playing Magic now than ever before, Magic didn’t just survive – it thrived.

When faced with a change, it’s easy to play the Chicken Little card. “Oh no, the sky is falling!” In all likelihood, however, the sky is going to stay… well, up in the sky.

I remember my senior year of college, my university changed their grading system to incorporate +/-. The students rallied against the change. “The minuses will lower our GPA’s! We’ll lose out on good jobs and scholarships! How can you do this to us?” Oddly enough, none of those things happened. My roommate whom everyone thought was a genius still ended up getting a PhD from MIT. My roommate who wanted to go to med school close to home still ended up at UC. My roommate who wanted to get a PhD in comic books still ended up at Bowling Green State. Everyone though people cried (metaphorically) about the change, no one I know actually suffered any negative consequences.

Your life will change all the time. School schedules and grading systems will change (when I was in high school, they changed the overall class schedule significantly every single year). Friends, family, and significant others will come into your life and then move away. Your boss might leave your company, or the company itself might completely restructure. The comic book store you frequent might change its tournament structure, and we all know Starcraft 2 will change when HotS comes out in the spring. Change happens.

You cannot control change, but you can control how you react to it. Getting all worked up and claiming that life (or Magic) as you know it is over won’t undo the change. It won’t make anything better either. Instead of spending time and energy on complaints and worry, spend your time on things you actually enjoy – or at the very least on things you can control. All those people who posted negative comments about changes to Magic did so instead of actually playing Magic.

In the end, all the worry is usually for naught anyway. Your school schedule might change, but you will still receive an education. A friend will move away, but you will make a new friend. Your parents might get divorced, but eventually things will stabilize (or you’ll grow up and move out), and it won’t matter much to you anyway.

Even if you suspect an upcoming change will produce negative results for you, don’t get upset until you actually experience the change. Gather some data and then reevaluate. Humans are remarkably resilient creatures, and we can adapt to almost anything. What you thought was going to “end your world,” might not actually change it that much at all. Worrying about it beforehand will only stress you out and make your life worse now.

In short, don’t worry about the future; it doesn’t exist yet. Don’t fear change; it probably won’t be as bad as you think. People who actually quit Magic over previous changes missed out on having lots of fun playing an awesome game. Don’t be one of those people.

That brings us to today…

I didn’t wake up today until 8:30, but again I didn’t even realize how late it actually was. I have no idea what’s going on in the mornings. To drive that point home further, this morning, I thought I got out of bed and went into the bathroom. When I got there, however, everything was turned around so that the usable parts of the sink, toilet, etc. were facing the wall. I thought, “well, since I can’t use the bathroom, I guess I better go back to bed.” The next couple times the snooze button went off, I continued to think, “what’s the point of getting out of bed if the bathroom is broken?” This went on for somewhere between 20-90 minutes. I can not explain it.

I have never been a “morning person,” but I know I can wake up and be alert the first time my alarm goes off. I have no trouble waking up for Magic tournaments, work, or hiking trips. I generally get out of bed as soon as my alarm goes off on those occasions. I don’t understand what’s different about every day life. Perhaps the internet can shed some light on this subject.

Until next time, may your toilet never decide to turn around and face the wall…

Obviously, this seems like common Starcraft sense. If you attack into a stronger opponent, you will lose the engagement and probably the game. Because of this, top Starcraft players spend countless hours testing, refining, and comparing builds, all so that they know the most opportune time to attack their opponent. The answer to “why did you attack then,” is almost never “because I just felt like it.”

If we Starcraft players spend so much time thinking about in-game timings, shouldn’t we also spend even more time thinking about our real life timings? Shouldn’t we remain focused on “attacking” when we are stronger than our opponent?

Let’s pretend you want to ask your boss for a raise. When are you more likely to get a raise – after a company wide meeting where the CEO reports that profits fell 10% last month, or after you turn in a stellar project you worked on for 6 months? Obviously, you’re more likely to get a raise after the latter. In the first scenario, your boss can easily brush you aside. “Sorry, man. I’d love to give you a raise, but we just don’t have the money. You heard the report same as I did.” In the second scenario, you have more leverage over your boss, as you (presumably) just proved yourself to be an indispensable help to the company.

For the jobless among us, pretend you are in high school and you want to ask your parents if you can go to a party on Saturday night. When are you more likely to get permission – when your parents walk in the door from work, exhausted and hungry, or after they’ve had time to unwind and you show them the “A” you got on a math test? Again, your chance of success is much higher in the second scenario.

These examples may seem like no-brainers, but take a minute and look around. I’ll bet if you pay attention, you’ll notice loads of poor “timing attacks” in just the next 24 hours. I remember as a kid, I would always wake my dad up on a Saturday to ask if I could go to a Magic tournament. He worked an insane number of hours during the week (AND was not a morning person), but I somehow never thought to ask him any other time. Most likely, I just asked whenever the idea occurred to me.

As an adult, I’ve seen co-workers time and again ask their (our) bosses for favors/raises/vacation/etc. at times when the boss is clearly fuming or aggravated. Though they have no chance of success, the plow ahead anyway – pure Bronze League style.

With a little forethought, you can increase your chance of success in almost anything just by paying attention to your timing. For example:

• Ask your friend for a favor right after you’ve just done something nice for him/her.
• Negotiate with a salespeople when the store is relatively empty, not during peak hours when they will be overwhelmed and won’t have attention for you.
• Talk to your professor about changing a grade during office hours (and hopefully after a class where you made significant contribution to the discussion), not after class when he/she needs to get somewhere else.

With a lot of skill and a little luck, you will find yourself getting more and more of what you want. You may still have some desperation timings here and there (“Well, I guess I should attack now since he’s destroying my whole friggin’ base.”/”Well, I guess I should ask for that raise now, since I totaled my car last night.”), but those should be the exception rather than the rule. When in doubt, ask yourself “why am I doing this right now?” and “do I think I’m stronger than my opponent?” If you can’t think of a good answer to the first question, or if the answer to the second question is “no,” be patient and hold off. A better opportunity will surely come later.

Until next time, may you always hit your real life timings.

This week I ordered (and received) a new mouse and keyboard for my “fancy” new computer set-up. After much 5 minutes of internet research, I decided on the Razer Blackwidow and the Razer Deathadder. Basically, everyone I know in real life owns a Razer keyboard and mouse, so those were the only products I had actual experience with. Seeing as I was going to have to spend time adjusting to any new keyboard/mouse combo, the Razer ones seemed good enough. So far, I am happy with my purchases, though I secretly wish for a gaming mouse without any of these silly side buttons.

Tuesday 9/13/11

My peripherals had not yet arrived (even though UPS said they were in Lexington), so I just laddered for 90 minutes. I went 2-4, but I was happy with my play in most games. I lost one game to a Terran who went mass Banshee/Raven, and my Stalker/Colossus army couldn’t handle it. I lost another game to a Gold Zerg at the 20 minute mark, but I held off a 6 pool in the first 4 minutes by excellently microing my probes. I was ahead at 6 minutes, but couldn’t seal the deal. In my favorite game of this session, a Terran player scouted my incoming 4-gate. I quickly sent my forward probe up his ramp and saw that he started 3 Bunkers. I immediately canceled a Gateway and threw down an expo. The Terran turtled behind his bunkers for several minutes, waiting for a 4-gate that would never come… Mwhahahaha!

Time played – 90 minutes. Ladder games – 6.

Wednesday 9/14/11

UPS did not deliver the goods until after I left to teach for the day, so I just played more ladder games in the morning. I went 6-2, losing only to burrowed Infestors (another detection fail) and a Terran all-in (which I failed to recognize as such at the time). The rest of my games went pretty well, and I successfully used High Templar for the first time. Psionic Storm FTW.

Time played – 120 minutes. Ladder games – 8.

Thursday 9/15/11

Dear lord, this mouse is fast!!! I was having trouble clicking on even the simplest of targets, so I thought I should adjust to my new mouse before trying to ladder. I played 5 games against the Medium AI (achievement hunting, obv) and then tried my hand at the Psionic Assault and Rush Defense challenges. I ended up scoring Silver on Assault and Gold on Defense, but both challenges took me several tries. In the evening, I played 3 more games against the Medium AI, but the mouse still didn’t feel natural.

Time played – 185 minutes.

Friday 9/16/11

In the morning, I played 7 more games as random against the Medium AI and finally got the 50 Wins achievement. Only 50 more to go! My Friday night plans fell through, so I ended up sitting at home playing more SC2. I played 4 FFA’s, winning 2 of them against mostly Bronze and Silver players. I only need to win one as Zerg now to get the Coverage achievement. At some point, Mike logged on and we went 5-0 in 2v2 matches. We are ballers, for sure.

Time played – 240 minutes. FFA games – 4. 2v2 games – 5.

Saturday 9/17/11

I worked and went to my girlfriend’s house. Neither place has Starcraft.

Sunday 9/18/11

I played one more FFA as Zerg, but got second. Mike logged on again, and we played more 2′s, this time going 2-2. I discovered it’s pretty hard to lose a 2v2 game when you have 75% of the expansions. I still noticed some inaccuracies with my mouse (user error, obv), but overall I felt much more comfortable with it.

Time played – 120 minutes. FFA games – 1. 2v2 games – 4.

Monday 9/19/11

Saturday, the encore.

Weekly totals: Time played – 755 minutes (12 hrs, 35 min). Practice games – 0. Ladder games – 14. FFA games – 5. 2v2 games – 9.

I feel comfortable enough with my mouse and keyboard now to ladder again this week. Patch 1.4 goes live today, so I have to wait for the servers to come back up, but it shouldn’t be too much longer. I wonder if my 4-gate will still work, since that’s currently my main PvP build. Time will tell, I suppose.