I felt compelled to write a blog right now just because:
1) I can’t sleep due to coughing/stuffy nose
2) There hasn’t been an updated photo gallery since CPL started
3) I thought at least some of you would like to read this if you are bored
WSVG Summary
To start off I guess I will recap on what happened at WSVG New York so here goes.
Just a few days after I returned home from visiting Sweden, I hopped on a plane headed for New York for WSVG. I almost did not make it to this event because I was never informed by SK that I would be going until I asked. Everything was last minute it seems but it worked out for the better.
I have traveled with SK.swe alone for about 7 months now. Taking pictures, writing blogs and whenever they allowed, I took videos of them. Some are on my youtube site and the best ones are always saved for SKInsiders.
As you all know, I am not alone this time because Neikon is also here as well. Although we may have different roles to fulfill it is quite an experience if I may say so myself.
Anywho back to WSVG New York, there were a lot of unexpected wins and losses. I even spoke to Trevor (Midway) from GotFrag and he expressed the same thoughts I had. Most of the team we expected to win and go through didn’t and in the end regardless if how the results were, Attax took home 50 grand and some kick ass Rolex watches to show off to their friends.
Sk.swe lost to Attax which was the first match they had. The teams present expected SK.swe to win this match as well as the guys themselves but favor was not on their side. I firmly believe there were some unnecessary distractions but I won’t get into that. After losing the match to Attax, SK.swe guys were really disappointed. They were so disappointed even I was afraid to talk to them. The only one I wasn’t afraid to say anything to was Fisker because he is always so “happy go lucky”. I have learned after traveling with these guys right after a losing match, they need their own space or cave to crawl in and I let them do just that. Regardless of the flame that went on they got right back on track the next day!
The second match they had was against Complexity. We all know Complexity is one of the top teams in the U.S. and boy was I surprised at the outcome. It was such an intense and close game, when SK won I was surprised! Oh if only you guys were there you would be yelling and jumping for joy! I was ecstatic and without words I was so pumped up just like the guys were. After this match they were supposed to play against Fnatic but due to a loss against a team earlier in the day, Fnatic had been told they could go back to the hotel (which they did). It was already so late and after some talk with the admins SK.swe headed home. The match against Fnatic was to be played early in the morning. Did they go out drinking to celebrate the win against Complexity? No, as a matter of fact they went back to the hotel and slept very early!
Morning comes and the guys woke up REALLY early. It was so early I thought I was dreaming at one point! I headed down to the lobby with the guys and well the transportation which the WSVG admins said would be there to take both teams to the event center wasn’t there. They waited and waited and waited. Sks.we on one end of the lobby and Fnatic on the other. If there was a couch in the middle, I’d be the one sitting on it!
This day they would not play in the studio as previous days, they would be playing in the player warm up area. If you look at the pictures you can see how small the area is. That isn’t the worse of it though, both teams were playing back to back and since both are Swedish it just made things even worse! To me both teams are good teams but of course my choice to win was SK.swe and for obvious reasons! I thought they had this match in the bag as well. The guys were feeling refreshed and they were ready for it but somehow things didn’t work out for them and Fnatic knocked them out of the tournament. Yet another loss they had to overcome before CPL Winter. You guys may not know it but every loss these guys face, the look of defeat in their eyes makes me feel so bad for them. That’s not even the worse thing, the worse thing is going on their home site and reading the flame. Oh how people jump on the bandwagon heh.
With Sk.swe out of the tournament they still stuck around till the end watching the games. Once the tournament was over, it was time to find a new home. All the players that attended WSVG got a brand new Fatal1ty brand computer to take home. Literally the next day we spent it at the hotel waiting for the FedEx guy to come pick up six computers (Toxic’s included). If I had taken pictures that day all you would see would be the hotel and nothing else. ;p Luckily I didn’t!
The rest of the 3 days in New York the guys spent sight seeing. If you haven’t been to New York, my advice is take A LOT OF MONEY. It is so expensive there ugh. Anyways, the guy wanted to see a lot of the attractions but soon found out it was not feasible because of the outrageous prices. We all wanted to go on the helicopter tour but for 2 ½ minutes, it was 65.00 per person!!! The best place for me to visit in New York was the Statue of Liberty. I have long wanted to see her standing tall. I have seen her so many times on television and to be so close to her was just magnificent! It didn’t mean all that much to the Sk.swe guys but I pushed them to take pictures in front of it. It won’t mean anything to them now but when they grow old and gray it will be a different story hehe.
It was in New York that I lost a battery to my camera. Instead of having three batteries I now only have two. ? It really sucks because now my picture taking and especially videos will have to be limited! Oh well..
I left New York before the guys did to Dallas, Jonas waited for me at the airport in Dallas but due to misunderstandings and miscommunication when I landed it took us an hour to find each other. When we finally found each other we didn’t even kiss ?, I was wondering where he had been all this time and he was thinking I would land later, it was just horrible ?.
CPL Winter
Once we found each other we took a taxi to the hotel and the cab driver was pretty ghetto. He missed the off ramp to get off and drove over the grassy hill. I had to brace myself against the seat because he was slamming on the breaks. NO TIP FOR YOU! LOL
Unlike the hotel in New York where the rooms were all connected, ours was on the same floor but spaced out. Vilden and Allen shared a room, Fisker and Snajdan (The smellys) shared a room and Jonas and I shared a room. I thought Neikon would be rooming with us but as it turns out he had his own room.
Neikon only hung out with Sk.swe the first day they got to New York, WSVG. I don’t know if he is shy or if they are shy but the conversations were just not happenin’ heh. Anywho during CPL I hardly saw Neikon but that’s probably because I have been so sick.
How did I get sick you may ask? Well in the rooms they have AC blowing and Jonas had turned ours down, I wanted him to turn it off but forgot to tell him so he left it on. Anyways during the first night I woke up in the middle of the night unable to breathe. My nose was stuffy as hell and well the rest is history. The stuffy nose turned into a congested chest followed by a very sore throat. I couldn’t even swallow or talk the next day because it just hurt so much. That soon followed with a fever and now I have a cough. I have just been in bed for the past two days on drugs trying to get myself better! Hence no picture galleries for the first two days of CPL.
Even though I have been really sick I still follow the games, the SK.swe games that is. So far they are doing good. Yesterday after they had won the first group stage, Jonas actually woke me up and I did an interview with him. If you haven’t seen it, I say DOWNLOAD IT, he tells you about his thoughts on WSVG New York, what he thinks will happen for the next year and what his thoughts are for CPL along with a few rumors I asked him about.
I am really happy they are doing so good, today they also won the second group. If they keep this up they will get very far and I don’t want to jinx it so I won’t say it but yeah! If it doesn’t go as planned, I will still support them. Jonas actually dragged me down to watch a few of the matches today and all I could think about was bed.
I have been getting a lot of messages about how they are feeling. They are feeling pretty relaxed and every night they talk strats, they take it easy and they sleep early. I remind them when I can to just do their best!
Today’s shockers include Team3D losing to Turmoil I believe (correct me if I am wrong) and NiP getting knocked out of the tournament.
I don’t know what tomorrow holds but I am really tired now. I have tried for the past few days going down to the event floor and taking some pictures for you guys but well after standing for about ten or fifteen minutes I felt so light headed I had to come back up to lay down.
Since there is no photo album I think I will see what I can do tomorrow, maybe I will go down and take some pictures so I can upload it. It’s not good I am in bed though because I have viewed the albums from Gotfrag and Fragbite and well since they have professional cameras their pictures capture all the emotion! That is really discouraging since I only have a crappy camera. I have tried many times to capture emotions but it never turns out hehe. Oh well!!!!! Something is better than nothing right?!
The internet also runs out tomorrow ? and ugh it is so crappy here at the hotel as well. It dies like every two minutes and takes forever to reconnect! Now it is time for me to go to sleep so I can feel better. I am supposedly leaving on December 20 (my birthday) but maybe a miracle will happen and I get to spend it here until SK.swe goes home on Sunday morning.
-Sk.swe guys through my eyes, what I will always remember-
Snajdan is just funny. He reminds me of a little boy lost always afraid to find himself or venture off across the street to get the ball which has rolled there so he has to hold someone’s hand. In this case it would be Jonas’s. He is very outspoken but can be shy at times. When he is playing CS with the boys he is no longer the scared little boy afraid to cross the street but the guy who has an amazing aim. Since I have this habit of overanalyzing people and usually the first thing I see after I study someone is the animal they resemble, my take on Snajdan is he is an ostrich. I love watching him eat because the way he chews and makes noises is just HILARIOUS. I can’t even describe it.
Allen is seeing the world one city, one country at a time. Very introverted and very honest. If you want to know something, ask him and he will coyly answer with a slight turn away (which is what makes him cute). Soft spoken and down to earth he is a diamond in the rough (at least in CS). The SK.swe guys are definitely influencing him in more ways then one HEHE. When he is playing CS, he is so much fun to watch and he is simply a rising star. The animal I see in Allen is a cartoon droopy dog.
Fisker, who doesn’t love Fisker. Everyone loves Fisker and they have every right to. With all the picture taking I have done and the videos I have taken he is by far my favorite person to film. He is funny, outgoing, personable, fruity, generous and I can go on and on and on but I won’t. In my eyes he is definitely the PR person for SK.swe. Definitely not camera shy at all. The camera loves him and he loves the camera! That’s Fisker for you. He passes gas all the time and sometimes it is very toxic but hey that’s just Fisker for you. No matter what happens in life or where he goes he will have no problems adapting. In CS, I guess my favorite moments would be those where he uses the sniper rifle. He is just so good at it! When I look at Fisker I see a sheep dog, the kind with the long hair which covers the eyes. Sits atop the mountain top looking down guarding the sheeps. HEHE
Vilden, what can I say about Vilden except he is unpredictable. Sometimes he reminds me of when I am on my period. I don’t talk to him as often as I want to, and mainly because he is always so busy chatting with girls etc but hey if it is his forte it’s his forte heh. He has his own unique style and regardless of what anyone else says if he doesn’t like it, no one can change his mind except maybe his girlfriend! He doesn’t say much to me and I don’t know him that well but for me when it comes to CS, the thing I remember most about him is him always elevating himself. Whether it is sitting on two chairs or two pillows he has to have it just right or it won’t go right. I guess the only thing I would like for him to be more open to is having his picture taken or videos of him. He is also a very funny guy and I hate to say it but at times he is even funnier than Fisker. Vilden to me is the flat fish. The kind that lays on the bottom of the ocean which has eyes on top of the body.
Jonas, hm I don’t know what to say about him really. There are too many things but he is very friendly and personable as well. If at all he is the fall guy in Sk.swe. Most of the time you will see him doing interviews for the team and in certain situations he is always taking lead, making sure the guys are okay. He’s just a nice guy, what can I say. He doesn’t have ill feelings towards anyone and well he is very opinionated. I find that I have to argue with him many times when we have a general conversation because he has to always be right but that’s Jonas for you in a nutshell. As far as CS goes, I met him when he was in 4kings. His game play from my eyes has always been consistent. He has never been HELLA GOOD and then HELLA BAD. He tips even in the scale and well sometimes I think his focus on CS needs to be cut down so he can focus on me but oh well, I want him to do good so I don’t mind. Jonas isn’t an animal to me, I can’t see an animal when I look at him but what I do see is the cartoon character Alvin from “Alvin and the Chipmunks”.