Thank You SOOOOOOOOOOOO Much - yes I did sob while typing

 

Hi lovely readers,

 

I'm on the brink of (happy) tears as I write this – actually I'm lying, I’ve shed a few tears already, having just left a press scrum for semi finals ahead of me attending finals next week, I decided to log on here for the first time in a while and see how my stats are doing – I remember saying my goal for this year was to reach 1k all time views on the site.

I don’t know when it happened or how it happened but you amazing wonderful people pulled through for me and this site – my little corner of the internet is at over 1k views. I can't quite believe it, I feel like I'm dreaming but hey stats don't lie and you all made it possible!

 

Firstly, I want to say a massive thank you, the biggest, largest thank you I can physically offer to each and every one of you. Not many people know the story behind this blog or why I’ve held onto it so tightly despite struggling with finding my place in esports – so let’s go on a trip down memory lane as I celebrate the belated 2 year anniversary and also the 1k views.

 

I first started this blog back in august 2022, which I can quite safely say was the worst time of my life thus far, I'd finished my first year of university – which had not gone as well as I'd hoped, I'd just been broken up with in one of the sh*ttiest ways out there, and generally speaking I was struggling - life can be overwhelming sometimes! If you’ve known me for an extended period of time, you will know that I frequently say esports saved my life – it is true.

 

During this period of time esports was my reason to get out of bed, it sounds silly, I'm the first to admit that, but getting up to watch esports was the reason I kept going. By this point I'd been watching esports for two years, having first started with Worlds 2020 (league) – which is why Take Over will always hold a large piece of my heart.

I both can and will scream it at the top of my lungs whenever I can (I actually just have while cooking dinner - sorry to my housemates this will continue) – and I needed a way to make myself feel better. Writing has always been that way, and thus this blog was born to talk about all things esports and gaming (read: for me to ramble about my passions).

 

It's been a journey with this blog, from first starting at ORDER esports in the Oceanic regional league, to seeing that league dissolved into another after I moved onto Esports GG, to being at MSI and Apex LAN events, meeting and interviewing pros – including ones my friends have the biggest crushes oh haha. I am so fortunate to have experienced all of this at such a young age and all off the back of this blog, this little corner of the internet where I rambled.

 

Again, I'm so grateful to each and every one of you for being here, even if you only click on here once a year – that still means so much to me – without it, without you and your clicks and reads I would never have done half the things I’ve done.

Working in esports was literally a dream, I never thought I'd do it, I never thought I would be one of those people with a press badge chatting with pro players and casters – and I’ve done it, and I'm going to do it again next week as I’m headed to Worlds Finals in London (!). I literally never thought I'd ‘make’ it, but I did, and that means the world to me.

 

You literally all made my dream come true – now just need to get signed to an esports org and twitch stream (jk – kinda) or maybe acquire another free jersey – T1 I'm not saying anything but 👀 the Worlds 2024 team jacket would look amazing on me next week 👀

all jokes (and partial jokes aside) I am so grateful not only that I made my goal of 1k, that this blog has been going for two years, and all the opportunities its’ afforded me – more than anything I hope this blog has been something special for you to come to as well. It means the world to me that I am still here with this blog, with press passes decorating my walls, with interviews of some of League’s biggest players under my belt – Faker eludes me but one day!

 

I wanted to prove people wrong when I entered esports and I'm proud to say I’ve done that, I entered esports as a teenager with a dream and well I'm still here working on that dream! I’ve also got some funny stories from it – including some of friends’ personal fav of discovering pro players on tinder when I was waiting for the next match and some heart-warming ones too of pros telling me about their future plans and planned proposals. I know how lucky I am to be in this position and it all comes back to you all reading here.

 

Thank you for supporting me for over two years, for making my dream into a reality, for letting me prove the doubters wrong with your support, and for cheering me on when it’s been tough. Here’s to another two years.

 

Hugs,

Nia