Thankfulness

This year, starting on November 1st, I made an Instagram/Facebook Story about something or someone I was thankful for. I called them my Thankfulness Posts. It really did help me center myself and realize how much we take for granted, be it that friend who is just always around, to having a house that has a roof and running water.

I saved my posts, and here they are below.

Words cannot express how grateful I am that Breaky came in to my life. My experience in this crazy ride called existence would be glaringly different had we not met. From introducing me to a bunch of great new people whom I now call friends, to letting me be a part of his family, and to showing me the love and support I had been wishing for all of my life; thank you Breaky! 

I am so grateful and still in disbelief that this child is the product of two crazy kids so in love and that she calls me "Mama". So thankful that she made me a Mom. 

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You may be an esports significant other if

I think I've had a draft of this blog post since my blog's inception.

But recent events made me realize that there may be some (a few, not many) people out there that may feel the same way. That is, the weird life that is the significant other of someone in the esports or video game industry.

I have been Breaky's "other half" for 5 years. I have alluded to the struggles of being a wife to someone who travels a lot for their craft. There are many other struggles that other significant others may find they can relate to. Or maybe not, maybe these struggles are unique to me, I dunno.

Anyway, I figured it may be fun to actually hunker down and finish this blog post about things I've noticed have become a part of my identity as the wife of an esports figure. Enjoy.


You may be an esports significant other if:

1. You have no idea what their schedule is for the next week/month/year



My family can attest, his schedule makes it really hard to pin down family vacations, dates, holidays etc... Heck, this past year was one of maybe two Thanksgivings he was able to enjoy in the states! Although, did I mention he was in Sweden like, two days before our wedding? Yeah...


2. Learning names feels like double duty



Not only do you have to remember a person's real name, but very often their gamer name. I do not think there are many of our friends who calls Breaky by his real name.

There are times we are gaming together and I have to ask who this particular person is because I forgot their gamer name. On the flip-side, I sometimes forget that people have real names, and are, for example, not called WZA in real life.


3. Getting their attention can be a task




Esports is a career that is steeped in technology, including social media. Whether it is an important Skype conversation about how they may be traveling to Sweden next week, a Reddit post about the latest tournament drama, or checking their official Facebook page, their attention may have to be dedicated elsewhere other than you talking about how your work day went. Heaven forbid if you need to ask a question while they are actually in a game! (I know better now).

I personally handle this pretty O.K. I am not one who needs like, constant attention, and honestly, I have a lot of hobbies that would require me to not be around other people all the time. However, I can randomly be needy. Breaky knows this. I am very obvious about it too, which helps him figure out when he needs to pay attention to me for like, 20 minutes. Communication is key.


4. You check to see how much time you have when someone asks what your significant other does for a living.



For me, the quick and "easy" version is "he does a lot of video production in the video game industry" or "he works for a video game company". Obviously, that's not wrong, but when I am running down the hall to grab something from the printer, I do not want to have to explain to Bob from HR what an esport is, or how there are "broadcasters" or "casters" for these events.


5. You get a lot of questions about how an esport can be considered a real thing



I used to get really excited when there is a segment on esports on TV. Like the CBS morning show, or another news segment. I couldn't understand why Breaky didn't get as excited as I did. But then I watched them. The amount of condescending, un-informed dribble that would come out of these segments was astounding. Much of this information was false and based on opinions of a generation who not only doesn't "get it" but doesn't want to try to hear the other side.

The episode of Bull on CBS did a better job of portraying esports. Who knows, maybe things are getting better. Then again, maybe not.


6. You find yourself lost when your significant other has conversations about a game, event or feature you know nothing about



Especially in the beginning of our relationship when Breaky and his coworkers started talking "shop" I found myself zoning out. As many of those coworkers got significant others, I had people I could converse with about something else.

More recently, I find myself in the middle of those conversations, but am acutely aware if there are stragglers who may not know what we are talking about. I do my due diligence to make sure to either steer the conversation in a different direction, or try to engage them in some way.


7. If you are a gamer too, date night could mean gaming date night



Breaky and I have been doing a lot of Minecraft together lately. We call these nights "gaming date nights." They are nice, until you know, one of us accidentally hits the other with a shovel, or laughs so hard they cry when a creeper blows up after falling from God only knows where on top of their head (oh goodness was that funny, one minute he was there, the next BOOM, gone! haaahaha....sorry babe)
I even have a blog post about our Minecraft adventures, but I am not sure my enthusiasm for figuring out how to make colored carpet warrants a full blog post, but Breaky was excited for me, so that's that. True love ladies and gentlemen.


8. If your significant other uses a headset mic, you often get frustrated when you think they are talking to you, but are talking to internet friends


Sometimes this is ok though. For example, last night Breaky said to his teammate "don't decapitate me!" or something like that. I, for one, would never do that, nor would that be something he would ever have to worry about from me.

HOWEVER, sometimes if we are in the same room and he starts talking, I can't tell if he's talking to me or not. So we have a system. He lets me know when I have to pay attention to him (see #3)


9. Loud noises/shouting is background noise



I am married to someone who's official job title is "Shoutcaster". No joke. Also, about 90% of his job is done in our house in our studio/office. Has been this way ever since we lived together in our apartment. Now, a good chunk of the "yelling" isn't like, angry yelling. Well, sometimes there is raging, but most of the time, it is hype yelling. It is something that I have just gotten used to. Heck, after 2 months, the dog got used to it too.

There have been many times we'll have company over when Breaky is still streaming or casting, and they will stop mid-sentence because of the shouting. I get confused about why they stopped and what they are hearing. Then it hits me. Normal people are not used to shouting as background noise.


10. You learned a new language without realizing it




I actually did a blog post about this too. I have had to learn a lot of acronyms at first. Now the struggle is to remember to not use them, oh, let's say...at work. Or around my family. Or at the farmer's market. Normal people don't know what to do if I randomly start spouting off about Linda down the hall being "super salty" or Mike from finance being a troll. Especially if your boss is an older medical doctor.



Well, I hope you all had as much fun reading this as I had making it. It was loads of fun. If I missed anything, please leave a comment!

Super Bowl 51

Whether you tuned in to the Super Bowl for the game, for the commercials or just because you wanted to be social and it happened to be on, you cannot say that it was not interesting to say the least. I am aware that some of you may have tuned in to the Puppy Bowl instead, so let me know in the comments if that was as interesting as the stuff that happened during the Super Bowl.

In case any of you don't know, Breaky and I are huge sports fans in general. I have become a bigger football fan after I married him, but I definitely grew up in a household where football and baseball, especially, were on the T.V. frequently.

DogCPK hopes that one day the Detroit Lions can make it to the Super Bowl!

Let's get started with the obvious big topic of conversation. The actual football game. If you don't care about football you may want to skip this part.

Oh. My. Lanta. Can we say comeback? A huge lead blown by the Falcons. I do have to say, the first half and parts of the third quarter, I was rather disappointed by the Patriots. Blown passes, shoddy offense, this was not the game I wanted to sit around and watch! I wanted a good, close, nail-biting game. The surprise comeback was unexpected, but man did it produce some drama! Unbelievable. Now, to the debate of overtime, which by the way, is a first for a Super Bowl. I like the college rules of overtime more than the NFL's, but at this time at night, my head was pounding and I really wanted this game to be done and over, mostly because I knew in my heart the Patriots were going to win. My position was solidified when the Patriots won the coin toss. Sure enough, Patriots sneak by a victory in the Super Bowl 51. While I admit, I am not the world's biggest Patriots fan, nor am I a fan of Tom Brady, respect has to be paid. Great comeback. Congrats.

Ok, enough football talk. This is the part where I make comparisons to the parties we throw in the CPK house to "normals." Obviously there were dogs who provided an unending stream of entertainment. Duh. Next came the conversation about the kick-ass leggings my friend wore to the party. Widowmaker leggings from Blizzard's Overwatch. Which then prompted a discussion about how much leggings would be to make and customize versus how much they run for. Next came the lengthy discussion about the merits and complaints about Nintendo's Switch console. Legit, about 20 minutes. By this time I have had a few drinky-poos, and honestly, didn't have enough information to contribute to the debate, so I kinda spaced out. Next came the convos about Dota 2 and HoN tournaments my husband was a part of these last few weeks. Oh, and of course my husband's colorful commentary on the game. He just cannot turn off his casting. He can't. I love him for it.

Photo Credit to Jacki! 

"They need to review this, I think his knee was down, watch!"-BreakyCPK

Now, to the commercials.

Can anyone else match my excitement about Stranger Things Season 2?







Honestly, I love this ad. Everyone else at the party missed it (probably because of the Switch debate):






And I think universally, the favorite commercial of everyone that attended the party:

Halftime:

A huge shout out to Lady Gaga and her performance at the Super Bowl. As the daughter of a choir teacher, I have been taught and lectured about how to tell if someone is really singing or not. Singing and dancing at the same time is not easy. Breath control is essential. That being said, even with the world's best sound system, breath, background noise, changes in pitch can all be noticed in a performance if you are live.

Lady Gaga was live. She had back-up music/singers in case something technical went wrong, and to add to her volume to be heard, but she was legitimately singing. I shouldn't have to be so impressed that an artist sings live, but that's the world we live in (I'm looking at you Madonna...).

Row the Boat

Many of you may not have heard, either because you do not live in this country, or ESPN and many sports commentators still will not recognize it, but my alma mater Western Michigan University has had a wonderfully successful football season. We went 13-0 in the season, won the MAC and are going to the Cotton Bowl.


I have been a fan of WMU since I was little, as my father went there, then went to tons of games when I went there as a student. Remained a fan even when our team went 1-11 for a season.

The big deal these past few years has been the mantra "Row the Boat" coined by our head coach, PJ Fleck. Here is what he means by row the boat. Many of us (yes us, as I was a little skeptical) made fun of the mantra years ago. Now, you bet your bottom-dollar that I am rowing that boat like a mad woman at a Billy Talent concert. May even buy the tee-shirt.

Wanted to highlight some of the great times had watching football. Also wanted to celebrate the fact that I have made Breaky a fan of WMU Football, despite him being from way over in California and being more of a NFL fan instead of a college football fan.

Go Broncos! And Row the Boat!

This is from... what, 2005? Sophomore year I am pretty sure

2006 home game

Western vs Central Game 2007

2007 Homecoming game

2007 Homecoming

My Dad, my sister and me at a game this year

A big group of us at a home game to celebrate Breaky's birthday! 

Greg Jennings, who played for WMU while I was there. Went on to be in the NFL for a while before retiring. Came back to participate in ESPN's College Game Day at WMU

Breaky and Duchess at ESPN College Game Day 2016 

btw-it was as cold as it looks

A Whole New World: An Introduction Post

"A Whole New World"



Means something a little different when Aladdin and Jasmine sang it in that one Disney movie, but the overall idea is about the same.

When I started dating my now-husband, I had very little to no knowledge that "competitive video gaming" was a thing. At all. Heck, I didn't really understand the really big picture of video games in the first place. I thought I did! I played a ton of Halo and Super Smash Brothers in the dorms at my university. Even beat the boys in a Halo tournament my sophomore year.

I didn't understand the lore, but appreciated that some did. I didn't spend every second on the computer playing games, though realized that some did. What I did not understand, however, was that when you have a group of individuals who make it their life to create, research, play and breathe video games, a very specific and identifiable culture emerges.

I had dated a gamer before. He played WoW and a few other games while we were dating. We had a tricky break-up but remained friends. But I digress. I thought I was prepared.

I was wrong.

When BreakyCPK and I first started dating (how we met will be a separate blog post. It's too cute not to be), I was relieved I finally found someone that I was entirely compatible with. A self-proclaimed "geek" who was also a bit of an extrovert and had many similar interests that I did. It helped that he was my type and very attractive.

For those of you reading this who may not know who BreakyCPK is, let me explain super quick. He came from California, where he started delving in to the new world of "shoutcasting" or broadcasting video-game sporting events. He did this independently, while going to school for sports broadcasting. People started to notice, and really long story short, was hired by a video game company in Michigan to do this full time. Eventually, he would become the Video Production Lead for a video game called Heroes of Newerth, where he not only continuing to "shoutcast" but to produce marketing videos for the company. (TL;DR He works for a video game company)

My first glimpse in to the culture that revolves around video games was actually on our  second date. He took me to a movie, where a bunch of his friends showed up. I could tell he was embarrassed and didn't arrange for that to happen, but I found it so endearing. I met an eclectic group of folks around the same age, and even younger than me who were so supportive of Breaky and his new love interest. I couldn't help but plaster a huge smile on my face. Very interesting people and I knew and hoped I would see more of them soon.


Some brief things I found out about the culture of those in the video game industry.

1. You will not find a more passionate group of people in any other industry. Arguments could be made for many different fields and I know many fields have very, very passionate people. However, those in the field of video games are hard-working, pseudo-obsessive individuals who spend their work time and play time revolved around their craft. Not just their craft however. Once they find a topic they find interesting, they become the experts on that. Politics, music, board games, etc. Makes for absolutely fascinating conversations

2. The stereotype of the "gamer introvert" is false. So many video game professionals have outgoing personalities and are extremely social and involved with the community. As with any group of people, you will have both extroverts and introverts, but in the video game industry, regardless of which you are, you are family. Many social events revolve around work friends, and include everyone.

3. The lingo is.... different. Because of the sheer amount of time spent with others of their craft, video game enthusiasts of all professions have created a sort of new language. I can say with pride that I have caught on to this and even find it leaking out while in "normal" situations. I may do a blog post on that one.

4. You find and make forever friends. About 80% of our wedding party were from the "video game industry." Many others actively play the same games we do, creating a sort of family. I could not have asked for a better wedding party on our very special day. Many of my female friends are either working in the video game industry or are girlfriends/fiances/wives of those in the video game industry.


There are so many other little nuances to this world and culture. Way too many for one blog post. When I started dating Breaky, I didn't realize how different my world had been. I also didn't realize there were others in my position who were new to the whole professional video game culture, but wanted to belong.

That's the basics of what this blog will be. Also recipes that many have demanded I share, as well as I'm sure, insight in to the ever changing and evolving world of competitive video games, and maybe life in general.