Hungrybox: I was in a meeting with my bosses and
this has never happened to me... My two
bosses and they were talking to me about my
focus on work and they told me... I said
"can I have flexibility for Summit?" and
they said "you have to pick either Big
House 6 or Summit, you can't go to
both." And I said "okay, I'll go to, you know,
Big House" and they were like "okay, we'll do this."
We kept talking and then they started
talking about work things and I
remember I couldn't hear anything, like
the words were going in one ear and out
the other.
And I got teary-eyed and they both got
quiet and they said "what's the matter?"
And I said, "put yourself in my shoes for a second.
What the hell do I do right now? Why,
why is this the right choice, if it's not
letting me do what I love?"
Hungrybox: I wish I knew more words, I wish I hired
a poet here to actually describe what I'm
feeling right now, but it's the single
greatest accomplishment of my entire life,
I can safely say that.
[crowd chants 'Hungrybox']
So, I think it's a good time for
me to announce, I've quit my job at Westrock.
I've quit my job at Westrock
and I'm going to play Melee
for the next few years.
Daniel Rosen: What's it like waking up and
being like "today's a Smash... I'm doing Smash
and that's my job"?
Hungrybox: Like, it's a little scary at
first, because you're like "okay, now I'm doing
this full-time and this is
what you decided."
And you know, you're not gonna have
always steady money coming in, but at the
same time, it's like "wow, I can wake up,
and it's 10 in the morning and
if I'm tired I could just be like
"oh I'll wake up in a half-hour and now
I can just wake up and I can I go see my
girlfriend or I can go like, you know,
work on something or stream or just...
It's a lot more lax. I have time to do what I want
now and I have time to understand, like,
there's no rush for things like there
used to be. And now, when I play Melee,
it's not like "oh, should I be focused on
something else?" Instead now, it's like "yeah I know
exactly what I'm doing because I'm good at this,
and I want this to be a thing."
It's a little scary, at first,
but now I'm getting more eased into it
I understand how it is.. like everyday is
like a little adventure, kinda now.
Like it's a new thing happening, or a new...
new promotion, I can work with my team to
advertise something new. I can stream and
get some more fans, more subscribers,
I can learn more stuff about programming.
A lot of avenues are opening up right now,
and it's just me... It's cool, it's like I'm
reminding myself I'm twenty-three years old,
like if I want to take a trip to the beach -
because I feel like I need a trip to the
beach - I can do that now. If I want to see my
girlfriend, I can do that now. It's... it's really good.
And also, my grandma has
finally moved into my house in
Orlando, my parents' house.
From Argentina for the first time.
So it's, like, she's a little
old lady so I get to finally spend
more time with her, because
I've never really have spent time with
her. So, I think it was a good
call overall, I think it's allowing me to
take advantage of a lot more things that
I wouldn't normally [have] had, in exchange for
what? Maybe I would have had more money
each year. Which, I'm quickly learning
that, to be honest, I can live off what
Smash gives me, that I don't need a lot
of things in my life. I use money to go
to more tournaments
and I occasionally buy chipotle.
I don't know. And it might be super
dumb of me and thirty-five year-old me
is probably look back and say "What were you
thinking? Why did you do that?"
But I just had to know,
I had to know what it's like just to embrace
the game, just altogether. All of its good
and bad stuff. Melee and the community
are far from perfect and I have to deal with
a lot of shit sometimes, but it's a unique
opportunity. Not everyone get to do this
or live this. And, you know, I was born to
apparently be a pro - the pro - Jigglypuff
player for the millennials, so f**k it!
Let's do it.
[Jigglypuff theme plays]
Daniel: Do you feel like you're getting what
felt you were missing out on when you,
you know, you were sitting
at your job thinking "I could
be doing this?"
Hbox: Yeah, yeah. I definitely feel... Like my first
week has already been me going to Canada
and then I went to San Diego for a JINX shoot
then I came here to Summit and then it's just
all, you know, it's all-encompassing and
my stream has gone from 149 to 750
subscribers in like two weeks, which is massive...
Hungrybox: And we have a new sub...
Hungryboxmama, I assume that is my mom,
on a new account.. if it is, mom
welcome to my channel! [laughs]
And I really think I can do this.
I really think if I just keep
pushing at this, I really think I can...
I can make myself like not only just a
Smasher, but a well-known like name
you know what I mean?
Hungrybox: Tafo, this is f**king bullshit.
You promised me
EVO 2016, Pound 6 and Smash Summit F**king 3!
What are you doing man!?
Tafo: Sorry man, maybe next year.
Hbox: Are you kidd-- oh my God.
Suck a d**k, Tafo!
Hungrybox: And I still have my degree. In a worst case
scenario, you know, it's not easy to get a
job again, but I still have that, you know,
I can always go back to school. I'm so
young. I'm so young and I can do
all of it, because I know that I'm a
problem solver and I don't let
myself like just be screwed.
I don't let myself do that and I have a
very, very kind group of people in my
life that love me and care about me
and like a great family and set of friends who
won't let me down either. So I'm a
lucky guy to have those kinds of people I
don't think I'll have to worry about that
even if Melee dies, or if I fall-off, or if
my fingers aren't as fast as they used to be.
Hopefully...we'll just see what happens.
Melee is not forever, but it's very beautiful
to finally be living in the now.
You know what I mean?