Forgot to make one of these OT posts when the event began, but, making it now is better than never! May as well make a post-event thought.

Came into the OT this year very rusty actually, after coming back from like... 3 months of little to 0 activity? I actually didn't even do the de-rustathon very much either, so, grinding the OT itself became my real "de-ruster" tbh. Came into this event with not very high expectations for that reason, especially with this laptop I'm still using as well, with its small and flat keyboard, so, I kinda went into this just "winging" it all. Started out not even AAA'ing R1 to, by R5, I saw a nice solid SDG for the fight for top 8, and the R1 did get re-visited & AAA'ed by that point... that grind/de-rusting over those first 5 weeks certainly ended up paying off too, because little did I know what was to come in the closing rounds. In the semi-finals, I was originally eliminated at 4th, only NARROWLY beating 5th by just 0.2 RG, with a 22 RG PB, and, in the end, that narrow lead actually ended up mattering because, thanks to a surprise disqualification I was informed about, I got brought back to life being moved up to 3rd, and, so, for the first time ever in my soon-to-be 4 year-long FFR career, I got to experience the FFR finals!
What a wild ride this OT has been, and it'll certainly go down as likely one of my most memorable moments on FFR, because, for the first, and maybe last time ever, I'm walking away with an OT top 3 placement + medal after 3 years, 3 total OTs I've participated in!
So, thank you FFR team, for hosting the event once again, and for giving me that great opportunity in the end to play in the finals! It was a great/fun time while it lasted! :D
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And, lastly, for reference, my personal OT17 results that got me there:

Round 1 - HEART+MELT+EARTH
Spread/Final score: 3-0-0-0 - 3 RG
Position at the end of the round: ??? (wasnt paying much attention yet)

Round 2 - Shy Toy Soldier
Spread/Final score: 4-0-0-3 - 4.6 RG
Position at the end of the round: ??? (wasnt paying much attention yet)

Round 3 - Zpace Invaderz
Spread/Final score: 4-0-0-0 - 4 RG
Position at the end of the round: 6th

Round 4 - slic.hertz
Spread/Final score: 5-0-0-0 - 5 RG
Position at the end of the round: 3rd

Round 5 - Alexandrite
Spread/Final score: 5-1-0-2 - 7.2 RG
Position at the end of the round: 6th

Round 6 - At the Ground's Edge
Spread/Final score: 7-0-3-6 - 15.4 RG
Position at the end of the round: 5th

Round 7 - Assault TAXI
Spread/Final score: 17-0-2-1 - 22 RG
Position at the end of the round: 4th... until a disqualification happened, moving me to 3rd into the finals!

Round 8: Heartbreak Furry Fandom v2
Spread/Final score: 38-1-4-3 - 50 RG
Position at the end of the round: 3rd

Well, I forgot that this was already starting tonight lmao... guess I'll get this up and going awhile then.

R1: introspect (Score: AAA)

Well, for round 1, this was already a rocky start. I did AAA it, but it came after some frustration for me. (I literally choked an AAA RIGHT at the end, dropping 3 goods there, before I actually got it soon after)... I seen similar double mini-jump-jack patterns here (idk what they're called exactly?) as I recall seeing in dragonlady during the D5 spring event... so that was some quick ptsd I'm happy to have taken care of already lol

R2: Dysthymia (Score: 15.4 RG 8 RG, an 8-0-0-0 SDG!)

Wha?? I don't even know what to say about this one... this is literally my worst weakness, some really bad rolly/bursty patterns, and I definitely wasn't expecting to already have a RG count greater than an SDG so early in the tourney... yikes. I just hope this will suffice for at least moving onto R3, and that something better comes next. Already getting really annoyed/tired of looking at this level, so, I'm likely to keep that 15.4 RG score.

EDIT @ approximately 2:22 AM 7/9/2023 EDT:
BREAKTHOUGH! After suffering for about six collective hours playing this demon, finally, I scored 8-0-0-0! An SDG! Which has me in 5th place now as I type this, so I should be more than safe now moving ahead.

R3: [line:zeta] (First score: 3-0-0-0 SDG!)

Ooooh, this is SO much better than round 2! Only gave this one a couple tries as of this moment (1:50 AM EDT 7/14) and I already have myself a low SDG! Felt a little intimidated seeing those bursts in the early preview at first, but, turns it out it played/felt much better than expected. I would assume that I'm probably already in the clear for this round with that score, but I may still consider AAA grinding this later... might be possible.

Edit 7/20/2023 @ 12:13 PM:
I did improve to a 2-0-0-0 record a few days ago, but it looks like it'll be staying there now. I still think the AAA is possible here, but, considering this already has me sitting in 3rd right now anyway, I'm just feeling too lazy to keep grinding it now lol. 2 goods will do for now.

R4: Mutant Sixty Four (Current score 5-0-0-0 SDG as of 1:59 AM 7/21/2023)

Ok, can definitely feel the difficulty rising now... but we're still going! This started out scary, because my first full run was actually 35 RGs, then I got a 15 RG on my 2nd full run, and then finally, after playing with some settings, I was able to get a solid mid SDG of 5 RG! Only the rolly/bursty mid-section is a problem on this one (from about notes 800-1150) as soon as that's done, the rest is pretty much smooth sailing. As of typing, its early, but that sore has me tied for a 3rd place, so, I think I should be good now with that score to make it into R5.

R5: Pink Slime (Current score as of 12:54 AM 7/19/2023: 3-0-0-0)

OH! I may actually have a shot at earning my first top 8 badge! This score has me sitting in 4th place as I type this. This came after going from 44 RG ---> about 23 RG ---> Only 3 RG! (I guess this is what happens when I decide to play with a different framerate!) It did start things off with a quick jumpstream, one of my strong areas, the only problem I wouldve had coming into this wouldve been all the minijacks in the later half... but wow... well, with that unexpected score, all I can say is, I REALLY hope this makes the cut! Because I don't think there's any way I'm gonne beat only 3 RGs within the week.

EDIT: Score update! Had a SUPER near-AAA run of just 1-0-0-1! That's GOTTA be enough to make it into the top 8 now! Feeling really confident about this!

R6: Thinkin' About You (Current score as of 1:25 AM 8/6/2023 - 9-1-1-1)

Wow! I actually did it! I made it to the top 8 for my first time ever! And it MIGHT not stop there... as of me typing this, this score still keeps me alive. First attempt was a 22.0 RG, and now I have 13.4 RG on it. Some jumpstream action in this level, but also, there's jacky stuff throwing me off... considering that its an 88 difficulty though, I'm already pretty impressed with what I got. Idk if I can possibly still improve from that though, so, let's hope this works.

Edit: Aaaand it turns out I did get an unexpected improvement! A CLEAN 10 RG PB was gotten! Throwing me into 2nd now! That may very well have just sealed me a spot in R7, but, the top 4 are all <13 RG as of typing this (8/10/2023 3:25 PM EDT), so, Its really gonna come down to the wire here!

R7: scualee (Current score as of 9:00 PM 8/11/2023 - 21-0-4-5)

Still alive, wow... so we're down to just the top 5 now. And this round is a wild one, its PACKED with minijacks... and, of course, I'm having quite a time playing it for that reason. Started with 90+ RG, and now I sit with 31.6 after a handful of tries. It still keeps me alive at this moment, but, I reeeeaally dont know if that's gonna be improved, and its only the beginning of this round. Its gonna be REAL hard to improve if I do, so, this could very well be the last round I'm in, but, let's just see what happens.

Well, this has been a much-delayed random thought/update (mostly waited until now because of the timing of the spring tourney (I was pretty occupied with grinding that, and, I also just couldn't find the time to post this until now either lol) but it's actually been done! 2,000 AAAs! Wow... I'm still remembering almost a year ago when I was around 1,500 AAAs being totally convinced that I was near my limit, thinking that reaching 2k was a joke, but somehow, it didn't stop there. A LOT of grinding, mashing, and more sweaty skill boosting happened, most notably since December, and I actually made the major milestone a reality! Quite proud about that still! It's possibly my biggest FFR achievement, next to unlocking token whore as well last month.

However, because it has been a huge grind, between the AAAs, and then the tourney happening, I feel rather burnt out now. Sorta fatigued from all the extra hours of playing for like the last 2ish months, and, in comparison, it's been a lot more play time per day/session then what I was used to doing during 2022/the first week or 2 of 2023. I went from doing, typically, about 2-3 hours a session/day at the time, to more like 5-7 (collective) hours per day/session to make those harder scores happen. So, I think it's time now that I take an overdue break. I'm not gonna just 100% stop playing, of course. (Gotta prevent serious rust from forming) But, when I do decide to play, for now at least, I'll probably just be mostly casual about it, and go back to that 2ish hour play time per session I was doing before the massive grind started.

And, for personal noting, 2,000 AAAs was achieved on 3/27/2022 @ 2:44 PM my time! And "The Divine Suicide of K" was what officially marked AAA #2000!

Here's where I'll jot down my thoughts for OT 15.

Week 1 (Song: Walking the Streets of a Former Hell):

Oh my god!?? I actually AAA'ed the first song of the D5 tourney! I'm so ecstatic about that!! :D I'd say it was definitely a fun song to kick things off overall, there was a scary trill in the middle, but otherwise, it felt mostly stream-y, which is usually my favorite kind of level to play! Idk how far I will or won't be able to go on until, but whatever the result, I'm already satisfied. This is my first ever tourney I participated in, and I AAA'ed my first ever active tourney level I played!

Week 2 (Song: GLAZ):

Well, things already escalated a bit here. A kinda jacky ending this one has, but after seeing the preview, I was expecting to possibly SDG this one, and I did (7 goods) but I may be keeping that lucky record, as I'm suddenly mind blocked now when I try to replay it, not by the jacks surprisingly, but by the huge spike in arrows just before the bulk of the jacks start. (And I'm pretty sure I'm missing the exact same 2 notes there over and over now too) Fingers crossed that my first full run will cut it!

Week 3: (Song: The Friendly Wolf (Part 1)):

Wow! Ok! What a shocking change from round 2, I was going into round 3 expecting a bad score after what I was seeing in the preview, and I come out with a 3 good SDG! This had a few hit or miss jack stretches, and a ton of rolls in this level, but they didn't feel as bad as I anticipated. Overall, not too bad of a level to play. Now, I feel like it's unlikely that I'm gonna top a raw good count of 3, but I'm quite satisfied with this. Hope it'll be enough to keep a decent position moving into round 4!

Week 4: (Song: Evanescent)

We got a jumpstream level this week boii! We're up to a 79 difficulty now, and I started off having 6 goods on it, but before I even typed this, I got a 5 good record now instead. And, what's crazier here: this level actually just gave me my new #1 AAA equivalency ever too! (76.36! Old highest was 75.84.) There's not many cases where I can efficiently play a 79 difficulty, it's atually almost out of my FC'able range, but again, it's a JS level, and that's one of my stronger areas, so I've got hope! The quest for top 16 is looking pretty good now! It's possible to maybe improve that 5 good PB still, but if I don't, I'm keeping my fingers crossed hard that it'll be enough for the top 16 token/achievement!

Week 5: N/A (eliminated round)

9 days after I come back from my semi-hiatus, and close to 8 months of being D4 later, I can't believe I'm actually typing this now. D5 has actually finally been achieved! Back in mid February, I recall saying that D4 would definitely be the last division promotion I could ever possibly earn, and thinking that any higher division would've definitely been way out of my league, because, at the time, I struggled a lot with just getting any AAA equivalency over 60. And now, as I type this, 60+ equivalencies covers almost my whole top 100. And on top of that, unbelievably, I even managed to get my very first 70+ AAA ever! Wow! All the improvement that slowly occurred over those months was so much more then I could've ever imagined! And maybe it'll continue to slowly get even better from here! Will just have to keep on playing like I've been to find that out! For now though, I think I'll probably take a break from the much higher difficulties (grinded them so much over this last week, and my fingers are kinda tired from all that now, my left hand is especially aching from it x_x) and instead start to really aim towards that other big FFR goal I had: getting 1,000 AAAs!

carnation with 2 goods is what officially got me over the edge for achieving D5! Wow, how funny. I say that because a 2 good SDG is what got me the last division promotion too!