Online players of ALLL ratings, especially low, what's your story?

I've been staring at the graph on this site that shows the ratings distribution for online players and where I fall within it and it really just got me thinking about how many of us there are and at all different levels, and especially how huge the group is that's around 900 in 1v1 or 800 in team games.

I mostly only know people around my level, a bunch of try hards who wish we were good. I'm just really interested in the stories of the people from all over this graph and especially lower -- how did you get into online? How long have you been playing in general and how long online specifically? How seriously do you take it? Are you trying to get better, or just enjoying it casually? Do you play alone or with friends? Have you made friends playing online? How often do you play? What's your favorite strat, what do you struggle with?

Tell your story!