Making sure that I was on a team with players that I am confident in and are dedicated was crucial for this next event. For those of you who don't know, the team you go to Orlando with is the team that you'll be going to Providence with. So after running games with a bunch of different players, I felt best with Crimsix, Twin Savior, and Amish Acorns. We formed our team and became "Revolution." We want to stand for the start of something new; the beginning of a new team. I've been practicing a lot since Raleigh! Working on my shot, team work, 1v1's and mental game. I'll be grinding till the event everyday!
Push up contest went down at the National Guard booth at Raleigh!
The Title update is coming out soon, the no bloom has peaked my interest. I'm stoked to see how it plays and how MLG evolves with it! I'll definitely be trying it out but I won't play to much of no bloom until MLG makes it official for tournament play. I can only imagine that it will bring back a feeling of the other Halo's :)
This is why you don't usually see me when I'm sniping....haha! In Austin, TX doing some work with the National Guard.
I finally finished planning and booking everything for my Orlando trip! I can't wait to play on lane! My amazing and beautiful girlfriend, Ellen will be flying in Friday night to support my team and I! After the event we are going to Disney World for a few days as my early birthday present to her!! Ellen has never been to Disney World before, so she has a whole new world ahead of her! haha Hopefully it's nice and sunny one of the days so we can go to Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach!
What a view to wake up too! This was taken at my cousin's house in Durham/Raleigh. Ellen and I had to make a trip to see their new house!
Now to the stream..I love streaming!! I'm going to be doing 1v1 marathons and 4v4 marathons with the community! Also, after all the people saying I should prove myself on Gamebattles..I'm going to start playing GB and make my way to the top of the ranks!
I just wanted to give everyone an update on what's been going on with me. I am currently in Austin, TX doing work for MLG and my sponsor the National Guard. Shibby and Proofy (COD Pro) are also here with me, we're working on making a video. I won't say much more then that but I'll let everyone know once it's all done so you guys can see all the hard work that was put into it! This was all so short notice that Ellen and I had to cut our vacation in Raleigh a day short. I'll be in Texas until late Saturday night, which brings me to my next point, my stream.
I am going to, once again postpone my stream launch date because MLG would like to be apart of it so I'm coordinating with them on making my stream a huge success. I'm sorry for continuing to postpone the date. I've been getting such a positive response from so many people that I want everyone to be involved. When I get back in town Saturday night, I'll be getting in touch with MLG and hopefully we'll get something going. I'll keep everyone updated with what's going on and when things should be up and running. Thanks for understanding everyone!
Raleigh is coming up this weekend and I'm stoked to play! I want to break back into the top 3 and win an event. It's been awhile since I've placed up there and I'm really working hard to win. With this team, I feel we have so much drive and potential to win an event. We still have things we need to improve on and we're practicing hard every night to do so. I've been watching VOD almost every day so I can see how other top players think and move. Our team didn't get to lan before this event so we knew we had to practice hard online. We have a couple days left and I'll be gaming hard each day. MLG Raleigh here we come!!
A quick recap of Anaheim, we placed fourth in our pool and had a long road ahead of us. We brought it back after 52 games and finished with a solid fourth place. Which brings me to a great quote I live by "In order to win you have to lose." After reviewing our mistakes from Anaheim I'll be going into Raleigh very confident. We're planning on surprising a lot of people at MLG Raleigh, giving our fans something to scream and cheer for. I'll be giving away some free stuff through-out the event so make sure to come say hey if you have some time.
Ellen and I took a day trip to Louisville, KY for the Kentucky State Fair and of all the aisles to walk down in a collection of artwork, we stumble upon this….
A doughnut burger….I didn't have the stomach to try this one!
I have recently been sponsored by the National Guard and I hope to be with them for some time as I already love everything they are planning on doing and enjoy the people I'm working with. If you're going to Raleigh, come check out the National Guard Booth to play me 1v1 or If you're about my size we can do a push-up contest. If you beat me you'll win a prize!
At the Kentucky State Fair repping the National Guard!!
The stream is nearly set up! We are currently testing and everything is running properly we just have to tweak a few more things to better your viewing experience. We went through many troubles with our first capture card. It ended up that the Black Magic was not compatible with my Dell xps 9100. Every time the drivers were installed the computer would crash. So we moved on to a newer and better cap card…the Hauppaauge "Colossus." We were looking at Grass Valley and other equipment but there were some questions in the air regarding them and I did not want to take any more chances on something that might of worked. So I went with the Colossus. I'm sorry to all of you who were anticipating my launch date. The new date I've set is Saturday and Sunday September 3rd/4th. Here is a photo of some of the things I'll be giving away. So make sure you're watching my stream for it's official launch date Sept. 3rd/4th for multiple chances to win prizes! You'll have to do your StrongSide homework for trivia questions that I have for some of the best prizes! With this stream I want to give back and help to the community and my fans. I will be giving free stuff away periodically. The more viewers I get the more free stuff I can give away! I really want this stream to be huge, please help get the word out and feel free to stop by my stream to see if were testing before my launch date. If you have any ideas to help me make the stream better, message me on facebook.com/mcstrongside or twitter.com/mcstrongside Here is the link to my stream twitch.tv/mcstrongside. Make sure to follow me!
Big things happening at StrongSide Stream!
Shout out: Big Thanks to Matt Kenner aka Letterz for helping me set everything up and big Thanks to Ellen and my parents for getting me all the stream equipment as a surprise birthday present!
Group photo before getting down and dirty!
200ft underground!
On to more fun stuff, last week Ellen and a group of buddies of mine took a trip out to the longest underground cave in North America, Mammoth Cave to go spelunking. For those of you who don't know what spelunking is, it is an extreme outdoor activity which involves exploring caves by means of cave crawling, climbing and exploring. Depending on the cave the crawling can consist of long crawling periods, tight spaces, wall climbing, long narrow tunnels, water tunnels(can be very dangerous) which I have not yet tried but want to so bad! The only light source you have is the light on your helmet. You also have knee pads, elbow pads and gloves since your crawling and climbing non-stop. You are always on the move. It is a huge adrenaline rush! Here are some videos and pictures of the adventure! I highly recommend it to anyone who loves outdoor activities!
Canyoning my way around!
300ft underground!
Ellen and I enjoying ourselves!
Having lunch 300ft underground!
This crawl is called "The Poop Shoot" lol you have to free climb up and squeeze yourself into a hole at the top, that's where the foot is hanging from! haha
A video we took while on the spelunking tour! It's crazy how small the hole once you're on the other side!!
This summer so far has been great and there is so much to do! Ellen and I finally made it out to Wake Nation in Cincinnati to have a session of wake boarding all day! It was so awesome! There weren't to many people so we were able to ride all day without a line. This was my third time going and I told myself I had to hit the all the ramps before I leave. i had my wipe-outs but then I figured it out. In no time I was cruising off the ramps. At the end of the day I hit the second biggest ramp and ended it with a tail grab! Soo sick! (picture below!) When I get back from Anaheim I'll be making a few more trips to Wake Nation. I"ll have some videos coming soon! Back flips and tantrums are next!!
Now about the new team…we have been practicing a bunch. We are looking really good. Tomorrow I'm leaving to Dersky's house. Our team will be at his place for a week. Gaming side by side is such good practice. Your able to go over stuff in person and screen watch!! Screen watching is one of the most important things in Halo. If you can't screen watch you need to practice it so you can! Dersky has been challenging me to a 1v1 in Basketball. I don't think he knows I'm 6"3 and he is only 5"3. haha. Dersky is going to get rocked. It is going to be an awesome week of gaming. I can't wait to get out there. We will be getting so much practice in before the event which will really benefit us.
StrongSide Stream 24/7. I have been really busy trying to get my stream together. I'll be getting my stream out soon and the first day I will be doing a 24 hour stream session with free giveaways(everything from my tournament controllers to my MLG tournament jerseys), free gametime, and any 1v1 challengers! I'm stoked to get this up and hope you all come to check it out. There will be a lot more to come with my stream so stay tuned. I'll be posting on my twitter and facebook with more details.
We also have the Pre Anaheim RedBull lan at the hotel on Wednesday and Thursday with Walshy's team and Status Quo. Should be some more good practice! Check out the pictures below from WakeNation and us at the TLN house on July 4th! See you all in Anaheim. Good luck to everyone that is playing!! Check out some pro team practice with our new team below the pictures!
Columbus was a rough tournament. We were not prepared as a team. We were shaky throughout the event. The series we would win were still hectic. We couldn't get on the same page. After Dallas's placing I was extremely confident in everyone. We took a break but I don't think we officially came back. Life got in the way and our schedules were conflicting. This brings me to the team change. After Columbus I knew we had to practice a lot more to get on the same page again.We started practicing when we got back and it felt like we all had something else in mind to do. After a couple days PJ(snake bite) and I felt it would be best for all of us to start something fresh. We talked it over and all agreed. PJ and I officially left Warriors and were looking for two. We ran games with a few people and ultimately decided that Dersky and Twylight would be a great addition to the team. Robbie and Kyle(elamite) then decided to split which gave myself and PJ the Warriors name and seed. Good luck to you both and your teams you decide to go with.
A bunch of us had planned a trip to Cedar Point after the Cbus event. We arrived there Monday night and headed out all day Tuesday to ride some rides! This year we got to ride the Top Thrill Dragster! haha The park was almost empty so we were walking on every ride. sooo sick.
Warriors!
The little guy just wanted a friend.
Chris Angel magic.
Taking a picture with my biggest fan.
The Spartans preparing for battle. Watch video further down!
Millenium Force. The first drop is sick!
If you look on the left of the picture Brandon is about to get owned. haha
The frogs kept taunting us.haha We couldn't beat the game!
Wes got the closest with the diving jump! haha
Man vs. Bird
The new Warriors consist of Snake Bite, Dersky, Twylight, and myself. We've been practicing a lot and I'm stoked for the RedBull lan coming up this weekend! June 24th-26th. You will be able to watch the lan streaming from ---> http://win.gs/rblan Those of you that live in the NYC area come out and join us at the Red Bull arrival party at the Times Square Dave and Busters on June 23rd 8pm-11pm.
After the RedBull Lan I'll be heading out to Chicago for the Pros vs Joes 4! I am pumped to be attending my second PvJ and bring home the gold this time. The first one I attended was sick! I got to meet a bunch of cool dudes and game my mind out! We have a few spots left for the one coming up June 30-July 2nd. For more info visit http://thelannetwork.com/forum/showthread.php?3611-Fantasy-Camp-4 and message "Mr P" on the site or Anthony Pennachio on Facebook to sign up. Attending the PvJ as of now is Lunchbox, Ninja, Totz, Fear, Victoy, and myself. I heard we have some solid players attending as of now. It is going to be a great one!
Summer time is here but it keeps storming! I want to get out and wakeboard but the weather keeps denying me.haha I usually drive up to a place in Cincinnati, Ohio called Wake Nation. If any of you wakeboard out there and live near by hit me up on Facebook and we'll make a trip out!
The duo grinding hard!
Old Warriors team at TLN Lan.
Anaheim is going to be sick!!!
Good luck to all the new teams and players out there!
A BIG thanks to TheBurntSide for helping me upload the videos! Thanks a bunch man.
At Dallas we placed 4th but I wanted first. We played amazing when it came down to the game 5's against every team. We fell short against BTH with a 3-0. We know what we have to do know and that is practice. As of now our team hasn't played to much and I think that it will hurt us going into Columbus unless we start playing a bunch. I had my first PvJ the other week and it was a blast! The amount of gaming everyone put in was insane. The first day we had a chance to scope out the players and prepare ourselves for the draft later that night. After we put our teams together, it was time to game! I had a solid squad and we were working well together in our first series. The next couple days we played a few more series and I went over stuff with the guys and showed them some new tactics and things to work on. They learned fast. It was the last day and we had the tournament! We were playing solid but fell short against T2's team and ended up placing 4th. I think it could of been the lack of sleep throughout the weekend. haha. my guys were exhausted. To end the lan off strong, the last night of the PvJ all the serious gamers stayed up and we gamed till 8 in morning. We ran indiana jones, dodge ball, MLG, and btb. It was the first time I did btb with 16 people sitting next to each other on lan haha. After the games we said our good-byes and I got in my recovery sleep.
With the PvJ ending it was the beginning of another trip. Ellen was driving to pick me up and we were heading to Minnesota to see her family. Before leaving we made a pit stop at a go karting place in Chicago! Hahn, Fearitself, and Flamesword came along. We did three races and out of all of them the one person who was the hardest to pass was Ellen! She is ridiculous at cutting you off and keeping you stuck behind her. I ended up getting lucky and making it past her in the third race but Flamesword and Hahn were no match for her. She made them look like nubcakes. Now we were ready to set off to Minnesota! It had been almost seven months since we seen the Yang family, so Ellen was super excited to see her family and so was I. We stayed there for seven days and had something planned everyday before we arrived! It was going to be an awesome trip. I love being around her family because she has such a big family and they are always together. There is never a dull moment. Also, the Hmong food was delicious! I have become so obsessed with white rice now that we picked up a rice cooker while we were there…yummy. We went to a local restaurant to have pho at least five times. it is so good! Ellen and I went to Mall of America and we cleared out PacSun! haha. We went to the Aquarium at MOA and it was awesome. The Jellyfish showing was sick. The tunnel walk through was awesome. The fish are gigantic!
They made us dress up like lunch ladies..while we were getting prepped for the go-kart course.haha
Leeeegooooooo!
The Sea Life
We couldn't get the fish to crack a smile.
Birthday shots.
Hlub.
Ellen's brother and his wife are having their first baby so both families threw them their first baby shower. Let me tell you, I have never seen SO MUCH candy in my life! The baby shower theme was as Candy Land. There were dumb dumb trees and handmade cake treats. Also, every candy you can think of. Then we headed back to her brothers place later on and played a bunch of card games while having a few beers. I'm a beast at card games now! haha
We also went rock climbing at Vertical Endeavors and tore up the walls there! Ellen and I are truly monkeys!It's the best rock climbing place we've been to yet. They had so many belaying walls and bouldering walls all over. If your into rock climbing hit this place up! I've heard one of the best places to rock climb is at the Red River Gorge. So this summer sometime were planning a trip there. I'll be sure to blog about it! The last day we were there we played flag football with the family and friends at the park. The game's were intense. I scored 2 touchdowns and made some sick blocks. We had a great time seeing her family and had fun doing so much while we were there but it was time to head home and get back on the sticks to get ready for Columbus.
