Though I do enjoy the film “The Fifth Element”, I’ve always been in love with robotics, artificial intelligence, androids, and Mecha. My interpretation of the “fifth element” felt like a play on “the ghost in the shell” or something extraordinary and “hidden within.”

I used this concept while in trauma therapy as a personal motivator to help me push through thinking about my history with various health traumas and anxiety. The Fifth Element became a concept about finding the spark inside one’s self to move from a place of reactivity and fear to a place of productivity and courage. It’s about self-actualization and moving from a habit of affliction into one of virtue.

I decided to incorporate this notion into my brand, and if you pay attention you will note that my stream revolves around a robot powering on, activating, and ultimately shutting down when the stream closes out. Streaming, to me, is about embracing a “positive anxiety” and “leaning into life.” Every night, I lean in, power on, and embrace what comes.

Simply, I’m a life-long nerd and I love organizing people around positive gaming communities. After significant health challenges consumed my life in early 2017, I spent much of my time rehabilitating and distracting myself (as I always have) in games and watching streamers and content creators.

Inspired, I decided it was time to invest in the pursuit of making my own positive community, by facilitating a fun and engaging atmosphere where people could let themselves go and share in the things we all love playing together.

Embracing a full-time schedule has been challenging for me with certain health setbacks, but content creation is one of the greatest things I’ve ever done. It’s my passion and I’m extremely excited about doing this increasingly full-time!

Briefly:

Favorite TV Show: Star Trek: TNG
Favorite Movie: Young Frankenstein
Favorite Book: Sherlock Holmes
Favorite Music: Spanish Classical, Blues (SRV/Hendrix), Electro Swing, New Wave

Favorite Computer Game(s) (recent): Darkest Dungeon, Tribes 2, Cuphead, Slay the Spire, Dead Cells, Ark: Survival Evolved, FFXVII, Golden Eye

I’m a sucker for deep experiences, dystopic, psychological, and horror-themed cinema. I dive deep into organized, challenging, and competitive game content. Much of my childhood was spent on various consoles, at LAN parties, on Battle.net (Warcraft + Starcraft), or in various competitive team games.

Nerdrage: I have 3000+ hours in Ark: Survival Evolved, 1500+ in Darkest Dungeon, placed 7th in the world for a Nintendo Magazine Turok 2 time-trial challenge, held #1 in overall points international leader-board for Transformers War For Cybertron (Xbox 360), and recently completed Cuphead 100% (all difficulties).

I worked in the service industry for several years, primarily doing pizza delivery. I went back to college when I was 22 to pursue a career in Psychology.

My plans were interrupted by serious health traumas, and I ultimately found myself out of school and working in the health industry alongside folks who help others recover from brain injuries in various ways. — I mostly did web-development, social media management, and I produced a podcast about brain injury recovery.

It doesn’t pay very well, but it’s extremely meaningful work.

I spent close to 7 years studying psychology at Metro State University in Denver. I built incredible relationships with the professors and doctors in that field and did both my TA and RA in developmental psychology with an emphasis on parenting and child psych.

I lost vision in one of my eyes suddenly (due to a freak retinal tear) near the end of my studies and ultimately never finished my degree. No regrets — studying psychology and working directly with professionals completely changed my life and the way I look at people and the world in an informative and meaningful way.

College, for me, was a lesson in how to work with, support, and rely on others to move through crucial tasks and objectives. I think, ultimately, college is often about learning to be a functioning “person in society,” and how to value yourself as a part of a whole. If you can make it through with any money left, new connections, and a sense of enlightenment about a subject you enjoy, it can be well worth the experience.

Learning psychology from the professionals I worked with changed the way I understand and appreciate myself, the nature of people, and gave me a sense of peace about the nature of the Human species and why we behave the way we do in the face of challenges, situations, and our everyday lives. Without a basic understanding of Maslow’s hierarchy, the bell curve, or existential crises, I don’t think I would be the person I am today or harbor near the amount of patience and empathy for fellow humans, all of whom (really do) share similar struggles to you and I.

In general, I’ve suffered from severe anxiety and difficult health issues my whole life. Asthma dominated my childhood and early adult life, and has required hospitalization several times. I was recently diagnosed with early-onset Sjogren’s disease, which is auto-immune and mirrors aspects of Multiple Sclerosis, including chronic fatigue, muscle weakness, and a weak immune system. Due to this disease, At 26, I became mostly blind in my right eye.

In early 2017, I began to suffer nervous system issues, including the loss of strength and control of many different muscles and tissues throughout my body, which range from my legs, feet, arms and shoulders to smaller facial muscles (I couldn’t smile for some time). I was eventually cleared of many different potential diseases and causes and was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea.

Despite these challenges, I remain a positive, vigilant, and driven person and individual. I’m more than happy to answer any questions about my journey.