from a very early age, creating or at least having some sort of presence in music was insanely intriguing. 

my older brother (who i also share my july 4th birthday with)  steve, was in a band when i was a kid and i loved going to watch him perform.
while he played guitar AND sang in his band, i more than anything was drawn to singing. one of the earliest forms of bonding for me was belting to different songs during car rides.
for me though, an important distinction was quickly developed: i ADORED the metal music genre. the angst, the adrenaline, the aesthetics, everything about it i became quickly attached to.
my first ever favorite bands in as early as 5th grade were groups like senses fail, underoath, killswitch engage, enter shikari, all thanks to steve.
he really created a foundation that i would only continue building upon when i finally wrote my first ever song at 13 years old.

maybe one day you'll hear it, but probably not.

you're probably thinking to yourself, 
"mike, there is NO way your twitch account is super old too, right?!"
                                             ***LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER NOISE***

i created my twitch account on june 27th, 2013. it's kinda poetic that both my youtube AND twitch accounts were made in the same month, days apart from each other. my life is always at its best in the summer.

although i hadn't really used it much outside of watching one of my favorite youtubers at the time, azuritereaction, i started using it daily as soon as i found this little game called SUPER SMASH BROTHERS MELEE FOR THE NINTENDO GAMECUBE CIRCA 2001.

the first melee tournament i ever watched live was apex 2015. my favorite player after watching the smash documentary was none other than the goat, mang0, who also happened to impromptu money match leffen. in my head, mang0 definitely won that and i will not be answering any further questions at this time.

because of mang0, i found myself trying to catch every stream of his. i even happened to record a video on my iPod touch of me subscribing to his channel for the very first time, despite the very little money i had to my name. i haven't missed a single resub since then. it was the first time i ever truly felt like i was part of a community online. watching him game, goof off, celebrate milestones, was and STILL is so inspiring to me.