Hey guys! My name is Walter, but I go by the name of Dusty or Dustball. I'm Twenty One years old, live in the East Coast of 'Murica', I like cooking, I like music, playing/listening, I like track, swimming and I like video games. Now, I don't really want to make this about me but people have requested an updated bio so I'll spend this time to tell you somethings I haven't even told some of my family members. This'll be a long read so better have some time to spare!

For starters, I'm lucky to be alive, when I was born, I was about seven months premature, and for those who don't know, your average baby comes out in its 10th month. So if you do the basic math, I was a LONG way from being fully developed, I came out early due to some complications, I was taken out, incubated and went straight to surgery because I had oxygen issues that caused my blood to become black as night and that went on for roughly.. two years, I was in a hospital for the first two years of my life. I was taken to John Hopkins (special hospital) and my parents were basically told not to expect my survival. Yeah, crazy right?

Well, lets fast forward some more time, I grew up a mute, I didn't understand English and I was way under-matured physically and mentally. My first word was at five, I started to grow little by little, I was held back a year because of my undeveloped basic skills and I don't remember much but being placed in this special school to "streamline" my progress and it worked! When I hit middle school I was caught up mentally but psychically I was still underdeveloped so I was a little shorter, I was a little chubbier, my skin was extremely susceptible to skin damage so I always wore flannels, hats, even gloves if the weather was bad enough. I was shy and I didn't like people (still don't!) but I met a couple of people who liked me as a person and that was one of the many turning points in my life.

I unfortunately failed that year because the "friends" who liked me were awesome.. because I never really had friends like that, so turns out I hung out with a bunch of rotten apples who got me in trouble which lead me to missing class which lead to my grades plummeting and me repeating the year. Yup, that happened so the next year I grew a little more wiser and I passed with flying colors. Remember those bad apples? I continued to befriend them and trust them because my social skills still couldn't differentiate a good person from a bad one so it continued to affect my life. I started smoking pot the next year, I grew into old baggie clothes, I let my hair grow and.. my grades plummeted yet again.

I was lucky enough to do good enough to pass which continued up to Freshman year in High school. At that point I got into really heavy music, I listened to a lot of metal, those bad apples made a shitty band and I was the frontman doing unclean vocals. We had -no- idea what we were doing but we did it to channel our rage and I admit, it was fun! My reputation proceeded me as the "punk rocker pot smoking boarder" but baam! Full circle, something happened that would change my life forever. I was involved in a terrible car accident a week before Christmas out in the mountains near my mothers house, till this day I look back at that moment and tear.

This accident was like no other, I don't want to get into too much detail but it impacted everyone/everything around me. I was put out for a year and a couple of months on home-school to this teacher who honestly didn't give a shit about me. I broke a couple of bones in my body so I was pretty much bed ridden so I had a -lot- of time for homework and studied which is what I did. That happened for about a year before I re-entered school, I was prescribed painkillers, heavy oxy, vicodine for a chronic pain that I developed and it was an unlimited supply too, so when I returned back to school they allowed me to use it BARELY but the law allowed me to so they regulated my dosage as much as they could and I would take them when pain occurred. I was always loopy, dizzy and a little high and people knew that. I was in ROTC at that time and used that to pursue a career in the military.

This went on for about another year, I tried to return back to my old life but so much had changed, I was mildly depressed because of that accident, traumatized to be near cars and dealt with a lot of physical/psychological issues. I continued my best with school, it was a little hard as I didn't learn anything by my home school teacher. I met a lot of friends, some good and those bad apples who had been my friends for so long I couldn't bare to lose them especially at that vulnerable point in my life. One day I woke up to terrible news. I can remember it like it was yesterday "Walter sweetheart, we're moving"... it played back in my head a million and one times before it finally kicked in.

I-I was moving from my hometown.. the place where I had everything.. to where? An unknown place where she lived, no friends, some family, nothing else to live for. Before I left I cried at least a hundred times, my girlfriend at the time, my lifelong friends, my studies and ROTC! I had to rebuild but I couldn't bare with the thought but when I finally moved I had to finally wake up. I woke up, but not in a good way. I woke up to completely change my life. I went to a new school, I chose not to make new friends, I became depressed, I began drinking heavily at a young age, sneaking liquor into my room, I was still using prescribed medicine, I didn't know what to do so I attempted to end my life by mixing both. I od'd and was technically dead for two minutes. I was resuscitated and was released. Everyone knew I attempted to kill myself but I told them I wasn't to avoid issues and told them I had a problem and didn't know he substances would hurt me. I lied but I was still sent to rehab.

Remember the story about that horrible home school teacher? He was such a horrible person, he was so bad he didn't even bother to submit my work to my teachers for that year I was out. I flunked that year too with nothing and was told by my new school.. "Sorry there's nothing we can do." and they couldn't do anything, so the two years I was suppose to do to finish, it went back to three and a half, I said hell no and begged my parent to put me a in military school. Luckily I was able to transfer my credits and due to my ROTC experience I was granted admission to this military school for youth and was out in a year and a half! I finished school earlier than all my friends and this leads me to my new chapter.

I was 18 and life changed again. Lets reverse back to the car accident. A lot of people who know me know this and I'll tell you because this.. this is my second home, you all are my brothers and sisters and I can trust you all because I was put her for a reason and that counts, doesn't it? So yes, I won some money in a settlement for a malpractice suit winning a substantial amount. They settled out of court and the money was put into an account until I came of age. When I was 18, I grabbed that money and I immediately felt the urge to use it to move back to my hometown but at that time I was so depressed reality was perceived as a dream.

I knew a couple of people who I attended this military school and they told me their genius plan and all that, they didn't work out well for him but I took the principal knowledge and I made it my own, not the idea but the concept, so instead of spending, I made my sum into an investment, working with no one but my father, a couple of close family siblings, friends and my old Gunnery Sergeant, using their ideas to create a path for my future. That's what I did and something I continue to do til this day. Seems like a happy ending, right? Wrong.. I was still depressed, still abusing my drugs, still drinking heavy liquor, smoking weed and this time, I was completely alone as I shut my family out completely.

I bought a condo, I literally bought a fucking fridge, a couch, paid the man and sat there all day being miserable.. I didn't know what to do, Lets rewind a little more.I have been a long-term forum browser, every chance I had the ability to be on a board I would always hop on a new one but one day I joined this new site about gaming, a site called Machinima. This site was so shit, but the red design and classic phpbb board made me happy. I was introduced to a lot of the old "owners and moderators" and I loved it because it was about games, and making films of games! That started even before I left my hometown, before these life changes but at this time I was alone and all I had was this website for gamers and film.

Eventually this small shitty site became huge, this became a big big company and everyone who was originally on board gave up, joined or left to pursue a different career but they are the people who laid out a structure for this. It was revolutionary, and it swept the internet and became a beacon hub for YouTube. I continued to stick around with the site, being an "oldfag" of that site I was offered a job to create videos in 480p footage using a dvd player and some tape ;p. Yep. Fast forward time!

Being alone in my room I was in touch with a lot of internet friends, I knew a guy who had been with Machinima for a while. At this point he'd been on Youtube as a "partner/creator" for at least 7 years, he was a couple of years older than me but his knowledge, personality and support kept me together somewhat so I invited him over to the East Coast where he came to my empty apartment and he stood here for a week. At the end of the week, he didn't want to leave and I didn't want him to so he became one of my two current room-mates.

My second room-mate! I met her one night in this random bar my room-mate got me into, I was only 18 so I knew what a bar was but I never knew what to expect so when he got us in, we met this random crowd of people who recognized his status and called him over, I was surprised that his reputation on YouTube was this big, he wasn't a drinker, and I surely wasn't going to get drunk at a bar that I wasn't suppose to be in for starters so we didn't drink, we just hung out with that crowd of people! That's where I met her, she was so beautiful, she was a bartender for this bar and came out, waited on our table. While all these guys were nerding out over my room-mate (true story) I was there staring at her, wondering how I should approach or even if I should have. Again, IM NOT SUPPOSE TO BE THERE.. was what i was thinking profusely.

Anyway, she came over and I asked for her number, I was 5'7, 130lbs, a goatee, and I looked like a child in her eyes. It was awkward but she gave it in spite of being awkwardly asked out by a younger looking guy at a bar. We spoke a lot, I loved her in a way that was like no other, we became really close to the point where we should have been a couple but something was holding us back, maybe the age (which she's only 3 years older), maybe the chemistry but either-way we hooked up and nothing ever happened. Since we never got to that point of being a couple but having that mental relationship she would always tell me her problems and her problems were mostly financial. She was living with her parents, attending college and paying off a lot of debts. She was looking for a room/place to rent and at first I didn't know what to do.

She continued to tell me about her issues and I honestly wasn't very reluctant to offer my help. I had an extra room and she accepted. Fast forward! Lets finish this off as my eyes are burning from sleep deprivation, It's been two years since everything has happened. I can happily say that I'm no longer abusing my medicine, I drink socially and I have god willing been able to make peace with my inner self. I'm not very religious but I feel like everyone should have a sense of belief in a higher power. Someone out there has saved my life on numerous occasions, and I can't ignore that. Having faith in someone, something has restored a lot of balance in my life, mix that with the friends who I have whether it's in person or over the internet, it feels great.

I am a broker for Transamerica, funny story how I got the job, I am happily still working with Machinima as one of its 4-5 outsourced employees and a Account Manager Department head for Verizon Communications. I'm happy with my life and my goal in life is to continue to serve a bigger part in this world by helping others. My life is filled with many mystery's and I'm.. so young, It feels so surreal but I'm destined to do something just like everyone else is. For those who have read my story, the morale is simple, life will have its obstacles but you must have faith and continue to work hard in achieving your ultimate goal no matter what.