Kitchen Warriors at MLG Opener Dallas 2011… nom nom nom

MLG 2011 Opener already came and went as fast as the wind did in Dallas. And man, I still haven’t fully recovered back to reality. In Jessica Monda language, that means I have yet to go back to work at The Olive Garden, haha.
I knew MLG Dallas was right around the corner a few months ago. Originally I was going to go as a spectator with my best friend, Jamie, who has YET to go to an event. Her last minute move changed plans. Then I was hoping to work the event with Astro but they already had their crew lined up. Then, Sarah (Lelu) or she likes to say “the commissioner’s wife” asked me if I wanted to put a team together with her and Faith (Ellen, strongside’s gf) and find a fourth. Well, since Reach has come out, I have  probably played a few solid hours, double-digit games total, so not a lot at all. I knew I had been too busy to play so I assumed I was not good enough to compete. But, I remember how much fun I had back in Halo 2 days when I competed with an all girls team, and I thought, what the hell, LFG!! CRUNCH TIME BABY!
So, MY next mission was to play as much as possible for the next month till Dallas Opener. OUR next mission was to find a fourth. Even though my XBL friends list is full, I don’t have that many female gamers on there. Then one night, us three got online to play and had Prosu (Sarah) as our fourth to run matchmaking. At the end of the night, we had put in some good game time and worked pretty well together, plus we had a good time! Which matters a lot!

And then there were FOUR.

KITCHEN WARRIORS!!!

Once, we got a solid team of four that were 100% all going to Dallas and everything was set in stone, we started to try to practice as much as we could. Well, it wasnt as easy as we thought. Since we are all adults, and halo is not “our job”, we don’t have the time to put in as many hours of practice as other teams. We all have one or more jobs as well as school, PLUS we are all in different TIME ZONES. So, it was really hard to put in a solid couple hours of practice every night, but we managed to get on as much as we could. If one of us couldn’t get on, MALIBU (Lanae, our coach) filled in. And a damn good fill in and coach at that!
As Dallas 2011 crept closer, it was crunch time and I WAS EXHAUSTED! Plus, we STILL needed a team name! We all had our own ideas for team names, but of course, we couldn’t agree on ONE. So, while Ellen was at the Gaming House in Chicago, we asked her to ask the guys there what our team name should be of the ones we provided. And then, KITCHEN WARRIORS was born. LFG! 
Wednesday came and I was pumped! I couldn’t WAIT to see everyone! Seeing everyone every couple of months for just a weekend just isn’t enough time. Especially when there is only ONE NIGHT to “play”, SUNDAY FUNDAY BABY!
Everyone got in Thursday afternoon at DFW. We all waited for Warriors coach SixTen to arrive, he had a surprise in store for us. A limo! Me, Ellen, Warriors, SixTen and friends, all piled into the limo and were on our route to the Crowne Plaza to get settled in and catch up.
Downtown Dallas was a bit different from normal Dallas events. This time, instead of being at the Hilton Anatole, it was at the Dallas Convention Center, which was awesome! But, I’m not too sure how I felt about everyone being in different hotels. I guess it was quite the adventure, but no late night shenanigans! lol. Man!
Friday has arrived!! AHHH! I was so pumped and nervous at the same time! We got the team together and started to warm up. After an hour or so of warming up, I was ready. Finally. I HATE THAT IT TAKES ME THAT LONG TO GET WARM. Then, the streams and MLG website crashes! Causing chaos that would last the whole day and throughout the weekend. With StarCraft2 fans tuning in all around the world as well as Halo and Call of Duty fans, it was just too much. And because of that, we were not able to get settled into a station for a little over an hour later after warm ups. SO NOW, we are cooled off and they announce our station. SWEET BRO!
As we are sitting down, I look up at my screen and see KHAOTIC SNIPE as one of the tags. WTF! NO WAY! We got matched up first round with these kids we have scrimmed before, and one of my favorite little up and coming players!
I met Mason (Khaotic Snipe) in Dallas last year  and I was instantly a Mason Fan
So, once we became friends on XBL, we started playing a lot and he is just GOOOOOD. When we scrimmed his team, we knew that we would get good practice in but their team was truly good. So when we got matched up against them first round, I was completely SHOCKED! Out of all teams, we get matched up with them! CRAZY! But I was excited to play them because they are good people. After all that hype, we lose our series to them. We were a little upset because we obviously didn’t want to get knocked into Losers Bracket first round, but it wasnt so bad since we knew them and they were all good kids.
Losers Bracket starts saturday morning at 10am, warm ups at 8am, so we were hoping to get a good night sleep in. Well all hope had been stomped on. Since the Pro’s had a new Pool Play on Friday and it got delayed because of the streams, Warriors didn’t finish playing their last series of the day till 1:45am! After, they had played back-to-back series all day! It was ridiculous. I was mad for them, because they ended up losing their first series of the day to Gimme My Money. Bologne.
By the time we got back to our hotel and waited for delivery to FINALLY eat, we didn’t get to sleep till 4am. Cooooooool :-/ lol P.S. Did I mention I HATED THE POOL PLAY??
Saturday is here! Okay. Time to warm up and get this day started! I felt pretty pumped we were going to do okay even though we are all running on a few hours of sleep. I am still feeling pretty positive and motivated. I’m the first one from our team in the venue, so I go and find a station first. Then I go to the screen to see who we play. *mouth drops open*
WHAT!? We play the 6th seeded team?? WTF! WOW! What a joke. Come to find out, they lost their series in a fluke and now we have to play a really good team, and we are 124th seed. Sounds reasonable right? Pshhhh.
Okay. Time to tell the team.

Warriors and Kitchen Warriors. No Big Deal.

Yeahhhhh. That didn’t go over too well. I think that was a de-motivator right away. Maybe some people went in already feeling defeated or like it was an instant loss. Which, I wouldn’t fully blame them. These kids are obviously 6th seed for a reason. It just sucked we got bracket f*&^ed.
All in all, even after we lost, I still was pretty proud that we all showed up and competed. I, myself, only had played for a solid month, and we were only a team for a month, we have never LAN’d this game, and I was playing on a new controller. But, this just makes me want to go HARDER next time. Practice harder, learn more, play more! DONE!
As far as the way the pro teams played out over the weekend, INSANE! I was shocked to see some teams place higher than others, and I was SUPER HAPPY that Status Quo won the tournament. I think they deserved it the most. I am a huge fan and always will be! LETS GO QUO! I cant wait to see what will happen from now till Columbus with the team changes! Or just Columbus in general! Who will show up? Who wont?

LifeIsQuo

Sunday night was always as fun as usual. Crazy stories and events always take place Sunday. I am sure everyone has their own personal favorite stories. Since I quit drinking, the whole bar scene is just so overrated for me. But I still hung out for a while with everyone and got to catch up and had a blast. I especially had a ton of fun hanging out with my other half, Kelly. OUR LOVE STORY is for another time
Unless you have school or work to attend Monday, NEVER fly home after an event on Monday. lol.That could be just MY RULE OF THUMB. haha. It used to be for hangover purposes, now, it is gonna be used for a sleep recovery day. haha. But this time it took me 2 days to recover from sleep deprivation.

6th Floor Museum

Finally, Wednesday I was able to function normally and wanted to get out and do something. So, me and Kyle went to the 6th Floor Museum where JFK was shot. WOW. WOW. WOW. What a cool experience. I loved every second of the tour. It really makes you think.
Four days later, finally leaving Dallas. I am pretty happy about how the weekend went. It’s always sad when the events are over and you have to go back to reality, and this time I really tried to drag out the weekend. haha. I am not sure what I am gonna do for Columbus, as far as competing, working or spectating. All I know NOW is that I will be attending and I honestly cannot wait to see whats in store. Columbus is one of my favorite events with all the places around the venue and maybe we will do another trip up to Cedar Point after the event again!!!!! *crosses fingers*

On a side note: The team to look out for this season is an all girl team, Pretty Girl Swag. Good Job at Dallas ladies! Keep it up! Good luck in Columbus! <3 MADLOVE

Pretty Girl Swag

This Is Our Year, 2011… With an All-Star friend

Well, well, well. Where to begin. I would start with this month but that would miss all the fun I had in California in February!
First is first, The 2011 All Star game. Wow, what a treat. Thanks to my good friend Tim Gelt, who works for the Nuggets. He asked me to accompany him in Los Angeles for the All-Star weekend to keep the weekend light-hearted and fun, considering all the rumors that were going around about Carmello Anthony and the Knicks trade. He was definitely in need of a friend to wind down with after the press mobs all day. lol. And I was happy to be that friend!
The hotel we stayed at on LA Live was beautiful. From the lobby to the rooms, I am definitely looking to steal some bathroom ideas for when I build my own home. haha.
While Tim was working throughout the day, I enjoyed a Starbucks coffee down in the lobby where all the chaos was. Tons of fans, businessmen (or “suits” is what I like to call them), groupies, EVERYWHERE! Anytime a player walked through the lobby, cameras were going off and little kids were asking for autographs. It was very interesting and mostly fun to watch. I LOVE PEOPLE WATCHING. lol.
Once Tim was done working for the day, we would treat ourselves to a nice dinner around town. We enjoyed a traditional dinner at The Yard House, which was phenomenal by the way. Love that place. Then we ventured to a lovely Mexican restaurant where we were told they had the “Best Guacamole In Town”, so we HAD to try it out! Tim and I attempted to talk in a British accent the entire night, but they were on to us. haha. The “Guacamole Maker Guy” kept asking questions trying to get the truth out of us. I caved. I couldn’t stop laughing. Fail.

My Boys!!

The most memorable moments Tim and I probably had all weekend, was writing notes with some random people on our floor. There was a little notepad next to the elevators, and once I saw it, LIGHT BULB! Game on. We would leave a little note and then go about our day. Come back later in the night, and have a note waiting for us. Random fun things like that truly made my weekend
In between the basketball games and wonderful dinners, I got a chance to visit with my younger brother, Seth, Juan and long time friend, Adrienne. Adrienne and I go way back in the day when I used to live in California and we worked at Outback together. Good times. Those Hollywood stories are for later
I had such a wonderful time visiting them, especially Seth. Once you get to know me enough, you will understand and know that my younger brother means the WORLD to me, and I love him with such a deep love that is indescribable. He is my main man, my best friend, my everything! LOVE YOU SETH!
After a long and amazing weekend in L.A., it was time to go home and soak in all that just happened. And trust me, I was NOT ready for it to end. Walking from the airport to the car was very depressing. 
Tim is a very special friend of mine and I am so blessed and thankful to have him in my life. He has treated me to so many wonderful gifts, and I can’t wait to share more because we have such a great time on our adventures and gala events. Plus, “we eat well.” So many jokes and our common love for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, makes it all the better.

THANKS FOR THE NEW KARAOKE SONG!! haha