Stepping away from Skate ....

well... I have been thinking about this for a while and I beleive it is time for my departure from Skate.. for the most part. This may seem sudden, but this has been brewing since Skate2 with me. It is a mix of family life and also putting in the effort to create parts so that they can end up in the back of the forum in 1 day and get all pissed off about it..

There have been multiple times when I am so damn addicted to filming and creating videos that I put my wife and kids on the back burner and it really has taken a toll on my relationship with my wife in the past few years... We get along sooo much better when I am not trying to get in playing time every night or coming downstairs in the middle of the night just to film for an hour or so.. It just is not worth me jeopardizing the time I have here with my wife and kids in order to play a video game. I am too damn addicted and it has been a problem for me for a long time so I need to cut it out of my life...for the most part.

The other reason is something that I KNOW Embers has always been against but is a reason that I put so much effort into my edits/parts. I really like getting comments/feedback on these videos and to see them get put to the back of the forums without any notes from anyone is just so damn frustrating. I have tried to post a video and leave it for a couple days, but to come back and see it has 1 comment and 23 views on EA or 1 comment and 32 views on fluckit is just defeating. There are individuals that can put out a 90 second video with maybe 10 total clips and get over 1,000 views on youtube and 72 comments saying how "great" it is when I just dont see it. The stuff I pull usually takes a long time to pull and it blows my mind when I see people juggling someone's nut sack when they do a 180 kickflip down a 4-stair set.. blah blah blah

So ... I will be filming for the Threat Plaza video on Thursday night and hopefully get all the clips I need for that (hopefully the Patch has helped HD clips upload when I actually want them to) After that, I will be available for a Threat Full Length if you guys still wish to have me on the team. If you want me to, I can depart from Threat gracefully considering I will not be around that much anymore... just let me know

The family thing is really why I am deciding to step away from all of this.. it is simply not worth creating a harsh environment at home for a damn video game...

Thanks in advance for understanding everyone

gotta say i'm a little surprised, but your reasons are sound

everybody here knows real life comes first. shit, look at redhook. dude was gone for like a year, and we missed him, but he still had a place when he came back. same goes for you bro.

hopefully someone will say something more inspirational that will make you stick around if only for fulls and team shit

fuck man...tthis fucking sucks... i can't even comment on this. I'm not mad or anything like that. i understand 100%... fuck..

i need to smoke a cig.


knomadroller: FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK
MagicNarcosis: what dramatic roc
knomadroller: gym is done...https://triplethreat.forumotion.net/all-shenanigans-f1/stepping-away-from-skate-t201.htm#2342
MagicNarcosis: WHAAAAAAAAAAT

alright so. I see where you're at, trust me i know. this community has a way of making you want more, crave more, and expect more. Then it lets you down. trust me i know it sucks not getting comments, you're on the only one. my two minute workout didn't get ANY comments... till Beat posted it... then it got like 2. I just dont want that to be the reason you're leaving.

the family part is killer. You have put tons in for this team, i understand that and i appreciate it more than you know. I guess i never really give you guys credit for what you do, and that's my bad. I remember laughing at first, when you said you couldn't join a party cuz you were filming snky snky. But i do realize that's time away from your kid. And when you put the clip of ur son in the full it blew me away. moving shit, man, cute kid and i can tell you're a proud father and that's fucking awesome. I hope to have that some day.

I wish this didn't have to be "the end" man. but i know you gotta do what you gotta do. idk... i guess i don't have anything to say to "make you stay". But you were, hands down, my favorite fake skater to watch. That's why you were on the team and you were always 1000% Threat and i don't regret having you with us for the last year AT ALL.

its your call man... there's always a spot for you if you want it, you should know that, you shouldn't even have to ask. if you wanna show up with a full part it'll be MORE MORE MORE than welcome.

Good luck man.. this hurts but you gotta do what you gotta do. Threat loses an OG and a great skater today.


everyone else... threat videos do not get any less intense. Gym gave everything he had for this team, no matter what happened (remember trying to render your THREAT section? lol) and always came out with the best shit he could. never once did i question if a gym part was that most absolute fire he could muster. As of now, i expect that from EVERYONE... including myself

I'm sorry if you feel like we or the community took you for granted. Youre an awesome dude and your wife and son are lucky to have you.

All I can really say is.. Wow..

I don't want you to go, Gym.

I can understand how you feel with the comments thing. Shit. It's hard to keep up on everybody's shit. Sometimes I miss even the most popular threads for a comment, I simply can't keep up to save my life sometimes. It sucks and I know how you feel. I know that's weird for me to say seeing that people flock to whatever the fuck I post, but I see people deal with it all the time. I try to hype up whatever I can to keep people interested, but the community is a HARD one to move and convince. I'm totally understanding the family thing.. Maybe if you remember, back in January of 09 (Skate 2) I made a goodbye solo because my real life shit got the best of me in the worst way. I respect and love my team so I made a goodbye video, only to come back. If I hadn't came back, Hoodlum wouldn't be here like it is today.

I respect and value your dedication to our team, man. To YOUR team. To your homies. Just understand that Hoodlum will always be here for you and them there Threat boyz, you feel me? Gym, you my nigga. You my nigga.

Do what you gotta do. I just want you to know that your work is NOT going unappreciated by me, and definitely not by the fam.

Threat^^
Hoodlum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

damn gym...I've only been on the team for a few weeks and I really am bummed to see you go

First off, like everyone else has said, life comes before skate any day. Putting what you have with your family on the back burner wouldn't be right.

Second, I dont know if you remember but in s2 you left a comment on one of my solo's...i think it was Lately...and it was one of the biggest reasons why I skate the way I do today. All of the feedback and compliments you gave me on that video helped me so much. I honestly contribute a part of the way I play this game because of you dude.

I'm sure I'm speaking for all of TT and Hoodlum and the fluckit/ea community when I say this but we are going to miss you dude and whenever you wanna come back or even drop by for a quick what's up there is always goin to be a spot for you man.

Good luck with everything gym

i for one know exactly what you mean with this game sucking the life out of you. and the whole taking looooooong times to get one clip and not getting recognition. i feel like a fool when i bump threads back from the depths and just not getting anything. you were always one though who came back and left some honest love on those videos. it takes me like 3 months to get a solo's worth of clips.

i totally get the whole family thing. if i had to tell someone that my family got split up over a video game, i dont even think people would believe me.

ive had a growing respect for you since the beginning of s2 when i rolled around to the forums. always polite with legitimate criticism and not afraid to speak your mind. your style has grown and transformed into a beast that i dont even want to control.

all i can say is we'll miss you while you're gone, but that'll just make it even better when you come back. good luck with everything. drop by for some sessions when you can.

Looking back at what roc and magic said. there was one word i picked out of theirs and i gotta give my two cents: Appreciate

I just gotta say this. You've got this incredible style to your skating. Maybe it's the filming, or the editing (Which you've gotten really great at), or maybe it's just what you're doing with the damn controller in your hands. But i always pick up something with your skating: You make stuff look really easy, when i know i would take days to do it. Like, your almost on a Southy level. Your skating has impressed me just as much as anyone out there, maybe even more because we're on a team together.

I was gonna write more last night, but i lost my train of thought

anyways, i'ma throw on a white hoody with much respect next time i pop in skate. and i'ma be rockin this: http://skate.ea.com/gallery?contentType=GRAPHIC&platform=xbox#itemId=8af888d9295f0259012964f975390c21

it's always been, "life comes first".
that's never changed. it's tough to see someone go, but i think it's the right thing to do.

everyone has already said a lot, and obviously your mind is made up.
hopefully you get your family life back on track, that's what matters.

as far as the plaza vid, i'm sure mamba will gladly take your clips.

as for the full, if you want to toss in a couple clips to be included, that's cool, but after some discussion we've decided that the full parts in the video will be given to the ones still skating.
that does not discount you in any way Gym, i don't want you to read it wrong. you know very well how much work goes into each full, how much effort everyone HAS to give, so it only makes sense to not have you dedicated to a full part. hopefully, you can understand where this is coming from.

best of luck to you, and enjoy your family.

I am really blown away at the responses I received from everyone after I posted my message. I want Roc, Embers, Mamba, and Hook to know just how much it really meant for you to invite me to Triple Threat. When that happened, I was completely caught off guard and I finally felt like I belonged in this Skate community. With the amount of videos we have all put out together and seperately, it is awesome to see what we have been able to accomplish over these past 2 years or so. I hate that this feels like I am breaking off a 10-yr relationship with a girlfriend that I just know I won't be able to get over... and not too sure how to break it off with her.

MAGIC.. huge thanks for the post bro and I want you to know how grateful I am to be brought into your Hoodlum family along with the creation of THREAT. I do remember when you left for a while to deal with real life stuff and then you came back with force and Hoodlum is a recruiting machine right now.. I am not saying that I am leaving forever, but I do need to seperate myself from the community a little so that it does not consume my life as much as I let it now. Again, you did not have to come into the Threat forum and post anything, but you did, and it really shows what type of leader you are and that you do care about your team members, props for that.

Roc, speaking of leaders... you have been there for me throughout everything and you have always been the team member to be putting out videos consitently and creating a sense of order on the team to keep things going. I appreciate what you have done for me more than you would ever know and I am sorry that I may have come out of left field with this decision without letting you know..

Mamba, Your technical skating and eye for creative skating/setups has always pushed me to do better and left me with so many different ideas to put into my skating... THE GC BOARD IS AWESOME!!! but you really dont have to use that.. maybe just the White Hoodie hahahaha

Embers, I completely understand where you and everyone else are coming from in regards to the Full Video. I will be putting in some footage for the Threat Plaza video if that is cool with Mamba. Embers, you were a huge part of Steez.this and I know you were a part of bringing me into Triple Threat. Thanks for everything you have done for Threat... keep doing what you do.

Seksul and Monkey, I know both of you will continue to rip shit up and I want you both to know that the decision to bring both of you onto Threat was a decision that everyone had a part of and I have been a HUGE supporter of both of you forever.... I really appreciate you both taking the time to let me know how much you liked my skating... it means a lot to me. I am really looking forward to seeing what each of you bring out after that collab intro video - that blew me away

I am NOT diassapearing forever, that is for sure.. I would love to be a part of Threat still if you will keep me on the team, if not, I understand. I am too damn addicted to Skate and making videos that there is NO WAY I will not be making edits in the future... Who knows, I may come out with a video when you least expect it and show up out of nowhere. Thanks again to all of you for the kind words, it is crazy that I am writing this much to a video game team... but you guys have been like a part of my family throughout these past 2-3 years and it has been absolutely amazing to be a part of.

"TRIPLE" Threat forever...

Roc, remember when I was Cuban B and you did not even know it??? hahahaha oh man, this video was BAD.........

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2o5bXulXJI

We'll just pretend you're "having internet problems"

<3 redhook

Way late on this but, Bye Gym! Your style is one of a kind and i hope in the future I get to see more of it.

...sup doods? Back online this comming friday. Will explain later (im sure your all tired of hearing this)

wtf?

i second mamba's smiley spam.

probably excessive. but best describes how i feel about that news.

like, this actually makes me want to play skate instead of halo lol

same here man.
i feel a good ol' time sesh coming this weekend.