So, I'm not a gamer. I've had Ataris, a Nintendo, a GameBoy, and Super NES, and more recently a GameCube, but most of the next-gen games and gaming systems have just passed me right by. I don't consider myself less of a person because of this, but I do feel like I've missed out on some important skills that a lot of my online friends seem to have.

In 2003, a very good friend of mine (pupismyname) came to live with me during a transition time for his family. He kept visiting this "black website" that I learned eventually was Shacknews. I never really paid attention to anything other than the chat threads but over the last 4 years or so I've learned a lot, met a lot of new people, and learned a lot about games without actually playing them.

I don't know about RPG's or anything that really takes a lot of thought so I thought if I was ever going to get into gaming, a good FPS was the way to start. ThomW was nice enough to gift me Half-Life 2 from Steam but some of my other contemporaries thought I should start with the Original. So I paid my $9.95 to Steam and downloaded it and have spent a little bit of time getting accustomed to it.

I have learned that my struggles are comical to others, and some recent shack posts have been met with some jeering towards me. So I though it would be interesting for all to read my adventures in blog form. So here you go ... I'll try to keep this updated as I try to conquer Half-life. It may take me years but I'm determined to finish it.