A Journey that ends in defeat

It all started about a good 5 or 6 years ago on a rainy afternoon when I got sick and happened to download Half-Life: Uplink or the demo of Half-Life, coincidentally it was the day I was introduced to my good friend the cable modem. I've played Quake, TF *Team Fortress* Quake along with Quake II and its version of TF. Half-Life was a game I quickly became accustomed to since its genre was something that I've experienced before. Onward with my journey, after playing the demo version Erik and I were hooked much like a crack fiend to crack and we ordered a copy right quick. The problem with that was it took a good three weeks to get here and everyday passed was like a slow painful death. Finally we changed the order from its standard cheapo shipping to 2nd day air but a weekend made it not so 2nd day. Coming home from an afternoon of summer school, I a huge box in my room and I soon knew it was my glorious Half-Life-Adrenaline Pack. Erik and I spent hours taking turns on our one computer beating all the levels with and without cheats till playing it was second nature. The plot along with its responsive environment and action made it much like a drug, a drug that we kept taking, playing and playing till one day we discovered multiplayer and that's when our worlds changed. At first it was TFC *Team Fortress Classic* a game I still play to this day in fact 5 minutes ago before I started typing this and met fate with sheer defeat. We started our first game on a map called Crossover2 and we were of course the biggest slowest but "most powerful" class of all the Heavy Weapons Guy. The game did not replace Half-Life but somehow made it better, like adding whipping on top of ice cream or extra butter on your popcorn, it was that damn good. We played day and night until we had to go on our little trip to China for a month, but once we returned it was back to the killing fields, non stop TFC until Erik stumbled upon Counter-Strike, before it was inhabited by jerks and hackers it was an awesome game. I remember bitching and complaining to Erik "why are you downloading this…I could be playing TFC" and of course that came with a little fight which ended in me losing, a fight that determined what we would be playing for the next 9 months-2 years. Counter-Strike became our new "game", our first map was de_dust and our first picked up weapon was the Sig550 Commando *man I have good memory* anyway we kept on dying until a good week or two, then we started getting kills. Time passed and on the date of February 19, 2001 I joined my first clan in all of my gamming history. {[DA]} Dragon Army. I have to admit it was awesome; we had our own server and participated in some matches which lead to us being ranked #1 in a small gamming league. Then one night people started not getting along and {[DA]} died. The hit was hard at first but I revisited TFC and on a warm after noon I met John Palazzolo and Brian Herron on a random TFC server and joined MIP *Monkey Ice cream Porcupine* or later Men In Pink and Mean Internet People. I stayed with these guys for a good 2 years playing in matches but not really getting anywhere. One night after a bunch of guys left John killed MIP and we all kind of went our own ways, we still talk on IRC and play against each other. In the dying weeks of MIP or the beginning months of my sophomore year, I joined Clan Rx, the coolest bunch of guys I know ranging from pot heads to students in UC Berkley and Purdue to a PHD. We still play on Sundays and have a blast win or lose and having fun is all that matters. Wow, this has dragged on and on, well bare with me the bad part is coming. Any who, Half-Life 2 is set to release tonight and I am not getting it, anytime soon. I doubt any of you know how I feel, well maybe Dante since he had his plight with Halo2 and how he almost didn't get it but in my case, I won't be getting it. It's not the matter of money but my parents feel I'm playing too much….my grades have improved for Christ's sake! They are willing to front the much needed credit card or take me to Fry's. From Half-Life's beginning in the Quake series I've had it, when it was Half-Life itself I've had it but now by some incredibly messed up logic that my parents possess I won't have it. I don't know it's like I feel like crying but it's over such a stupid thing...

Thank you for reading this, it's just a little bit of my meaningless life that I would like to let out.