The Shape of Today

True Confessions...

Maybe it's all the "spooky", Halloween-centric stuff I'm seeing and hearing, and maybe it's just that I need to get this out there. I've got a secret to share...

...I've never been able to finish Half-Life 2, because the "zombie" noises absolutely freak me out.

Crazy, right? In my time as a gamer I've been roared at by Orcs, by dragons, by the very lords of Hell themselves. I've been verbally abused by sassy rogue AI's, and most recently I was threatened by a deposed war god. I should be able to handle anything. But somehow, my nerves simply tie themselves in knots even if I go to YouTube and listen to a video of the HL2 zombies in an attempt to steel myself. I'll boot the game up and think, "Okay, that's just some dev moaning into a mic, get over it." And then I decide quickly to do something else. There's some deep part of my psyche that just can't stand that sound. I know I could kill the game sounds and continue, but on general principles I want to get over this.

Perhaps I should view this struggle as a metaphor for a real struggle in my life. There's a number of things in real life I despise dealing with; maybe I'll eventually talk myself into dealing with both the imaginary road block and the real ones. Household clutter, at least, does not moan horribly at me.

Yet.

Happy Halloween!