Now, you know I’m not really any sort of gamer (except a bad one). While changing that is hardly a priority, I have started playing Half-Life. Yes, the original Half-Life. No, I had never played more than a few minutes of any first-person shooter before yesterday.

So why pick up Half-Life? I figure it’s the canonical FPS, and by today’s standards requires minimal resources. (That’s a good thing for my computer.) And the graphics, while nowhere near those of recent games, is plenty good enough.

Besides–and this is the most important part–I have to be prepared for possible occupational hazards in my future career as a scientist. Who knows, one day I might cause a resonance cascade in my Anomalous Materials lab, creating a portable through which a hostile alien race enters the facility, and I’ll be forced to fight off the creatures and U.S. Marines while trying to escape alive. Having played Half-Life first, I’ll have the experience necessary to escape alive.

Of course, that’s not really why I’m playing Half-Life. We all know I’d be able to escape anyway.