November 16 2004. I received a telegram from the War Department, and a copy of Half-Life 2. I was 14 years old. I read the telegram with much anticipation but was quickly disappointed as it said "Go to war... On your carpets!". It was an advert in the form of a telegram, for carpet cleaner. Frustrated, I picked up the copy of Half-Life 2, crouched, and took aim at the wall. Crouching appeared to steady my aim. As I pulled my arm back, I noticed something on the back of the case. "Also includes: Counter-Strike: Source". I was intrigued so I moved over to the computer. I decided to stand up before I sat down. I popped the disc into the tray and went about the installation process- "Hey! Steam!? What is this Steam!? I don't want to install Steam...". I installed Steam.

Half-Life 2 and this Counter-Strike game were shown within Steam. I had been waiting for Half-Life 2 since I took a train ride back in 1998, but this other game piqued my interest. I loaded Counter-Strike: Source and began to play. I had no idea what I was doing but I was having a blast. After several more blasts, I finished my first play-through of de_dust2 with a K:D ratio of 1:20. My 'Spray and Pray' tactic had worked. Without it, my single kill wouldn't have existed. I continued to play until I had honed the art of spraying and had doubled my kill tally, and octupled my death tally.

Mr. Miyagi27 used team chat to communicate with me and recommended that I played Counter-Strike 1.6 as he saw great potential in my playing ability. I looked at my stats and acknowledged that I had "skillz". With a "z". 1.6 it was. The first map I played was de_inferno and my K:D ratio was 1:10. I was starting to "own". With a "p". After many, many, many hours of play; I was in positive territory. I was regularly achieving D:K ratios of 11:10. I was so good that, for a period of time, I was in a clan and was involved in ladders; though I never climbed one. The clan disbanded and, after a year of playing the game, I stared at a Kit-Kat and took the advice on the wrapper.

August 21 2012. My Steam account now contained 200 games, and my stomach contained 2000+ Kit-Kats. The 200th game in my Steam account was Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It was time. No matter whether the game mode was Classic Casual/Competitive, Demolition, or Arms Race; my K:D ratio was around the same from where I left it back in 2005. And before you say it - No, I didn't save my game back in 2005. It was "skills". With an "s". It's amazing what nine years of education can do two a person.

The moral of the story is: Don't throw something out of your life that could end up changing it for the better. If I had thrown my copy of Half-Life 2 at the wall, I might have had a social life over the course of that year. I dodged a bullet there.