For the longest time, I wasn't that much of a gamer. Yeah I had tons of fun with the NES and PS1 and GB Color with my sister and occasionally my dad, but I guess I thought it wasn't in my blood because my sister was so talented at any game and I so was not. Needless to say, I was jealous and a bit of a poor sport when it came to gaming; I was a pretty competitive kid and I didn't like that about myself. I didn't like to get angry about anything, I always tried to see the bright side of everything. Staying positive was my life motto, I guess you could say. I did have phases when I would play for days on end for a couple of months, then it would slowly fade away from lost of interest.

Over time, I started to get into games I could play by myself with my GB Color. I remember my 1st one being "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".  Loved the storyline to it, and I obviously loved the show as well so I really enjoyed playing it for hours on end.  But after a while in grade--high school, I learned how to play new games with my friends on different consoles and even though I was still quite a poor sport on the inside, I defininetely had lots of fun with them! Now I really want a Game Cube for Zelda: The Wind Waker and some other games I can't really think if right now... :P

Being a growing gamer has taught me to respect the gaming community, from the creators to the players. I never knew there was so much skill in developing and thinking outside of the box no matter who you are being involved with games. There's a reason why all those gaming geeks in high school were so *** smart: they developed the awesome learning skills that they applied to from their games into their school learning. At least my high school sweetheart did lol. I realized this while playing Tomb Raider: Underworld for the DS when I was trying to get through a certain passage way with all this burnt, fallen pieces of building in front of me. It took me a little while to get through it, but once I realized how to get past it I was amazed by not only how I did it, but how I needed to think about getting through there without using obvious getaway plans.  From thinking about that and recently reading an article about game scribes by Matt here on GI, I learned that there are endless possibilities with gaming; strategies and stories. And it is all so very amazing. I am pround to be a learning, evolving gamer.