Seems we'll have new Half-Life game. What's some life events you've had since Orange Box in 2007?

[MuToiD_MaN]

1. I got married to an amazing woman, the girl I met in 2006
2. I bought a house
3. I got a dog
4. I changed jobs in my career twice
5. I had two kids!
6. Because of #5 I've basically stopped playing games

I went from being single to being a ****ing responsible familyman or something. The Alyx trailer brought me back here to see how many people have started turning up. Sorry if the thread title is a little awkward. I had trouble fitting two full sentences in there.

 

[MFL]

I'm currently sitting about a 15 minute drive away from Valve, actually, in Redmond, WA. Got out of the USMC a few years back and am currently about half a year away from graduating with an undergraduate CS degree.

 

[Higlac]

I graduated from high school, then spent 8 years in college and finally graduated.

 

[Krynn72]

The Orange box came out a year before I graduated from university. That feels so long ago. I've since put that education to use for two years, then left that industry because job security sucked. Was unemployed for awhile, then started learning and fixing electronics. Then went into IT for a short stint and realized it wasn't for me. Now I work at a manufacturing plant making electronics for helicopers and airplanes.

Moved several times in a few different states, made and lost touch with a lot of friends. Living back in my home state again. Don't play a ton of games but I still get drawn in to a few singleplayer games now and then. I've almost beat Outer Worlds but this bitch automechanical boss at the end is whooping me since I am totally unprepared for automechs and can't go back to become better prepared. Might just leave it unfinished :/

I'm big into 3D printers too. At work they are buying a 3D printer that has a carbon fiber additive and I need to find a way to sneak some personal work onto it.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

I got engaged, but it didn't work out. We're still friends, though. Lost my house, but got super busy with work right after so was doing well. Had a couple of bouts of pancreatitis (0/10 do not recommend). Gall bladder surgery fixed me up, but ended up a quarter mil in debt. Got pretty heavy into Rust for a couple years, until I had to quit for the sake of my sanity. Survived hurricane Harvey in '17, lost some irreplaceable stuff in storage, though. My old house was completely swamped, so probably dodged a bullet on that one.

Jeez, writing it all out it sounds worse than it seemed at the time. I'm trying to stay optimistic...

 

[Chris D]

1. Moved out of mother's house and in with girlfriend in 2007
2. Changed job from retail PC repair technician to business desktop/server/network support in 2008
3. Rented first house (not apartment) in 2009
4. Became a Cisco Certified Network Associate in 2010
5. Got married in 2011
6. Had a daughter in 2012
7. Became interested in and taught myself PHP/MySQL in 2012/2013
8. Changed job to software developer and I now work as a senior developer for the very forum software we use here (XenForo) in 2014.
9. Bought a house in 2015.
10. Not much happens for a few years...
11. Had another daughter in 2019 (now 1 month old).

Long time no see. Who knows, maybe we'll have something to talk about in the coming months

 

[DEATHMASTER]

Graduated uni in 2011.
Worked at a dead end job for way too long before having my sanity tested for the last time and quitting.
Spent most of 2019 just taking a chill pill after that, turned out I've had to help both my immediate and extended family with health issues.
Now looking at getting some cybersecurity certifications and getting into that field.
Been into FFXIV since 2013, I never thought I was an MMO person but it sure is something.

 

[Wanted Bob]

Since 2007, I graduated high school, spent 9 years at university across 4 different cities, finally graduated, moved back to my hometown and got a job as a genetic counsellor. Still play games (probably more than I should), and otherwise just enjoying not being a student anymore.

 

[Lizardizzle]

Jesus, okay, went through high school, dropped out of college, moved to a small town and started working at a grocery store. 6 years later I'm still there and mostly managing it myself a lot of the time. Kinda just trying to help my small town have the food and drink they want since the old place needs so much upkeep. It's busy but kinda fun. Lots of good real-world interaction with all kinds of people and professions.

 

[Shem]

Currently thinking on a drink (I can drink now, funnily enough). I credit this site (and its people) with having helped me to discover my love for grammar, for writing, for argumentation. Samon, BadHat, Krynn, Vegeta, Darkside, Ennui come to mind off the top of my head (there are many others). I remember discovering this place circa 2006 (at eight years old) after my dad bought me what I believe was the 2006 Valve Holiday bundle and, after my having treacherously signed up to this place without his permission (with one of his passwords, no less), he took all of the games he had bought for me up to that point and donated them to Goodwill. Three years later he let me sign up and I stayed for quite some time.

But I guess the main point I want to make is that this site forms the nostalgic backbone of my memories to such an extent that the avatars and words and personalities of the people here sometimes appear, at random, to flutter in the background of my mind as I'm living/existing. They're almost simultaneous/concurrent with childhood, for better or for worse. I still can remember the tone and style of certain posters, such that they may have subconsciously influenced the style in which I'd go on to write: Samon, I remember, was remarkably terse (in a succinct and witty way), whereas Darkside55 was eloquently loquacious (without being verbose). These kinds of observations of style, I believe, really and quite beautifully informed the early stages of my trying to develop a style of my own. Of course, now I've read other things (I'd recommend Joyce to anyone here for literary prose/Foucault for theoretical), but this site still holds a place in my heart even in the midst of my having gone on to other places for discussion/argumentation.

This is becoming sort of a blogpost at this point, but I do want to say that, as far as life events go, I graduated high school in 2016, had a girlfriend (a long-distance relationship; she went to Stanford while I stayed in community college) from 2015 to 2018, had sex, experienced the horror and the absolute horror of breaking up, and transferred to a university for English studies. I'm very much into Joyce and into linguistics, and I'm considering/thinking about grad school in terms of studying modernism and theory. I've absolutely been absorbed with theory and linguistics and would recommend anyone to here who's interested some philosophers/theorists. One of my professors in college right now is immensely fascinated with Heidegger and Being and Time is certainly a spin, good God.

 

[Shem]

LMFAO. Sorry, I suppose it doesn't matter how many times one posts (and I'm confident now in talking to all of you, as I'm 22 and cognitively assured) but I'm looking at some of the things I wrote ten years ago and physically wincing/cringing at the same time that I'm reminiscing and reveling in those memories. I almost couldn't remember the password to get in here, so my actually being here is, at best, tentative (even though I am here). I'm seeing how ten years ago I tried to be the "moderator" to a thread and Darkside checked me; and even only four years ago I was arguing about sex having NOT had it (what was I thinking?). But also, like, damn, how my grammar and everything improved over the years: I still can't place my finger on if it was the instruction I was getting from elementary/middle school at the time (yes, I was that young) or if it was the consistent interactions I was having with people on this board (to the extent that I had to clearly articulate my thoughts to the best of my ability KNOWING I was dealing/communicating with people who were two or five or ten years my senior).

 

[Naudian]

Jobs, girlfirend, kid. Still muck around in Reason sometimes. My back is kinda f*cked. I need a better job/actual career. Life is alright though!

 

[Shippi]

It's so strange and comforting sitting here making art and checking in on this forum, with all the old faces, just like I did over 15yrs ago - with a new game on the horizon too.

A sincere thank you to the folks who encouraged my art when I was just a kid. I wouldn't be where I am today if I hadn't had that feedback and encouragement. <3

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

I know right??

It was easy to see you'd go far, that's so cool that you're working on big games now!

 

[Vaapukka]

Well, among other things, I played the entirety of Valve's single player library of games, started lurking a forum that had already been slowly dying for some years, and relatively recently started my studies at a university (currently in my second year.)
It feels pretty absurd. I have watched from the sidelines for half a decade or so how the traffic on this site slowly crawled to a complete halt, and now that a fraction of the old folk have returned I ultimately feel like a complete outsider. It's like I've lived in a house I thought abandoned only to have the inhabitants return after five or six years.
Nevertheless I'm glad to see at least some people reminiscing over the times when internet forums were more personal. Places like reddit, social media and even image boards have their place, but it has been a shame to see sites like this lose their relevance over time, even if I only ever was a lurking child myself.

 

[Shem]

Vaapukka, I feel the same way. It's like coming home to your father who, with the symbolic order of his phallus, had earlier reigned you in with law and order. The older members here are all, essentially, spiritual fathers to me, whom I'm still trying to impress with the knowledge I've gained in their/my absence. The strange thing about it is that, for them, in their teens/early twenties, this place was only passive on their consciousness i.e. they absorbed everything here passively and engaged with others having already become who they were. For me? I was, again, around eight when I found/lurked this site; about twelve when, after my father exiled me, I returned and actually began posting.

Think about that. Eight years old. This site constitutes more than half of my existence; the majority of my existence has been comprised of having known/been with and been on this site; the development of my consciousness was intertwined with this place. It was my everything, while, for those already grown, it was more an accessory to experience. I credit this place with having helped develop my cognitive and verbal communication skills because THOSE two areas were the basis for all interactions that took place.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

Hey, y'all are no outsiders. You have chosen to relocate to one of our finest remaining urban forums. I thought so much of ValveTime.net that I elected to establish my residency here, in the site so thoughtfully provided by our benefactors. I have been proud to call ValveTime my home. And so, whether you are here to stay, or passing through on your way to parts unknown, welcome, to ValveTime.net. It's safer here.

 

[Krynn72]

The older members here are all, essentially, spiritual fathers to me, whom I'm still trying to impress with the knowledge I've gained in their/my absence. The strange thing about it is that, for them, in their teens/early twenties, this place was only passive on their consciousness i.e. they absorbed everything here passively and engaged with others having already become who they were.

In 2004 I had turned 18. I definitely had not already become who I was going to be. I also matured with this forum, and my writing style was certainly affected by it. I still can't use shorthand so many of my texts to friends and family are written with reasonably proper grammar, punctuation and spelling. I remember having our heated debates where we would multi-quote people, breaking down their posts in to separate quotes for us to respond clearly to individual claims. This is a technique I feel a lot of people could use in their professional lives. I find that often people will only response to the first or last question asked in an email for instance, leaving everything else not responded to.

LMFAO. Sorry, I suppose it doesn't matter how many times one posts (and I'm confident now in talking to all of you, as I'm 22 and cognitively assured) but I'm looking at some of the things I wrote ten years ago and physically wincing/cringing at the same time that I'm reminiscing and reveling in those memories.

I don't think I can bring myself to read my post history. I have definitely posted some absurd shit that would embarrass me today. I can even remember some arguments I had here where I definitely was being stupid and on the wrong side.

 

[Ennui]

Graduated uni in 2011.
Worked at a dead end job for way too long before having my sanity tested for the last time and quitting.
Spent most of 2019 just taking a chill pill after that, turned out I've had to help both my immediate and extended family with health issues.
Now looking at getting some cybersecurity certifications and getting into that field.
Been into FFXIV since 2013, I never thought I was an MMO person but it sure is something.

good to see you deathmaster!

i also graduated uni in 2011 and have had 2 jobs (developer and now im a kind of general purpose IT analyst for a marketing company), many girlfriends, no kids

good to see all of yall, i see you wanted bob, SHIPPI!!!!, even vaapukka tho that was a bit after the glorious part of HL2net

 

[Shem]

In 2004 I had turned 18. I definitely had not already become who I was going to be. I also matured with this forum, and my writing style was certainly affected by it. I still can't use shorthand so many of my texts to friends and family are written with reasonably proper grammar, punctuation and spelling. I remember having our heated debates where we would multi-quote people, breaking down their posts in to separate quotes for us to respond clearly to individual claims. This is a technique I feel a lot of people could use in their professional lives. I find that often people will only response to the first or last question asked in an email for instance, leaving everything else not responded to.

And see, even now I'm still consciously coming out of the blank space that was before and understanding the development of the people here. When I was a little teenager here running amok I just assumed y'all/you all were, because of how old you were in comparison to me, at your peak in terms of development.

And I remember lurking and seeing some of those multi-quote debates, if you will. There's a whole bunch of those in the politics forums; god, you guys can still give me a laugh and a punch with those posts after all these years.

 

[Ennui]

i certainly did a lot of multi quote argue posting

 

[-smash-]

Got my BS in CS and am working at Amazon as a software engineer. Those are probably the biggest milestones. A bit debby downer but had some close friends and family pass on since 2007. Not married and don't have kids yet, so saving a lot of $$$ and having some fun on my own.

 

[TechnoHippyChic]

Got my BS in CS and am working at Amazon as a software engineer. Those are probably the biggest milestones. A bit debby downer but had some close friends and family pass on since 2007. Not married and don't have kids yet, so saving a lot of $$$ and having some fun on my own.

Condolences, I know how hard it can be to lose someone close.

Working at Amazon must be great, though, you probably get all the mega-discounts and Same Minute shipping

 

[dfc05]

In 2007 I was still in college. After I graduated, went off to grad school and then a post-doc. Moved back for a faculty job, which is pretty stressful (I consider whether I should keep doing this on at least a monthly basis).

I remember also getting into some very silly/pointless arguments here back in the day, which I prefer not to revisit!

Anyways, happy Thanksgiving to all the US folks!

 

[Shem]

In 2007 I was still in college. After I graduated, went off to grad school and then a post-doc. Moved back for a faculty job, which is pretty stressful (I consider whether I should keep doing this on at least a monthly basis).

I remember also getting into some very silly/pointless arguments here back in the day, which I prefer not to revisit!

Anyways, happy Thanksgiving to all the US folks!

I accept your Thanksgiving and give you back a "nice!" on the idea of your having-gone-off to grad school. Been considering just the same move myself, although it feels more than not that my life is hanging somewhere ambiguously in space and is directionless. My summer wishes have dissipated, though I have the GRE scores to be competitive in an application. I just couldn't get a hold of myself this semester.

Thanks for reading.

e: needed the proper formation of the genitive present-participle.