...I would hope that this would be it. I am not sure how much I will be on GameSpot in the future, or how much I will be gaming, so this theoretically could be my last blog on GameSpot, and farewell to gaming culture. Theoretically.

Now, I know most of you are probably staring at your computer screens in horror, not quite sure how to deal with this shocking news. 'What?! Forerunner... (possibly) leaving GameSpot and video games?! Why?!' Well, that is a good question, and the answer I think will be revealed after giving you guys a little background information on some events that occurred these past two weekends, and the revelations that I have had because of them.

*Note: I have added a tl;dr (Too long; don't read) at the bottom of the story for some of you lazy bastards, which basically says my whole story in three sentences. So if you do not feel like reading my awesome story of awesomeness, I would hope that you read the tl;dr (also in red) and my main blog below it.*

So, the beginning. Two weekends ago (Oct. 17 & 18 ), I went to this Catholic Youth Conference with some friends from my parish. Now, I am a closet atheist, but if you know me well, you know that I will not miss a chance to check out some Catholic school girls.

During the Friday night festivities, I met this awesome girl named Alex who I seemed to really hit it off well with. So the night was not really that bad, and when the conference was finished for the evening, I spent the night at my friend Andrew's house. Now, our mutual friend Eli was also spending the night over there, so we were pretty stoked as we drove back to Andrew's house. What would normally have been routine driving conversation though, turned out to be a real life-changing experience.

It all started with Eli saying to me: 'John, you need to get laid,' to which Andrew heartily agreed. How we got on that subject, I do not quite remember, but it led to an evening full of interesting conversation. But what was perhaps 'life-changing' is when Eli said (in response to me expressing my concerns that I am not good enough to go out with many girls) : 'John, no girl is out of your league. In fact, there is no 'league'. No girl is too good for you. Now, I am saying this in a totally straight way, but you are a good-looking guy. You definitely have that going for you.'

Yep. I got a huge confidence boost out of our little talk. I know what you are thinking: 'What?! A confidence boost out of a totally-not-queer comment from your friend?!' Strange right? In any case, it (coupled with my friends' promise of us getting 'crunk' the next weekend) did the trick.

The next day (Saturday), I was one fearless son of a *****. I used my newfound confidence to flirt with some 'high-society' girls and at the end of the day, acquire Alex's number. It was a really great feeling, and when I left the conference, in a way, I really had 'seen the light'!

So now fast-forward to this last Saturday, exactly one week from the events just revealed. Andrew and Eli have picked me up from my house, and we are calling up our respective dates for later that night.

There were a few technical difficulties, and mine and Andrew's dates were unable to chill with us until later that evening. So we decided to pick up Eli's date, Chelsea, and go to Andrew's cousin's costume party to pass the time.

Once there, it was immediately ascertained that Andrew's three cousins that were standing around a car in the front yard alone were somewhat shady. Sure enough, as we neared, I could hear one talking about rolling up a blunt. Not one to be intimidated, I acted as if I had been part of the ghetto for years, poppin' pills and pimpin' *****es. It was not long before Andrew said, 'Hey, John has not had his first drink yet!" So before I knew it, I found a cold Bud Lite in my hands. All I can say is... good stuff. One and a half vodka shots later, I was ready for anything, so we went and picked up my date Alex, and her friend for Andrew, Amber.

We stopped at a park, each pairing off into our appropriate groups. Alex and I ended up on the playset in the middle of the park playground. After some playful conversation, I pretty much just came out and said, 'Do you want to go out?' She immediately responded with, 'Mmhmm!'

Soon after, we made out. It was a pretty amazing experience for me because it was my first kiss, and it was not even a normal 'peck-on-the-lips' kiss, it was full-on tongue action!

tl;dr: Two weekends ago, I got a huge boost of confidence thanks to my friends. Using that newfound confidence, I got a girl's number. The next weekend, I had a huge night of 'firsts' so-to-speak: First drink, first shot, first date, first kiss, first makeout and first girlfriend.

So now that you have that background information, you are probably thinking, 'Okay, now what does that have to do with quitting GameSpot and video games?' Well, let me tell you about my recent thoughts on each:

GameSpot

Well, this one is pretty simple to answer. I am just plain bored with GameSpot, and recently have been thinking about how much time I waste on it. The only two boards that I visit (Off-topic and PC Gaming) have been dreadfully uninteresting for quite a long time. I have tried waiting it out, hoping for change, but things seem to have only gotten worse.

Oh, and I think it is sapping my intelligence. I have not gotten the opportunity to monitor myself while browsing GameSpot, but I imagine that I would appear slack-jawed and vegetable-like, blankly staring at the horrid grammar and spelling that so frequently appears on my screen. So know this! If I do leave GameSpot, it would not only be for the sake of my precious time, but also for the sake of my mind!

Oh, and if I do leave, do not worry, I will not account-suicide. I will leave open the possibility of return.

Video games

This one is pretty simple to answer too, I guess. After the last two weekends, I have realized that I have been missing out on some of the finer aspects of life, specifically friends and women. As I noted in another blog, after being refused so many times by me, my friends eventually stopped inviting me to social activities. So now I am trying to change all that, and so far, it has been going great! I have really enjoyed the last two weekends.

I guess the recent drought of "amazing" games has also made it easier to seriously consider quitting. I mean, I originally had a list of maybe 10+ games that I wanted to get, but after reviews and such, that list has dwindled down to only two (L4D and GTA IV).

The main reason though, is that I do not know if I will have enough time for both video games and an active social life. I think I will try to give it some time, and see if there is time for both, but do not be surprised if there is not. I mean, I would have to try to balance cIasses, studying, chess events, chess studying, friends, girlfriend and video games. I think it can be done, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

Also, I am 17, and a junior in high school (as I am sure many of you know), so I have to think about college now. I am pretty sure that I should get a laptop for college, so I have been thinking about perhaps selling my awesome gaming rig and monitor and getting a gaming laptop. What started me thinking about this is when I saw the Gateway P-7811fx get reviewed in the November issue of PC Gamer. I have thought about waiting until closer to me entering college to get a laptop (maybe the new ones will have better battery life or some other incentive for me to wait), but computers depreciate fast, and if I wait to sell it, I may not be able to get what I want for it. Or should I even sell it at all? Decisions, decisions...

So that is pretty much it. That is what is going on in my life, and the thoughts/decisions that are going through my head. Please leave some comments for me! I will read and consider any and all suggestions, comments, questions, whatever!

Peace.