It’s difficult to get back into a competetive game when you’re away for a while.  Ok, that’s putting it lightly.  It’s suckitudinous to get back into a competetive game after you’ve been away for a while.  All the little bits of knowledge, the intricacies, the details, are gone.  Where did they go?  I wasn’t aware of them leaving, but it remains I don’t have that special touch anymore.

I know what I want to do, where I want to aim, what stunt I want to pull, but I lack the delicacy to perform these tasks with the precision I’m accustomed to.  It’s as if the controller is upset that I abandoned it for so long.  We’ve lost the special connection we used to share.

In case anyone is wondering, I’m talking specifically about Halo 2.  I’m not going to pretend I used to play up at Valkyrie’s or Brookelyn’s level, because I was a few levels short.  But I was getting there.  I was getting better, little by little.  I was clawing my way up the ranks.  Now?  Well, now I’ve lost one of my hard-won levels and another is in serious jeopardy.

The more I fall, the more frustrated I get.  We have a Halo 2 competition coming up at the end of the month at LPNW, and I feel entirely incompetent.  I would have worried before that I might not be able to hold up my end of the team, and every time I do badly in a match that worry grows.  I have 10 days to train, to get it back together, and become even better than I was before.  I guess I know what I’m doing this weekend.

I had to expect this problem, a little.  After all, I didn’t play for almost 3 weeks between a vacation and CES.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to sit down and just pick up where I left off.  But a whole level, almost 2?  Come on!  I don’t have time for this!

- Jinx

I don’t know how to live without my hand on his throat