- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
My girlfriend and I are dating because of Halo. We met one day in September 2007. It goes like this.
I'm from Ohio, and I work in retail. One day myself and the others in my department completed all of our closing tasks, so we were sent over to ready-to-wear clothing to assist . Myself (Electronics) and my co-workers (Sporting goods, Toys.. Housewares) got busy looking like we were helping. This was not easy. It is hard to fold a shirt being a guy and worse, A gamer, I have thumbs which while quick and strong, were not designed for precise tasks, bar sniping.
It was at this time that a colleague of mine called me over to "help". I proceeded towards the dark corner where the racks had all been straightened, in order to hide until the clock ran out. It's a valid strategy.
It was on my trek to this fortress of ineptitude that I overheard a short bit of conversation float over from the other side of a rack of hoodies.
'Heroic is too easy, but Legendary is too hard.'
"Wait, Normal isn't 'normal'?"
'Not for me'
I kept walking, I made 3 more footfalls before my mind registered the significance of what it had received. They were talking about Halo. Furthermore, they were Female. My ears perked up, my eyes opened wide, and I sniffed the air like a bloodhound.I walked cautiously back to where I had heard the interesting bit. I listened intently.
"But I don't play video games"
'Oh, come on, I need to get good again before I start into matchmaking'
Oh yes, She will be mine.
I like to think that I walked around the corner with a James Bond swagger, and charmingly asked her if she was indeed speaking of Halo 3. I like to think that. In reality what I said can be stated mostly in hasty chat acronyms.
"OMG! UR talking about Halo! OMGSTFU NU-UH!"
She smiled kindly, as if she were about to ask me if I had lost my plastic helmet.
'YOU play?'
I staggered. I'M not the unusual one here, I'm a guy. Life-long card carrying member of the "Doesn't Have Boobs" club.
"Yeah"
'Oh, what level are you on?'
"I've beaten it, now I mostly play multiplayer"
'Wow! really?'
"Yup. You have a Gamertag?"
'Yeah, I'll have to write it down for you'
I had her Gamertag before I knew her name. It's Jessica, I've learned that since. We met up the next night online, and we played a few rounds or matchmaking. She was a newbie, but she showed promise. The next day we talked at work about our conquests the previous night.
'Thanks for sticking that guy with the Shotgun, he had me.'
"No problem, thanks for sniping that guy with the rockets"
It went like that for about a week. Meet online at night, talk about it at work the next day. One day, I got a message on XBL.
'Since I didn't work today, I don't know what time you guys got out. If you want to play, call me. My number is **Blam!**'
She gave me her number. Without my asking for it. Hmm. This bounced around my head for a minute. We had been interacting every day in person, every night on XBL. She's not sick of me. Before I could call her, she got online.
'Hey, did you get my message?'
"Yeah, but not until just now"
'Good. now you have my number if you ever.... umm, need it'
Oh yeah, she digs me. We started playing , and the thought kept occurring to me that I should just ask her out. No, I reasoned, you don't ask chicks out on Halo. Oh, but this is not a normal chick. For one, she plays Halo.
"So, are you seeing anybody?"
She wasn't.
"Do you want to hit Newport Saturday?"
She did. The date went great. We talked about the normal date stuff , but we also had vehicular splatters, sniper sprees and 'Who is Luke, and how do i go about redeeming these steak dinners?' to ponder.
It's January now, and things are still going great. We don't play together over Live very much anymore, since we're usually at the same place, taking turns alternating playing and cheering.
P.S. I found out later that she had given me her number, not so that I could call and ask her out, but honestly so that I would call her to tell when I was getting online. She wanted me to ask her out, but she wanted me to do it over Halo. God I love her.