Oh my! Wednesday already? Spent the whole day with Half-Life 2, immediately after invigilation, that is. Awesome game! Such detailed graphics, brightly lit outdoor spaces making the dark corners even more creepy by contrast. Clever puzzles to find pathways through the story, though tough, so far I've been able to figure them out through observation of the environment and occasionally blind trial and error.

The tension in the zombie chapter was way high, with an unending swarm of respawning zombies and rapidly depleting ammo adding pressure to finding the way out to the next checkpoint that much more terrifying. We get to drive vehicles too, and fire unlimited rounds at all and sundry from the mounted weapons. Steering is a little odd, using keys that I'm not used to 'cos I use a different set playing NFS:UG2. The buggy tends to get hung up a lot and even overturns if you aren't careful driving it. Here's a tip: use your gravity gun to get it upright again fast.

How absorbing and atmospheric is HL2? Well, Momo was sleeping in the beanbag behind my chair last night while I was killing um... things. I was concentrating so hard, I didn't hear June coming in to surprise Momo. All of a sudden, I noticed a long haired shoulder-height head appearing from behind my left shoulder. I screamed. She screamed. We clutched our own hearts for a moment then burst into relieved laughter. Momo slept right through it all.

The right key on Watson's keyboard has lost a corner. I must have rubbed it smooth through years of continuous use. Just noticed it.

I hate head crabs!