Remember back when you where an adolescent teen, doing something you *really* enjoyed and you said "wouldn't it be awesome to get paid to do this?"
Well that's me at present. Uh-huh, I'm the dude who gets paid to do awesome stuff.

I consider myself lucky. Luckier than most, though many would probably not recognize my self-claimed title, or wouldn't understand my eagerness until I explained myself:

I study journalism in Aarhus, Denmark, and is as of now more than halfway through my education (education being the point where I can actually call myself a proper journalist and charge the magazines and papers accordingly for the work I do).
Now, I am currently working as an intern on Scandinavia's biggest PC-magazine "Komputer for Alle" (also known as PC-Tidningen in Sweden, Komputer for Alle in Norway and Kotimikro in Finland - yeah, my work gets translated to finish ).

While writing has always been on the top list of future occupations, and studying to become a journalist is awesome but in a mature "getting ahead in the world"-kinda way, that isn't what I mean by the title of this post. No, what I refer to as the geek dream come true, is the fact that I can honestly call myself a professional gamer/reviewer and know it to be true.

To understand my exhilaration at that, it should be said that I am an avid gamer. When I have the time I like to immerse myself in the roles of heroes, bastards, roughnecks or medieval knights and beat the living cr*p out of some computerbred enemies. To do so, and be able to convey my opinion of said game on a level that will be heard by the masses is a thrilling prospect to say the least. Everyone wants a wee bit of fame, don't they? And game-reviewers have a certain power to their name. With something as simple as a grade, they can stamp years of progress or work, and deem it "worthy" or a "waste of bytes" - it's not like they're saving the world, but in the eyes of the adolescent teen, a credible reviewers word is law. At least law enough that the producers are aware of the fact and listen to the critique this inner circle of geeks-become-gurus. An inner circle I am now tentatively attempting to establish myself in.

["Badmouth my glasses, and this will be going places only your doctor should ever have a need to visit."]

Now I know that I may not be as "professional" as others. I lack the experience and (currently) the credibilty. My reviews will (probably as most) be completely and totally biased depending on the amount of fun I myself had, while playing the game.
If something doesn't run properly it'll be the games fault, not my computer nor my ability to comprehend the aspects or trials of the game and I'll most likely make sure everyone knows. Bad reviews get more attention. (That's a fact. The most (in)famous reviewers on the web NEVER give perfect reviews - it's like an unspoken rule.)

But I *am* professional in the aspect that while many others get a free game in return for a review (or perhaps not even that), I get a free game, and a paycheck.
And that has to be somewhat near the ultimate geek dream come true - it is in my eyes.

- Thorsten

P.S.
I hereby solemnly swear that I will not abuse the *awesome* power that comes with this honorable position in the world of video-gamers. Even if it may get better hits or more attention.