Geekanalogy

Life is kind of like Portal.

You may be provided with some instructions, hints, etc. about how to achieve your goals, get the things you need, arrive at your destinations. You have to work for your tools and methods, which you use to open doors, navigate around the obstacles - or destroy them.

Timing is everything, really - in a much more straightforward sense in Portal vs. life, but it's true. You have to look at where you are, analyze your goal, take inventory of what you have, remember what you've learned, and choose your path before creating the door that takes you where you think you need to go.

In the game, if you have your timing off, or if you put your doors in the wrong places, you die and try again... But life doesn't have quicksave. So, do you have the skill to choose your path wisely, or can you aim your metaphorical Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device and fire fast enough as you're falling to your doom in order to correct your failures on the fly?

I haven't gotten to the ending yet, so that's as far as I take this.