Life update

Wow, I suck. I need to quit letting this page go by without updates for so, so long. Lot's of stuff has happened in the past year and three months.

Let's see... milestones, milestones: the first would be the start of EverQuest II, I suppose. That was mid November 2004. Tina and I started playing at the dawn of the game's launch and were instantly hooked. Addicted, very badly, I'd say to be honest. We've had a lot of terrific times in EverQuest II, but really spent far more time than we should have playing, neglecting responsibilities and each other for more than a year now. That's a lot of what contributed to us splitting apart, really. I can't blame the game, but I definitely blame that the problems we had and didn't focus on finally reached untolerable limits as a result of spending far too much time in a pretend world. Ah, the follies of life that we learn from, eh? So, officially, ten days ago now Tina and I decided that our relationship is over and done with.

So I may be moving again... soonish. Not sure where or when. I hate moving... I hate uprooting, I hate re-adjusting, I hate leaving behind shed shells of my life and attachments asundered. I've done it far too many times. The statistics on it, I've read, are that the average American moves seven times in his/her life. I'm in the twenties, personally. I really miss Colorado and the beautiful outdoors there... the fresh mountain air and the snow. If I had to choose, I'd try to move back there, though the cost of living is exceptionally high. A great, long-term friend of mine invited me to stay with her and her boyfriend for a while if I need too. She's so great -- I hate to take advantage of a "gotta move" bail-out when I'm not sure how long I'd need to get ready to move to a more permanent place, but I just may. God bless her heart.

She also paid for an expensive trip to DisneyWorld for me and Tina to hang out with her. I hate that I couldn't pay her it all back, but I can't say I let that ruin the vacation for me. That was about a month ago now. Man, I had a blast. The ride lengths were SO short everywhere, so even though we were only there in the parks for two days, we got to do everything AND MORE than Tina and I did last year when we had four days (okay: three, it rained heavily one of those days).

I also had a close encounter with death about two months ago, right when Hurricane Katrina hit our town (great timing). I was out doing some yardwork with Tina late in the evening and must have got bitten by a mosquito. Apparently they can carry several virii and while most people (80%, statistically) have no reaction and never know they've been infected, some people (19%) have minor-flu like symptoms. Me, on the other hand, had a case that's very rare where it hit me hard. I was infected with viral meningitis, which infects the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal column. My physician said that in his twelve years of practice, he'd only seen one other case like mine. I made a full recovery within a few days, but it was very scary. At first I just started forgetting how to do things, but inside of an hour, I couldnt use my right arm anymore, I couldn't talk, etc.

But I'm fine now and none the worse off for it. Well, except maybe a tiny patch of hair on my arm that hasn't grown back in yet. First time having an I.V. in me. In fact, it was the first time for a lot of stuff at a hospital, including spending nights there, being in the I.C.U., having all kinds of tests done on me like E.E.G., C.A.T. scan, M.R.I., spinal tap, etc. They weren't able to re-grow the virus from the spinal fluids they got from the tap, so they couldn't determine the particular brand of meningitis, but it's likely that it was West Nile.

That's it for now. Will write more later as stuff progresses. Ciao!