So what have I been up to lately? Many things, mostly dull and boring stuff, but there have been some highlights.

My friend and I are talking again. We don't broach the religion subject much but I'm sure things will be ironed out eventually. I think we've both agreed to not let religion get in between our friendship.

I've talked to both my doctors recently. The surgeon wants me to add Vitamin D to my pill regiment. Its the most common prescription is gives out nowadays. I'm not sure what Vitamin D does for me but I'm inclined to do what the doctor says. My progress continues to improve. I've also recently started walking. It's not much, only about 15 minutes a day but I can cover about half a mile in that time. I have no doubt I can do more too. It is such an awesome feeling to be able to walk more than a couple blocks and not be winded or having to shut down for a while with a sore back!

I've started training at work for my new job, which has filled up 8 hours of my day with boredom. I'm not happy with the transition but since I want to keep my job I have to stick with it. I have, however, made friends with a couple folks, including Jim. He went from a well-paying job as a network specialist at another company to talking tech calls like I do. He inspires me because he was tired of being pushed around at his former place of work, where promised pay increases were never realized. He still looks for better jobs but he said he wanted to start over again. He's also trying to get me back in Warcraft, go figure.

Speaking of digital distractions, my current interest has moved over to Bioshock. This game is FANTASTIC. I watched Dave play it on his XBox and I thought I could never play it because it was too damn scary. Turns out it really is scary, but I could play the game much better on my PC than on the Xbox, and while it was scary, it was also awesome. The gameplay was fantastic, the story was fantastic, and the ending was very satisfying. I recommend this game to anyone and everyone. The most interesting aspect of the game is the moral choice you must make. In the game, there is an element called Adam that must be obtained in order to advance. To do this you must gather it from "little sisters." These little sisters were once young children who were genetically altered to harvest Adam from corpses in the game. Once you defeat her Big Daddy protector(think of a human rhinoceros in a diving suit), you have the choice to either rescue the Little Sister(which frees her from her genetic altering and makes her a normal child) or harvest the Adam from her. The process for rescuing is shown and the child is grateful before she runs off. The process for harvesting is not shown, but it is understood that while you don't actually harm the child, you kill the slug inside her, which in turn will kill her. The moral choice comes at a price- less Adam to improve your character. When I played I could not harvest, as it wasn't in me. I know it is just a game but it was too difficult. The second time around I decided to play evil and harvest. The first few times it was very difficult to do, but understanding that it is only a game, it's actually not that hard. There is a different ending for being evil in the game, and I'd like to see it.

Other happenings? I received a card from Amanda, which was pretty cool. I wasn't expecting it and it wasn't for any particular reason, but it brightened my day nonetheless. I hope she's doing good as well, as I don't see or hear much from her lately. She's going through some tough times but I know she'll pull through too.

I also signed up for classes in the fall! I just need to get one class cleared first and then it shouldn't be a problem, but here's looking like I'll finally get back on track with my education!

That's it for now. I'll keep you updated in a couple days about a couple other developments. For now, keep smiling!