Life, as usual, has been a bit crazy… both good and bad. Let’s go over a couple of the highlights and low points:

Highlights
- Though not collecting a whole lot in donations, I had a great time at the 2008 March for Babies in full Stormtrooper gear. We were a hit again. Warm and fuzzy feelings!
- After like a year after my old couch busted, I finally got myself a new couch, as well as a new coffee table. It’s super comfy, the table is awesome, and you should be jealous.
- I have a lot of new found free time that allows me to catch up on some much needed gaming. I’m playing too many games at once right now, but it can only boost my hardcore geek factor up a few points. Turns out I’ve been slipping in the polls.
- My middle sister finally won a long and grueling court battle for primary custody of her kids from their emotionally (and on occasion physically) abusive father. We, especially the kids, are really pumped.

Low Points
- I’ve had a horrible cold for like a month now that I can’t seem to shake. I get better for about 2-3 days then right back into it. It won’t fucking stay away.
- Remember that girlfriend I broke up with (or did she break up with me? I can’t recall) a couple months ago? Well we got back together… only to break up in a more horrible fashion. It needed to be done, and I know in the end we’ll both be much better off.
- My oldest sister had a miscarriage, being about 6 weeks in. It’s been really hard on her.

So with that, it can be easily said that I’ve run through the gamut of emotions, but at least I have a big comfy couch to rest my weary bones on.

So after having it for like 2 weeks and not opening it, I finally cracked into Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I was ready: classic controller in hand, no one was around, ready to get my Brawl on. Then something happened. I realized I already played the shit out of this game years ago on another system and the things that made me excited to play this incarnation, things used to sell me on it, are things I have to UNLOCK after playing hundreds of brawls! What the fuck? This is what I paid for? And what’s with this ridiculous single player wannabe platformer mode with a plot as complex as a Dick and Jane book? I am, to understate, disappointed.

Then there’s the controls. Sure, it’s great the Gamecube’s controllers work because the classic controller does nothing for this game. It feels awkward, like trying to caress a woman with oven mittens on. I won’t even attempt to try it with the wiimote & nunchuck. Let me tell you how happy I am to have the Wavebird receiver sticking out of the top of my Wii… because it looks like a fucking tumor! That’s how I want my entertainment center to look… fucking diseased.

Maybe I’m cranky because it’s not delivering like I expected right off the bat and Crisis Core keeps me satisfied in a naughty way that no video games has any business doing, but still. This game was one of the reasons I bought a Wii to begin with. Way to be a cock tease, Big N. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go ease my blue balls with a big healthy dose of vitamin FFVII.

On Thursday, March 6th I received a call from a friend telling me I needed to get to my friends, The Prices, home ASAP. The news was heartbreaking and my world, and the world of many others, would never be the same.

The caller told me that my longtime friend, Joe Price, had passed away. I’ve known Joe and his wife Sheila for the better part of ten years. Many of you may remember Sheila as she was an active part in the early years of the HBF community, posting under the name The Littlest Princess. In the past few years, Joe’s health had been declining steadily. He had stomach cancer some years ago and beat that. He had severe back pain for several years, under going numerous surgeries that only seemed to make him feel even worse. He was diagnosed in 2007 with colon cancer and has been undergoing chemotherapy. Sheila was always by his side, doing anything she could to help ease his pain. He lived for her as she did him. In the past months, things had become so bad that he could never attend any of our functions or even receive visitors. Joe once told me that he longed for a day, just one day, without pain so he could be free to do the things that he loved again. Sadly, Joe never got his wish.

Joe was like a big brother to me. To me, he and Sheila were more than friends, they were an extended part of my family. He gave tirelessly, even in times when he was in his worst pain, to different charitable organizations, heading up many fund raising “troops” with the 501st, his favorite of which was the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He befriended a family whose mother and two children all had severe forms of cancer. Seeing him around these children, showering them with gifts and toys, made him happier than anything I can think of.

Joe passed in his sleep at home on the evening of Thursday the 6th. He was 37 years old.

As it stands, the paramedics and police has attributed his untimely death to “natural causes.” I can only take solace in fact that Joe is no longer in the pain that, for lack of a better term, crippled his life and that, in my beliefs, he is now in a better place and I will see him again one day.

Sheila and Joe Price, September 2006

Well, it’s a new year and, as usual, nothing has changed. Life is not exactly easy right now, got a bunch of stuff going on that I’m having difficulty dealing with. In short, not a lot is going how I want it to.

I’ve been pretty down as of late. Work keeps getting more and more busy, my personal life leaves much to be desired, and my social life is pretty lackluster. It’s gotten to the point where my stress and anxiety have gotten to the point that I’ve had to take steps to get things on track. I’ve been distant to a lot of my friends and family and for any of those who read this have felt that, I apologize.

As some of you may have noticed, I really don’t like sharing much of my personal life much on this blog anymore. I suppose it’s because of dangers is presents. Say I’m seeing someone and things are going craptacular and I vent; I run the risk of that getting out and it coming back to bite me. I’m not really an angry person anymore, so my old posts where I’d rant and carry on about some trivial subject, peppered with whit, sarcasm, and amusing analogies just don’t come to me anymore. I can’t post about my job and what’s goes on here because much of that is confidential and I can’t talk about it.

My birthday’s coming up this weekend (the 27th for those keeping score), so I took a couple days off to “celebrate.” I’m not really sure what I’m doing but I could use the days off to relax and reflect on all that’s going on. This will be my last year of my 20’s, then I’ll be one of those old guys trying to be cool… unless I already am. Anyway, send me birthday wishes, gifts, money, or whatever. I could use them.