This is the first and probably last time you'll ever see me write a blog post about leveling up. Reaching level 45 on this site is something though, a monument to all the time I spend here when I could be doing something else. I guess I just really like to argue about games.

In other news, I apologize for the infrequency of my updates, especially to those who have enjoyed my Story in a Blog series thus far. I just haven't had the urge to write anything recently, as much as I'd like to. I'd like to say it's my old nemesis, Writer's Block, coming back to haunt me as it loves to do every now and then but I think it's something more. Eh, I'd rather not get into that.

Anyway, I guess I should get back to my Dead Space research. I've got a thing coming up and I want to be prepared.

I received this game for Christmas last year but until earlier this month, I never really got into. I kept looking at it on my shelf thinking to myself, "I should play this today but I just don't feel I have the time." and then I promptly skipped over it to play something else. Call it a bad case of "RPG syndrome". Anyway, I finally decided enough was enough and that I was going to play the game.

Little did I know this game would soon capture my attention like none other and hold me hostage for three days in which I played over fifteen hours of Mass Effect to finally finish the game. When the final credits rolled, I had logged in 35 hours, much of which was devoted to ferreting out nearly every side mission I could before strapping myself in for the game's epic conclusion.

Mass Effect is that damn good. I've already begun a second playthrough with my leveled up Commander Shepard with all of his skills and weaponry intact. Yes, that's right, you can replay the game with your leveled up character, a feature I haven't seen in too many games.

So, trust me when I say you need to give this game a shot if you have an Xbox 360 or a nice gaming PC. It truly is one of the best RPGs this generation.

Oh and by the way, this game dropped into my lap yesterday. Apparently, due to some controversial content, this game cannot be traded in at GameStop and rather than take the game home again, a customer asked if we could discard it. Curious, I took it home and gave it a whirl.

Yeah...I probably should've gone ahead and discarded it...

Go see The Dark Knight. Now.

That is all.

I'M LEGAL!!!

Still suffering with this sore throat but I'M LEGAL!!!

PS: That's 21, not 18.

Well, I'm officially on the mends. After a terrible night last night that had me tossing and turning in a dead heat that didn't break until well over an hour of endless torture, I woke up this morning feeling even worse than I had the day before. At that point, my mother forced me into the car and took me expeditiously to the hospital, against my constant disagreement. Well, I was taken to the ER, whisked into the back room and quickly getting a throat culture from me and made me lay there on the bed, shivering due to a bad combination of the hospital's air conditioning and my already present fever. Then, when the doctor came back, he told me I have what is known as pharyngitis.

"Well what the heck is that?" I wondered,

Then I was told it's just a fancy word for a sore throat. Yeah. I think I could've figured that one out by myself. Anyway, I nodded with approval and he told me I was to receive a shot of penicillin and discharged. My heart leapt as my prayers were answered. I wouldn't be admitted for "observation".

And then, after 15 - 20 minutes of waiting, the nurse walked in with the needle.

My eyes widened in shock and my heart skipped a few beats as I saw the thickness of the needle and realized where it was going. I asked feebly if there was a way I could get it in the shoulder. The nurse was blunt.

"Yes, you can, but it's going to hurt like hell."

I believed her, stepping off of the bed and proceeded to pull my pants down. Yep, for those of you who haven't figured it out yet, it was going in my rear.

Needless to say, I'm sitting here and, much to my discomfort, my right butt-cheek hurts.

So there you have it.

I woke up this morning somewhere around 7:00 because of some strange dream that had me tossing around a bit and went to go to do some...things briefly before promptly returning to bed to sleep well into the morning. In that short span of time, I noticed that my throat was a bit sore. Thinking nothing of it, I crawled back into bed and returned to my restful slumber.

Later that morning around 10:30, I finally woke up. The soreness of my throat hadn't yet disappeared, much to my disappointment and continuing discomfort. I got up and gargled with a glass of hot, salty water which did relatively nothing to soothe my throat. I hoped that it would soon go away and continued about my day, wincing every now and then when I swallowed. Now, here I sit in my chair, the soreness of my throat having gotten progressively worse and now, I feel a bit dizzy, I think I've got the chills and may be a bit feverish. Now, I'm about to retreat to the comfort of the bed once again and try to rest.

Ugh, this sucks. Here's hoping this will have blown over by this Sunday, which happens to be my 21st birthday...