So what are you all up to these days? Options

[Dr. Casey]

Life's been pretty interesting for me. My grandfather died last year, June 17th, at the age of 93; my grandmother moved in with me and my parents afterwards because she was rather deep into Alzheimer's (During June 2011 she was probably on the border of Stage 5 and Stage 6), and we've been taking care of her ever since. I was originally planning to move out last September, but I decided to stay a while longer to help take care of Grandmother. I'm probably going to leave around Christmas this year. I don't mind how things worked out, I was glad to spend some extra time with Mama and Daddy. I started going to the Tennessee Technology Center of McMinnville September 2011, a 20 month computer course at a technical school. I've gotten three certificates out of it so far - A+ Computer Repair, Networking, and Security - and should have six by the end. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to find a job afterwards.

What about you guys?

[Shiidou Hikaru]

Here is a sad update from me. My friend that I mentioned above that was diagnosed with Alzhiemer's passed away last week. Unfortunately I didn't get to see much of her after I first found out about it last year, but I did hear a few bits of news here and there. It's hard to describe what the disease does to a person. It's almost like the friend you knew slowly dissolves and disappears, but not really disappears. I've always believed that the soul and spirit of a person leaves their body when they die and in most cases that happens rather quickly. But with Alzhiemer's, it seems like it is a slow process, where the person slowly transitions from this world to the next and for a while they linger in both places. They slowly fade from this world forgetting all they knew here, even their own children. In the end I just have to try to not be sad. Brenda has fully left this world now to live in a much better place, where someday I hope to go there myself and see her again.