I'm coming up on the end of what has, thus far, been the most expensive week of my adult life. I say this because my wife and I both came down with some sort of debilitating eye sickness, first presumed to be pinkeye, but then considered to be something much more dark and despairing. Between the two of us, we have already had five doctor's visits and shelled out cash for six separate prescription meds. And we both likely have more eye-related expenses to come in the following week! (Come to think of it, maybe I should hold off on declaring a "most expensive" week until we're both feeling better.)

Ironically, despite the fact that both of us have been squinting throughout the week, this was the week that, in a way, I rediscovered video games. After months of saving and minimalist spending to ensure that we would graduate college without any debt, we decided last weekend that we were finally able to afford new games. Imagine my elation! I'm even getting my wife in on the act, who has never been much of a gamer. Already, we've been enjoying playing a couple different games together, including TimeSplitters 2 and Kingdom Hearts (she reads the walkthrough so that I don't spoil anything for myself but can still get advice when I inevitably get stuck in one place for an hour). Apparently, my definition of a "new game" is still about 5 years behind the curve. Crazy kids today with their PS8's and Xbox9000's. I ain't played it, it's new to me.

Unfortunately, some of my more shameful habits as a gamer have already crept up again. After valiantly attempting to survive againstthe Alliance for 30 minutes in the final mission of Warcraft III's undead campaign, I gave into temptation, put it on godmode, and destroyedtheir camps in 5. Also, realizing that I never did find all 386 Pokemon in the Generation III games, I took out my GBA and turned on Pokemon Fire Red for the first time in over a year... and once the portal's open, well... hopefully I won't resort to playing it in bed and the bathroom like when I was 14. Hell, now that I'm married, I have better things to do in both those places.

Despite my determination to live within a budget, I'm hopeful this trend continues and that our meager "Entertainment" budget will be augmented by a respectable "Gaming" budget. I am also hopeful that we can still come up with the money to avoid going blind.