Improvement

Thanks for your kind comments over the past week, everyone. You definitely helped. I feel much better already, both mentally and physically. In fact, right now I'm feeling pretty awesome!

To be more specific, I've made great progress in my recovery: all my cuts, gashes and bruises have disappeared. My life has become, like, a hundred times easier now. I still have to wait for my legs to get better, but now I can actually get on a bed, couch or whatever and back on the wheelchair without any pain or help. It's great to feel more or less independent again.

Anyway, you're probably wondering, how do I get in bed when it's upstairs? See, since my tails are alright now, I had a hunch that I could fly again. But what about the wheelchair? I decided to try everything out and see if it worked, and well, the results are below.

(Embedded YouTube video. Apparently taken from a handheld phone, it begins with Tails looking up at the second-floor balcony overlooking the living room. He then presses his hands down on the armrests on his wheelchair. After awkwardly lifting himself up high enough, he spins his tails while keeping his legs pointed forwards. He starts to hover into the air while grabbing the wheelchair tightly, and eventually is able to fly over the balcony. The phone user then quickly runs up the nearby staircase. Upstairs, Tails has properly seated himself again, and the video ends with the fox giving a V-sign and a wink.)

Not bad, huh? ;) The video was taken by Alicia, if you're curious, and wow, did she go totally crazy after that little test!

Although seriously, they were really happy over my improved recovery. I wonder what Sonic would say (more on him below). Now, it's definitely not a replacement for walking, as there's no way this could work in narrow stairwells, which the one in the video unfortunately is, nor can I fly particularly fast at the moment since I can't put any pressure on my feet, whether from below or above, and I really want to test out that jet technique again. But for now, I'm effectively back to normal, really, certainly good enough to start working on my usual stuff again. I've only explored like half of Skyrim up to now, but I guess I could come back to that, and the other entertainment stuff I've experienced, later. Really kept me occupied, I don't regret it.

But there's something important here I have to mention. So basically after my euphoria about being able to fly again, I suddenly came upon a pretty big revelation. Namely, that no other wheelchair user in the world is able to do this at all. I realized I hadn't taken into account how they would feel if they saw a video like that above.

To be honest, it made me feel a bit guilty, like I have an unfair advantage. Yeah, I know Sonic and I can move around in ways no human can even when perfectly healthy, but still. I've had the same lack of mobility as them for the past three weeks, so I know how difficult it can be.

So I went online to look up some solutions for wheelchair users needing to climb up stairs, and although there are plenty of electric wheelchairs or special motors and modifications available, there aren't any manually-powered ones. If there were, it should be so much cheaper for paraplegics, those who still have upper arm strength.

You know, electronics are a specialty of mine, but this is one area where I have to deliberately not use any. I've made my decision. I'm going to try creating a manual hand-powered wheelchair that can climb stairs. I already got some inspiration looking at Alicia's mountain bike.

I mean, I've already said I'd like to give back to society for all the help and acceptance you've given me and Sonic. I guess I could start here. Gotta admit, I didn't exactly think my first invention here would be a wheelchair, since I've got plenty others to attempt once I'm up and running, but, well, sometimes life's like that. Fingers crossed!

Oh yeah, and I finally got to talk to Sonic yesterday. The news has covered it too, but in case you haven't heard, the entire ARA has personally surrendered to Sonic. As in, the remaining members actually willfully came out with their hands raised, and then proceeded to kneel before him, like he was a god or something.

Sonic told me he was actually pretty distraught by the event, because it was, well, the first time people actually expressed fear of him, and that's not a position he's ever been in, because it's normally reserved for Robotnik. He told me he didn't want people to be scared of him, ever, even if they were 'bad' guys. It was a really unexpected twist. At least he sounded happy to hear about my gradual recovery though, though he doesn't really have time to use the internet right now, or the ability, really, since there's still a lot of work to be done restoring connectivity there.

Other than that, though, I'm really glad the fighting in Adabat seems to have genuinely come to an end. Hoping for the best for them from here on. And major kudos to the relief workers and UN guys who went there to help too!

Sonic's said he'll come back to LA in a week, but for now he wants to tackle the crime there, rebuild where he can, and maybe restoring some semblance of democracy, perhaps even getting an election to take place, to mark a new tomorrow for Adabat. He's told me that he's trying to convince the main military guy we worked with, Sergeant Pedro Rojas of the Adabat Army, to run for election, because even though we don't agree with all of his views, he's definitely someone we'd trust to get involved in the politics there.

Well, enough for now. I'm going to end this post with a video of a wheelchair stunt I did earlier because I have nothing better to do. XD Bye!

(Embedded YouTube video. Also taken from a handheld phone, it starts with Tails lifting the front wheels of his wheelchair up, then moving forwards in a wheelie about six feet in the living room. Then he starts to spin around clockwise, moving faster and faster. After twenty seconds, he spins on just one wheel very briefly, before quickly coming to a stop as all four wheels land on the floor again. Alicia is heard laughing and cheering, and Tails comments, sounding nervous but excited, "Okay, that was fun, but I better not do it again.")