it works!

once again nik i owe you much thanks,
after i read your response i went back to php.net and re-read up on 
session_start(); and SID, and found out that i do indeed need to include a 
session_start(); even when using $_SESSION. I could have sworn i read that 
i wasnt to use either session_start() or session_register() when using 
$_SESSION, but it actualy was just session_register() you dont wanna use. 
As for SID, i checked my .ini and sure enough session.use_trans_sid was 
already set to "1", so that explains why it didnt matter how i used SID, 
so in the end i just took that out, and everything still works perfectly. 
Thanks alot for your help!

-Keith