(Edited mildly by Zophos)

Well, it's been a nice break.  I for one feel refreshed, rejuvenated, leafy, and green.  Interesting changes have been made to the game in our absence.  The release of ICC is exciting, and I'm looking forward to it. 

Zophos occasionally always accuses me of being overly positive and optimistic (which is probably definitely a fair assessment), but I'm excited to see ICC, and the prospect of finally finishing Ulduar provides me with great satisfaction.

It's good to see old friends and talk to former guild mates.  I was actually very touched (which is unusual for me) by the number of "OMG BREOOOOOTH!!!" tells I got when I logged back onto my account, so thank you all for the welcome.  I do however have one very serious matter to bring to everyone's attention.....

As some of you already know, there was an epic cook-off on the Orbital Platform Hyperplane where Zoph lives, and yours truly gathered his knives, his pans and his towel and went to cook attempt chili.  Many of you may not be aware that several months ago a certain guild leader threw down the gauntlet and made the absurd assertion that his chili reigned supreme.  This resulted in about 3 months of pain and anguish on the part of Zerryn, who was subjected to massive batches of practice chili prepared by her husband while he labored to produce the perfect spice blend and texture.

In the end however, the judges could not pick a decisive victor consume my chili (which could possibly be interpreted as "we both failed equally" "I need more practice") and we ended with a split unanimous decision.  Until next time when I stomp him at grilling.  We shall see....

I can't remember lag this bad.  Check that, I can, but it was the AQ40 gate opening and everyone knew it would be a short-lived affair.  At this point, we play through lag on Tuesday through Thursday and hope we can still kill bosses, then leave Monday to hopefully get something done.  The concept of making a bee line for the new boss loses its value when your instant casts on the oldest boss are so slow as to make you feel mentally deficient.  To that end, while it doesn't excuse the incompetence we've demonstrated in the past - threat meters are wonderful things - it certainly adds to the frustration of those involved, myself included.

With that, times are definitely changing.  We've lost some members to a loss of interest, others to a loss of decency.  We've run many a raid undermanned - such is life for many guilds now, from what I observe - and we've figuratively snapped at each other's throats on multiple occasions debating differences between bugs in encounters and flaws in performance; people aren't what they once were, both new and old, and accountability is at best a tenuous prospect.  I can't say it's been enjoyable all the while, but if raiding teaches you one thing, be it in the game or in life, it's that perseverance is a staple to success.  No matter how many times you get the boss to 10% and the server renders its judgment from Hades, no matter how many times people's ISPs cut out, or no matter how many times things just don't go the way you want, you keep pressing on, because the alternative is even less desirable.  Luckily there's some replenishment along the way:



My philosophical rants now aside, Mimiron is dead after far too much effort involved.  If the server cooperates with us at all, it'd be swell to see something new.



I'd congratulate the recipients of loot, but I confess to not recalling its contents.  Thanks instead to those who, in the absence of ostensible motivation, came ready and willing to tackle the challenge of the evening anyways.  Let's hope times start changing again.