Well, I’m still here.
And I’ve reactivated the blog and brought the WP install up to date.
Been playing for a few months off and on. Even managed to get a job past 90.
The game is very different than the pre-Abyssea land that I left. I even managed to get a Black Belt item on my first day back. Something I had tried, unsuccessfully, for years to get.
In real life, I spent a week on intensive photography instruction in Maine, a week in Yosemite for photography, a week in San Francisco because I wanted to and because I like wine, a week skiing in France last winter, and most recently 17 days in Hawaii for vacation and another photo workshop.
I also started scuba diving again this summer. Took me about 3 dives to really remember how to do it. The jumps in technology over the last 8 years (since I last went diving) are incredible. But my ‘classic’ Mares gear and Suunto Stinger computer were conversation starters. I also managed to confuse a few dive masters with my Metric gear. In Hawaii, I actually had to ask “So, all of my gear back home is metric, how much air should I come back up with? Normally 100 bar is turn around and 40 bar is start to surface, what is that in PSI?”. Terrified one dive master, which I found funnier than I should have.
What really got me to start playing again was the demise of Caitsith (and I guess to a lesser extent, Diabolos). I wanted to come back for a last days on the server. Then the Japan earthquake hit and I ended up missing the death of the server because I was out of town. Such is life.
Anyways, I’m back, and I may even update every so often.
Cheers-
-pyra