Slowly but surely...

Sorry for the lack of updates - I've been busy on too many levels for my own sanity! You see, it all started a few months ago...

...a CUPE union strike shut down York University for three months. Yes, 3 months. It wasn't a pleasant experience and York received really bad rep. Throughout the strike, I went back to work for the Toronto District School Board while concomitantly finishing up renovations with my girlfriend for our new place. In between all of that, however, I managed to get in many hours of Maple! ^_^ (I hadn't Mapled like since summer of '06!). Much to my elation, I reached Paladinhood much earlier than anticipated due to the Thanksgiving Day event and heck, I plowed through until 130 while I still had the steam! Paladinhood is amazing! It's everything I anticipated it to be and more.

Unfortunately, now school is back in session and we're cramming to make up for lost time. I was overwhelmed by work, but slowly I'm making headway. Currently, I'm writing a paper applying Foucault's concept of governmentality to MapleStory - perhaps that doesn't sound too enticing, but it's very interesting stuff. After that, I'll be writing a paper on human/computer interactions. Once I get those two things out of the way, I will be working on my formal proposal to begin fieldwork for my thesis. I don't want to miss the 4th year anniversary events (-wow, I sure have been playing MS for a long time!), so I will be working double time to get that submitted and approved by the Ethics Board on time.

I'm looking forward to getting back into MapleStory. EvilCowKing has been sitting idly by... worst of all, I'm incredibly close to being able to purchase a Horntail Pendant + Egg. Nevertheless, my new place is almost finished, I've upgraded my computer's video card, RAM (-no more lag deaths on boss runs!) and purchased a G11 Keyboad and MX Revolution mouse. ^_^ It's gonna take some hard work and cutting copious amounts of hours from sleep, but I'm determined to start fieldwork in May. Here goes...