2009 has been a tough year for my family.  We've felt a large hurt from our declining economy, we've moved out of our house back to an apartment, I was laid off from my job, Grasen and I decided to part ways (as a couple, though he's still my best friend), Christmas theives decided to destroy my truck...all in all we were prepared for a pretty crappy Christmas.

This year, I felt the Christmas spirit like no other.  My friends and family all banned together to ensure that the kids didn't feel the same hurt as we were feeling.  The love and thoughtfulness that the Downfall community showed us will never be forgotten.  Words can never express how grateful I am to those of you who found it in your hearts to lend a hand.

The kids had a fantastic day, thanks to the love of others.  I've put together some pictures from our Christmas that DF helped make happen.

To each of you who sent money, or went shopping for the kids, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  I hope your Christmas was full of as much joy and love as you filled ours with.

With much love,
Christine

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First a  BIG THANK YOU to all the downfall members who helped make this christmas one of..... NO THE BEST christmas ever lol !!!!!!!!!!!!!! With all the money yall sent helped give me new school and out of school clothes ! I love all the clothes
and all the stuff i have.!!!Again thank you for all your support at a
time we needed it!!!!

love to you all,

Maliah

My dearest Downfallers,

I've hit a wall in the world...of Warcraft.  I haven't had the desire to log in to WoW much lately and have come to the very difficult decision to cancel my subscription.  All of my character information has been saved and I can come back to the game whenever I'd like.  I don't know if/when I'll be back, but something tells me that the upcoming xpac may suck me back in...

Downfall has come a long ways since the formation and I'm honored that I could be a part of that restructuring and creation of the community that we have today.  I'm so proud of all the members for being such upstanding players (most of the time at least*) and aiding in the development of such a strong community.  You don't find a group of people so devoted to a game and eachother that they're willing to pitch in to help a family in need, offer a couch to a person they've never met except in pixels and offer such assistance to almost complete strangers because of a video game.  Downfall is truly unique.

Kitten Brigade, thanks for having me back after a summer full of late closing shifts and letting me raid with you all again.  It was a great experience.  Keep kicking ass and kill Arthas for me, he's really ugly.

Downfall in general, it's been an honor to share the same guild tag, you all rock.

This is not a goodbye post, more of a "see ya later" post.  If you'd like to get ahold of me, you can always find me on Facebook and or txt message if you have my number.  I'll continue to check in perodically and see where Downfall has gone and what awesomness y'all are doing now.  My last day of my subscription is Jan 8, 2010 so I will try to pop in once in awhile to say 'allo.

Thank you all for an amazing 4 years.  I hold all of you close to my heart as friends and I am truly lucky to have been introduced to you (whether thru pixels or IRL at the guild meet up).  See you all for the next xpac most likely!

Love in DF,

Katibug

Merry Christmas from all of us in Downfall to all of yours! May all your loots be purple and your connections be stable! 

So, I've been sitting on this information for about a week now, trying to evaluate the situation without a knee-jerk reaction.

Basically, here's the deal:

I was just promoted (yay?) and given an ass-ton more responsibility at work.

My hours, before promotion, were typically (in server time), 3:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Those of you online during the day know that half of that time, I spend jerking around and reading mmo-champion, parses, and boss-strats.

Now, I'll be having to push those hours even further, as well as oversee three people under me (which means less jerking around time). I will also be required to make road trips far more frequently.

This is all theoretical, and I don't know 100% how this will play out in 2010 (when my new responsibilities start for real), but I wanted to give you guys as much of a heads up as possible. For all I know, the time constraints involved could end up being manageable and there might be minimal difference in my playtime next year as is the current situation.

As for my WoW playtime, 

I want to play. I enjoy playing. I enjoy spending time with the vast majority of people in this guild. I'm not game-quitting.

However, I don't think I can be depended on to be an every-night raider anymore, for 25 and 10 mans. This is ironic, because in my app I stated that i'd likely be only able to play 2 nights a week due to work, but you guys were such pleasures (you too Shihli) to be around that I somehow managed to get on 90% of my non-work / non-sleep hours (and sometimes during work hours too).

I just finished reading the new "game plan" for KB and unfortunately, I don't fit into even the "fill-in" category because I can't guarantee being on for raid times. I have no choice but to call myself a "will be happy to fill-in when available and needed" category, and I'm going to assume that's not good enough.

So anyways, this is my long drawn out way of saying that life circumstances have changed significantly for me and going forward I will struggle and try my best to be on and contribute and have fun with you all as much as I can. I'm sorry if this turn of events disappoints anyone.

As thrilled as I am about the progression in my career, I'm saddened by the consequence I think its going to have on my time with you guys. Hopefully, I'm wrong, and this was all a pile of shit for no reason post.

Hey Guys, I will be unable to raid until January 8, 2010.  I Have a ton of stuff going on over the holidays and I also have to pack and move 12 hours away.  Once I'm situated in my new place, and settled into school I should be able to return to raiding full time. 

Merry Christmas Downfall, see you all in the new year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-WXEWbPMYc&feature=featured