I guess you could say this is a long time coming. The past year or so I've been contemplating this action, but the last three months have really clinched it for me. I'm sure some of you will throw out your conspiracy theories of immortal discontent; don't bother. While there may have been days of anger and resentment between myself and other imms concerning various aspects of the game, that is not even remotely the reason for my departure. There is a time and place for everything, and my time is now.

I know a lot of people, willingly or otherwise, took a chance on me by allowing me to imm. Few had very little reason to believe in me, or to believe I'd matured and grown away from being a bratty, manipulative and self-pitying 20-year old. I always told myself that I would stay as long as it took to prove to those people that I had grown up. At some point though, I realized that the faceless people I was trying to impress really meant nothing to me. That's when it became clear that the only person I had anything to prove to was myself. Coincidentally, that was also the hardest person to convince.

But it's more than that. I've spent the last nine years contributing to this game, be it as a mortal or immortal. I won't deny that there have been some good times. I've met and become friends with some great people that I might never have known otherwise. Let's face it though; nine years is a lot of time to spend pretending to be people you're not, and I just don't have it in me anymore. It's just time for me to be me.

So to the immortal staff,
Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity, and eventually the support and confidence in my actions as a member of the staff. I don't think I disappointed anyone too badly, nor made my imming a regrettable offense. Thanks for the friendships and the rivalries, too.

To the mortals,
Be good to your imms even if you don't always agree. Change is inevitable, and I know sometimes we don't like those changes. Even I disagreed with them on more than one occasion. We need to remember something though - these people work tirelessly to improve the game. They donate so much time and energy, so much so that some don't even have the time to truly enjoy the fruits of their labor.

To the Herald cabal,
I'm sorry most of all to you. Sorry for being absent at a time when you needed immortal presence and leadership the most. I'm sorry I couldn't get done all the things I had hoped to do for you. I didn't intend to leave things hanging this way. At the very least I had hoped to restore the cabal back to better days, but I'm afraid I have to pass that torch onto someone else.

Time to start livin', pfffftt!

Amy, a.k.a, Iunna/Shaz!

We said goodbye to a dear old friend
And we packed our bags and left feeling sad
It's the only way
We said hello as we turned the key
A new roof over our heads
Gave a smile it's the only way
Only way

Turn your head and don't look back
Set your sails for a new horizon
Don't turn around don't look down
Oh there's life across the tracks
And you know it's really not surprising
It gets better when you get there

Well it really don't matter much where you are
Cos home is in your heart
It's a feeling that you wake with one day
Some people keep running all their life
And still find they haven't gone too far
They don't see it's the feeling inside - the feeling inside

Turn your head and don't look back
Just set your sails for a new horizon
Don't turn around don't look down
Oh there's life across the tracks
And you know it's really not surprising
It gets better when you get there

We said hello as we turned the key
A new roof over our heads
Gave a smile - it's the only way
-Phil Collins, We Said Hello Goodbye