It's Been Over 2 Years...

So, I was thinking of what to blog about. Paige Moonshade on Twitter said something about the near 2 year anniversary of Houses. So, a lot of my newbie memories came flooding back. I recently found out my 2-year Wizzyversary was in December, so I just missed it, but here's my story ;)

- "Hey, are you in Krokotopia yet?" asked my friend to another buddy of mine. "Yea, level 17!" and all this jabber went on with them in the bus for several weeks. I felt excluded, and my best friend kept bugging me to try a game called 'Wizard101'. I sort of put it off. Finally, one cold December night, with one of the first snows falling in Michigan, I tried it. Believe me, I didn't even know how to exit at first... I ended up shutting down my Computer! In exasperation, my friend explained the next day. 2 days later, I attempt to go into Cyclops Lane but... membership needed? I succeeded in begging my mom for a 1 month ;). My next memory is on the phone with my friend meeting in-game in Olde Town, and discovering Text Chat + beating Lord Nightshade on the same day. Next thing I know, I'm in Krokotopia and my friend is just about to enter Marleybone. It was a bit of a questing race ;D. So, I went to my friends house one Saturday and he was in Big Ben. "Why don't use Feint?" I kept asking when he was fighting minions, not a good strategist myself. It took a while, but soon I saw him in Mooshu. Next thing I know (my friends ITS name was Valkoor, a Death wizard) he basically quit as a LvL 39, pointing out its "addictive-ness" (We all feel that way sometimes, right? LOL). So, I continued, and I recall my other friend talking about the new world of Dragonspyre. I was fascinated at his description. I made it to Dragonspyre. (one memory is of me seeing someone in the Grand Chasm, floating in a glitchy spot, saying "THIS WILL BE MY HOUSE!" right before the Housing updates. lol.) Now, for a little pause how real-life was going at the time...

-It was 6th grade. My Math teacher LOVED giving out homework, which I often didn't do, but I usually aced the tests. One day on the bus, I almost had a panic attack out of nowhere. So, complaining I was sick when I got there, I went home. I soon found myself too nervous to go to school, so I was absent a lot and, when I got there on occasion -my dad basically dragging me- I found refuge in the Counselor's office and didn't attend class much. The Counselor was nice, listening to me state my problems, and would often push me into Class while I tried to push back, and one time, when I was about to go on the bus for the first time in months, the Counselor basically stopped the bus since I didn't go on, so it was either a 'be humilated or ride the bus situation'. I went in, and some people cheered. I soon overcame my phobia of the bus. (I despised you at the time for doing that, but thank you Counselor. A lot) So, near the end of the year and after many meetings and therapy, I attended school again full-time with a cutdown of homework on my part. Then, we moved to Maryland after my Dad found a new Pastor job here. It was pretty tough, and I was too nervous to go on the plane to see it that Spring, but I visited it the month before we moved by taking a 10 hour drive. Soon, my phobia of going anywhere was basically over. It was kind of sad to leave, but I didn't cry or anything. I remember the last day at church with my friend and preschool girlfriend (yes, her parents are family friends and we went to each others houses a lot in pre and Elementary school and played) having an extremely funny conversation on the phone with someone from our baseball team and playing outside. ANYWAYS, there was a lot of unpacking and tripping over stuff when we got here. Back to the Spiral at this time...

-I had basically quit Wizard101 for several months that Spring and a little of the Summer. Late one night, browsing on my computer, I found a site called The Friendly Necromancer. I looked on some posts, fascinated at this place called Briskbreeze Tower that I was seeing. So, I began playing just a little bit off and on, and started really playing again around October, seeing the Halloween quests. I also leveled Chase Deathcrafter, a Death wizard, and got stuck in Elik's Tower (Grand Chasm) because of a bug that wouldn't let me go down the floors. After I came back to the game, the bug was gone but I soon deleted Chase Deathcrafter because I realized his secondary schools and all were wrong, etc, a newbie character. I'm not exactly sure when, but I made Dugan Ogrethief, who still stands in my account to this day. Memory is a blur right now, but I made Arlen Dawneyes also, I think. Going back to real-life...

-Summer was fun. But 7th grade soon rolled around. After an Orientation and stuff, I started (not many people questioned who I was, because a ton of new 7th graders out of a K-6 school instead of the usual K-5 school came in that year, too). Late October, and I was getting anxiety in school again with lots of upcoming projects. So, I basically was absent a lot again till January. I did a little homeschooling with a program, and soon went to a couple hours of school. By the end of the year, I was going full-time again. Back to ITS...

-Again, memory is a bit of a blur, xD. Okay, next thing I remember is Arlen getting his Orthrus spell... I believe this was early 2010??? So, I had a good friend. Don't remember his name at all, honestly :P. I, in utter anger, found I had to do the Labyrinth AGAIN to get Orthrus (Ranulf Moonclaw, the guy you must beat, is in a tower in the Labyrinth). So, near the end I used a Cyclops with a lot of his traps. This led to an argument with him deleting me. Meh... he was very sensitive, I guess. But, a nice gal helped me out for the rest :). My computer, suffering overheating problems, shut down on me right when I was about to finish. I was crushed. So, moping around for a few minutes because of the backstabbing friend and computer, I remembered the Labyrinth would reset in 30 minutes! Quickly logging back on and running fast, I made it and finished Ranulf. Wootz! That March, my Dad would get a new computer so I could have his old overheating one for myself. I had it till this Fall (with many frustrating moments with it, like when I was about to finish a Kensington Park run and -SHUTDOWN-) , I think, then my mom got a new computer, and she rarely uses it (to check e-mail and to write resumes sometimes, basically) so, its a good computer and MINE now ;). Around this time, I also met a great person named Samantha Daisyleaf who's given me a few awesome gifts (such as Mycin's epic Shark mount!). She's probably been busy a lot IRL, haven't seen her around for a while. But, thanks again, so much, for your gifts and niceness, Samantha :). Now, the current era...

-In February '10, I found a site called DiaryofaWizard. It was sweet. I blogged on it every 10 days, basically, and soon heard about an event called the Ravenwood Ball. Excited, I got there, but it was extremely crowded and 3 AREAS were full in Ravenwood where it was. I was in the mob wondering who the "famous people" were. Stephen Spiritcaller, whom I heard had a podcast about Wizard101, appeared, which is the only "famous" person I saw according to the crowd, xD. Soon, everyone moved to the Life Tower, and found a bug to go onto the roof, and it was complete chaos. I was unbelievably hyper at this time, LOL. So, I also met a Malorn Willowsmith briefly in the Ball. He said he had a blog, so I checked it out (Sorcerer of the Spiral :)) and made my own, so he was basically my welcomer to this community. The rest, as they say, is history. Look at my old posts if you want to know more about making new characters such as Mycin and Tarlac. Now, I'll sum up my real-life for you up to now...

-8th grade. I lasted till November before anxiety pushed me back a bit, but I still managed to attend a little bit, but I was mostly absent till January again. I went back full-time when Winter Break ended, and have been going for a month. My anxiety is kicking up again, however, so I've missed a couple days. I'd like to apologize for kind of lying about my school life to everyone on Twitter, as it is a rather sensitive subject to me, and I'm finally telling about it now. Let me just say that #twizards and the community have given me a lot of inspiration, such as Jacob Thundersword and Jordan Seadreamer, who get all A's mostly. Kevin Battleblood has done so many great things ITS, such as petnome, and STILL does great with his work IRL as well, that also has given me inspiration. So, right now I'm stuck on a couple things I have to do for school, so I've missed several straight days out of anxiety. I plan to stop the sudden week-break later this week, so this is where I am now. I am only not doing well in French class, which I can do the homework (my mom used to be a missionary in Congo and is really helpful with it) but I often brainfreeze and fail the tests, the opposite of my other subjects, where I scramble by in the work but completely ace the tests. I'm a little depressed IRL right now, what with that is the middle of February -an often ugly month- and I've missed several days in school again. That basically explains stuff for you all, again, I'm sorry I've never disclosed my anxiety issues till now :). BTW, Andrew Pearlward was a complete newbie (Balance as a second school for Ice? lol) so I deleted him a while ago, and remade Chase Deathcrafter. Thats basically it, so Happy Valentine's Day I guess, although we should love everyone everyday :D. Sorry for the LONG text post, but that explains my life recently. It will always change, like a book. So, I will be in High School soon (yipes!). I have a therapist I go to every Monday as well, which helps a little bit.

Happy Story-telling!