Bloggers' Club Holiday Extravaganza

Hey party people! Exciting news! There's going to be a Holiday Extravaganza hosted by moi on the 20th of December (tentatively). There will be 4 individual contests that night spread between my 3 houses that will be involved. The 4 contests will each be through a different social networking device, but there will be more information on that soon. I'm not revealing any contest details or anything yet, just giving you a heads up.

I WANT THIS EVENT TO BE FUN AND ACCESSIBLE FOR AS MANY WIZARDS AS POSSIBLE. IF YOU HAVE A CONFLICT WITH THE TIME, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO I CAN TRY TO ACCOMMODATE YOU. FAILURE TO NOTIFY ME WITHIN4 DAYS OF TODAY WILL RESULT IN NO TIME FOR ME TO MAKE THE NECESSARY ADJUSTMENTS TO PLANNING. 


And now that bold-caps-speak has left the building, I'll bid you all a good night. Remember! Check your social calendars. If ANYONE cannot make it, let me know. I'd like as many wizards to be able to participate in the contests as possible! And yes, these contests have [small] prizes attached.

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

P.S. I reserve the right to change the time of the party if something comes up. The countdown is the most up-to-the-minute way to know what's going on.

A Happy Holiday Gathering

Hey gang! I just tweeted about wanting to dust off the old Bloggers' Club countdown that has just been sitting there forever (except that it's a new one. And you need to update your copy and get this one! See previous post) and have a party! I'm thinking of a nice Holiday gathering. BYOBI (Bring Your Own Battle Implement) and have a party set up between a couple of my houses. Multiple PvP matches easily accessible, etc. Maybe I'll even raffle off a couple items, we'll see where exactly this goes. I make no promises of prizes, I'll have to check my crown situation at this time and leading up to the party.

Anyway, I wanted to get some feedback on a good date/time for people, so I'm opening up comments to let you all tell me when works best for you! Just drop me a comment with your thoughts or concerns, and I'll take them under consideration before I finalize anything. I just want to get a feel for when people are available (AKA not studying for tests!).

Discussion will also (hopefully) be up on G+, which is linked by my widget on the right-hand side of the page.

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

Study Time!

So, uh, quick update to yesterday's post. Widgetbox hasn't gotten back to me yet. The newly updated countdowns are in place. I strongly urge everyone that currently has a copy of one of the countdowns up to take the new ones and replace the existing ones to bypass any problems.  If you don't update your countdown, the old one will simply sit there saying "Showtime" until you realize a problem. The Protean Charm placed on those Galleons has worn off. I'm trying to distribute newly enchanted ones. Bonus points to the first person to correctly identify which book the Protean Charm is first mentioned in. Even more points to the first person to correctly identify who the first person in said books to use (chronologically in time, not restricted to the time constraints of the books) the Protean Charm was.

And now, a bit of humor. I'm in college. Finals are fast approaching. I found this prayer that I think anyone should be able to use, if they're so inclined.

Now I lay me down to study,
I pray the Lord I don't go nutty,
And if I fail to learn this junk,
I pray the Lord I do not flunk.
And if I die, don't bury me at all, 
Just lay my bones in Study Hall,
And pile my books upon my chest,
and tell the professors I did my best.
So now I lay me down to rest,
And pray I pass tomorrow's test,
And if I die before I wake,
That's one less test I'll have to take.

To all students everywhere, good luck with your end-of-term exams and projects! 

Your [Exhausted] Friend Always,

John Lifeglen

*EDIT* 

For those of you who liked that little poem, here's another! 

Twas the night before finals/ And all through the college/ The students were praying/
For last minute knowledge.

Most were quite sleepy/ But none touched their beds/ While visions of essays/
Danced in their heads.

Out in the taverns/ A few were still drinking/ And hoping that liquor/
Would loosen their thinking.

In my own dorm room/ I had been pacing/ And dreading exams/
I soon would be facing.

My roommate was speechless/ His nose in his books/ And my comments to him/
Drew unfriendly looks.

I drained all the coffee/ And brewed a new pot/ No longer caring/
That my nerves were all shot.

I stared at my notes/ But my thoughts were all muddy/ My eyes went ablur/
I just couldn't study.

"Some pizza might help,"/ I thought with a shiver/ But each place that I called/
Refused to deliver.

I'd nearly concluded/ That life was too cruel/ With futures depending/
On grades had in school.

When all of a sudden/ Our door opened wide/ And Patron Saint Put It Off/
Ambled inside.

His spirit was careless/ His manner was mellow/ He looked straight at me/
And started to bellow:

"What kind of student/ Would make such a fuss/ To toss back at teachers/
What they tossed at us?"

"On Cliff Notes! On Crib Notes/ On Last Year's Exams/ On Wingit and Slingit/
And Last Minute Crams!"

His message delivered/ He vanished from sight/ But we heard him laughing/
Outside in the night.

"Your teachers have pegged you/ So just do your best/ Happy Finals to All/
And to all a good test."

Countdown Updates: IMPORTANT!

Hey there, gang! I'm alive (for now) as finals approach, then I'll be off for a month for Christmas break. I'm very excited for that. It's also getting cooler now, and even Noah is shivering and complaining a little bit. I keep telling him to buck up and deal with it, it is his school after all! Haha.

The point of this post is to update everyone on what's going to [probably] happen with the countdown to the side for Ravenwood Radio.  Widgetbox, which I still love dearly for their massive collection of customizable widgets has some issues right now. The main issue is that I didn't ever create an account with them, because I was using Facebook Connect to sign in. Now, the Facebook Connect login button is gone, which means I'll have to create a real account. No big deal, right? Everyone is [most likely] going to have to remove the current countdown and replace it with a newly updated one. The old one will stop updating itself for you all (since I'm the one behind updating it) and just show that it's "Showtime" all the time. We can't have that, can we?

I apologize for the inconvenience, and I'm currently working with the fine folks over at Flite (who power Widgetbox) to see if I can't salvage my account or transfer widget ownership somehow to make it nice and easy. I'll keep you all updated on what's going on!

Until next time.

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

Transcention

Welcome, Spiralites, to another exciting installment of...oh who am I kidding. Forget the formalities, I'm Transcended, baby! Thanks to an extended Thanksgiving break, I was able to achieve level 70 earlier this week (and get the Chimera spell along the way!). Every time I reach level cap, I change up the looks of my gear. Now, I had this idea that being Transcended should mean showcasing how I looked as a noob + school symbols.

I quickly decided that this was a bad idea. It was much too bright, so I traded it in for different orange and brown diggs, still very much to my taste. Technically I'm still using level 60 gear, as I was horribly underwhelmed with the level 68 gear. True, I found what looked to be a very nice athame, at least until I realized the lack of pips. I'm balance. I rely heavily on power pips. 

                           

That's all I've got for right now. I'm working on getting a better pet hatched, and then I don't know where my adventures will lead next. 

Your [Transcended] Friend Always,

John Lifeglen