User blog:ToaGonel/It’s My Second Anniversary - It’s Time to Call it a Night

Hello, all.

The Situation
As some of you may know, today is the second anniversary of my joining this wiki. It’s been a tremendous ride, meeting all sorts of new users who share my passion for Bionicle and for writing, expanding my own capacity for writing and storytelling, and otherwise just having a jolly old time. But I’m afraid the time has come for me to depart. I’ve joked about it before, but I ask that you read what I have to say with some degree of seriousness and respect for this decision which weighs heavily upon my heart.

This last month, you might have noticed a decline in my activity. Oblivion’s Game aside, my involvement really hasn’t been up to snuff. And it’s really not something that can be helped. As real-life work gears up, I am forced more and more to focus on it and to less and less play with my toys in the back room. I hate to recognize it, but the time has come for me to acknowledge that I’m an adult. And I accept it.

The completion of Oblivion’s Game represents breaking through the halfway mark on the extended Box Office Broken Order Saga. Interestingly, when I originally planned what was to be my main storyline on this wiki, I really hadn’t thought much further ahead than The Circle of Kragator--not even that for a while. But as the opportunity arose to collaborate with others and to continue the story, further emphasizing and fulfilling the themes with another trip around the cycle, I could not resist but jump upon the opportunity. I went so far as to develop a second, even a third cycle for my series, and as such, perhaps I overextended.

As I implore you to consider the tight predicament I’m in, consider this: in 2017 alone, I released Wake, wrote and released Lies in the Light, Ode to All That is Spring, City of Secrets: The Underground Plot, Hang ‘em High, Beyond the Known, Kragator’s Circle, Echoes of an Order, The Next Stage, An Exercise in Futility, and wrote most of Oblivion’s Game with the help of FireDrag1091. This past fall, in my height, four of the ten stories in Custom BIONICLE Wiki/Stories belonged to me. Now, in 2018, Oblivion’s Game, which actually surpassed the last longest thing Gonel has ever written, has claimed a position in seventh longest page on the wiki--may even take fifth place if I add a Story Notes/Trivia section. And this is to say nothing of the things I was blessed to be a part of in the service of the wiki such as the revision of the policy pages, the election to Administrator, and my drafting of the tenth anniversary blog and involvement in those festivities. So I think what I’m getting at is… how do I top this? Excluding Wake, all of this took place in my second year here; it overwhelms me to imagine how I could possibly beat this in the next year--on top of the real world crushing down on me.

The answer is quite simple: I cannot.

Indeed, the time has come for me to step down. With my resignation at hand, the BOU will remain incomplete, much like so many other storylines here--indeed, like canon Bionicle itself. Yes, I must give up on my vow that my story would not be one of those countless unfinished tales here. I don’t know, perhaps I’ll throw together some short story saying some resistance to the Kritor Empire formed and showed the empire who’s boss, but I question whether even that is possible.

So I must depart. Cool enough, by the way, that this, my final edit would be my 2018th edit. But I digress. At least what I have done will stand as a testament to those future generations who walk these halls. Well, assuming I don’t return in nine month from my inactivity to ask whoever’s in charge of the wiki to delete half my story and declare the other half noncanon. Truly, it is a troubled life a self-conscious writer leads. Such is nature. I have already accepted this.

If I'm to be completely honest with myself, I should have resigned at the end of August. My activity level on CBW has been pitiful throughout the last week of October, and for an administrator, while that is not unusual, that is… alright, I’ll be completely honest, it’s far from unheard of. In any case, realistically, I should've been kicked off a while ago. My inability to write 30 novels a day for the wiki has been due to a number of big changes in my life, namely having changes of the “big” variety. As such, my focus on CBW - or even my willingness to focus on it - has sagged.

Special thanks:
I suppose this is the part of the blog where I ramble on about all the people who’ve supported me for much of my time here.

Forgive me for getting sentimental...

Robby the Redshirt: Like most redshirts, your demise could be anticipated. Unlike most redshirts, we wrote a spotlight for you… (even if we did end up dedicating it to all the people such as yourself who die seconds after introducing themselves.) May your shirt grow redder and your robby grow robber.

Zadakh: “i'd ride a Zadakh any day of the week, if we're tbhing right now” --Bob, 2018

777stairs: You turned my friends against me in your time here. Thank much, friend.

TheMysteriousVillain667: You had an elaborate plan planned for your planned return to the wiki. Pity you are too lazy to act on it. (or are you?)

Bob: “i'd ride a Zadakh any day of the week, if we're tbhing right now” --Bob, 2018

Invader: My literal practical brother from a different mother… at least assuming we aren’t judging by the family tree.

Chalk:

Luckily, some of those are changeable and there’s ones we could add

Ranger can probably be modified to not utilize magic, since it’s different enough from an Archer Fighter

I haven't decided on Monk since technically they use ki instead of magic

I haven't decided on Monk since technically they use ki instead of magic

I haven't decided on Monk since technically they use ki instead of magic

I haven't decided on Monk since technically they use ki instead of magic

Great now my messages aren't sending

I haven't decided on Monk since technically they use ki instead of magic

Great now my messages aren't sending

I haven't decided on Monk since technically they use ki instead of magic

Great now my messages aren't sending

I've got more to say on the matter, but I'm gonna wait until I can actually get my messages sent

I've got more to say on the matter, but I'm gonna wait until I can actually get my messages sent

I've got more to say on the matter, but I'm gonna wait until I can actually get my messages sent

And to all of you I have not mentioned, to everyone I have had the pleasure of interacting with (with the exception perhaps of probably) don’t think I have forgotten you. I value our time together as much as I do any of these people; I just wanted to publicly thank the top dogs so that when I return in a year I can be promoted Bureaucrat no sweat (hey, it worked the last time XD)

In closing, I hate to be the sentimental type, but I have to say, you guys have no idea how much delight I’ve taken in this community. You guys are such fun to be around, and it pains me that the time has come for me to write these words. I have always valued my time here, and hope that my contributions here (even if I do decanonize them) will be remembered fondly.