If you’re wondering why AIG has been a little bit slow since the finale ended, here’s the scoop. First and foremost, I was burned out. The closer we got to finale time and Tony’s endgame, the more the pressure piled on, and emotions were running high with the entire team. I knew that there was at least some possibility that Season 7 could be Tony’s last if the writers decided to off him in the finale, and if that happened, I wanted the site to go out with a bang. I sacrificed sleep and physical comfort in unprecedented amounts during that final week before the finale aired to get the site up to speed and co-produce the Tony-centric fan videos with Adam of TheJackSack.com.
Towards the end of the season, during the two weeks on either side of the finale, a certain level of stress brought on by negative interpersonal dynamics going on between myself and some specific posters on the blog and on the forum had pushed me over the edge, and once the finale had come and gone and all the dust had settled in the ensuing discussions, I needed some time away from the site to decompress. What I came to realize during that time is that I had lost sight of one of the very fundamental reasons I started this site — personal fun and personal satisfaction. And I further realized that despite the fact I have actively encouraged public discussion and exchange on this site about Tony and 24, and have enjoyed the open format of the site this season immensely and my interactions with the many smart and thoughtful people I have encountered as a result, at the same time I don’t owe absolutely everyone and anyone who comes by here a venue or a soapbox, and I have no obligation to the reading public as a whole to tolerate everything. If there is a presence on this site that is making me unhappy, upsetting the balance, causing me stress or making the running of the site un-fun for me, that presence has gotta go. It’s still my house. And the house has been cleaned. My tolerance for bullshit is at an absolute all-time low.
As many of you who frequent our message forum are already aware, I have some pretty heavy stuff going on in my personal life. A member of my immediate family is quite ill and is currently battling a debilitating and potentially terminal disease. At this time, I must turn my attention to my family and provide them with the support and encouragement they need, as well as draw from the support and encouragement they can provide to me to get through the very difficult and emotional time, and stay positive.
I have enlisted and continue to enlist the assistance of my readers, contributors and contemporaries (many of whom I have grown to consider my friends) to help me with things on the site over the off-season hiatus. Avery will be reporting live from ComicCon, and has joined the ranks of our Official Contributors on a permanent basis. If you have news items, blog ideas or any other material you think would be good to keep AIG interesting through the off-season, don’t hesitate to send it my way. I need all the help I can get. Thanks to everyone for reading this year and being part of AIG. Come January, we’ll be back, and mark my words, so will Tony Almeida.
I would love to contribute. I actually have some really great ideas for videos that we could use on the site: like a top 24 best Tony moments and have the folks on the forum do a survey and then make the list from that. I’m getting a new iMac next week and will have high end professional editing software to do these kinds of things. I am not the best writer, but I am very skilled with video and editing, and if the time permits, I would love to do a few things in the off season that you could put on the youtube account or post on the site.
-Ian
I’m really sorry to hear about the really heavy personal stuff, Kasia. But I’m sure the member of this site are here for you, as always.
Captain_Typho, I have a weakness for lists of any kind, and would be happy to get in on that project. And if for some reason you don’t get contributor status, I’m sure I’d be happy to post it or link to it on your behalf.
hey gal, thanks for the update
. if you need my help on any of this, lemme know, will ya? I mean, I did post a couple of things in the Admin section but they never got published. 
. I guess they weren’t good enough, that’s fine. But I sure hope you’re right about Almeida. may he be with all of us 
Honestly, J_A, I was remiss in monitoring submissions, and by the time I saw the articles, they were a bit “old news”. But keep on keepin’ on, lady.
yeah that’s ok, good to know you at least saw ‘em, it’s not so bad. I understand you had other things to worry about. however, I’m not sure how to letcha know if I post something later. facebook? e-mail? PM?
any of the above!