I forgot to answer the question posed at me in OP.
how's life been treating you and
I finally finished college in the spring and am now working full time. Computer science woo.
do you play the game anymore?
Not really. Sometimes I hop on when others I know are playing, but that was probably one of the big reasons I stopped initially. The community continued to grow and grow while everyone I knew and loved started to move on to other games. I also played a lot of Garry's Mod. It kinda overshadowed BL as a creative tool for me (due to wiremod). The loss of maps took a huge toll on me personally because I've been playing since 2005, I need to be in that bedroom.