Missing Milestones

Kayn Hireck is one of Brightvale's more notorious stars with his size in comparison to many of the other Altador Cup players being rather obvious as a spectator, and even more so to those playing against him. However, while he may be a rather formidable opponent on the field, off it he shows his true Brightvale colours in his interest in the scholarly. "It's always been on of my goals," he mentioned when on break from one of his training sessions. "But given the timing of the issue these past few years I've never had the free time to submit anything worthwhile. During the Cup is obviously out of the question, but even for several months up to that our training schedule can be pretty hectic. It's one of those goals that may have to wait until I retire." When asked about a more specific time frame for this retirement Hireck declined to answer and went back to the pitch.

The next Neopian on my list was a lot harder to find and not nearly as accommodating as Hireck. Professor Lambert is one of Neopia's top intellectuals and I was shocked to discover he had yet to have a single Neopian Times publication at all but he was rather clear with his reasoning when I finally caught up to him. "The Neopian Times? That... rag? Have you seen my credentials? The fact that you seem to think I need to submit my articles to something open to publications from everyone in Neopia is not just insulting, it's baffling!" While I have no official comment to confirm this I'd say we probably shouldn't be expecting to see a publication from Professor Lambert any time soon.

Before my next interview I was treated to a lovely cup of Twirly Fruit Parasol Faerie Punch which I was just finishing up as Fyora arrived back from doing her daily stock take (she wouldn't mention the location of her shop when I inquired unfortunately). "The Neopian Times is a lovely publication and does a wonderful job at bringing Neopians closer together and encouraging them to share their knowledge with one another. I make sure to pick up an issue every week however I much prefer enjoying the submissions from others, rather than entering anything of my own. I wouldn't want to take the chance of a publication away from someone else."

With Petpet Appreciation Day falling so close to when the Milestone issue of the Neopian Times I was shocked that there had never been an entry published by the Petpet Protection League, while I was unable to get an interview with Weltrude, a spokesperson for the League took a few minutes out of his schedule to explain it to me. "Petpet Appreciation Day falls during the Altador Cup and this is a very busy time for us. Not because of any mistreatment of petpets," he was quick to add. "It's just that many Neopians are concerned about the Yooyus who participate in the Cup and they often need reassuring that no harm comes to them. This actually becomes a full time job for many of us at the League during the season so we don't have time for much else. Not to imply we don't appreciate these kind Neopians contacting us, it's people like this that help us do our jobs and keep those petpets protected!"

When I'd been looking for Neopians to interview I had somehow been overheard by Princess Fernypoo, who despite having no connection to the Neopian Times that I could find in my research, had insisted we have an interview anyway. Finding her offer a little hard (or actually somewhat impossible) to decline I went ahead with the interview anyway, however the topic seemed to get a little lost. "Oh no, that's not what the Neopian public is interested about at all! I'd never have the time for such a thing anyway, because I'm always preparing for the 28th Day of Relaxing, Princess Fernypoo Day!" At my confused look and gentle enquiry that she perhaps meant Acara Day, she rolled her eyes at me. "Well, of course that's what they have to call it officially; we need to be kind to those Acaras that are less popular than myself." Apparently this was all of them. "But really the day is about celebrating the best of Acaras, and that's me. Obviously. Isn't that what you're writing about for your little article?" At this point I made my excuses and assured her I would look in to doing an article dedicated to her and her day. When I could find the time in my schedule.

While it wasn't all that hard to locate the Techo Fanatic (actually it was pretty hard to miss him, given just how loud he was cheering at the empty Stadium in preparation for the Altador Cup) I was however unable to get a comment from him, it would appear that talking to me would involve him stopping his cheering, even just for a couple of minutes and he wasn't prepared to allow such a thing to distract him from cheering practice. However that in itself if probably the answer to why we've never seen anything Altador Cup related published by him.

So there we have it, the reasons why there have been some notable absences from familiar faces in our Milestone Neopian Times issues so far. It seems like we can look forward to publications from some of them in the future, but looks like it'll be some lesser known faces we may see in the Times this year.

And if you'll excuse me, I have to respond to a letter from Princess Fernypoo enquiring why she has yet to see an article dedicated to her. I'm beginning to run out of excuses and she can be rather intimidating when she wants to be.