AIM won't connect to GChat?

For the most part my AIM account has always logged into my Gmail chat account. Recently, (these past two days), my AIM won't log in. Instead it says, Unable to connect to AIM, retrying... but it never works. Is anyone else having this problem? Could it be a server issue? Or does this have to do with "aim: Gmail is making significant changes to the way you connect to your friends on AIM. For information on how this will affect you, visit our post at http://www.aim.com/google-chat-changes " this message that I received about a week ago? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I really would like to keep in touch with people on AIM. (: