Blogging nostalgia

I don't have much in game stuff to blog about right now since I haven't been raiding in a bit and am without internet until Saturday. The horror of no cable or internet! So what else to blog about? Hmmm... let's do the slightly pretentious but often done (myself included) blog about blogging! Hooray!

Anyways. So I had lunch today with Beru, who I'm sure I'll continue to see often as I am now an official Seattle-ite (is that the word?) and we work a block from each other. At some point I started talking about old bloggers I miss.

How is it that we establish these connections with certain bloggers? What is it about them, whether its their writing style, choice of subject, or wit/sarcasm/sense of humor that resonates with a reader? Do bloggers who start their blogs at about the same time also get tied together with some invisible string of camaraderie?

So I started mentioning some bloggers who I really miss seeing. Like Kae at Dreambound and her stick figure raid guides. I know we would have killed Rag sooner if only I had her stick figure raid guides to Rag. I miss Tamarind's wit and insight and wonder where Gerard the Kobold's adventures have taken him. I miss Meghan and in my mind she is still kicking ass in arena or bitching at people in AV all with one hand so the other can swig whiskey straight from the bottle. I miss Larisa but see her pink pigtails holding a drink next to a cozy fire. And yes, it's been a while but I still miss Phaelia, who I consider the mother of all druid bloggers. She was the perfect combination of content, insight, and style/wit.

I guess I sound like a old blogger waxing poetic about the good old days. For a while now I have felt like an old fart in the blogging world. I hit my 4 year blogaversary this past September, but didn't mention it, just like older folks don't like to highlight their birthdays after a certain age. I also think the fact that I don't use Twitter also sets me back in that old blogger camp.

Quick sidetrack, which has a point I swear! Last month when I was flying back and forth from Chicago to Seattle, one of my flights showed the movie Midnight in Paris. The central character in the movie finds himself transported to what he believes are the golden days, Paris in the 1920's. During one of these trips back he meets a woman from that era and together they are transported back to the Belle Epoque, Paris in the late 1800's. It is this era that she considers to be Paris' golden days. When they meet people from that age and ask them what they consider to be the best era, they respond that it was the Renaissance.

While the movie has somewhat of a crazy and implausible plot, I found it kind of cute, but with a great message. The central character "realizes that despite the allure of nostalgia, it is better to accept the present for what it is".

Nostalgia is a funny thing. And its probably even funnier that I have it around WoW blogs and the blogging community. But as much as I think that the WoW blogging community was definitely different a couple years ago and as much as I miss certain past bloggers, perhaps I just need to accept and appreciate the current community and some fantastic voices for what it is today.