Today marks the 12th anniversary of this humble blogging establishment. I’m celebrating 4,380 days of writing about nothing. And by nothing of course, I mean whatever-the-hell-I-want-to. It’s been a long journey, and I’m surely not the same person who started this blog 12 years ago. Thinking about that in itself is a trip down memory lane. Reading some of the things that my 22 year old self wrote is practically embarrassing, but I see glimmers of the writer I would become. Despite the fact that I have had inconsistencies with my frequency of posts, jumping around between writing about the personal to writing about gaming and even sports, I’ve managed to maintain a regular reader base, and for that, I am proud. So thank you for helping to keep me motivated to share my journey through life — in the real and virtual worlds I travel.

I’ve always said that I write for myself, first and foremost. But without an audience, I don’t know that I would have kept on for as long as I have. See, when I started I was literally sharing my personal life and wasn’t being read by anyone, save for some close friends and family. Even then, engagement was low and it stayed that way for a long time. It wasn’t until I started talking more about MMOs that I became a part of something bigger, and the real catalyst was the NBI, thrusting myself deep into a community of *mostly* like-minded individuals. I made friends. I played games with people I’d never met. I formed a podcast and helped form a podcasting network. I started streaming and making the occasional YouTube video. It’s been an amazing adventure, and I wouldn’t trade some of these experiences for the world.

But writing, podcasting, recording and editing are all large time sinks, and sometimes real life will throw you curve balls. I’ve had periods where I gave up the blog and called it done, just to come back six months later. I’ve had periods of time where I could only muster 5 posts in a month. Sometimes, there really isn’t much that’s worth writing about. Sometimes you spend so much time unplugged enjoying real life that you forget about this alternate ego; this hobby that you nourished into a monster that eats away all of your free time and then some. Sometimes you feel overwhelmed with it all, and need to take a step back. But once you do, you realize that you really enjoy these things, and you soldier on. At least, that’s been the experience for me. Your mileage may vary.

Needless to say, hitting this milestone makes me want to see year 15, where I’m still blogging and creating content on the Internet. Having no podcast to produce has been a nice way to gain extra free time, but now that I’ve not produced an episode in a few months, I really miss it. I’m struggling to find the motivation to rebuild a brand and an audience, though I know some of that will come just from the recognition of my original show. Still, I do miss it, and I do want to put together a new show. I think I’m done with trying to do anything with YouTube, as videos take too much time. I’ll still share the occasional video, but it’s likely just going to be to feed the blog. But podcasting, providing I can figure out a decent format, that’s something that I can bust out fairly quickly and would like to do again. I know I’ve said this a few times already, but I’m starting to feel like the motivation is there again. Keep an eye on this space for more on that as it develops.

So long rambling story short, I appreciate you for your support throughout the years. Here’s to many more to come.