User blog comment:Rogaine/Hitting the Dusty Old Trail/@comment-1788742-20160907212938

Well, I guess this means DR's officially never getting rewritten.

Joking aside, I'm sorry I'm late. I have no idea if you'll ever read this, and we haven't spoken in a long time, but I feel it's important I write this here. Call it catharsis, maybe— even though I've moved on from BIONICLE, I suspect I still haven't let go of this community, even though almost everyone I once interacted with on a daily basis has left the site. It was that nostalgia for CBW at the height of its "glory days" that prompted me to join the chat last January for a few hours, and when I logged in today more or less on a whim and started browsing the extensive archive you, CB, and I left behind on this site the nostalgia hit me full force.

But then, as I read over messages from years ago and started thinking about stories and characters I'd long forgotten, I found this blog post. That was when I realized it. I think, subconsciously, the reason I still felt compelled to check this site from time to time was to see how you were doing. With CB and I having both officially departed, your continued presence here was a reminder of what was, in my opinion, this wiki's creative renaissance.

Although we all left behind unfinished works— to the best of my knowlege none of us ever finished our storylines to complete satisfaction— and our writing wasn't Shakespeare, no one could say that you, CB, and I weren't both creative and ambitious. The original Dark Realities was the first true novel I ever worked on, and in you, I found a writing partner with the same passion and dedication I had at the time for my works. At the same time, the user I knew (at first) as Jareroden97 was a natural collaborator, effortlessly complementing CB and me in both our work and the planning that went into it. Though I've never worked on a collaborative project like that one since, I can imagine that many of these projects are filled with a great deal of disagreement. Dark Realities, on the other hand, was a positive experience from start to finish, and I think that owes a great deal to the effortless collaborative skills which led to you becoming an administrator in record time— six months, if I remember correctly.

But to simply call you a fabulous writing partner doesn't do your legacy on this site justice. As administrator, you helped preside over the greatest years of this community. As bureaucrat, you were a trustworthy, reliable, and dependable source of authority, whilst never losing the friendliness you're known for in the community. Most importantly, you were an invaluable friend. Even though it's been years since anyone has called me "Varkanax" on a regular basis, I haven't forgotten those countless discussions you and I had anything and everything on mibbit (we still need to talk about Evangelion, by the way— you still have my email address, right?), the many Skype calls involved in producing our ill-fated podcast, and the endless hours we spent immersing ourselves in the various worlds, Bionicle and otherwise, that we came up with. And, of course, who could forget the two of us (mostly successfully) struggling not only to fulfill CB's vision for the final chapters of DR, but to publish the ending before he left for an entire summer?

Well, I promised myself when I set out to write this I wouldn't ramble on for too long, but as you know I was never very good at keeping things short. If you ever want to talk, whether to reminisce about our time here over a game of Cards Against Humanity like last time or just to catch up on our college experiences, email me. Or you could always do it the old fashioned way, I suppose...it looks like Wikia still hasn't gotten rid of Talk Pages.

So here's to you and your many accomplishments, for which you deserve much commendation. Apologies for the rambling; I suspect my nostalgia has sort of turned this post into a farewell not only for you, but also a sort of eulogy for the CBW era I enjoyed most— although in truth, your name is synonymous with the fun, passion, and dedication I associate with that time. For that, and for so much more, I thank you. Best of luck wherever life takes you.

Your friend,

V