I'm very happy today, because the summer event is starting in a few days, and there will be the night-time music again. Also I am looking forward to the Mumor stage-show, as always.
I am especially happy to hear the summer music again, this year, because, like so many people around the world, the last year has been very arduous.
But Vana'diel was always there for me, in my darkest moments.
I got to thinking about how I felt in 2004, the first time I arrived in Vana'diel.
The feeling I got, was the world of Vana'diel saying to me;
"I am your friend. I am what you have been seeking. I am your home."
I have never felt <That way.> about any other computer-game, before or since.
The newer, high-speed eye-candy computer-games, they leave me cold, they make me feel hollow, empty inside, like I'm just a "viewer" rather than a "participant."
I never feel any emotional engagement to the characters and NPCs and storylines in most modern computer-games.
The only place I ever felt a sense of belonging was in Vana'diel.
I remember in 2004 walking around talking to the NPCs, they all have unique personalities, and dialogue beautifully written by Highly Skilled Fantasy Writers.
Immediately, I knew that this world, Vana'diel, was a masterpiece work of art. It wasn't a bland corporate rush-job.
It was a place of wonder, magic, and beauty. It was unique, and it remains unique, to this day.
I believe, deeply, and profoundly, that it is OK to fall in love with things. I fell in love with Vana'diel in 2004.
Every time I hear the Playonline login music, I know that I will soon be embraced by my dearest friend, the one I love most, my true home, Vana'diel.
My friendship with Vana'diel has probably saved my life a few times. Certainly, my friendship with Vana'diel has brought decades of joy and happiness and exciting adventures, into my small disabled real-life.
Some scientists say that it isn't the "things" that matter, it is the "spaces between the things" that matter.
I think of that often in Vana'diel, the modern era, people rushing around number-crunching and accumulating things.
Between those stressful, number-crunching, accumulating things, there is a world, Vana'diel.
A vibrant place, a timeless place, a place of perfect stillness and wonder. You can feel it, if you stand still, this place, Vana'diel, has a heart, it has a soul. You're not imagining it. It is alive.
I love Vana'diel today, more than ever. Vana'diel is my home. Vana'diel is my friend.