Nathaniel Hoover | Guy Whose Website You're Viewing
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Series Opinions
    • Mega Man >
      • Mega Man Classic >
        • Mega Man 1-6
        • Mega Man 7-11
        • Mega Man Game Boy Games
        • Mega Man Spinoffs
        • Mega Man Remakes
        • Mega Man Sports & Arcade Games
      • Mega Man Sequel Series >
        • Mega Man X1-5
        • Mega Man X6-8 + Command Mission
        • Mega Man X Portable Games
        • Mega Man Zero Series
        • Mega Man ZX Series
        • Mega Man Legends Series
      • Mega Man Spinoff Series >
        • Mega Man Battle Network 1-3 + Network Transmission
        • Mega Man Battle Network 4-6 + Battle Chip Challenge
        • Mega Man Star Force Series
    • Star Trek >
      • Star Trek TV Series >
        • The Original Series (TOS)
        • The Animated Series (TAS)
        • The Next Generation (TNG)
        • Deep Space Nine (DS9)
        • Voyager (VOY)
        • Enterprise (ENT)
      • TOS Films >
        • Star Trek: The Motion Picture
        • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
        • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
        • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
        • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
        • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
      • TNG Films >
        • Star Trek: Generations
        • Star Trek: First Contact
        • Star Trek: Insurrection
        • Star Trek: Nemesis
      • Ones That Don't Count >
        • Star Trek (2009)
        • Star Trek Into Darkness
        • Star Trek Beyond
        • Discovery
        • Picard
  • Games
    • Mega Man Fangame Tracker
    • OH JOES! (A Proto Man Adventure)
  • Presentations
  • Writing Samples

Reflections on the Horizons

8/30/2013

7 Comments

 
I'm not surprised I forgot, but it feels strange to remember.

Back when I was writing for geek blog Exfanding Your Horizons with my pal Alex, I discovered another blog called The Dork Dimension. Thoughtfully written by a guy named Nathan, unabashedly geeky, and sporting a clean and eye-catching page design, this blog was like looking into a mirror that reflects what you want to see about yourself. Part admiration, part casual rivalry, in the back of my mind I always wanted Exfanding to be at least as good as its uncanny counterpart. This blog even started the same week ours did—every time we had a birthday celebration for Exfanding and looked back at our exploits of the past year, it wouldn't be long before I saw The Dork Dimension doing the same thing.

Happy fifth birthday, Dork Dimension. You beat us.

Exfanding formally went on hiatus at the beginning of this year. At the time, it was a recognition that my co-blogger had gotten so busy that our joint blog was becoming my solo blog. We'd each had busy times before, and had covered for the other guy until things settled down in a week or two, but we'd never gone for months without hearing from the other guy. It was a mutual agreement to put the blog on hold, but I don't think either of us expected it to end there. I doubted we'd ever have a full comeback and pick up where we left off, but I envisioned a last hurrah of about a dozen posts, wrapping up as many loose ends as possible before closing up shop for good.

Somewhere in perpetual limbo are a guest post about roleplaying games, a list of Mega Man tips and tricks that just needs screenshots, and a beginner's guide to Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes that might never make it past Season 4. The tentative release dates on these posts reveal my optimism for our grand return: the end of February, not even two months away. We're now about as close to next February as we are to last February, and the thought of bringing back Exfanding hasn't yet come up in conversation. Heck, I've hardly heard from Alex in months—a short text message, a shorter e-mail, and a coffee shop meet-up or two are about all I can think of since the hiatus. Life happens, as they say.

So when The Dork Dimension's five-year post came up in my blog feed, it made me wonder what Exfanding Your Horizons was up to. Was it our birthday already? How odd not to be celebrating. How sad that I had forgotten. Just as writing for Exfanding had been part of my routine for four years, not writing for Exfanding is part of my routine now. I take it for granted that it's Alex's turn to post next. I hadn't considered how long an indefinite hiatus really was until I looked in the mirror and saw the anniversary I wasn't celebrating.

We had a good run at Exfanding. We had our ups and downs, but I'm proud of the work we did. I'm proud of the layout I taught myself HTML to make. I'm proud of the collaborations, our discipline in sticking to our posting schedule, the way our writing styles developed over the years. I'm proud of the friendship we developed. I asked an ex-coworker I had known for barely three years—predominantly through the Internet, at that—to be one of the groomsmen at my wedding. I think that says something about us. We may never write for Exfanding again, or we might be back in full force next week. But ultimately, it isn't how long something lasts that matters; it's the impact it makes while it does last.

Happy belated birthday, Exfanding.
7 Comments
Anonymous
9/1/2013 01:23:26 pm

I hope one day you'll return to Exfanding Your Horizons and write the next Dragon Warrior post.

Reply
Anonymous
9/1/2013 01:26:14 pm

It was done by Dash Jump Actually... you can message his youtube like I did.

Reply
Anonymous
9/1/2013 01:31:29 pm

I wrote a post on his channel for the both of you and the two on the Exfanding Page.

Anonymous #4 (I added the number to clarify)
9/1/2013 01:45:01 pm

You should do other seasonal drink tastings like the Eggnog one.

Reply
Nathaniel
9/25/2013 04:16:49 pm

Thank you for clarifying your identity. :)

Problem is, eggnog is the only seasonal drink of which I really partake! I mean, I guess there's a market for a lemonade post, but I don't think my heart would be in it as much.

Reply
Dash link
9/1/2013 04:53:48 pm

So this is why my inbox suddenly exploded with requests to review Dragon Warrior III. Well, you see, the thing is, I could, but I actually skipped it this summer to play Dragon Warrior IV on the DS instead. I guess now I'll have to go back and play it...

Reply
Nathaniel
9/25/2013 04:18:12 pm

Skipped Dragon Warrior III!? Well, IV is good enough that I guess I can let it slide for now, assuming the DS version didn't go messing with what was done right and fixed some of the AI problems.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    See what my wife's up to!
    Things I Put In My Husband's Lunch

    Archives

    April 2022
    November 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    August 2020
    July 2020
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Anime
    Art
    Books
    Collecting And Collectables
    Conventions And Events
    Exfanding Your Horizons
    Fantasy
    Food
    Gamecola
    Holidays
    Internet
    MaGMML
    Marriage
    Mega Man
    Movies
    Music
    News
    OH JOES!
    Opinion
    Philosophy
    Politics
    Religion
    Retrospective
    Sci Fi
    Social Media
    Star Trek
    Star Wars
    Stories
    Television
    Video Games
    Videos
    Writing

    Creative Commons License
    This work by Nathaniel Hoover is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.