Change

I built myself a new PC and am now going through the process of setting up all the software I require.

I printed out a list of everything installed on my old PC and am carefully considering for each one if I really need it or not.

One of the applications which did not make the cut was RSSOWL. That is the RSS reader I used to keep track of EVE content on blogger. I had not used it for some years.

Of the 20 blogs in the download list, only 2 or 3 were active, and even then, only sporadically. More than a dozen pilots I followed had simply stopped posting. I think only one had a final, neat post. The rest just sort of petered out and then – nothing.

I wonder if they were thinking they might at some point return to the game.

I followed a few other blogs in RSSOWL. One was still active, but his recent posts were confronting. He had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and had decided given the nature of it, the quality of his remaining life would be best met with hospice support than medical intervention.

I realised I felt an unexpected level of sadness. Even grief. I thought it might have triggered something in relation to the passing of my sister last year, which I have been somewhat detached about. I guess however when you have read hundreds of – effectively letters, from someone, you can build a type of meaningful (if mostly one way) connection.