Romance? In My World of Warcraft?

"Khadgar knew he should just shut up. But he couldn't. He had held back all this time, wathing Alleria and Turalyon, who obviously still loved each other, circle one another like wary dogs. He could take it no longer. '...There's a good, kind, intelligent man right here in this keep who could teach you a thing or two on how to live. You should try living for a change, opening yourself to something rare and wonderful instead of slamming doors.'

She marched up to him until their faces were only inches away. 'How dare you say such things to me! It's none of your business! Why do you care how I choose to live my life?'

'I care because I don't get to choose! I know you think of our lives as shockingly brief. Our youths are even briefer. What ten years to be young and strong, at the most...most alive we'll ever be? I don't even get that. I became an old man at seventeen. Alleria, I'm even younger than Turalyon! Look at this face. I'm twenty-two, but what twenty-two year old girl would have this old man?'"

I finished all three books. They were all amazing, but somehow, Beyond the Dark Portal had hit me. Hard. Somehow it just snuck up on me that this book has such a warm and fuzzy romance going on between Turalyon and Alleria Windrunner. It just made me feel immense amo unts of "squee" for the two of them. And it didn't help much that I had identified with the viewpoint of Khadgar, who at the time was a 22 year old mage.

22. YEAR. OLD. MAGE. (I'm 22, and this is a mage blog, in case the coincidence was lost from you)

Light damned it, I became quite lonely.

And for the whole day I spent at work, I pined, wondering if there was an Alleria Windrunner out there for me. This didn't sit well with the fact that I had just read Bre's post about being romantic in-game to your significant other, or with the recent trend of topics in the past week or so regarding gender-specific blogging and gaming.

What had come over me? Surely, I could go out into the world, meet a girl that I could be attracted to, and perhaps get to know a bit more. But in the several times during this now-gone summer that I had such opportunities, I somehow wasn't willing to reveal my interests for online gaming and internet blogging, for fears that I would be viewed as that loner/loser stereotype played out by the media, the pimply fat guy who was in his twenties who lived in his mother's basement.

Not entirely true. I wasn't fat and pimply, at least, not in the stereotypical loser nerd sort of way. Sure, I may have a bit of a beer belly, and I still live with my parents, but that's because I'm still in my last year of University, and would rather save up for a nest egg than move out.

But hot damn, I wondered if I really am perpetuating the stereotype cast by the evil media conglomerates. I hope not, since despite those moments self-conscious thinking, I felt I always had an outgoing (hopefully not too outgoing!) personality, intelligence, and a sense of humor beyond the "epic lulz" of the 4chan-dominated internet that now grinds my nerves. And somehow, today I had wondered whether or not I had shown such personality in my blog, and whether or not I had sincerely conducted myself in real life as such.

Thankfully, I logged on that night, and found that those very traits that I subconsciously prided myself in was recognized by one in the blogging community. A female, no less. It immediatley justified my existence as a guy in the blogosphere. As such, I extend a sincere message of gratitude, multiplied by an arbitrarily large number. You, along with countless other females in the twisted nether, are the reason why all the other male bloggers are jealous of your boyfriends and husbands.

Thus, I had concluded that there exists in the world a woman out there who is right for me. One who can see past the lies of the media, and appreciate me for being me. My very own Alleria Windrunner. And one day, when I do eventually meet her, I would be willing to cross that dark portal and take up arms against the Horde to fight with her. For her.