The Queue: Five Years!

I’m happy to report that this is the five-year anniversary of my taking over the Queue!

It’s a little hard to believe that it’s been so long already. It feels like just yesterday that I wrote my first one. In theory, then I was just taking over briefly while Anne worked as a temporary Blizzard Historian. Of course, she’s amazing, and that turned into a full-time position — so I got stuck the privilege of writing this Queue permanently!

It’s hard to believe how many Queues I’ve written, and I haven’t gone back through and counted each of them, but roughly that’s 260 Queues! Just a mind-boggling amount of words and exclamation points!

Looking back at the first one I did, I’ve come a long way. There was an Earworm for Anna, but it hadn’t turned into a regular thing yet. You also hadn’t started to get a weekly picture of Bacardi, and since there are only 89 pictures of him in the media library, that tradition is coming up on its two-year anniversary. Who knows what my Queues will look like at my ten-year anniversary!

While I go and bother Liz about my five-year sword, it’s time for — The Queue!

Wasn’t it the best?

I missed being able to actually skin creatures in a dungeon as the tank without feeling like I was holding everybody back. I also liked that if the enemies were swinging slowly enough I could skin in combat. I’d say don’t tell Blizzard, but we haven’t had it for so long I bet they wouldn’t even go back and tweak it. Although Classic Legion is just after Classic Warlords of Draenor so this could be a question to look back on at my ten-year Queue.

The game knew that a nice shiny weapon is the best transmog of all and rewarded you. Sure a tier piece is always nice, but it could’ve been just a pair of pants that don’t even look that nice, a bow is super flashy! Sometimes literally depending on the raid tier.

Well if my Spotify Wrapped is to be believed it’s Holy Diver by Dio, which is undoubtedly a great song! However, I didn’t use my Spotify very much this year, and I think the algorithm got a little wonky. I only remember listening to Dio for one weekend while I was tackling the Burning Crusade Dragon Races. He makes me fly faster, I can’t explain it, I just know it’s true.

I think that the song that I’ve listened to the most is probably The Emptiness Machine by Linkin Park. Between both radio stations I listen to playing it, and pulling it up on my own at home, it’s got a hold on me.

My favorite new band is probably The Warning who are a trio of sisters from Mexico who rock very hard.

I will also shout out P!nk for being the best concert that I went to all year. Truly an outstanding performer who put on a heck of a show. She had some stiff competition as I also went and saw a ton of other concerts and some phenomenal acts, but in the end, you can’t beat literally flying around a football stadium while singing your song.

The most surprisingly good show I went to this year was Theory of a Deadman, I went into them with no expectations and came out pretty impressed.

I’m sure that there are always things that I want people to ask, but I don’t know what they are unless someone asks them. It’s tough! I know that I was a little sad that I didn’t get asked what my favorite book was this year, Liz caught that one I think. In general, what I most want to be asked is usually something along the lines of what is something that really resonated with me recently — just for the excuse to gush about it.

I wanted the opportunity to gush about the local author Premee Mohamed who has written some outstanding and fun things! Spooky things! Macabre things! Insightful and delightful things! Her prose is so easy to read that the books practically finish themselves. I know that I got through the Butcher of the Forest in a handful of hours and only put it down a couple of times for necessary reasons.

I also just finished a four-episode podcast called Dracula: The Danse Macabre that reimagined Dracula slightly to have Jonathan and Mina Harker as vampire hunters and it worked really well! It’s by Gabriel Urbina who has a long list of fantastic podcasts under his belt, and can be listened to in just under four hours if you’re interested in spending a little time with a silky-voiced vampire.

It’s astounding. Time is… fleeting.

Time flies like an arrow and fruit flies like a banana.

Time is a flat circle.

Which is all to say, nobody really knows what time is. For something that is so accounted for with every moment of the day whether it’s on watches, calendars, or smartphones it’s really easy to lose time. The last week of the year is a good example with all of the different holidays and traveling and family showing up. But who hasn’t sat down at their computer just to check something really quickly, and then found that it’s three hours later because they fell down a Wikipedia hole. Blockbuster Videos (for those of us older than Mitch) were also notoriously good at making an hour pass by in the blink of an eye.

Time is weird.

That’s what I said five years ago. I think it all holds up pretty well.

Balatro could be added with how many people I’ve seen talk about the hold it has on them.

Time is Time and Money is Money, but Money is also Doughnuts.

Thyme and sea salt go really well together, but time pairs best with friends, and I don’t think you should cook your friends.

The best time to write a Queue was five years ago, the second best time is right now.

Even five years into writing the Queue, I hesitate every time I schedule them around the twice-yearly time changes.

Time is still weird man.

Today’s Bacardi is resting up after a busy year of good luck bringing! He can still bring more but first, he just needs a little nap, and then a snooze. Followed by a quick rest, a good sleep, and a quick bit of shut-eye.

Today’s Anna Earworm™: Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad

Have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve! See y’all next year!!