Navispam: Seeing Davidian, the all-seeing

Servers are down.  I was just finishing off a blog post at my other blog, Hidden in the Open in WoW, about two items that were named after the two horde EU players featured last year in WoWInsider, Hexu and Davidian - the soldier who lost his eyesight, and his in game friend who acts like his "guide dog".  I remembered that story and how inspirational it was - nothing can stand in your way, not if you really want something.

Image Courtesy of WoWInsider

So I thought, maybe I'll pop over to EU and see if Godmother or Erinys is online and thank them for the gift I got today.  And maybe I'll jump in and see if Hexu and Davidian are there.  They aren't bloggers, but they are inspirational people and I really did admire them.  I just hoped they were nice and not.. elitist.  An armory of them showed that they were raiders, of a better calibre than my raid team and I plucked up my courage and off I went.

You'd think I'd be used to this by now.  But this is different - it's not me visiting a reader who knows who I am.  This is me going up to a total stranger and fanboying them.  And you know how that turned out last time ><  But, I thought, they'd probably had a lot of that happen already since the article and the items, so maybe they're used to random people coming up and telling them how inspirational they are.

I made a Tauren druid - they comfort me :P - and did a /who.  Davidian was online.  I took a deep breath and started to type.

I said hello, and asked if it was ok if I asked him a question.  He said yes.  So I asked him, what did he think, after Blizzard named an item in game after him and his friend?

He said it was pretty cool.

At this point, I started to run towards Thunder Bluff.

I let out my breath.  Davidian was pleasant, and seemed happy to chat.  I asked him what it was like, being famous, and what did his RL friends and family think?   Did they think it was cool or were they like, how weird!  He said that most of his RL friends play the game and his family thought it was pretty cool.

"Do you have lots of people coming up to you, like me, and say stuff, after that interview and the items?" I asked

"Yeah, there were a lot at the beginning and then it died down to 1 or 2 a month.  It's surprising that people like you think I"m inspiring."

I thanked him again for being so nice to spend time chatting to me.  And then I asked him THE Navispam question:

"Is it alright if I take a picture with you?"

"Sure.  Where are you?" he asked, as I stepped onto the elevator at TB.

"I'll come to you.  I'm in TB."
"I can go to you."

"No, it's OK, I'll catch the zeppelin."

I ran toward spirit rise just in time to see the Zepp pull away.  Crap!

"Umm, I just missed it LOL," I said to Davidian.  "I might be a while."

So then I just chatted away with him.  He was quite easy to talk to.  He had been sorting out his bank stuff.  I asked about Hexu, and I tried to avoid things that had been talked about in the interview.  So I fell back on wondering what time it was over there - it was 130pm and 1230am here.

At last the Zepp arrived.  I apologised for making him wait and he said it would have been easier if he'd just ported to me.  But I didn't want him to go to any trouble, I just wanted to make an unobtrusive entrance and exit.

When I reached Org, I didn't realise he was standing at the Zepp waiting for me, I was so busy trying to run down to look for him before I realised he was there on a Golden Cloud Serpeent.  Sheepishly I ran back and waved to him, and bowed before him in respect.

I asked if it was alright if I wrote about this visit and he said it was.  And before I left, I asked him to show me his favorite pet or mount.  And he pulled these out.

Wow!  He has a Vanilla Collector's Edition!  I was very envious.  Of course, Slice has shown me his, so I know what it comes with, but it makes me want to get the Vanilla CE even MORE now!

We swapped RealID and he said he would like to chat again one day if given the chance.  I was worried he might not like that because I would see his real name but I forgot that everyone knows his real name is Owen ><

Thank you Davidian, for letting me Navispam you!  Your story was an inspiration to me and it was great that you lived up to my expectations :D  Who knew you'd be nice as well? :D