the ether world

The spectre of .hack hands me to this day. I often refer to years that initiate entire ‘eras,’ years where seemingly everything about me changes at the same time. It seems to occur every 5-10 years; the initial year was somewhere around 2004-2006. .hack//sign had been airing Friday nights. I dutifully followed the entire run, week after week, and mentioned pivotal episodes on a Livejournal — and…