That thing you could’ve sworn you existed, remembered existed and how it has now turned into a great wonder of a chase to acquire again after so long. What is that thing for you?
Mine is discovering what music was played during an old internet radio show I still listen to was. The episodes I’m listening to are 21 years old now and for years I wondered what specific tracks were played on that show that I so want copies of. In one of the episodes, the host mentions that the backing music is from Digitally Imported now known as DI.FM.
However, that doesn’t do me any good since newer music is played now on that platform and with no hint or source telling me what tracks were played on that show in show notes or even word of mouth, I’ve no hope in tracking them down. So for so long, I’ve had to listen to this show’s episodes almost religiously, just because of the music that was played.
And my only hope now is tinkering with audio tools so I can figure a way to rip out the parts where the hosts are talking so it is just the music, then go around online asking people who’re more expert on the genre than I am to tell me, then find them and download them.
An account on a personal website or maybe a kayaking forum from around 2000: a sea kayaker described paddling with friends off the coast of Nanaimo, BC (I think). He wanted to paddle a bit more when the friends headed for shore. When he decided to join them, huge swells had started to come from the north, making it dangerous/impossible to ferry (paddle crosswise to the current) without getting broached and dumped. So he surfed down the swells, trying to angle toward shore as much as felt safe. He described riding a single swell for a long time, maybe multiple hours, before the sea calmed down enough for him to get to shore, now many miles south of where he started. I remember his description of combined terror and thrill: he could get flipped and–in the big sea–maybe never get rolled back up, just hanging onto his boat hoping for rescue, but here he was, surfing down the face of what seemed like an eternal wave, constantly at the edge of his ability to keep a line.
I’ve looked for that thing over a dozen times, spent maybe 20-30 hours searching over the past decade. No luck, yet.