Today seems particularly eventful compared to others, at least in terms of both various activities and significant calendar milestones to remember. Sadly, Tobie and I were unable to join Castle's first birthday party due to a mix of weekend work, lack of sleep and my call center schedule. With luck I'll still be able to catch the MGG party on-going right now. And the tomorrow is, for lack of a better term, another day.
Today is a birthday, which is a celebration of life. It's also the first anniversary of the death of a friend, AJ Matela. And it's a special celebration for my sister, and I am very, very happy for her.
I'm not at my wordsmithing best right now - must be the odd sleeping hours and such. And given the way the work week has gone, I feel like indulging in a bit more alcohol tonight in order to sort of forget all that had come before. At least that's how the theory goes. So there's not much else to say at this point.
Thus we'll end this entry with something from the old Beyond Dinobot Island archives. While I had posted this only last year on September 9, 2011 to mark AJ's death, the fact that my old LiveJournal site no longer exists encourages me to make sure this still exists on the web. It's probably not my best work, but it still looks pretty good to me.
We miss you, AJ.
And it's oddly creep that your website is still alive. Just how much did you prepay that think?
*****
Yesterday, AJ Matela passed away. He was just two days shy of turning 29. And I think I haven't seen
him in person for about a year now.
I probably can't say with full authority that AJ was a friend - or that I was a friend to him. Admittedly, I'm pretty bad at the whole friendship thing at times.
He entered my life as the offi cemate of my ex-boyfriend and eventually one of his better friends. We'd
find ourselves hanging out together at places like Bed or Government (when it was still around). We'd bump
into each other at blogger socials - at least the few ones that I actually attended. We'd even be on out-of-town trips together since I'd end up tagging along when their offi ce group would map out a trip.
I'll always remember AJ for his wit. And let's not call it humor - it truly was wit. Wit requires a keen, quick
and intelligent mind. Wit is sharp and is ready at a moment's notice and AJ was all that and more - and in that
regard I respected him the most. While we may not have had long conversations as friends, but as a peer
and a colleague in the same industry, I respected him. It may not sound like much of a compliment, but I
hope he appreciates what this really means, at least coming from me.
The last time I saw AJ was at one of the few times I tried going to Bed after I had gotten together
with Tobie. This was well before the renovation and within the fi rst year of my relationship with Tobie and
thus within the fi rst year of having broken it off with Brian. In those days - and perhaps even now, to some
extent - I was very wary of that particular circle of friends. I never wanted to get into some war of opinion
after we had broken up, so I had opted to pull away from that circle of contacts entirely. I let Brian deal
with them and I'd remain apart. I had decided that the best course of action was to just wait and see if any
of them would decide to talk to me and only speak up then, but still rather guardedly.
That night, AJ took the time to talk to me. And he talked to Tobie. And he made me feel that we
were still friends. And he told me he understood some of the reasons why I had chosen to go with Tobie.
And he also had taken the time to try and hear out Tobie's side on his blog. In his own odd way, this was
him "approving" of the whole thing or something. AJ wasn't exactly one to clearly express things all the
time.
Let me clarify that. AJ talks a LOT, I'll concede that. But he has always been very good at talking
about things that seem to be of little consequence in order to disguise a lot of the other more important
stuff . At first, I have to admit he struck me as very shallow. But on the contrary, he's a very deep individual.
He's a guy who has lived through a lot of good and bad times and has experienced many di erent things. If
you've ever taken the time to look closely at this eyes, you'd see that there are volumes of stories just waiting
to be unearthed. Thus he was a man who chose his words with care. The jokes and barbs were quick and flippant, yes. But when it came down to the serious stuff , he knew what he wanted to say and exactly how
he wanted to say it.
And he made sure to get his message across.
AJ was a better friend to me than I was to him. I admit that fully. And I join all those who will miss
him now that he's gone. But more importantly, I am also one of those who will always remember him and
will keep his spirit alive in our minds and hearts
Comments
Post a Comment