Saturday, March 04, 2006
A tribute, amongst many.
It's been a long time between posts. Lots has happened, and I could talk about it all, but...
Sad news. Loss. Pain. Tears.
We're a close bunch, us Aussie browncoats. The Serenity Oz board has given us such a great community. I was there when it opened in June 2005 (I think). There were only a few of us, and now we have over 1500 members. Our shindigs have become larger and more frequent - in the last 4 months, we've had two All Aussie shindigs, and we've got another one coming up in the middle of the year. It's been great to come together, to realise that we are a big family, that being a Browncoat and being amongs other Browncoats is more emotionally satisfying than any of us could ever have imagined.
Since the inception of the board, there have been a few personalities that have really come to the fore, really become the beating heart of the OzCoats community. One of these personalities was Chocolate (real life name: Than...but most of us just called him Chocky...) From humble and shy beginnings (the amount of persuasion needed to get him out to a shindig for the first time was phenomenal!!), he became the centre of every shindig, the light of the forums, the Daddy Bear of the community.
Chocolate died early on Saturday morning, after many health complications - the latest diagnosis being lung cancer.
I didn't even know he was in hospital - he was a very private man, not wanting people to make a fuss. But what a fuss we would have made, for the man who touched all of us so profoundly.
Yesterday, Saturday, a shindig had already been organised. It became a wake, a tribute, a rememberance of Chocky. We cried, we laughed, we raised a toast to his memory and his legacy. We went to the Orient Hotel, the scene of one of our happiest days, where we all met Joss Whedon, where Chocky got to have a chat with Joss, and sat in the beer garden and reminisced.
Chocolate was family, just as all Browncoats are family. We love each other beyond the telling of it, and this loss to the family is almost too much to bear. There are so many things I wish that I had said to Chocky, that I had told him. I wish so much that I had the chance to listen to him wax lyrical about something close to his heart, just one more time.
So many Browncoats owe so much to this man - he inspired us, encouraged us and insisted that we reach into that great unknown. For this, if for nothing else, he will be remembered with great love, and mourned with much sorrow, by Browncoats around Australia.
Fly high, Chocky...
Sad news. Loss. Pain. Tears.
We're a close bunch, us Aussie browncoats. The Serenity Oz board has given us such a great community. I was there when it opened in June 2005 (I think). There were only a few of us, and now we have over 1500 members. Our shindigs have become larger and more frequent - in the last 4 months, we've had two All Aussie shindigs, and we've got another one coming up in the middle of the year. It's been great to come together, to realise that we are a big family, that being a Browncoat and being amongs other Browncoats is more emotionally satisfying than any of us could ever have imagined.
Since the inception of the board, there have been a few personalities that have really come to the fore, really become the beating heart of the OzCoats community. One of these personalities was Chocolate (real life name: Than...but most of us just called him Chocky...) From humble and shy beginnings (the amount of persuasion needed to get him out to a shindig for the first time was phenomenal!!), he became the centre of every shindig, the light of the forums, the Daddy Bear of the community.
Chocolate died early on Saturday morning, after many health complications - the latest diagnosis being lung cancer.
I didn't even know he was in hospital - he was a very private man, not wanting people to make a fuss. But what a fuss we would have made, for the man who touched all of us so profoundly.
Yesterday, Saturday, a shindig had already been organised. It became a wake, a tribute, a rememberance of Chocky. We cried, we laughed, we raised a toast to his memory and his legacy. We went to the Orient Hotel, the scene of one of our happiest days, where we all met Joss Whedon, where Chocky got to have a chat with Joss, and sat in the beer garden and reminisced.
Chocolate was family, just as all Browncoats are family. We love each other beyond the telling of it, and this loss to the family is almost too much to bear. There are so many things I wish that I had said to Chocky, that I had told him. I wish so much that I had the chance to listen to him wax lyrical about something close to his heart, just one more time.
So many Browncoats owe so much to this man - he inspired us, encouraged us and insisted that we reach into that great unknown. For this, if for nothing else, he will be remembered with great love, and mourned with much sorrow, by Browncoats around Australia.
Fly high, Chocky...
