A couple of days ago I learnt that an acquaintance of mine had passed away. This wasn't anybody I knew in real life, but rather an acquaintance from the internet. Online he went by the name "Chemicalis", I never knew what his real name was and when I met him in real life just referred to him as Chem. Chem posted on the same messageboards as me and seeing his avatar next to a post would actually make me read the body as the writing would definitely be worth paying attention to.
Back in '00/'01 a few of us internerds managed to set up a meeting at the Reading festival (weekend long music festival). At the time most of us were without mobile phones so we identified each other by arranging to meet at a pre-defined time and place then asking the question "Do you have stairs in your house?" to everybody around. An answer of "I am protected" would then reveal another internet denizen (this is all stems from a practical joke on somethingawful.com).
To cut a long story short, I knew roughly what Chemicalis looked like. He had long hair and was in a wheelchair. For this reason when I was walking around one day and noticed the region set aside for disabled people at the festival I sidled on over to see if he is there. Sure enough, there are a lot of young wheelchair-bound people with long hair, at least one of them looks like Chem. I figure it can't hurt to try.
"Do you have stairs in your house?" I shout.
"..." the mass of disabled people reply.
seconds pass, most of the people in the disabled area are just glaring at me.
more seconds pass and the cogs in my brain are finally beginning to switch on
"... OH FUCK WHAT HAVE I JUST DONE! OH GOD OH GOD WHY DID I SHOUT THAT AT PEOPLE IN WHEELCHAIRS. OH FUUUUUUUUUUUUU"
I dealt with this gross breach of etiquette like any real man would and ran away faster than any of them could possibly wheel after me. Later in the night I met my internet friends in the pre-agreed spot and with whispers of the official question we identified each other. I told the story of what happened earlier and there was much laughter, especially from Chem himself.
We spent the rest of the night roaming the campsite together, I clearly remember arguing with drug addicts, chatting with drunk people and helping one group of people create a sculpture by throwing roll after roll of police tape over a scaffold tower; it was nothing short of awesome! And no matter what, through the whole thing Chem was almost unstoppably warm and friendly with everybody. When a couple of the others started arguing with some drunk, angry people who were looking for pills Chem rolled on in there and calmed everything down. When we met a group of people playing a game of 'barrel' (find a volunteer to go in the barrel an then push hom down a hill), Chem talked me out of having a go.
Most spectacularly, perhaps, we came across a bunch of people playing limbo in the road. Chem joined right on in and got one of his close firends to wheelie him right under the pole. Awesome!
I never really knew him well enough to be struck by the blow but Chem was a genuinely thoughtful and friendly person who, although we interacted in a pretty minimal way via the internet, and for a scant few hours in real life, left a real mark on me.
Gecko, I'm sorry for your loss. He was an incredible guy, and will be missed by the community at large.
I guess I still want to ask, right now, Do you have stairs in your house?
Back in '00/'01 a few of us internerds managed to set up a meeting at the Reading festival (weekend long music festival). At the time most of us were without mobile phones so we identified each other by arranging to meet at a pre-defined time and place then asking the question "Do you have stairs in your house?" to everybody around. An answer of "I am protected" would then reveal another internet denizen (this is all stems from a practical joke on somethingawful.com).
To cut a long story short, I knew roughly what Chemicalis looked like. He had long hair and was in a wheelchair. For this reason when I was walking around one day and noticed the region set aside for disabled people at the festival I sidled on over to see if he is there. Sure enough, there are a lot of young wheelchair-bound people with long hair, at least one of them looks like Chem. I figure it can't hurt to try.
"Do you have stairs in your house?" I shout.
"..." the mass of disabled people reply.
seconds pass, most of the people in the disabled area are just glaring at me.
more seconds pass and the cogs in my brain are finally beginning to switch on
"... OH FUCK WHAT HAVE I JUST DONE! OH GOD OH GOD WHY DID I SHOUT THAT AT PEOPLE IN WHEELCHAIRS. OH FUUUUUUUUUUUUU"
I dealt with this gross breach of etiquette like any real man would and ran away faster than any of them could possibly wheel after me. Later in the night I met my internet friends in the pre-agreed spot and with whispers of the official question we identified each other. I told the story of what happened earlier and there was much laughter, especially from Chem himself.
We spent the rest of the night roaming the campsite together, I clearly remember arguing with drug addicts, chatting with drunk people and helping one group of people create a sculpture by throwing roll after roll of police tape over a scaffold tower; it was nothing short of awesome! And no matter what, through the whole thing Chem was almost unstoppably warm and friendly with everybody. When a couple of the others started arguing with some drunk, angry people who were looking for pills Chem rolled on in there and calmed everything down. When we met a group of people playing a game of 'barrel' (find a volunteer to go in the barrel an then push hom down a hill), Chem talked me out of having a go.
Most spectacularly, perhaps, we came across a bunch of people playing limbo in the road. Chem joined right on in and got one of his close firends to wheelie him right under the pole. Awesome!
I never really knew him well enough to be struck by the blow but Chem was a genuinely thoughtful and friendly person who, although we interacted in a pretty minimal way via the internet, and for a scant few hours in real life, left a real mark on me.
Gecko, I'm sorry for your loss. He was an incredible guy, and will be missed by the community at large.
I guess I still want to ask, right now, Do you have stairs in your house?
