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RIP EHK


EHK for Darwin

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So I'm fairly new to this board and I'm still trying to learn my way around the forums and recognize user names. EHK's was one that I noticed early on most likely due to being from a similar location. But even then I only opened this thread out of mild curiosity.

And then I read his obituary and realized...omg I went to school with him. I didn't really know him that well but this real life connection makes what was just a name on an internet board a real person. Just a short year ago it was graduation and now this...

I'm sorry that I didn't find this board sooner and didn't realize someone I was crossing paths with was someone with whom I could have had some good real life conversations with.

I'm going to make a few phone calls and see if anyone we went to school with is going to be able to make the funeral.

My condolences to the family.

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Ro, thanks for reporting what Chris said. Appreciate it. Chris, thanks for keeping tabs on the thread. Your brother impacted us in many ways, moreso than I think he even knew. Might I suggest you join the crack known as the board? We're a good lot, for the most part. :)

I am going to type what I wrote in the thread in an email formally and send it out.

Please shoot me a PM if you want your name on there. I'm at work till 7AM, and I usually have the board up. (I'm real busy, you see...)

I, too, have had a heavy heart all day. :(

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I'd love to sign Mya's thing. Is there something I need to do to make sure that gets done besides post here?

If we're gonna use our real names I'd rather not post mine here, but I'd happily PM one of you.

Edit... Bah. Mya beat me

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RIP EHK!!!!!!!!!!!

:(

i definitely enjoyed reading his posts, and i would love to see how he would respond to his own memorial thread! it would be classic, full of fucks and tough love and ranting as was damn near everything he wrote.

dude was super intelligent, to the point i never disagreed with him out of fear of getting thoroughly trounced!

:cheers: we'll see you when we get there man! R.I.P.

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Ro, thanks for reporting what Chris said. Appreciate it. Chris, thanks for keeping tabs on the thread. Your brother impacted us in many ways, moreso than I think he even knew. Might I suggest you join the crack known as the board? We're a good lot, for the most part. :)

I am going to type what I wrote in the thread in an email formally and send it out.

Please shoot me a PM if you want your name on there. I'm at work till 7AM, and I usually have the board up. (I'm real busy, you see...)

I, too, have had a heavy heart all day. :(

Thanks again Mya for doing this, (as someone who has recently gone through a death of a close family member/friend) I KNOW it will mean a to EHK's family and friends.

And will be cathartic/healing for us boarders. :grouphug:

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Just a thought, if there is going to be a fundraiser for the $80 what about adding a little more to buy flowers for the memorial service? I know we could send flowers individually, but there are so many of us who can't be there because of distance or other reasons, I just really think having a single arrangement from "the board" being there would be quite appropriate.

Dammit, I'm tearing up again.

My most sincerest condolences to you and your family Chris.

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I only found out about it this morning. I remember rocking back into my office chair, just... holy shit. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I had to get on with work. But it's been with me all day, and I'm not sure how to process these feelings. A little guilt. Some regret. Chagrin, even a bit of embarrassment. Above all, however, there's a profound respect.

When I returned after a few years away, new marriage, kid, all that, I remember marvelling at how much EHK had changed in my absence. I discovered I now wanted to argue with him but for entirely different reasons, and strangely, from time to time, was amazed at my reluctance to turn away from the computer because of my family or my work. I'd do so, while really wishing I had the time to engage his arguments on some topics. There was this late night chat, see. We managed that night to mend some fences. Shortly thereafter, within a few days, we'd proceeded to misread each other in a religious thread. But since we'd had that talk, face-to-face as it were, free of the remove, that liberating yet misleading distance that exists between two people who merely post at each other, we managed to stop our argument on our own. Hell, we even made cool in the thread instead of ignoring each other for weeks.

Maybe I'm being selfish, now I think about it. But fuck you.

In the span of roughly eight years he went from being a n00b trainwreck that was everything except conservative yet decidely uber rightwing, to a grudgingly respected adversary, to someone I measured myself against and actually looked forward to talking to in chat. If there's anything his death has taught me, that I've absorbed and am able to dredge to the surface already-- it's that I definitely have to try harder with the friendships I have, and be open to all of those that could be had.

Put me on that list, Sarah.

~*~

When someone you know passes away, you always think about your own mortality. I know I do. And for atheists like EHK and myself, the end of life has a heavy note of finality. I don't believe in the afterlife, and neither did EHK. I suppose he'll know for sure, one way or another, by now...

I commented on it earlier in chat, but catching up on this thread and reading your post brought it back to mind, Terra. It's a nice thought, thinking that despite EHK's leanings in that regard, that he now might actually be sitting on a cloud somewhere, looking down with his chin in hand, thinking--

FUCK.

edited a few times for clarity

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When I first posted here, i was 18 and EHK was the first poster i recognized by handle. I remember seeing the old reagan pic and flag he had going then and knowing I should read .

I always try to think that Im half in and half out being a member of this thing, but seeing this news makes me reflect on how much this place really has become a part of me, how much EHK is a part of this place, and how much of an impact this guy has had on me. Id make long ass posts in the MLB threads just to bait him into coming back and love every second of his response. He was really the best.

I live right near the Map Room, a bar in chicago EHK mentioned liking numerously, and I always assumed some westeros event would land there and Id get to meet him. Ive wanted to meet him for years. Its incredibly sad that hes gone. Incredibly. It really seems like we have to deal with loss too much and too often.

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Just a thought, if there is going to be a fundraiser for the $80 what about adding a little more to buy flowers for the memorial service? I know we could send flowers individually, but there are so many of us who can't be there because of distance or other reasons, I just really think having a single arrangement from "the board" being there would be quite appropriate.

I like that idea as well & would be happy to contribute.

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Sad news.

As prolific a poster as he was and as contentious as we both could be, I don't recall have many exchanges with EHK. But he's the kind of guy who, if you said he hated me, I would have told you that I could respect that. Because EHK was real and he fucking put it out there. A quality we should all cherish and one that will make his presence missed.

EHK had elan.

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I've been trying to work up to a custom title for EVER, so it seems.

I realized I was getting close a few days ago. Then I was worried that I wouldn't know what to put. My mind wet blank.

I hit 700 tonight and didn't even have to think twice. It felt so right.

<======

I like the flower idea as well.

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Something like....

...

I would sign this letter as well.

I really didn't know what I should write yesterday other than the few words I left, and I'm still in the process of realising. I also had to stop trying to find some quotes and reading some of his posts, because it was too soon and it just hit the point home that his life was interrupted and ended in the middle of many things and thoughts.

I rarely interacted directly with him in discussions, because I often felt inadequat to discuss on his level, but I read many of his posts ever since I came to this forum (almost four years back). He was so well-read on many topics and mastered the use of language. Whenever I talk to people outside of this forum about things discussed here - be it politics, religion or history - I often referenced to something he wrote, in order to explain a certain point of view. He is also one of the persons that made me change my perception of US Americans and I valued his unique perspective on many topics, even if I would disagree on details.

For people who knew him personally, the shock and the grief must be much greater.

I really wish I would have know him better and interacted a bit more with him, but even so I will really miss him.

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I'm willing to set up and link a ChipIn. It's better if the person receiving the funds is in the U.S. however, I'm guessing, and preferably if they have a merchant account so that those who just have a credit card can also donate funds (otherwise only people with money in their Paypal accounts can do so).

Who's interested, and how much needs to be raised for the guest book + a wreath?

(And of course, please have Linda and myself signed on the list. I think it's safe to say everyone who has posted here would want to be on it.)

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Who's interested, and how much needs to be raised for the guest book + a wreath?

(And of course, please have Linda and myself signed on the list. I think it's safe to say everyone who has posted here would want to be on it.)

I'm interested. I'll research local prices if need be.

And yeah, Elio, I've taken liberties and added people that I would assume would want to be on the list...I'm just having a hard time remembering everyone's RL names. I know quite a few, and the ones I haven't are the ones who have been PMing me. :) So thank you, everyone.

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Oh lord.

I had no idea about this, until Joris turned up in the pub last night and told Kit and I. We raised a glass, wishing it could be a microbrew, and toasted him, and pondered that we all met each other the same weekend as we met EHK. But it didn't sink in till I couldn't sleep, and got up to read this thread, with a few tears. It still hasn't sunk in. It doesn't feel right.

Tom was passionate, clever, stubborn, sardonic, sarcastic and very, very, funny. No matter how you disagreed, you knew he was ultimately one of the good guys. He was also a legend on this board, and I looked forward to his rants on so many things so much. That link Bronn posted - I remember reading his Eye of The World rant, and laughing, and even quoting bits of it back to my dad who remained a staunch Jordan fan. I use some of Tom's phrases whenever I argue with a non-smoker.

I feel lucky to have met him, however briefly, and heard an EHK rant in person. But really, far luckier that he spent 7 or 8 years willing to entertain us all here with his ridiculous, impassioned, serious and absurd rants.

I'm sad the last interaction I had with him was to argue in PM - and I wish I had made it up with him. But I would have eventually, and he wouldn't be EHK if he hadn't disagreed with most of us here at one time or another.

Thanks Chris for letting us know. Your brother was an extraordinarily strong character who will be remembered, and missed, and lamented over for as long as any of us are on the internet.

Sarah, add my name to the list, please.

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Wow, what a shock... :stunned:

What can I say that hasn't been said by others more eloquently? I dare say he was one of the board's most iconic members and will be sorely missed! I've been lurking on these boards for years (yes, even during the ezboard days) and whenever I saw EHK's Reagan avatar I took time to stop and read his posts. Whether you agreed or disagreed with him, his posts were always well-argumented and often damn funny as well.

RIP EHK and my condolences to you Chris and the rest of your family!

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Wow, this affected me way more than I think it would. I've never been a major contributor here over the 8-10 years I've been a member, but EHK's post have always stood out wherever he posted them for all the reasons mentioned by others. I find myself regretting that I never took an active part in the politics and religious threads, but I always enjoyed reading his rants. I even have fond memories of the WoT-rant linked before.

There was a thread on another forum I visit about whether you as a poster would be missed if you stopped posting. EHK most definately will :(

RIP and my condolences

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