RIP EHK

[Brandon Stark]

EHK was probably the person who made me laugh out loud in front of my computer screen more often than anyone else on the internet. I've used his summary of objectivism more times than I can count in emails to self-proclaimed fans of Rand. The boards and the people who knew him personally will greatly miss a complex, entertaining, witty, and fiery voice.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

I first read about this on Monday and didn't know what to say. I've been thinking about it a lot since then, and I still don't know what to say. I'm shocked that he died so young; if I'd thought about it, I would have said that he'd be ranting us all into our graves. EHK and I had our differences of opinions--arguing with him could make me angrier than just about anybody else here--but I always took for granted that he was saying nothing more than what he passionately believed in. I'm not at all surprised to learn that he was the same elsewhere. For all our differences, I'm deeply upset that he's gone. The board won't be the same without him.

[Mackaxx]

If you were a character in a book a reviewer would no doubt highlight the excellent character development over the course of the novel, nay trilogy. We had the pleasure of getting to know someone whose asinine views actually did change over time instead of getting bogged down in the stupidity that ensues when one sticks to their guns. I think this is the case with a lot of the boarders that started posting in their early 20s. Changing alongside one another, bumping heads as we muddle our way along. Thanks for bumping heads with me EHK, I appreciate it. I hope I contributed to knocking some sense into yours just as you did mine, repaying in kind.

You did have a somewhat embarrassing affinity for toy plastic robots though, so much so you were touted to be the 3rd smartest internet transformers fan in the world. Still, thats just one of the many endearing character flaws that comes part and parcel with someone who is actually worth knowing. You made up for it anyway by flaming those sword of truth crazies on IMDB anyways.

EHK, if in the obscenely unlikely event that the Christians are right then I'll be there burning in hell with you soon enough, at least there won't be any oppressive smoking laws. Otherwise I'll be seeing/have already seen you somewhere in infinity, whatever the hell that means, regardless it's infinitely more interesting.

[Paladin of Ice]

Reading EHK's posts and rants have been one of my favorite things about the board for years. As Greg beautifully said just a few posts up, real passion is an incredibly rare and precious thing, and only all the more so when combined with a fiery intelligence and wit. There's no doubt that there's a hole in the world now where he used to be, and that the world and everyone who knew him will miss out because he's not there anymore.

Thinking about all the things he'll never get to do now from the little things like reading the end of the series or seeing a big boxing match to having a family, loves, etc is a real heartbreaker. There was so much left to do for him, so much that he should have had a chance to do. I wish he could have gotten that chance.

Instead I can only pass on my deepest condolences to his family and those who knew him best, and wish EHK himself all the best in whatever comes next.

Here's to you, Tom.

[Moosicus]

His full-scale, one-man assault on the IMDB Legend of the Seeker board a few months back was truly something to behold. Unfortunately, all his posts seem to have been deleted, but it was fucking epic.

That was awesome. For that and so many other reasons, I thought he was amazing. Dammit. I'm going to miss him.

:cheers: to EHK

[shortstark]

Been away from the board for a couple days and came back to this!!

RIP ehk, more eloquent persons than me have spoken about your impact on our community, you will be sorely missed.......

[Young Wolf]

We've just sent the payment to keep the Guestbook for EHK online permanently, so we should see that take hold in the next few days or so. Ive put down that it is being kept online by the Song of Ice and Fire Community.

There's also an option there to create a memorial website via here, though I dont know if we have all the information necessary to do so and it has a yearly cost (which is relatively cheap, but will have to be maintained by someone).

Other than that, we we're waiting to hear back from EHK's family as to where they would like a donation made in his name.

Sarah's paypal is still an option in anyone wants to donate towards the charity or what have you...but with both the flowers and online guestbook paid for entirely, I suppose what we do next is entirely up to the community and EHK's family.

YW

[DanteGabriel]

Mya and YW and Ran, thanks for doing the legwork on this.

[Ser Doctor]

I don't think Hk would like any of this mushiness.

If any sort of memorandum comes about, I hope it stays true to his nature and proclivities, otherwise HK will haunt your ass.

That being said. I salute this proud christian soldier, and I fervently hope that jesus accepts him to his less than bountifull bosom.

He will be remembered as a proud conservative christian, Robert Jordan fan.

Mayhaps he only wished to follow Michael Jackson into the great white void. Hopefully they are together now, thrilling each other and such.

Rest in peace you son of a bitch.

I wish I had been able to attend his wake. Bastard deserved a hell of a one.

[Crow's Eye]

Oh man. I've been so busy at work this week this was the first time I had a chance to stop by the board and....wow. No words.

People have come and gone from these boards in the decade or so that i've been around, but few have left the mark that EHK did. Some of my earliest and best memories from the EZ board were of being scorned and castigated by EHK. He had a way of turning your arguments on their head, utterly destroying your position, and calling you a "fucking moron" in the process, and somehow you'd read his post and nod your head and think "you know what, I think he's right. I am not only incorrect, but I AM a fucking moron."

Although we never met in person, I always felt a certain connection with EHK, as we were both originally from Northwest Indiana. And he truly hated my avatar. I'll fly it proudly in your memory EHK. Somehow I think he'd appreciate that. And then tell me to fuck off.

There's not much else I can say about the guy that hasn't already been said. RIP man.

[Ser Doctor]

Oh Danny boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling

From glen to glen, and down the mountain side

The summer's gone, and all the flowers are dying

'Tis you, 'tis you must go and I must bide.

But come ye back when summer's in the meadow

Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow

'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow

Oh Danny boy, oh Danny boy, I love you so.

And if you come, when all the flowers are dying

And I am dead, as dead I well may be

You'll come and find the place where I am lying

And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me.

And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me

And all my dreams will warm and sweeter be

If you'll not fail to tell me that you love me

I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

I'll simply sleep in peace until you come to me.

[tzanth]

Holy fucking hell...

Horrible, horrible news... such a huge blow!

I just logged on for the first time in a few weeks and am completely shocked. EHK was a irreplacebale icon... I racked up some of my first posts arguing with him. What a loss... I dont know what to say! :cry:

He will be sorely missed!

[Green Apple Fossoway]

EHK, you will be missed. You had a knack for expressing your opinions in writing that I can only aspire to. On topics we agreed on, I almost never posted anything, seeing as you had already put in your two cents... and your two cents seemed to be more valuable than mine would have been. On topics we didn't agree on, I almost never posted anything, for fear of being demolished by your polished wit. You were a force to be reckoned with.

My condolences to your family, and I hope you're at peace wherever you are.

[Red Templar]

Disclaimer: I wrote this the night I found out EHK left the building. I finally grew the balls to put this up here. Apologies for the length and rambling…

EHK. What can I say? I never met him, but feel as if I knew him well. Is that odd? He was 29 years old when he died, but I didn't know that until today. There was quite a lot that I didn't know about him, actually; I never knew what he looked like or never knew his real name. Until today.

When I first came to the board, I came for GRRM, but the endless discussions of R+L=J got old for me. Then I stayed to ridicule Terry Goodkind. That was fun, but it too, got old for me. I finally stayed to lurk and read whatever EHK had to say. Reading EHK never, ever got old. My sessions on the board were quick when there were no new EHK posts to devour, but they were a brutal distraction from my job if he were online and actively posting. I am an unabashed EHK fanboy and I'm not ashamed to say it. I never would have told him while he lived because I didn't want to give him a big head. I had a man-crush on EHK.

I loved EHK's persona because it reminded me so much of one of my all time favorite authors - Hunter S. Thompson (HST). Not so much in his writing style, but moreso in his fury. His keen grasp of any situation and a wit akin to scorched earth. He left nothing in his wake, and looked good, even kind sometimes, when doing it. He had a way of making you his bitch in a debate, but he did it with such style that you still felt a warm kinship with him. I was sad when HST died, but, honestly, it didn't affect me much. I cried real tears the night I found out EHK would never post again. He was the HST of the board. HST in his prime and fury, intense with logical might and fearless obliteration of the opposition. DG already beat me to most of the good HST quotes (as expected), but here's one more I'd like to add (paraphrased, of course): "EHK was one of God's own prototypes. He was a high-powered mutant, never intended for mass production. Too weird to live, too rare to die."

Now he's gone, cut down in the prime of his life, while his posts were consistently 100% gold and getting better. I can only imagine what the loss for his family is like; for those that actually were close to him. I never was, yet I sit here, a simpleton, brooding over a bottle of wine in my basement, wondering why his loss should affect me so deeply. Perhaps it's because he was a regular part of my life, like a favorite movie, but on a much deeper level. There's a personal lesson to be learned here somewhere, and I suspect it has something to do with seizing life by the balls or else you'll end up with a shitload of regret when it's all over.

I regret that I never met him, never got to have a few beers with him, and never got to stand outside a non-smoking bar with him while he chain smoked a few to ease his craving. I hate smoking, but would pay good money just to be able to sit in his second hand smoke, while he explains to me for the 1000th time how his sin tax pays for nearly everything in this fucking country. I would love it. I regret not being more active on this forum aside from snarky one-liners that aren't, in reality, all that funny. He and I got on well, but I could have made better friends with him if only I put in the time and effort. I regret not doing so. But I'm selfish, and all I wanted was to read what he had to say, and didn't care to contribute anything of my own. Was it because anything I had to add would be painfully inferior? His stuff was good. Damn good. We had it good while he was here, and nobody else will ever know how good we had it because words can't describe what you really need to experience. EHK was an experience. An event. A force of nature. When he was online, you could feel energy, passion, and ferocity pouring out of his posts. It was addicting. His writing is still there; his posts are still there, but half the joy was to see him in action. I would honestly linger at work an extra hour if I saw that he was active online. It was always worth the wait.

Sadly, with EHK there was no peak to the wave - we weren’t afforded the chance to see him gently roll back on himself and retreat slowly into the distance. He was more like a thousand bolts of lightning in the middle of a dark, empty plain. And we all stand waiting, cheated forever, hoping for the thousand and first.

Tom Wilcox, RIP.

[DanteGabriel]

RT, that was a great post. Got me a little moist-eyed to read. Glad you posted it.

(I considered using the "high-powered mutant" line too but I didn't want to hog all the HST quotes :cheers: )

[Red Templar]

RT, that was a great post. Got me a little moist-eyed to read. Glad you posted it.

(I considered using the "high-powered mutant" line too but I didn't want to hog all the HST quotes :cheers: )

Thanks, man. I'm glad you saved one for me. :)

[Xray the Enforcer]

Wonderful post, RT.

There will be gin spilled (down gullets) tonight. :cheers:

[awesome possum]

This may sound selfish, but I don't care.

I liked not having to post as much in political threads. I took solace knowing that EHK had either already made the point I wanted to in a much more eloquent and scintillating manner or he soon would. I agreed with him on so many different topics that I often felt like the runty cartoon sidekick dog in the old cartoons who runs around his much larger pal squeaking, "Yeah, you tell 'em! You show 'em!"

And now that will never happen again. Now, every time I post in a political thread bitching about the recent idiocy by politicians, I'll do so knowing that it will never compare to the righteous whipping EHK would have proudly delivered.

There will always be a hole in the board, one that can never be filled. And it fucking sucks.

[Ran]

Thanks, RT.

Folks, EHK's family wanted to be able to access Tom's personal messages in case there was anything that needed to be responded to now that he's gone, and also perhaps to post a followup or otherwise keep in touch. I've changed the password to the account so that they can do this. So if you see EHK for Darwin posting or browsing the forum, that's Chris or some family member.

[Red Templar]

Wonderful post, RT.

There will be gin spilled (down gullets) tonight. :cheers:

Amen on that, sister. Raise up your glass at 10:00 PM ET and we'll all toast him together.