>>> Racing on...

... into the light.

On Sunday, I was messaged on Facebook by Sarah that her boyfriend and love of the past five years had died suddenly while at work after collapsing on the floor. She'd used his account just before deleting it and I think I just barely got a reply out before she did that.

Now, you're probably wondering why this would be such a big deal, right?

Well, I hadn't mentioned the fact that he was buddy of mine from my army days. A very good buddy of mine, in fact.

His name?

Dylan Ramachandra-Tang.

Also known as Daytona due to his insane love of the arcade racing game of the same name. He'd met Sarah playing the damn thing, too, believe it or not. Since leaving the army, we'd talked off and on, especially since he migrated to Australia with Sarah.

He'd been through a lot, survived the best he could and always, always, kept his head up. Or, at least, tried to. He'd gone through the same thing with Sarah that I'm going through now with Purple, which he always said was the worst period of his life, apart from losing both his parents when he was serving. But I digress...

He'd passed away from a suspected brain tumour [or tumours], especially considering the regularity and insane intensity of his clustered migraines which he'd been suffering from for the last six years or so. According to Sarah, he'd been working at his garage, putting in extra hours to finish a project, when he was hit by a massive migraine that caused him to black out and collapse. They tried to revive him, but failed. He was pronounced dead upon arriving at the hospital.

He was planning his wedding and was going to visit this city-state in a couple of weeks. He has no next-of-kin and I couldn't even attend the funeral.

I'm going to miss him. He was such a solid chap and a damn good friend. I really will miss him.

Rest In Peace
Dylan "Daytona" Ramachandra-Tang,
11/10/1983 - 04/07/2010.
Good friend, dedicated artisan, amazing listener,
survivor and wonderful soul.
May you find your peace in Heaven.
You will be missed.
Always.
Amen.

I'll see you when I get there, one day, bro.

Right under that giant oak tree I kept telling you about.