Hi. It's October 18, 2003. It's been one month since Kiki passed away.
September 18th, at about 11 am, I got a phone call from Janette. My heart dropped and I knew immediately that something was wrong. Sure enough, on the other end of the phone, Janette was crying, and had told me that Kiki didn't make it that morning. Due to 2 heart failures, one the night before and one that morning, doctors were unable to bring him back. The drive down to Anaheim from Beverly Hills was one hour too long.
It's really the first time that I had ever experienced such a loss. Kiki was a very close friend of mine - he was one of my H-boyz. I had three close friends that lived in Hacienda Heights, my 'hometown.' The H-boyz partied with my Berkeley LALAS, and we were just the party crew that hit all the hot spots in LA. We partied at Josephs, Garden of Eden, Century Club, the Highlands, Ivar, 66, even the Boogie in OC, up in Vegas (Eminem concert), two trips to Laguna Beach, and many nights of partying at either his heights home or newport beach apartment. Drinkin', etc.... lots of good times.
We had our share of arguments, to be honest, we had drifted the past year. I was getting annoyed with him cuz he'd always yell at me for some random reason or another. But I think we always knew that no matter what we would be there for each other. I still considered him one of my boyz, and he knew that he could always call me for anything, despite us having moved on in our respective lives.
So one month later, how do I feel? In the mornings, on my drive to work, I always get really sad thinking about him. I know that I won't get a call, see him im me, etc. Yet I still have his phone number on my phone. When I email the h-boyz, I instinctively want to type in his email address. His picture is still on my phone, so I am daily reminded of his life and our friendship. I imagine him in the casket, how he looked on the hospital bed hooked up to all the machines, how he looked on that very bed after he had passed... How will I remember him? So many memories to choose from, but I think the one that I will remember most was when we were at Owaki's. It was a couple weeks after Jason's birthday, when the infamous drunken episode occured. A few of us had gone over to have dinner with Janette and Mark. He asked me to go to the bar with him to get some sake bombs. While standing at the bar, I looked up at him, and asked -- we're friends right? Smiling, he looked at me and said -- absolutely. And in that second, we had relieved any awkwardness and had put our friendship back on the right track. Many more nights of drinking ridiculous shots, dancing, and just living a full, fun life. He helped everyone enjoy life, and I think that's what people are going to miss most.
I should be studying for the CPA exam right now, by the way. But I figured that this morbid 'anniversary' needed some reflection time.... posted by Kris
1:55 PM