Farewell, Roy

     AS I am writing this entry, the internet is going funky again as it has this past couple of weeks.

     Well, funky is not the perfect word for it. A good chop of funk evokes a smile to my face. I find slow internet rather, very annoying. Like gum-under-the-shoe annoying. Work-wise, it's very counter-productive.

     And on a day like this, I usually have my SOP to handle such scenarios. If he were alive today, he'd definitely be the first person I'd call up, no doubt. 

     210. 

     But no, news of his passing still hasn't sunk in. Sure, there was the initial shock upon hearing the news during this morning's story planning. But once again it feels surreal, having to battle bad internet this time without the trusty IT guy by my side.

     Roy was declared dead due to a heart attack yesterday. It was only last week we've come across each other in the hallway, as we both greeted each other the occasional, "bai." He was definitely one of the good guys. What he seemingly lacked in "swag," he made up for pure efficiency. At least, that's how I'd see it when he'd come over to fix something at our department.

     He rarely spoke about his own opinions. He'd keep to himself and was good at listening. Who would've thought the guy would pass so sudden. Here at the lifestyle section, he was the go-to guy. When mouses weren't clicking and keyboards weren't working--he was the man. Not to discount the rest of the IT team of course for their hard work, but Roy was a very easy guy to call up. When neither Chrome or Firefox was good enough, he'd take a seat, punch down some random computer command that was fancier than Ctrl+Alt+Del, and in a few seconds, we'd be back in business.

     Truth be told, I didn't know him that much. We weren't close. But, I knew him for a long time while working here for the paper. I've always seen him as that young, humble and no-nonsense IT guy who was just about the work. Personally, I think calling 210 would take awhile getting used to all over again. But I'm just glad to think that we never really gave you any problems here, did we? 

     Farewell, bro. Take care.