Monday, October 03, 2005

shit day

What a fucking shit day. A colleague died at the weekend, someone I couldn't possibly do justice to if I were to write about him. He oversaw the first designs for the Ouch website. Such a nice bloke. and he died far too young.

A colleague of mine told me when I got in this morning. The sheer shock led me to just say fuck a lot, I think. And yeah, fuck. Fuck it all. What else? Fuck.

I haven't worked with him much the last couple of years other than saying hi in the corridors ... and he's done the odd bit of photoshop stuff for me when all other sighties on the team were not available.

I was the first blindie website producer at the BBC and my colleague, Martin, was the first designer to work alongside me. He didn't bat an eyelid when I pulled out a rubber mat, a dud biro and a thin sheet of plastic and asked him to draw designs he was trying to explain. He thought it was cool! How else was he gonna get across his visual design ideas? Tactile drawing looks so crap but between us we worked out a system. I'd not used it before either.

As I say, can't do this justice so I'm not gonna attempt it. Very sad mood at work today. If you are in a mind to give a bit of money towards something good, put some pennies in a sickle cell research charity pot tomorrow.

6 comments:

marmiteboy said...

Sorry to hear about your mate Damon. I'll seek out a sickle cell box and bung a couple of quid in. Take care .

The Goldfish said...

When I lost a friend earlier this year, someone pointed me towards this poem by John Donne called For Whom The Bell Tolls which helped me a bit so as there's not much else to say I'll share it with you;

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

Take care and love to all the team at Ouch.

BloggingMone said...

Sorry to hear the sad news. I know it takes time to get over the loss and to accept that some just isn't there anymore. But I strongly believe that as long as we keep good memories of someone, that person hasn't really gone and is still with us in a certain way.

Damon said...

He was a respected colleague, not a friend, just a really nice bloke whose loss is felt and who I appreciated. Every last drop of sympathy and well wishes should be for his family, not me. Always a real shock when a young person dies. And when a disabled person, who you always imagine is dealing with their shit admirably, finally gets beaten by that shit (I'm feeling highly eloquent today) well it's bad, a wake up call, and makes you start thinking about your disabled mates differently too. this ... temporary ... life.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear of your loss, Damon. It really bites home when it's someone young.

Sickle cell is a shite disease.

Katie said...

Hi Damon, Sorry to hear about the loss of your colleague. He sounded a great person that must have been great to work with and it must be difficult for you to get over his sad loss.

I felt incredibly upset when I lost my Mum because she died so young too, but what always helps me get over it Damon, is to think of all the good times and good memories that you had with him. Hope this truly helps, Am sending you all my regards Damon, my friend!