My eulogy to WhoopA

I spent the last few days wondering what I was going to say when I got up here and generally feeling miserable. The first day was terrible, I thought my whole world had collapsed. I looked at my loss and my pain, and at all my own personal troubles and thought to myself “I must not be allowed to have happieness”. I didn't know what I would do with myself, so I just carried on for the sake of carrying on, not knowing what else to do.

Then, only yesterday, I took a step back from my own pain and looked around myself. I saw how many others were asking me “when is the funeral?” Such a simple thing, it had escaped my attention. But now, I look back and I see the sheer amount of those simple little requests.

When I think about that alone, I realize how many people Dan touched in his life, how many people he effected and how profound his influence really was. I look at the five internet forum topics I myself started, and I now think to myself how amazing his influence truly was. I'm shocked by the vast amount of people who are saddened by his passing, by the number of people that say they looked up to him and wanted to be more like him. I see now how great his presence was, and how strong his influence truly was.

Now, I think to myself how truly lucky and blessed I was to have met him, to have been such a large part of his life. Even as the tears roll down my face, I smile knowing that my life has been forever changed by simply knowing him as well as I did. I feel priviledged to have been such a help to him on the games that he loved so much, that I could be there as a foil for him to bounce ideas off of, and to help him focus his ideas into meaningful content.

Now, I look back even further and see all the happieness that I experienced while he was alive. I think back and I remember all the fun times I had together with him. I think back and I see him offering to take that which I had created and letting everyone see it. I remember helping him better define his characters while he made my own writing more meaningful and clear. For that, I shall be eternally thankful.

I may have been lost, but because of the light of his life, I have found my way again, even in the darkness of his death. And for that, I will never forget his memory. Never ever.