From jeradonah@hushmail.com Sun Oct 31 10:50:51 1999
Date: Sat, 30 Oct 1999 16:28:44 -0500 (PDT)
From: jeradonah@hushmail.com
To: dc-stuff@dis.org
Subject: Re: Krystalia



On Fri, 29 October 1999, sang@sinister.com wrote:
> 
> Krystalia, age 28 passed away today 29 October 1999 at approximately
> 12:30pm.
> 
> Krystalia was beloved by many, and will be missed.  

word of krys' coma and then death left me, like it, no doubt, did others,
 
in shock.  i am an idealist, and i hoped against hope that she would 
beat this thing up until the last moment.  so perhaps i was less prepared 
for the shock...

krys was one of the first people to welcome me to the list.  we 
corresponded on and off list from the moment that i subscribed, so 
it came as a surprise to me when i learned that she was female.  
then, of course, i had to backtrack, as i explained that her technical 
competency and list behavior could have come from either gender.  
or i am an idiot...

when i began posting on quantum computing, krys began a campaign, 
as it were, to get me on irc.  i never really understood why, as we never 
really talked that much, and she was as much a mystery to me as i was 
to her.  but when i finally consented, she took me under her wing, so to 
speak, and even lambasted sang one night ("leave him alone, this is my 
physics professor").  i was more honored by her *defense* than by any 
award or citation i ever received, because i knew that it came from her 
heart...

we eventually did have that conversation about quantum computers on 
irc.  and one on feynman.  and one on life itself.  krys was remarkably 
intelligent and, like many hackers, interested in a wide variety of subjects. 
 
but one of the subjects that most interested me was the power of the 
medium, for i was initially overwhelmed by my experience on irc.  i might 
add, in my defense, that no one should ever begin their irc experience 
on #dc-stuff, but that is another subject...

my heart sank when krys told me of her unexplained illness in december. 
 
we were supposed to have lunch when i vacationed in the keys, but by 
that time (early january), she was already drained of strength.  it is too 
bad, because she would have liked our lunch companion.  like you, i was 
saddened when she left the list, and even sadder when sang relayed that 
they had stopped treating her.  but still, i knew that krys was a strong 
person, and i honestly believed that she would pull through.  perhaps 
wished might be a better word...

i am not gonna claim to have been krys' closest friend, or that i "knew 
her well," but i am a better person for having known her -- and i would 
bet that you are, too.  people like krys do touch our lives, do alter our 
paths, do make this place bearable.  it is easy to forget that as we 
resume our busy schedules, but i for one will try not to forget her.  i 
hope no one does, she is worthy of the memory...


		krystalia

	they said you died yesterday
	and i was lost of things to say
	it does not make much sense to me
	but at least i got the chance to grieve

	you may not have lived life at the edge
	but life itself is sufficient test
	i think of what you did for me
	helped me to see some things clearly

	you can't sum up life in a song
	so much forgotten would just be wrong
	but when i heard you died i cried
	i could not escape the question, "why?"

	krys, you live on in our memories
	your life's promise merged into our dreams 
	but when we heard you died we cried
	no one could answer the question, "why?"



   

   
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