Eulogy

When I first received word at 545 in the afternoon, I thought it was a practical joke.

When I was in the cab heading down to Sin Ming Drive, I still thought of it as a really, really bad practical joke.

When I finally found the place, I still refused to accept it as fact. Right until I saw the face in the picture.

Few are the alumni of AC(I) who haven't known Chow Guan Ren, who haven't experienced his idiotically (and occasionally, somewhat insane looking) toothy grin. Many i'm sure still remember the old TV ad where the Italian kid yells 'Ciao Argo!' and the old geezer replies with a resounding 'Ciao, Romano!' - faithfully replicated by Guan Ren in the subsequent weeks of school life, who spouted incessant Ciao Romano's with that grin plastered over his face.

In all, while I haven't known CGR as a close friend, I cannot and will not deny that i've known him for... what has it been? 9 years? Close to 10?

For those of you who're reading this and know CGR as a mutual friend, it is to my great sorrow that I must inform you of his passing in a car crash.

Wakes are depressing precisely because they remind us, the ones who've known him personally, of our mortality. The qualities of being youthful include a firm, almost unshakeable belief that no matter what illness, injury or mishap might occur, life will go on - we'll go through uni, get girls, go clubbing, play online games, head out for suppers, watch movies, get jobs... Y'know, grow up and reminisce.

Desmond Wee's remarks were significant in that they probably reflected many of the thoughts of the mourners - if only we'd spoken to him a little more the last time we'd met. Kenneth and I just bumped into him last week after catching Dragon Tiger Gate, for Chrissakes. And i'm sure its harder for Phua, having met him for supper right before he... left.

So here it is, in this disputably but still relatively private space of my own, I will pen this entry down as an eulogy to a person whom i've always known to provide a smile where one was lacking. And I will mourn the passing of one of us, and remind myself that perhaps we aren't so invincible after all. That we... I... shall spend a little more time knowing friends rather than merely asking after them.

Fare thee well, Guan Ren. If there's a better place after life, I hope you find it.