I am sorry, Tom. You are in my thoughts and prayers.
How awful. My condolences to all his friends and family.
I don’t know what to say, really. I was listening to old podcasts the last days, including this morning, thinking that soon enough, Christien would get better and would sure return to the Qt3 podcast (which I only discovered some months ago, but listened religiously every week ever since, often revisiting older episodes as well). I don’t know him, and I am not really an “internet person”, but I was checking the forum several times a day to see if he was going any better. And now, this …
As I’m writing this, people are celebrating the new year. Music, people dancing on balconies and lot of fireworks. His passing seems even more surreal to me right now. I don’t even need any testimonies to understand how kind and genuinely good he was; his voice was a testimony to his kindness.
Rest in peace. Condolences to his family and friends.
Christien and I mainly talked to each other in the food thread. I always considered him a great father, a wonderful person. And a friend that I just hadn’t met in person yet. Though I hoped that one day I might.
Go with God man. You are still alive in out hearts. That will never fade.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not
This is sad news. My condolences to his family, friends, and the Qt3 community.
I’m very sorry everyone.
Oh, Tom, Fire, I’m so sorry to hear this. Christien was one of a few people on Qt3 who consistently exhibited warmth, compassion and thoughtfulness and I had hoped I might get a chance to meet him one day. Stay strong, you guys will pull through this somehow.
That made me cry. My heart just breaks for everyone who knew him deeply.
In between tears I was raging about this all night. Grief, anger, grief, anger.
Christien I, we all, loved you. Besides being one of the most funny people I’d ever known in my entire life, you were kind, and intelligent. You were the epitome of the good guy. Not just a good guy, but more like the heroic character of a movie. Maybe this planet just didn’t deserve someone as good as you and the powers that be needed you for another Universe. Maybe you could find a way to communicate across quantum time so we could hear your wonderful voice again. In the meantime life will never be the same without you. If there was ever a virtual, digital, monolith - we should construct one to remember you by and celebrate your life.
I’ve written and re-written and pushed words around for a while now. What’s basically true, at least for me, is that there are times where words don’t really do much. This is one of those times. What could I add? I can mostly just echo the chorus. Christien was so warm and disarmingly kind. He felt like an old friend, even the first time you met him.
I love to make people laugh. I always have. Laughter is my way of dealing with things. I love to make my friends laugh. One of my favorite people to crack up was Christien. As @Lenkenobi said, he had a perpetually bemused look, like you and he were the only ones in on the joke. When talking to him, you couldn’t help but smile.
Love you, buddy. Hope to see you again.
I’m so sorry to hear this. I’m sorry to those who knew him personally and to his family. What a tragedy. I was so happy to hear he was getting better the other day. So sad 😞
I am so sorry to hear and my condolences to all who were close to him.
Rest in peace Christien. My condolences to his family and close ones.
So sorry to see this news. Such a shame.
Vale Christien.
What a terrible note to end the year on. I really appreciate the stories people are sharing, though.
I really didn’t have many interactions with Christien, I wish I’d had more, but this was the absolutely striking thing about him to me. He was so open, so friendly, and so warm to complete strangers online - it was this remarkable antidote to the depersonalization so common on the internet. He was a unique and much-needed voice and I am dearly sorry he’s gone.
My son and I had a brief, short notice trip to CA earlier this year and I was hoping to get to see Christien, Fire, and Tom, but we didn’t have a lot of time down there so we figured we’d wait and try to get together this summer when we’ll be down longer could spend more time visiting. Now I so wish we’d done even a quick dinner.
I’m crying here and explaining to my girlfriend how the loss of an online friend can hurt so much. Christien and I had a number of great exchanges about parenting, about when to let our sons see movies, and so on. He was an amazing dad, a wonderful person, and a pleasure to read and listen to. And he was the one I usually agreed with on the podcasts.
There’s nothing fair about mortality. My heart goes out to his son, to Tom and Fire, and to all his friends and family.
He will be remembered fondly and missed so very, very much.
Death will take us all, everyone. You don’t get to choose when, or how, or with whom. The best you can hope for is people will miss you when you are gone. Christien will be missed my so many people who never met him in person, who only glimpsed his internet self. That’s pretty good.