"Guardian Angel"

This is a picture Tomena made for me for my last birthday, it perfectly represents the kind of friendship we had. I promise not to go on and on about her but this was something I had to share.

Rest in Peace

Tomena Courtepatte

April 6, 1979- April 11, 2007

This is the hardest thing I have ever had to write in my life. This blog exists because of Tomena. I knew she read it religiously and I always looked forward to her input. After pestering me for the longest time I finally enabled the comments feature. As you can see she never got to enjoy it.

Tomena and I have been friends for a long time. We met in highschool and dated for quite a while. Only she could have told you precisely how long. She was a beautiful artistic girl with a thing for dance music and anime. As soon as I took an interest in her she reciprocated it ten fold. We were dating in no time at all and were very rarely apart. She loved the fact that I played guitar and has always been the driving force behind my music. After some time it became clear that her deep world of anime was begining to have a major influence on her personality. Her penchant for drama (real or imagined) was becoming too much for me and in the end I broke it off. It was a devastating loss for her and she stalked me for months following. I can't say that she ever really got over it but she has managed to live with it. It is said that a friendship can never work after a relationship and I highly disagree. No girl to this day understood me more than her and likewise I could read her like a book. We have been through a lot together and were always very close.

Her love of dance music began to have an effect on me from the very begining. I've always listened to rock and metal but everytime I went to visit her she would be playing happy hardcore or trance. I hated it at first but it grew on me. She opened my eyes to the world of djing and as soon as I started getting involved she was absolutely ecstatic. She took great pride in being my mentor and constantly motivated me. She was going to be my manager if I wanted it or not. There was not a show Ive done that she missed and only one recording Ive made that she has not heard (It was a surprise especially for her.) My latest mix was put together because she requested it. She listened to it constantly in the hospital.

Tomena was stricken by a rare hereditary blood disease that, to the best of my knowledge, is both undetectable and technically incurable. In most cases the body tends to heal itself of this condition (as was the case with an Aunt of hers) and this is where we put our hope. The whole ordeal for her was a mere inconvience. Actually it was a huge inconvenience but she soaked in the attention and made plans for her return to a normal life. I planned to dj for her welcome home party. It ended up being her service.

My loss compares nothing to that of her family and her fiance. My thoughts and prayers are with them. She loved her whole family and was especially close to both her sisters and her mother. Needless to say that she will be very deeply missed by us all.

Dude.

Some of the best news I've recieved in quite a while arrived within mere minutes of each other.