What's a Lifetime

Happy Birthday, Mat. In two days time, you’ll have been gone for eight months. Eight months dead… so many games missed! Happy birthday.

Four years ago, or so, we met on a game that was a wonderful escape for us. Four years ago you became my friend. In a little less than four years, we made that friendship into something I know I will only get once in a lifetime.

Don’t you miss the time the entire raid bar us would die, and we’d be yelled at to wipe it, like it was our fault for being good? Don’t you miss standing by the pull ropes in RE5 and hitting the call button so Chris screamed at my Sheva, in his zebra print outfit? How about the time you got excited about my playing Tales of Legendia? Do you remember the amount of complaining I did about the number puzzles in FF13-2, my cries of ‘I’M DUMB AT MATH, I JUST MAKE SPARKLY PRETTY SHIT’. Or the time we laughed for hours over Game Theory, Game Grumps and Angry Joe… our mutual dislike of Halo (or where it evolved into being) but the love for RvB (You were the Tucker to my Church) and your constant despair that I would ever make it past any stage of Dark Souls without continually fucking up (newsflash, still hasn’t happened, ghost-sue me!)

I miss hearing your excitement over anime, like FMA Brotherhood, Naruto and Bleach - how you’d wait to see how the anime panned out, because you were too lazy to read the manga. Too lazy. About my secret love of things dark and twisted (Mirai Nikki) and your odd spark of ‘Hey, I watched Sailor Moon you know’ and our childhoods of DBZ and Escaflowne.

I’m so far from a perfect person it’s laughable, and sitting here I feel like shit because it’s the first year I can’t shower you with impromptu gifts. It’s funny, I tried sleeping but it’s like you won’t let me rest.
Three rules.

1. Do everything on the harder setting - sure you fuck up, but you improve so much faster.
2. Enjoy whatever you do, it’s your life.
3. Smile, because someone out there loves you as you are, even if you haven’t met them yet.

Happy birthday to my soulmate and best friend. Happy birthday Mat, I love ya and I miss you. Rest up.