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Scotty, Beamed up.
Jul. 20th, 2005 09:31 pmI was saddened to hear of the death of James Doohan. I didn't realize that he was 85 years old. I feel like I've lost an old friend, even though I never met him.
I have been a Star Trek fan forever, it seems. I have vague memories of watching the original series on television...but I really discovered the show in reruns (just like so many others). I remember when the only thing there was WAS the show...usually it was on either late at night or at the dinner hour on some UHF station you had to fiddle with the antenna to bring in clearly. (Wonder how many on my f-list will get that reference? I'm dating myself...) Anyway, I was hooked very early on. I would scour the bookstores looking for any new stories--in those days, they didn't publish ten or twelve new titles per month like they do now. (My favorites are still "The Price of the Phoenix" and "The Fate of the Phoenix".
One of my best friends and I wrote a novel together based on the original series. She went on to have a couple original novels published. (I, meanwhile, still muddle away writing fanfic--go figure)
I still remember how thrilled we were when Paramount announced that they would finally--finally! be making a Star Trek movie with the original cast! And how disappointed we were in the final product. But ST-2 more than made up for it.
I cried when DeForrest Kelley died...and I got a tear in my eye today, too.
Peace and long (after)life, James Doohan You will be sorely missed on this planet.
I have been a Star Trek fan forever, it seems. I have vague memories of watching the original series on television...but I really discovered the show in reruns (just like so many others). I remember when the only thing there was WAS the show...usually it was on either late at night or at the dinner hour on some UHF station you had to fiddle with the antenna to bring in clearly. (Wonder how many on my f-list will get that reference? I'm dating myself...) Anyway, I was hooked very early on. I would scour the bookstores looking for any new stories--in those days, they didn't publish ten or twelve new titles per month like they do now. (My favorites are still "The Price of the Phoenix" and "The Fate of the Phoenix".
One of my best friends and I wrote a novel together based on the original series. She went on to have a couple original novels published. (I, meanwhile, still muddle away writing fanfic--go figure)
I still remember how thrilled we were when Paramount announced that they would finally--finally! be making a Star Trek movie with the original cast! And how disappointed we were in the final product. But ST-2 more than made up for it.
I cried when DeForrest Kelley died...and I got a tear in my eye today, too.
Peace and long (after)life, James Doohan You will be sorely missed on this planet.
Happy Birthday, Joe
Apr. 27th, 2005 09:03 amMy brother Joe would have been 45 years old today. I still miss him so much, I cannot tell you how large a chasm his passing has left in my life. I couldn't let this day go by without acknowledging my "big" little brother.
Behind the cut is a picture tribute along with the essay I wrote the night I found out about his death.
Happy Birthday, dear Brother
( Memories )
I will miss you forever.
Has it been a year already?
Oct. 8th, 2004 12:25 pmDamn. Time does keep rolling on, no matter what happens. It was a year ago that my dear brother died. I wanted to acknowledge the day somehow...so this is what I wrote last year after I found out about Joe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The funny thing about phone calls...
Sometimes they are for wonderful reasons...someone getting married, having a baby...new house, new puppy (or kitten). Maybe it is a vacation you took you want to tell someone about, or the movie you saw last week. Maybe it is because your favorite baseball team won the championship and is going for the big one.
Or. Maybe not.
Maybe it's 1:00 in the morning.
1:00 in the morning is NEVER a good time to get a phone call.
Especially when it's your father. And he's telling you that your brother is dead. Now, instead of four, we are three. It used to be: Cathy, Joe, Beth and Jeff. Now it's just Cathy, Beth and Jeff.
I am in shock, I think. I freaked out a bit after hanging up with Dad...Gregory was here of course, and held me...then I called my mom...Dad had called her first...
She's in shock too. She knew more than I did. He was house sitting for his landlady while she was in the hospital or something. When she got home, the door was locked, she couldn't get in. She called my Dad, he said "Call the police". She did. They came and
broke in--and found him. Dad said he was sitting in the chair, and had been dead for at least a couple of days. (We found out later it was more like a week. One blessing, it was a peaceful death. He just went to sleep.)
My brother was a tortured soul. He had addiction problems...it won't surprise me to find out he died from an accidental (or on purpose, who knows?) overdose. He was such a big lug... he had a fantastic personality (when he was sober) and was a kind, loving person. He had so much love to give, and unfortunately, never found love in this lifetime. I
think the worst thing is knowing he died alone...except for his cat and the landlady's dog.
That's definately the worst thing. I wish he hadn't been alone.
But he had chosen to be alone for a lot of his adult life, isolating himself from everyone in the family...when he did come to events, he would come early and leave early...almost like he was trying to escape. We tried to help him...my dad even came down
to Ft. Lauderdale two years ago and moved him up to Ocala and in with him...
Joe had finally (everyone thought) gotten enough help so he could once again be on his own. He was in a trailer, had a car, a cat...but...he found more drugs.
I guess he needed the drugs more than he needed us.
I'm going to miss him so much. We had a joke...I was the oldest, but soon, he was the tallest. So I took to calling him my "big" brother. I can't believe this has happened...I knew it was going to happen.
I have to call my kids tomorrow. No sense waking them up tonight. My son will be devestated. I have to try to time it so his g/f is there when he finds out. My daughter will take it easier, she wasn't as close to Joe as Adam was. (I was wrong, Amanda cried.)
I hate talking about my brother in the past tense. But I will have to from now on, won't I?
I wish there was someone I felt comfortable calling at this time of night. But...those who don't know yet (due to answering machines with cryptic messages to call Dad right away) should be allowed to sleep the sleep of the innocent for one more day. Soon enough
to have tomorrow ruined.
Anyway, I'm just rambling now. Better sign off. I love every one of you people, probably more than you know, and definately more than I've ever said before.
I hope my brother has finally found the peace he couldn't get in life. I miss him already.
Albert Joseph "Joe" Brown III 1960-2003
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I still miss him. Every day. There's a Joe-shaped hole in my heart. The family is gathering at my Dad's house next weekend to inter his ashes in a grave on my Dad's property...the place I think my brother was the happiest. I have to stop now because I'm going to cry.
The funny thing about phone calls...
Sometimes they are for wonderful reasons...someone getting married, having a baby...new house, new puppy (or kitten). Maybe it is a vacation you took you want to tell someone about, or the movie you saw last week. Maybe it is because your favorite baseball team won the championship and is going for the big one.
Or. Maybe not.
Maybe it's 1:00 in the morning.
1:00 in the morning is NEVER a good time to get a phone call.
Especially when it's your father. And he's telling you that your brother is dead. Now, instead of four, we are three. It used to be: Cathy, Joe, Beth and Jeff. Now it's just Cathy, Beth and Jeff.
I am in shock, I think. I freaked out a bit after hanging up with Dad...Gregory was here of course, and held me...then I called my mom...Dad had called her first...
She's in shock too. She knew more than I did. He was house sitting for his landlady while she was in the hospital or something. When she got home, the door was locked, she couldn't get in. She called my Dad, he said "Call the police". She did. They came and
broke in--and found him. Dad said he was sitting in the chair, and had been dead for at least a couple of days. (We found out later it was more like a week. One blessing, it was a peaceful death. He just went to sleep.)
My brother was a tortured soul. He had addiction problems...it won't surprise me to find out he died from an accidental (or on purpose, who knows?) overdose. He was such a big lug... he had a fantastic personality (when he was sober) and was a kind, loving person. He had so much love to give, and unfortunately, never found love in this lifetime. I
think the worst thing is knowing he died alone...except for his cat and the landlady's dog.
That's definately the worst thing. I wish he hadn't been alone.
But he had chosen to be alone for a lot of his adult life, isolating himself from everyone in the family...when he did come to events, he would come early and leave early...almost like he was trying to escape. We tried to help him...my dad even came down
to Ft. Lauderdale two years ago and moved him up to Ocala and in with him...
Joe had finally (everyone thought) gotten enough help so he could once again be on his own. He was in a trailer, had a car, a cat...but...he found more drugs.
I guess he needed the drugs more than he needed us.
I'm going to miss him so much. We had a joke...I was the oldest, but soon, he was the tallest. So I took to calling him my "big" brother. I can't believe this has happened...I knew it was going to happen.
I have to call my kids tomorrow. No sense waking them up tonight. My son will be devestated. I have to try to time it so his g/f is there when he finds out. My daughter will take it easier, she wasn't as close to Joe as Adam was. (I was wrong, Amanda cried.)
I hate talking about my brother in the past tense. But I will have to from now on, won't I?
I wish there was someone I felt comfortable calling at this time of night. But...those who don't know yet (due to answering machines with cryptic messages to call Dad right away) should be allowed to sleep the sleep of the innocent for one more day. Soon enough
to have tomorrow ruined.
Anyway, I'm just rambling now. Better sign off. I love every one of you people, probably more than you know, and definately more than I've ever said before.
I hope my brother has finally found the peace he couldn't get in life. I miss him already.
And I still miss him. Every day. There's a Joe-shaped hole in my heart. The family is gathering at my Dad's house next weekend to inter his ashes in a grave on my Dad's property...the place I think my brother was the happiest. I have to stop now because I'm going to cry.
