He died yesterday, unexpectedly. I got the text while I was in Ximending yesterday. It was just a fact. I stared at the message for a few seconds, then went back to what I was doing. I later mentioned it to someone and even laughed during that exchange. I mean, not heartily. Ironically, maybe.

It wasn't like Ritu, who I wouldn't have expected the news to have such an impact on me, but I broke down at work for a good 20-25 minutes, and my cube neighbor assisted me out the building to compose myself before I had to break the news to the rest of Ritu's team.

But this guy was still an acquaintance. He was a person who had been in my physical presence in the recent past. I have actual images of him alive in my recent memory. It's hard not to give it a little thought, a little consideration. Even on a ride last night after work to Keelung, I thought about him.

Prior to this, the last I heard about him was after our last gig at Le Mer. He invested a lot of money into Le Mer, and he had a falling out with the proprietress, the actual owner. They got in an argument that led to her calling up some gangsters who subsequently put him in the hospital. What he could have done to warrant such a response can only be speculated upon, but the suggestion was floated that it wasn't beyond conception that he hit her.

She threatened that if he called the police, he could kiss his entire investment in Le Mer goodbye. His eventual liver failure might be related to the beating, but he did leave the hospital after that.

In the whole time I was aware of him, I wonder if he thought he might die this year. When 2008 came around, did he think he might die this year? When he came to Taiwan, did he think he might die here? Wherever he was, whoever he was with, did he think he might die here, now, in this way?

Maybe, maybe not. Who asks that sort of question, though, anyway, aside from me?

Riding to Keelung was pretty glorious last night. It was exciting because it was completely out of the territory that I'd already covered in the greater Taipei area. It was exciting because Keelung is a port of old, so it has a sort of mystique, the way Hong Kong has. It was barely 14 hours after he died, and I was savoring my being, my existence at Keelung Harbor with a sliver of the waning crescent moon linger over the docked ships.