From Joi's blog, I learned that a regular on the #joiito IRC channel--Mike Lea, aka mazeone--had committed suicide this weekend.
Joi also linked to Mike's web site. The diary/weblog portion of the site broke my heart.
07/18/03-09:21:54 PM Friday -- touching the rocks and flying i will never be a writer, an artist, a musician, a programmer; i will never be an athlete, a monk, a dancer, a mechanic; i will never learn how to talk to people, meet strangers, make friends; i will never have a happy childhood, another chance to make the connections that i missed, another chance with friends i have lost. i will never be, i will never learn, i will never have.
Liz, I am so sorry. I know how close many of you have become on that chat channel. To lose someone like this can be very devastating.
If only we could tell when we're writing poetry, or we're writing our final good-bye.