Mike Crowley

I woke up this morning to the upsetting news that my old friend Mike Crowley had passed away. I met Mike years ago through the online LEGO community, in which he went by the name Count Blockula. I never met him in person, but I was among the many people fortunate enough to get to know him and interact with him over the internet. I think that his creativity and just the quality of person and friend that he was has been a big inspiration for me and just about everyone that knew him.

Mike hasn't been very active in the LEGO community or online at all really in the past several years, and I've missed him a lot. I was always hoping he would come back someday and that it would somewhat resemble old times. Every year I still wished him a happy birthday on facebook. I knew that his birthday was coming up again soon this year, and was intending to wish him a happy birthday, like usual. I can't believe I'm writing this instead. There are so many memories going through my mind right now...

...I remember so many of the cool things he'd build out of LEGO. Sesame Street, Mario Kart, Snowblower Man, WeeFormers, and all of the Star Wars characters and animals he'd build. And I've spent much of this morning going through his flickr photostream looking at each of those things...

...I remember experimenting with the various LEGO building techniques and styles he developed, and sometimes showing him the stuff I built...

...I remember him being an early supporter of my music projects. For a long time, he had a banner on his myspace page promoting my music. I always really appreciated that...

...I remember him messaging me in the middle of the night sometimes. He would have trouble sleeping, so he'd get on the computer, and I was often the only other person online at that time of night. If I remember right, he called me his "late night buddy"...

I miss you, Mike. I'm happy to have ever had you as a friend, and as a late night buddy.