asia birdYesterday I went to Underground Development, the video game development studio where Zach worked. He had only been working at Underground for about 2 months before he died, but he loved every single second. He would come home everyday inspired and excited about what he was doing. He always said “I get to draw all day, and they pay me for it”! I think he would have done it all for free – It was truly his dream job.
I know a lot of people wish that they could have gone as well, but for those that couldn’t make it I have some pictures instead.
It was hard for me to go back to his office, because I was just there the day before he died. He wasn’t quite himself when he came home from hockey that night, but he was my bright and shining Zach while I was there at his office.
I got laid off from Xactly on Wednesday, so I decided to give Zach a call to see if he would like to meet for lunch. His office is in Foster City, and mine was in San Jose, I guess it’s about 30 minutes away. I had never been to his office, so since I had the afternoon ‘off’, I decided to go check it out, meet his friends, and let him know that I just lost my job.
Surprisingly, he was happy that I had been laid off! He said, ‘now you can do all the things you always wanted to do…and we can start having babies!’ :) We ate lunch together, and then went back to his office so that he could show me around. We went by his desk, he gave me the guided tour, and I met the rest of the art team.
After the office tour, he rode the elevator down with me and walked me out to my car. Neither one of us were in a hurry to go anywhere. We just stood outside by my car and hugged, and kissed, and teased each other – completely content to just be together. The sun was shining, and the ocean was bright blue behind him, and I could smell the salt in the air. It was the perfect afternoon. I’ll never forget that moment, because it was the last time we kissed.
Being back in his office, was hard, but good. The folks at Underground Development have been so amazing and even though they had a big deadline coming up, they took the time to show us around, show us what Zach had been working on, and were willing to just sit and chat about Zach.
Lynn, Steve, Adel, and the rest of the Underground and Activision team, I simply cannot thank you enough for all that you have done and continue to do to honor Zach’s memory. Thank you all for being his friend and for helping him to grow as an artist. You challenged him, you inspired him and you made him SO happy.
And a huge ‘thank you’ to Pat, who came along with me, took all the pictures, carried the boxes, and let me cry on his shoulder.
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