" He's a hero. He died for his country. What for? I don't know." - Sean Straub

Francis Straub

Let me begin by saying I don't want to exaggerate my connection with Frank. My grief is light compared to those who knew him well; but I still grieve for the loss of someone vital, someone who touched my life briefly, and someone I will always remember with fondness.

Frank was a soldier, a black belt in karate, a 'ladies man', a survivor of a pretty rotten childhood, and a nice guy.

I really knew him only for a short time back in 2002, but we had a casual friendship, we hung out a few times outside of the dojo and so forth. The most memorable time was when a small group of us including Frank went to Tiger Schulmann's headquarters up in North Jersey - they were 'auditioning' for a commercial, and Frank asked me and a couple other women to come up. We did, it was fun, and, ironically, we took a detour to NYC as it was the 6th month anniversary of the 9/11 bombings.

Frank was Charlie's 'sensei' briefly when Charlie took karate at Tiger Schulmann. He was awesome with the kids, he really liked them and it showed in the way he taught them. When my friend had her son's birthday at the dojo, and Frank was there, playing with the kids, teaching them moves, convincing me to wear the tiger costume to bring out the cake.

My friend new him better than I did. (why she knew him isn't my story to tell) She told me that the last time she spoke to him he told her he was going to Iraq and, ever the fatalist, told her he didn't think he'd be coming home.

Osu, Sempai. Rest in peace.

" He's a hero. He died for his country. What for? I don't know." - Sean Straub

Francis Straub

Let me begin by saying I don't want to exaggerate my connection with Frank. My grief is light compared to those who knew him well; but I still grieve for the loss of someone vital, someone who touched my life briefly, and someone I will always remember with fondness.

Frank was a soldier, a black belt in karate, a 'ladies man', a survivor of a pretty rotten childhood, and a nice guy.

I really knew him only for a short time back in 2002, but we had a casual friendship, we hung out a few times outside of the dojo and so forth. The most memorable time was when a small group of us including Frank went to Tiger Schulmann's headquarters up in North Jersey - they were 'auditioning' for a commercial, and Frank asked me and a couple other women to come up. We did, it was fun, and, ironically, we took a detour to NYC as it was the 6th month anniversary of the 9/11 bombings.

Frank was Charlie's 'sensei' briefly when Charlie took karate at Tiger Schulmann. He was awesome with the kids, he really liked them and it showed in the way he taught them. When my friend had her son's birthday at the dojo, and Frank was there, playing with the kids, teaching them moves, convincing me to wear the tiger costume to bring out the cake.

My friend new him better than I did. (why she knew him isn't my story to tell) She told me that the last time she spoke to him he told her he was going to Iraq and, ever the fatalist, told her he didn't think he'd be coming home.

Osu, Sempai. Rest in peace.

In more cheerful news

Thanks to the lovely 100 icon space LJ gave us, I've been working on creating icons of my very own. So here they are.




George Lucas was in the picture, but I cut him out. I thought this was pretty cool.



I love the newscaster. It says 'this just in' on it - I think it is legible, but is it really?




Found this quote on a biography of him. I thought it was nice.

Feel free to take if you want.

In more cheerful news

Thanks to the lovely 100 icon space LJ gave us, I've been working on creating icons of my very own. So here they are.




George Lucas was in the picture, but I cut him out. I thought this was pretty cool.



I love the newscaster. It says 'this just in' on it - I think it is legible, but is it really?




Found this quote on a biography of him. I thought it was nice.

Feel free to take if you want.

Sigh

I changed my layout. The other one was starting to bore me. Plus I didn't like how the paragraphs were so close together. Not sure I'm crazy about this one, either. It's all purple, and I like purple, but it might be too purple, if you know what I mean.

I would also quite like to come up with a new journal name, but alas, my creativity dries up whenever I try to think of titles. I'm a bit like Leonard of Quirm that way.

You know, the 100 icon thing is hard. Now whenever I go to change my icon on a post, I spend WAY too much time deciding which one I want. It's still cool.

I've got Jim Henson on the brain lately, because of the new DVD. You forgive me, right?

Years ago, right after Jim Henson died, I had this very vivid dream I was walking down an empty city street with him, and he was talking to me, telling me something very important, but when I woke up, I couldn't remember what it was.

Right. Off to...something.

Sigh

I changed my layout. The other one was starting to bore me. Plus I didn't like how the paragraphs were so close together. Not sure I'm crazy about this one, either. It's all purple, and I like purple, but it might be too purple, if you know what I mean.

I would also quite like to come up with a new journal name, but alas, my creativity dries up whenever I try to think of titles. I'm a bit like Leonard of Quirm that way.

You know, the 100 icon thing is hard. Now whenever I go to change my icon on a post, I spend WAY too much time deciding which one I want. It's still cool.

I've got Jim Henson on the brain lately, because of the new DVD. You forgive me, right?

Years ago, right after Jim Henson died, I had this very vivid dream I was walking down an empty city street with him, and he was talking to me, telling me something very important, but when I woke up, I couldn't remember what it was.

Right. Off to...something.