claudio raze when you were a kid, you followed your big brother ezio around everywhere. his friends called you little ez. then you grew up, and everyone followed your lead. space age rockabilly punk with a heart of solid gold. always with that perfect pompadour and those thick black glasses. but the cancer that ravaged your bloodstream robbed you of your high-swept black badge of honour and brought you back down to earth, leaving you with sparse patches of grey, making you old before your time. you were a music lover and a vinyl nut. you turned me on to my favourite rickie lee jones album. you gave me one of the great musical experiences of my life. i could feel her broken heart pulsing and mending itself in every painful, beautiful song. she sang: "some kids like watching saturday cartoons. some girls listen to records all day in their rooms. but what do birds leave behind of the wings that they came with, if a son's in a tree building model planes? skeletons." you radiated happiness. you were always posting pictures on facebook of your cat bowie and sharing the conversations the two of you had. one of my favourites: "claudio: hey bow. you're looking pensive this morning. what's up? bowie: oh ... nuthin'. claudio: you sure? you know you can talk to your pop about anything, right? bowie: oh sure. it's just that ... well ... i've been wondering about something. claudio: yeah? bowie: pop, am i just a pet? claudio: would it please you to be more than that? is that your hope? bowie: well, yeah! claudio: bowie, you're a full voting third of this household! you have a say in how things go around here! i think that means you're more than a pet. don't you? bowie: yeah! pop, sit back and relax! i'm gonna make you an omelette!" you deserved more than the fifty-six years you were given. i can measure the time i spent with you in minutes. but i'll always remember your cherubic face, your quick wit, and your kindness. sleep well, sweet prince. 220126 ... nr i went on a few pretty good dates with someone with this name years ago. the last one lasted for something like eight hours. and then after that, he essentially ghosted me. this page made me think of him, as you don't meet many claudios, in this country at least, so i e-stalked him to see what he was up to. he's apparently now living with this girl who i know of but have never met in person. she is an actor, director, and comedian, and an improv partner of someone i know. she seems super smart and fun and talented, and i can't help wondering how he deserves someone like that. it's weird to feel offended in these situations but there's a bit of that? i guess? come to think of it, even though the dates were fun, i remember him to be a bit dull in some ways. she's definitely more interesting than him. but her name is much more common. he was (is?) a canvasser for the liberal party too, which i'll never quite understand. occasionally voting liberal for whatever 220127 ... my blathe got cut off! ...reason, sure. being a staunch supporter of the party itself? isn't that kind of like saying "middle of the road all the way!"? 220127 what's it to you? who go blather from