When I think about Josh and who he was, the first thing that always pop into my mind are mental images of josh with a plastic toy monkey and him being tied up in christmas lights, drunk off his ass, and giggling hysterically. Or Josh sitting in our apartment back in the day, with so many Mt. Dew boxes piled up around him that it literally looked like he had built a fort for himself of the discarded boxes. I think of how some people collect coins or rocks, but not Josh, he had collections of petrified pizza crusts of different sizes and shapes at his computer desk at Sue's. I remember his five basic food groups: Mt. Dew, orange soda, SuperAmerica cheeseburgers, Taco Bell chilli cheese burritos, and Perkins chicken quesadias. I remember interesting emails such as an army of little michael jacksons dancing, or an animation he sent me with breaded fish nuggets dancing and having rectal bleeding. I remember Josh's sense of humor.

I also remember how intelligent he was. Anything that kid set his mind to doing, he was able to achieve. I remember when he got an atari off Ebay, I believe he needed a controller, he couldn't find one any place, so instead he bought a nintendo controller and jimmy rigged it, just so he could play his atari games. Or how he taught himself all of the computer knowledge he had, I am a major in computer science, and honestly I can't hold a candle up to the knowledge he had of electronics and computers. In fact, he was able to get jobs at Qwest and ES without ever having gone to college.
Josh was also an artist. Not only with the style that he brought to skating, which undoubtably many of us remember, but also looking at some of his designs for Thirty-Two, ES, and representmpls websites, they are amazing, even our friend Jayme, who is a graphic designer, will testify to. Or if any of you have seen some of the world maps Josh made for a computer game called Half-Life, his maps were so good that even one of the mappers for Action Half-Life complemented him on it, the gothic church map is honestly the best artistic expression I have seen, again, he taught himself how to do all of this.

Josh was also an athlete. I think we call all agree on this by looking at how well he skated. I have never seen someone ollie as good as he could, pro or otherwise. His 360 flip is my first memory of my friend, watching him skate Tech High School in St. Cloud and try to launch off the banks, I watched him catch his 360 flip clean, but land and hit a rock, he grabs his board, gives it a glare that scared even me, screams at it, and then goes back and lands that trick perfect. His backside tailslides he could do beautifully, he could crook rails that were twenty to thirty feet long and he always made it look so easy, like it was nothing, he was a natural.

But more important, Josh was a friend. He was caring, he was honest, he would never stab you in the back, and he would always be there for you no matter what. I remember all the times we would hang out together at night skating downtown minneapolis, skate and chill, bullshit and philosophize. Honestly, when I was writing this, I realized those are the times that I will miss the most with Josh, just living the carefreee life, no worries, just living life to the fullest, everyday. That is who I would say Josh really truly was, a free spirit, someone who took everyday and just enjoyed it and every aspect of it, I can see it in his humor style, in his activities and hobbies, in his choice of friends, or in his five basic food groups.

It saddens me that he is gone, but I really think that at least he found peace with himself. When he got this job at ES, I think it was the best thing for him. He got to move to California, where I think he always wanted to be, the land of skating; he had a job that involved both of his loves, computers and skateboarding as well as warm weather all of the time; honestly, he seemed very happy. It was cool to see him become a content person, I am glad of that, but sad that I never got to see where his progression as a human being would take him, too see what would happen when he found a girl that he loved, how would that change him? If he had kids, what would he have been like then? It sucks to lose our friendship that we have had over the years, and especially to not have the friendship in the coming years as we both grew up, as I finished college and moved out to cali to hang out and chill with him, hang out everyday after working some shitty jobs, skate and bitch about our girlfriends and jobs, but both knowing our lives were good, we were living our dreams with our friends there to hear about the good shit and the bad. This is what makes Josh's passing so hard to deal with, that we didn't get to have that friendship in the future, if I get married, he won't be there to be my best man and tell me I am an idiot for giving up my freedom and make fun of me when I get drunk at the reception, or me being his best man if he got married. Or on the weekends after working hard at a job all week, us barbecuing and skating the mini ramp we built, chilling next to the ocean.

Enjoying life to the fullest with my best friend, thats what I remember the most about Josh, that he lived everyday like it was his last, he lived his days to the fullest and never took life for granted, he always appreciated the moment, I envied him for that way of thinking, he was so carefree, yet he still did what needed to, to get things done. I am not very good at communicating, I wish I could tell you more fluently how good, cool, nice, funny, dorky, nerdy, smart, intelligent, sarcastic, cynical, and caring a person Josh really was; he was a loyal friend, to lose him is like losing a part of myself, the carefree side of me rests now with Josh...I lay that side to rest forever....wherever, he may be.