I did not wake up with a song in my head this morning, but after a few minutes the hook from this song started to play.
While Backstreet Boys had some songs which I enjoyed, they are not my usual musical faire. However, a late roommate of mine had them in his rotation and his musical tastes where almost as broad as mine. Although, he did tend to listen to more singers from Hong Kong than I did.
Andy died just recently from liver cancer leaving behind a wife and kid. Yes, I didn’t even know that he was married until rather recently. He was never one to talk much about his personal life.
I first met Andy through a mutual friend back in 1994 when he was the annoying neighbor who kept threatening to sue the property managers. Andy was a contrarian. He was a good guy to know because he would help you out, within reason, but it came at a price. I tell people that he was the kind of friend who would drive an hour to pick you up at the airport at 3 a.m. but then he would tease you all the way home for having to do it.
I think it comes from his time in the Singapore Army, which is mandatory service, even for a rich kid like him. The story he told me was that everyone in the infantry, where he was, had to learn to cook and if you burnt the rice, they never let you off the hook about it. I get it. I used to be that way with people but I had to learn to stop because…it really wasn’t helping me. He, at least while I lived with him, which was from about 1996 to 2006, didn’t see anything other than his contrary nature.
Andy would fight you about almost anything and he had some brutal opinions about everything. I don’t think anyone ever really understood where you stood with him, except that he would stick by your side when things went sideways.
Contrarians certainly can be frustrating but they will help you tighten up your arguments, force you to find evidence and reasons for why you believe what you do.
As much of a pain as he could be, it is sad to me that he will not be back.
