Birthday wishes, again

Happy birthday today to a very talented member of my f-list (not that there aren't a whole mess of those): msminlr! Many happy returns, presents, fun etc., and thanks for coming down for GAFilk a few weeks ago.

In Memoriam: Gregory McMullan

It seems the month for out-of-nowhere, kick-in-the-gut news about someone dying...but this time, it's far too close to home. tigerbright and bedlamhouse inform me that Greg McMullan (known on LJ as filkergem) has perished in a fire that started in his family's home while he was sleeping there alone. I fear I lack further information than this, including his age at death; but there are links from filkerdave's and TB's pages.

Greg was one of many who joined us mere weeks ago here in Atlanta for GAFilk and contributed to all of us having such a marvelous time. His LJ's most recent entry was on the 19th, just over a week ago, and reported he'd achieved a new personal best for running (an ironic health habit, now). Hearing how he died is also that much more disturbing for me; coming as I do from a family of firefighters, I'm more aware than most of the ways in which a seemingly sound home can turn into a raging inferno in next to no time and with startling ease.

My heart goes out to his poor wife Maya and their daughter—now bereft not only of him, but of their home and almost all their possessions as well—and to all his relations, friends and others in whose lives his passing blows a great big honking sudden hole.