She said we were angels

She knew you were there for her, and I am grateful and comforted by that.

Perhaps it doesn't bear repeating, but I am so very grateful to see and speak with everyone again.

I mentioned this to a close friend in email this morning: "she was a Titan of a person," and I find that rings very true for me. I had never met anyone like her at all (or truly anyone like any of you) until the board, and it was almost awe-inspiring that she exuded that same aura when I met her in person.

Another absentee crawling out from the woodwork.

I met ita at the Serenity premiere, and it was one of the most beautiful moments of my life.

I got so many of my filthiest jokes from her!

Like some of the others have said I didn't have much of a personal relationship with her but I admired her so much. I always felt a little thrill when discussing things with her and I feel privileged for having known her even as much as I did. This board and everyone who loved her are testament to how large and kind a life she lived. She deserved all of the best things in this world.

I booked into a krav maga class today. I will think of her when I'm getting my ass handed to me.

I read the thead at io9. It's so lovely to see how much people loved and respected her there too. Though I don't know why I thought it would be any other way.

I am remembering when I met her the first time in person and I believe I had been forewarned to pronounce her name with a hard T and not a D sound (which is very abnormal for my lazy pronunciating self) and then I believe she was part of some giving me a hard time about how I pronounce hard WHs. Jesse, you were a part of this I sm sure. And I was like WHatever ms weird hard T lady and she was just like, it is a T, that is how you say a T how could it be more correct or less weird to pronounce it as another letter. And so now I try to say my mid-word Ts like Ts. Like a grown person who can talk right.

Man, I just tried to settle with a nice cuppa, but the water's the wrong temperature and it's not the right tea and my throat is too closed up to drink it anyway and I'm pretty sure the answer to all this is to buy the same over-the-top tea automated carafe butler thing she had that I can't afford. I'm thinking that will solve all my problems.

I think LAistas will be needed, if you can, to help ita's family when they get here. They're looking for flights/hotel to come and take care of her, but they will need help sorting ita's belongings and getting around, I would think. The coroner and courthouse are Downtown, and ita's place is West LA, and the traffic between the two is insane. If it's possible, I would like to put together a small contact list of people who can help them if they need to get someplace or navigate bureaucracy.

Allyson, count Drew and me in on this. And if they need a place to stay and can handle pets, we have a guest room. My ability to transport will largely be restricted to weekends and later afternoons, but I'm here.

And thank you so much for sharing the details of what must be impossibly difficult to remember. As tiggy said, thank you for doing what needed to be done, and I'm so sorry you had to do it.

Kiba Rika, I'm so glad to see you here. Locals are having a drink in ita's honor on Thursday, and I'd love it if you can make it.

"Vernor's is NOT ginger ALE. It is ginger SODA."

Stupid as it is, it was one of the things that always cracked me up and, to this day, when someone calls Vernor's ginger ale, I get shirty with them about it. Because ita.

I've been largely absent for the past year or so, but I would lurk to see if she had posted anything and how her pain was doing and if she'd found any relief.

This wasn't the relief I was looking for. Nor she, I would reckon.

When I saw Colin at the Chicago ComiCon a couple of summers ago, he signed his picture to me to "kick ita in the shins the next time I saw her."

It's been hard to keep my shit together in front of 27 first graders. Mostly, I pretended they were all of you and have been hugging them all afternoon.

The other thing I remember the most is her "It's Not My Birthday - I Just Like Baking" shebang she would hold every year at this time. And how she seemed to revel in tricking people who thought her spice cake was chocolate and the look on their faces when they took that first bite. That goddamned spice cake.