Nikie Xiong
19-09 2020 09:10
wrote:
Happy Birthday, Nick! I dug out this photo. It’s probably the only photo of us together.
I first met Nick back in Oct 2009. He was a distinguished guest for an animation festival where I was coordinating the guest relations. Nick was a bit different from the others. At first I knew him as “water god”, a guy who created water simulation algorithm and won an Oscar for it. But he’s not uptight or seemingly “distinguished” at all. He asked if I didn’t like one of the people in our group. It felt a bit intrusive cause he was right. I learned that he’s witty with a glimpse of sarcasm. He made sharp comments about people and pointed out the ugly reality.
In 2010, Nick came back to Beijing. He wanted to move there for some reason I learned about much later. I introduced him to my first boss in Crystal CG. Somehow it didn’t work out. We kept emailing once a while. He wrote me recommendation and I came to US for grad school. He shared lots of things about “westerners” and cultural hints. I stopped using my school email address that started with triple X. Then we got busy and didn’t write much for 2 years. Our path crossed again when he moved to Palo Alto. Funny that I found out by coincident he lived in a motel that’s 1 minute walking distance from our apartment.
Nick knew everything about humanity, tricks like hugging someone for 20 seconds so oxytocin kicks in, tips of sensing the mood of the room, etc. I enjoyed a lot of his various dates and his theory of attraction. It’s interesting for me who has limited dating experience.
I told him everything: my relationship, 3rd snow in Beijing, PhD or not, ditch art or not, nice or annoying colleagues, etc. He joked that I was his "favorite communist” because my silly arguments a zillion years ago. He knew me pretty well but I don’t really know things from his side.
I didn’t know any of Nick’s friend before he got sick. Nick seemed to like hard core sci-fi, wine and liquor, trip-hop music, Fall Out 4, racing, tea, cats, and petite Asian women. He said that he hated ballet and anything that's caucasian stereotype. Although later when I visit him and Yu-chieh at his apartment, I found out he had the complete set of William Shakespeare on his book shelf, and a neon sign of a typical dive bar on his wall. That’s quite English to me.
Nick liked ocean. He was staying in Pacifica before moving to North Carolina. I used to drive through the fogs into route 1 from 280 once every two weeks to visit him. He couldn’t go out a lot because of his treatment. Yu-chieh and sexy cat have been accompanying him. His mind was never trapped in a room though. I whined about frictions in my life. He talked about his cancer progression, politics, sci-fi, games, and friend’s visits. He made jokes about dying. We had a lot of laughs, and watch movies with too much blood in it.
I visited him a few times when he’s in North Carolina. His body got weaker but even that he’s still smart and funny. I wanted to visit hime more but then I got stuck in Mexico, then my husband moved back, then my parents were visiting, then pandemic started. I haven’t been able to see him since end of July last year.
Nick was a friend, a career coach, a life mentor. He left his mark in this world. He also influenced a lot of who I am today, and a lot of others too I’m sure. I really miss him. Goodbye, Nick.
Nikie Xiong
19-09 2020 09:10
wrote:
Happy Birthday, Nick! I dug out this photo. It’s probably the only photo of us together.
I first met Nick back in Oct 2009. He was a distinguished guest for an animation festival where I was coordinating the guest relations. Nick was a bit different from the others. At first I knew him as “water god”, a guy who created water simulation algorithm and won an Oscar for it. But he’s not uptight or seemingly “distinguished” at all. He asked if I didn’t like one of the people in our group. It felt a bit intrusive cause he was right. I learned that he’s witty with a glimpse of sarcasm. He made sharp comments about people and pointed out the ugly reality.
In 2010, Nick came back to Beijing. He wanted to move there for some reason I learned about much later. I introduced him to my first boss in Crystal CG. Somehow it didn’t work out. We kept emailing once a while. He wrote me recommendation and I came to US for grad school. He shared lots of things about “westerners” and cultural hints. I stopped using my school email address that started with triple X. Then we got busy and didn’t write much for 2 years. Our path crossed again when he moved to Palo Alto. Funny that I found out by coincident he lived in a motel that’s 1 minute walking distance from our apartment.
Nick knew everything about humanity, tricks like hugging someone for 20 seconds so oxytocin kicks in, tips of sensing the mood of the room, etc. I enjoyed a lot of his various dates and his theory of attraction. It’s interesting for me who has limited dating experience.
I told him everything: my relationship, 3rd snow in Beijing, PhD or not, ditch art or not, nice or annoying colleagues, etc. He joked that I was his "favorite communist” because my silly arguments a zillion years ago. He knew me pretty well but I don’t really know things from his side.
I didn’t know any of Nick’s friend before he got sick. Nick seemed to like hard core sci-fi, wine and liquor, trip-hop music, Fall Out 4, racing, tea, cats, and petite Asian women. He said that he hated ballet and anything that's caucasian stereotype. Although later when I visit him and Yu-chieh at his apartment, I found out he had the complete set of William Shakespeare on his book shelf, and a neon sign of a typical dive bar on his wall. That’s quite English to me.
Nick liked ocean. He was staying in Pacifica before moving to North Carolina. I used to drive through the fogs into route 1 from 280 once every two weeks to visit him. He couldn’t go out a lot because of his treatment. Yu-chieh and sexy cat have been accompanying him. His mind was never trapped in a room though. I whined about frictions in my life. He talked about his cancer progression, politics, sci-fi, games, and friend’s visits. He made jokes about dying. We had a lot of laughs, and watch movies with too much blood in it.
I visited him a few times when he’s in North Carolina. His body got weaker but even that he’s still smart and funny. I wanted to visit hime more but then I got stuck in Mexico, then my husband moved back, then my parents were visiting, then pandemic started. I haven’t been able to see him since end of July last year.
Nick was a friend, a career coach, a life mentor. He left his mark in this world. He also influenced a lot of who I am today, and a lot of others too I’m sure. I really miss him. Goodbye, Nick.
