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Downloaded from
YTS.BZ

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.BZ

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I received a
Christmas card this morning.

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It didn't come with the
regular mail for some reason.

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That was a bit strange.

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It was also strange that it was
addressed from my friend techno.

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It read: "Hey rob,
if you are reading this, that

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means I'm dead.

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I just want to say thanks.

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I'll see you soon.

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Go get drunk on me.

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00:00:35,293 --> 00:00:38,461
Techno."

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Techno stypes.

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What a guy he was.

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He always said he'd
never make it to forty.

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A year and a half earlier,
i was on a plane to China,

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I was on my way to see techno.

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He was at the military
hospital in Guangzhou,

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waiting for a new liver.

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His father sent me with two
clear instructions: One - gotta

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get techno to stop drinking,
at least long enough

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to receive a liver transplant.

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And two - get him
back home to Vancouver.

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Get techno to stop drinking...

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That's not gonna be easy.

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Cos that's what techno
really liked to do...

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Was drink.

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And smoke.

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And fight.

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He was in no condition to fight.

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He was sick.

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He was really sick.

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He was crippled from a car
accident when he was seventeen,

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but that's not how
he lost his big toe.

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He lost that in a
motorbike accident.

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Yeah, he was broken alright.

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What was he
fighting for anyways?

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And what was he
still doing in China?

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I first met techno
in the fall of 1978.

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My first memory of techno
was, we were playing soccer

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on this field, and, the ball
was coming right to me.

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Right when I was about to jump
for it, this kid jumped right in

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front of me and he
jumped higher than

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I'd ever seen
anybody jump before.

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And he chested the ball,
sorta trapped it, and then he

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kicked it, from about
halfway across the field,

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and I'm pretty sure
he scored....

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Another time, there was this
sports day at school,

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and I remember he
casually picked up this ball,

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and he chucked it,
right across the field.

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And I remember going up after
him, and thinking 'oh I could do

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that', and I chucked the ball
as hard as I could, and it only

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went halfway across the field.

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For the next little while, i
went to that school on the

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weekends and practised throwing
balls, to see if I could throw

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00:03:09,480 --> 00:03:14,550
it across the field, and i
never got anywhere near it.

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But I'll tell you one thing.

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Techno was fast.

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Techno was the fastest
human I'd ever seen.

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When he ran, he just took off.

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There's no way you
could ever catch him.

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And so there I was, I couldn't
really Chuck a ball too far,

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and I didn't really play hockey,

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and I didn't really play
soccer either.

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All I did, all the
time, was I used to draw.

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And that's the one thing i
could do that techno couldn't

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really do, and so, we
became friends after that.

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One day techno said, 'hey, do
you wanna go shoot some balls

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00:04:03,334 --> 00:04:08,804
around after school?' And I said
'yeah, ok.' In the middle of us

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playing around, techno went
berserk, he proceeded to break

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about 20 windows at the school.

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We were walking home, and we got
picked up by a squad car, and I

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remember thinking i
really didn't like to be

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in the back of a squad car.

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I looked over, and
techno thought it was great.

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And that kind of
explains the difference

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between the two of us.

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And we were only like twelve
years old, and he used to tell

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00:04:38,369 --> 00:04:41,870
us these stories about fucking
his girlfriend, and I remember I

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00:04:41,872 --> 00:04:46,475
didn't even have pubic hair yet
like that's how young we were.

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I guess that's the thing with
him, it seemed like he could

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always just pull it off.

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Whether he was
diving off a cliff,

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or riding his skateboard
through traffic...

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It just seemed like he
could always just pull it off.

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Techno's daredevil heroics
were the stuff of legend

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to us regular teenagers.

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To befriend techno was to board
a thrill ride of some sort.

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Techno pushed the limits of
whatever situation he was in.

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The greater the danger,
the greater the thrill.

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He loved to steal.

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Cars, bikes,
electronics, he didn't care.

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He always had some
sort of scam on the go.

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00:06:38,989 --> 00:06:41,890
And was always
covering it with lies.

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The stealing eventually got
him in trouble with some of the

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00:06:44,095 --> 00:06:46,895
senior students in high school.

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That was bad news.

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Then he started
stealing from his friends.

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Then nobody could trust him.

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It was around this time, that
techno started hanging around

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with a bunch of dickheads
wearing alligator shirts with

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00:07:04,949 --> 00:07:07,483
the collars turned up.

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00:07:09,419 --> 00:07:11,620
I didn't really care
much for these guys, but,

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I have to admit, they
were getting lots of pussy.

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00:07:15,826 --> 00:07:18,794
One evening, techno phoned me up
and asked me if I wanted to go

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to a party at the other end of
town, with his dickhead buddies.

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I declined.

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It was the summer
of our graduation.

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We were seventeen.

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Techno was completely
in control, and completely

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out of control at the same time.

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An emergency crew showed up
to the scene of the accident...

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And techno was
nowhere to be seen.

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After some time they
found him in a bush...

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Fifty yards away
from the crash site.

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He was busted up pretty good,
he nearly lost a leg

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and there was some
significant brain trauma.

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He drifted in and out of
consciousness long enough

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to wave goodbye to me.

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I was on my way to the airport.

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I was off to
calgary to become a realtor.

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Techno had a very
long recovery and his

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friends gradually
stopped visiting.

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He'd burned a lot of Bridges
right before the accident.

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It must've been very lonely
sitting in the hospital for the

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better part of two years,

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wondering where all
your friends are.

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But recover he did.

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His speech was different, slower
and slurred, and he had a limp.

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I'd come by and visit him
whenever I was in town...

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This is right around the time
he started to drink regularly.

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00:09:09,507 --> 00:09:11,039
One day techno
announced that his

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00:09:11,041 --> 00:09:13,141
insurance settlement
had came in.

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00:09:13,143 --> 00:09:15,110
This time he wasn't lying.

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One and a half million dollars
it took the lawyers ten years

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00:09:19,250 --> 00:09:21,183
to settle his case.

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There were many points in
techno's life where you could

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say, 'this was the beginning
of all his troubles', the car

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accident was surely one of these
points, the day his settlement

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came in was another.

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00:09:41,971 --> 00:09:44,206
And that's when Jennifer
entered the scene.

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She was a damn drunk.

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00:09:56,586 --> 00:10:01,890
When she was done with him
he too would be a damn drunk.

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00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:12,768
Techno was a funny millionaire.

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He dressed and
acted like a skid.

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00:10:25,715 --> 00:10:29,117
He smoked dog
ends off the street.

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00:10:29,119 --> 00:10:32,821
His drink of
choice was pear cider.

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00:10:32,823 --> 00:10:36,124
Techno asked me to be
the best man at his wedding.

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00:10:36,126 --> 00:10:37,859
I refused.

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00:10:38,194 --> 00:10:41,129
His wife poured spaghetti on
his head and burned his eyelids

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00:10:41,131 --> 00:10:43,732
with cigarette butts.

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I'm not sure where this happens
on the timeline, but one day

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techno was riding his motorbike.

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00:10:57,914 --> 00:11:01,984
As he was looking back
to merge onto the highway,

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00:11:01,986 --> 00:11:05,053
he ran into the merge sign.

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00:11:06,289 --> 00:11:09,992
The sign clipped the toe
pedal right off his motorbike

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00:11:09,994 --> 00:11:12,294
and took his big toe
right along with it.

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00:11:15,298 --> 00:11:17,332
This would add an
even more pronounced limp

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00:11:17,334 --> 00:11:19,301
to his walk...

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00:11:27,744 --> 00:11:29,678
More time passed.

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00:11:46,429 --> 00:11:51,099
One day I went out to the bay
where he lived to visit him.

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I pulled over.

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00:11:54,170 --> 00:11:57,139
As he bent down to lean
into the window I noticed he had

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a really yellow complexion.

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Apparently, he was given
bad blood from the hospital

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and contracted hepatitis c.

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00:12:06,450 --> 00:12:08,850
He would eventually
sue the hospital for

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another 600 thousand dollars.

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00:12:11,255 --> 00:12:13,822
By this time
techno was very rich.

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00:12:13,824 --> 00:12:16,858
He always had an odd assortment
of hangers-on available

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00:12:16,860 --> 00:12:18,860
to do odd jobs for him.

172
00:12:18,862 --> 00:12:22,931
There was Freddy the freeloader,
dump truck, Teddy two fingers,

173
00:12:22,933 --> 00:12:24,466
and dogbreath...

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00:12:24,468 --> 00:12:26,802
This guy was a piece of work.

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00:12:26,804 --> 00:12:29,237
Most of them were crackheads.

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00:12:29,239 --> 00:12:31,707
Techno could stay
up for days on end,

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00:12:31,709 --> 00:12:34,910
Polish off dozens
of pear cider in one sitting.

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00:12:34,912 --> 00:12:39,181
He'd get drunk and get on the
horn, and call everyone he knew

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00:12:39,183 --> 00:12:42,284
and invite them to parties
at his buddy's warehouse.

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00:12:42,286 --> 00:12:44,453
He claimed celebrities
would be in attendance,

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00:12:44,455 --> 00:12:47,355
like that
douchebag from nickelback.

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00:12:47,357 --> 00:12:50,292
No-one I ever knew
went to these parties.

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00:12:53,396 --> 00:12:55,964
Techno knew his
days were numbered.

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00:12:55,966 --> 00:12:58,967
He carried on as if
he just didn't care.

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00:12:58,969 --> 00:13:03,305
According to him,
he had been right on the edge.

186
00:13:03,307 --> 00:13:05,240
He wanted to live.

187
00:13:05,242 --> 00:13:08,243
He loved life in fact,
he just had so much pain.

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00:13:08,245 --> 00:13:12,814
Pain in his legs, he said
the hep c was terribly painful,

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00:13:12,816 --> 00:13:15,217
he was always vomiting.

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00:13:15,219 --> 00:13:19,221
He loved to drink, and
claimed this was the only thing

191
00:13:19,223 --> 00:13:21,823
that relieved his pain.

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00:13:21,825 --> 00:13:26,928
The combination of drinking and
the hep c wore out his liver,

193
00:13:26,930 --> 00:13:29,931
in pretty short order.

194
00:13:29,933 --> 00:13:33,335
The Canadian transplant
society refused to put him on

195
00:13:33,337 --> 00:13:35,937
the ten year waiting
list for a new liver

196
00:13:35,939 --> 00:13:39,040
unless he stopped drinking.

197
00:13:39,042 --> 00:13:41,843
In ten years
he'd be dead anyways.

198
00:13:41,845 --> 00:13:44,946
Catch-22.

199
00:13:44,948 --> 00:13:46,915
Later...

200
00:13:48,484 --> 00:13:50,418
I was in China.

201
00:13:50,420 --> 00:13:53,188
I received an email from
techno's mother saying that he

202
00:13:53,190 --> 00:13:57,159
too was in China, and
perhaps I could go see him?

203
00:13:57,161 --> 00:14:00,162
As it turned out, he wasn't
far away from where I was.

204
00:14:00,164 --> 00:14:02,197
He was there
with his second wife.

205
00:14:03,966 --> 00:14:06,401
What was techno doing in China?

206
00:14:08,538 --> 00:14:11,006
Techno met Vince in some
unlikely place

207
00:14:11,008 --> 00:14:13,942
in Vancouver, in a pub.

208
00:14:13,944 --> 00:14:16,578
Vince was in the business of
organising transplant services

209
00:14:16,580 --> 00:14:19,414
for those in need.

210
00:14:19,416 --> 00:14:23,018
Techno was on his last legs.

211
00:14:23,020 --> 00:14:25,353
These services did
not come cheap however...

212
00:14:25,355 --> 00:14:28,390
A quarter of a
million dollars up front.

213
00:14:28,392 --> 00:14:30,425
He promised that
techno would be back home

214
00:14:30,427 --> 00:14:33,528
in six weeks with a new liver.

215
00:14:33,530 --> 00:14:37,833
We met him at the white
swan restaurant in Guangzhou.

216
00:14:39,302 --> 00:14:41,303
He didn't look too good.

217
00:14:46,475 --> 00:14:49,211
He was totally sketched out.

218
00:14:49,213 --> 00:14:52,180
I found it strange at dinner
when techno ordered a cocktail,

219
00:14:52,182 --> 00:14:54,549
that it met no
resistance from his wife.

220
00:14:54,551 --> 00:14:58,220
They both assured me that his
old liver was shot anyways,

221
00:14:58,222 --> 00:15:01,189
and that he'd be
receiving a new one soon.

222
00:15:01,191 --> 00:15:03,558
That all seemed
perfectly logical to me,

223
00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:05,594
and I also ordered a cocktail.

224
00:15:06,963 --> 00:15:10,398
It was a perfectly festive
evening...Techno's drinking soon

225
00:15:10,400 --> 00:15:15,070
erupted into utter chaos,
just like it always did.

226
00:15:15,072 --> 00:15:18,039
He was making things more
difficult, in spite of us all

227
00:15:18,041 --> 00:15:19,941
there trying to help him.

228
00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,382
We left secure in the knowledge
that techno would soon be back

229
00:15:27,384 --> 00:15:29,284
home with a new liver.

230
00:15:30,653 --> 00:15:32,487
Months passed...

231
00:15:32,489 --> 00:15:35,590
I got word techno was still
in China, still waiting for a

232
00:15:35,592 --> 00:15:38,393
liver, except now
the situation had spun

233
00:15:38,395 --> 00:15:40,562
completely out of control.

234
00:15:40,564 --> 00:15:43,031
His wife left
him there by himself,

235
00:15:43,033 --> 00:15:45,066
he started drinking again.

236
00:15:45,068 --> 00:15:46,368
It really didn't
look like techno

237
00:15:46,370 --> 00:15:48,570
was gonna make it home alive.

238
00:15:48,572 --> 00:15:51,673
I met with techno's father,
we cooked up this plan to try to

239
00:15:51,675 --> 00:15:55,110
get techno back home
one way or the other.

240
00:15:55,112 --> 00:15:57,679
I phoned him up and I said
'look, I'm gonna come out there

241
00:15:57,681 --> 00:16:00,015
and we're gonna try and
get you back home again,'

242
00:16:00,017 --> 00:16:01,549
and all he said was

243
00:16:01,551 --> 00:16:04,319
'well hurry the fuck up.'

244
00:16:04,321 --> 00:16:07,422
I really didn't want to
go back to China...

245
00:16:07,424 --> 00:16:10,358
So there I am on the airplane.

246
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,128
I could see the
sprawling mass of Guangzhou

247
00:16:13,130 --> 00:16:15,630
appear out of the haze.

248
00:16:15,632 --> 00:16:20,302
And as the plane approached
the runway, the real work

249
00:16:20,304 --> 00:16:21,970
was just about to begin.

250
00:16:29,378 --> 00:16:31,479
I passed through
customs and entered

251
00:16:31,481 --> 00:16:33,515
the main concourse
of the airport.

252
00:16:33,517 --> 00:16:35,283
There was a little
girl there named flora,

253
00:16:35,285 --> 00:16:37,152
holding my name on a card.

254
00:16:37,154 --> 00:16:41,022
We exchanged greetings and
she went off to look for techno.

255
00:16:41,024 --> 00:16:44,492
After a while techno appeared.

256
00:16:44,494 --> 00:16:46,127
He shook my hand.

257
00:16:46,129 --> 00:16:49,130
His expression was something
like 'thanks for coming here

258
00:16:49,132 --> 00:16:54,035
man', mine was 'now let's get
you the fuck outta here.'

259
00:16:54,037 --> 00:16:57,405
back at the military
hospital, I met dr Lee.

260
00:16:57,407 --> 00:16:59,507
He explained to me that
it was imperative that

261
00:16:59,509 --> 00:17:01,176
techno quit drinking.

262
00:17:01,178 --> 00:17:04,245
The sooner he quit, the sooner
he was able to receive a new

263
00:17:04,247 --> 00:17:06,681
liver, it was that simple.

264
00:17:06,683 --> 00:17:10,285
And also, if I could get rid
of that damn cat in his room.

265
00:17:10,287 --> 00:17:12,087
I turned to techno...

266
00:17:12,089 --> 00:17:14,189
'Ok, where is it?'

267
00:17:14,191 --> 00:17:18,126
he knew exactly
what I was talking about.

268
00:17:18,128 --> 00:17:23,264
He produced a bottle of baijo,
he was mixing it with gatorade.

269
00:17:23,266 --> 00:17:25,166
'All of it' I said.

270
00:17:26,736 --> 00:17:29,771
It took a while, but eventually
he gathered up all his various

271
00:17:29,773 --> 00:17:33,008
stashes of liquor
hidden around his room.

272
00:17:33,010 --> 00:17:35,777
Satisfied, I dumped it all out
in the toilet,

273
00:17:35,779 --> 00:17:38,213
he didn't like that very much.

274
00:17:38,215 --> 00:17:42,350
On the way out I grabbed the cat
and released it in the courtyard

275
00:17:42,352 --> 00:17:44,319
in the rear of the building.

276
00:17:48,724 --> 00:17:52,060
And then I checked into the
hotel next to the hospital.

277
00:17:52,795 --> 00:17:57,432
I set up my computer and scanner
and got busy on my second book.

278
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:14,215
The next day I went to go
visit techno in his room.

279
00:18:15,251 --> 00:18:17,819
He was in the middle
of his daily routine.

280
00:18:17,821 --> 00:18:19,421
He was sitting on
the side of his bed

281
00:18:19,423 --> 00:18:22,791
vomiting into a trash bin.

282
00:18:22,793 --> 00:18:25,260
Flora was there,
fussing with his hair and

283
00:18:25,262 --> 00:18:27,095
straightening out his shirt.

284
00:18:27,097 --> 00:18:29,497
I busied myself with something.

285
00:18:29,499 --> 00:18:33,068
I noticed the cat had
somehow returned to the room.

286
00:18:33,070 --> 00:18:34,502
I removed it again.

287
00:18:39,408 --> 00:18:41,409
Techno was hooked up
to an intravenous drip for

288
00:18:41,411 --> 00:18:43,445
the rest of the morning.

289
00:18:43,447 --> 00:18:46,081
We watched an
episode of Seinfeld...

290
00:18:46,083 --> 00:18:48,683
I'm not sure what was in that
drip, but it surely kept him

291
00:18:48,685 --> 00:18:51,286
alive all these months.

292
00:18:51,288 --> 00:18:54,489
Techno rarely got going until
mid-afternoon, and then we would

293
00:18:54,491 --> 00:18:56,558
set out on our little adventure.

294
00:18:56,560 --> 00:19:00,161
This was usually something
simple like going for lunch.

295
00:19:03,265 --> 00:19:06,468
He had the hospital address
written on a piece of paper and

296
00:19:06,470 --> 00:19:08,203
set in plastic.

297
00:19:08,205 --> 00:19:11,372
This was tied around his
neck with a piece of string.

298
00:19:11,374 --> 00:19:15,577
It said something like: 'If
you find me, please return me to

299
00:19:15,579 --> 00:19:19,547
'dot dot dot'.'
Simple but effective.

300
00:19:19,549 --> 00:19:22,350
He had a collection of business
cards from local restaurants

301
00:19:22,352 --> 00:19:24,319
he'd show to taxi drivers.

302
00:19:24,321 --> 00:19:27,522
On this particular day, we were
going to the German restaurant.

303
00:19:27,524 --> 00:19:30,191
He of course
immediately ordered a cocktail,

304
00:19:30,193 --> 00:19:31,793
which I had to confiscate.

305
00:19:32,862 --> 00:19:36,664
I always felt like a fuckin
cop when I was with that guy.

306
00:19:36,666 --> 00:19:40,502
It was normal for him to shut
down for a while after lunch.

307
00:19:40,504 --> 00:19:42,637
This he did
with much discomfort.

308
00:19:42,639 --> 00:19:45,507
After about an hour he'd bum
a smoke of some poor Chinese

309
00:19:45,509 --> 00:19:48,910
fellow and then we would get
back to the hospital and he'd go

310
00:19:48,912 --> 00:19:52,147
for a nap back in his room and
I'd continue working on my book

311
00:19:52,149 --> 00:19:54,149
back at the hotel.

312
00:19:54,151 --> 00:19:58,686
At night I'd come by for another
generous dose of Seinfeld.

313
00:19:58,688 --> 00:20:01,689
This routine would
repeat itself like clockwork.

314
00:20:02,825 --> 00:20:06,528
A week later my
wife arrived, thank god.

315
00:20:06,530 --> 00:20:08,363
I was already going nuts.

316
00:20:08,365 --> 00:20:11,166
Back at the hospital, i
continued to remove the cat from

317
00:20:11,168 --> 00:20:15,236
techno's room every day, 'what
the fuck.' Techno didn't know

318
00:20:15,238 --> 00:20:16,804
what was going on either.

319
00:20:18,207 --> 00:20:20,408
I brought techno
food every morning.

320
00:20:22,711 --> 00:20:26,681
He'd look at it and grimace and
say something like 'ah I can't

321
00:20:26,683 --> 00:20:29,517
eat that kind of lettuce' or
'i can't eat bananas without

322
00:20:29,519 --> 00:20:32,654
sprinkles on it' or
something retarded like that.

323
00:20:43,732 --> 00:20:45,667
And so it went...

324
00:20:45,669 --> 00:20:52,473
First it was Seinfeld, then
friends, then we discovered

325
00:20:52,475 --> 00:20:53,942
my name is Earl.

326
00:20:55,644 --> 00:20:58,279
Other than that,
there wasn't much to mark

327
00:20:58,281 --> 00:21:00,481
the passing of time.

328
00:21:00,483 --> 00:21:03,251
Techno had his good
days, and his bad days.

329
00:21:03,253 --> 00:21:06,387
He'd looked forward
to a special meal for days.

330
00:21:06,389 --> 00:21:09,724
Techno's immune system was so
low, a piece of fish that was

331
00:21:09,726 --> 00:21:13,428
slightly off or some other
funky food would put him down

332
00:21:13,430 --> 00:21:15,697
for a week or two.

333
00:21:15,699 --> 00:21:19,000
That was sad when
techno got sick like that.

334
00:21:19,002 --> 00:21:23,571
One day we were in his room
watching TV and he got up and

335
00:21:23,573 --> 00:21:26,507
hobbled to the
bathroom with the iv pole.

336
00:21:35,584 --> 00:21:38,620
When he got out he said 'look,
i dragged the iv pole to the

337
00:21:38,622 --> 00:21:42,023
bathroom and I wasn't even
hooked up to it.' We laughed

338
00:21:42,025 --> 00:21:44,492
until we cried.

339
00:21:44,494 --> 00:21:46,928
I think we were cracking up.

340
00:21:46,930 --> 00:21:49,931
Just then the door opened
and a hand dropped the cat

341
00:21:49,933 --> 00:21:52,500
back in the room.

342
00:21:52,502 --> 00:21:55,436
Things were getting
tense back in Vancouver.

343
00:21:56,672 --> 00:21:58,273
Techno and his
father were having a

344
00:21:58,275 --> 00:22:00,341
bitter dispute about money.

345
00:22:01,777 --> 00:22:05,980
I saw techno cry that day,
I'd never seen that before.

346
00:22:07,383 --> 00:22:10,585
Thank god flora was there to put
her arm around him, cos I didn't

347
00:22:10,587 --> 00:22:13,021
know what the hell to do.

348
00:22:20,562 --> 00:22:23,631
I was making great
progress with my book.

349
00:22:23,633 --> 00:22:25,733
I had no distractions in China.

350
00:22:27,370 --> 00:22:31,839
Sometimes techno would come
and visit me in the hotel room.

351
00:22:48,957 --> 00:22:50,958
After a while
he'd say something like

352
00:22:50,960 --> 00:22:53,995
'i gotta go take my pill' or 'i
gotta go get something from my

353
00:22:53,997 --> 00:22:59,467
room.' I'd give him
about five minutes and then

354
00:22:59,469 --> 00:23:01,669
I'd go chasing after him.

355
00:23:08,744 --> 00:23:13,081
I hated being a cop, but i
was actually pretty good at it.

356
00:23:13,083 --> 00:23:16,517
It wasn't hard to figure
out what techno was up to.

357
00:23:23,992 --> 00:23:25,526
God.

358
00:23:26,462 --> 00:23:28,563
And then more time passed.

359
00:23:30,599 --> 00:23:34,402
Except now,
it was the three of us.

360
00:23:35,771 --> 00:23:37,638
Three foreigners in China.

361
00:23:38,941 --> 00:23:41,876
We each brought something to
the table, but techno was the

362
00:23:41,878 --> 00:23:45,079
undisputed leader cos
he had the hospital address tied

363
00:23:45,081 --> 00:23:47,081
around his neck.

364
00:23:47,083 --> 00:23:50,485
Without that, we'd all be sunk.

365
00:23:50,487 --> 00:23:52,987
Occasionally a liver would come
in that matched techno's blood

366
00:23:52,989 --> 00:23:56,491
type, we were careful
not to get our hopes up.

367
00:23:56,493 --> 00:24:00,027
We weren't supposed to know this
but, the sad truth was techno

368
00:24:00,029 --> 00:24:03,831
was waiting for a liver
from some guy on death row.

369
00:24:03,833 --> 00:24:07,135
I asked techno what he thought
about some poor fellow dying

370
00:24:07,137 --> 00:24:09,170
so that he could live.

371
00:24:09,172 --> 00:24:12,774
'I don't care.'
Techno's favourite answer.

372
00:24:14,777 --> 00:24:17,044
Eventually a liver did come in.

373
00:24:18,514 --> 00:24:20,081
A real quality one too.

374
00:24:21,517 --> 00:24:24,786
Apparently, a fellow in his
early twenties was about to be

375
00:24:24,788 --> 00:24:29,090
executed and he had the
same blood type as techno.

376
00:24:29,092 --> 00:24:31,659
We couldn't help but
get our hopes up this time.

377
00:24:31,661 --> 00:24:34,762
Everything happened
really quickly after that.

378
00:24:34,764 --> 00:24:37,765
Techno was prepped for surgery
in the morning and then we

379
00:24:37,767 --> 00:24:39,867
wheeled him to the other
building where they perform the

380
00:24:39,869 --> 00:24:42,437
transplant surgeries.

381
00:24:42,439 --> 00:24:44,539
I remember looking at a pile
of rubbish in the corner of the

382
00:24:44,541 --> 00:24:48,643
elevator and thinking
how filthy this hospital was.

383
00:24:48,645 --> 00:24:51,612
I'd never seen techno so scared.

384
00:24:51,614 --> 00:24:55,716
The transplant ward had flickery
lights and holes in the ceiling,

385
00:24:55,718 --> 00:24:58,586
and then they wheeled him
off through the double doors

386
00:24:58,588 --> 00:25:00,154
and he was gone.

387
00:25:03,192 --> 00:25:05,760
Kung and I walked
back to the hotel.

388
00:25:05,762 --> 00:25:09,197
That dumb cat darted out
in front of us on the way back.

389
00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:13,935
We were called back
to return to the hospital.

390
00:25:15,537 --> 00:25:17,572
Dr Lee wanted to
show us techno's old liver

391
00:25:17,574 --> 00:25:19,674
for some reason.

392
00:25:19,676 --> 00:25:23,878
This infamous liver that's been
the source of so much grief, I

393
00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:26,514
had to take a look at it.

394
00:25:26,516 --> 00:25:29,851
A couple of days later we saw
techno in the isolation ward.

395
00:25:29,853 --> 00:25:32,587
He was behind glass
with some other patients.

396
00:25:32,589 --> 00:25:35,089
He had tubes running down his
mouth and he was hooked up to

397
00:25:35,091 --> 00:25:36,991
all sorts of machines.

398
00:25:36,993 --> 00:25:41,696
After a few more days,
he had moved into his own room.

399
00:25:42,931 --> 00:25:44,632
We had to wear hospital gowns,

400
00:25:44,634 --> 00:25:47,668
masks to avoid him
getting an infection.

401
00:25:47,670 --> 00:25:51,839
He jumped out of bed and shook
my hand, he was clearly pleased.

402
00:25:51,841 --> 00:25:54,609
And then he went over to
the TV and started adjusting

403
00:25:54,611 --> 00:25:55,910
the angle on it.

404
00:25:55,912 --> 00:25:59,981
The nurses were
chasing him around the room.

405
00:25:59,983 --> 00:26:02,683
He must've been high on drugs or
something cos he sure regretted

406
00:26:02,685 --> 00:26:04,252
doing that later.

407
00:26:07,189 --> 00:26:10,892
Rejection was a big
issue at this time.

408
00:26:10,894 --> 00:26:14,795
It was amazing to see the
transformation in him,

409
00:26:14,797 --> 00:26:16,664
and it happened so
quickly as well.

410
00:26:16,666 --> 00:26:18,666
First his eyeballs became white,

411
00:26:18,668 --> 00:26:21,569
and then his
thinking became clear again.

412
00:26:21,571 --> 00:26:25,940
Before the surgery it seemed
like he was always bogged down.

413
00:26:25,942 --> 00:26:28,276
It was an
awesome thing to watch.

414
00:26:28,278 --> 00:26:32,146
But, he still
couldn't leave his room.

415
00:26:32,148 --> 00:26:34,815
He had beaten the odds.

416
00:26:34,817 --> 00:26:38,052
One day I was in his
room, he was sleeping.

417
00:26:38,054 --> 00:26:40,888
He was chewing,
and putting handfuls of air

418
00:26:40,890 --> 00:26:42,823
in his mouth and chewing.

419
00:26:42,825 --> 00:26:46,561
He woke up and said 'ah man,
i was having this great dream

420
00:26:46,563 --> 00:26:50,064
about food.' I asked him on
another occasion 'what does it

421
00:26:50,066 --> 00:26:57,038
feel like to have a new liver?'
He said 'it feels, it feels like

422
00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:00,875
somebody removed a frozen
lasagne out of my chest and

423
00:27:00,877 --> 00:27:05,880
replaced it with another frozen
lasagne.' Now it was time to

424
00:27:05,882 --> 00:27:08,349
plan the exit strategy,
but first we had to

425
00:27:08,351 --> 00:27:09,951
pay off the hospital.

426
00:27:09,953 --> 00:27:12,620
For some reason the
hospital only took cash.

427
00:27:12,622 --> 00:27:14,689
Techno's father
had to organise a massive

428
00:27:14,691 --> 00:27:16,724
western union transfer.

429
00:27:16,726 --> 00:27:18,125
It was a big fuck up.

430
00:27:18,127 --> 00:27:21,829
Western union didn't
wanna transfer that much money.

431
00:27:21,831 --> 00:27:26,801
It took all day, but in the
end we had a big bag full of

432
00:27:26,803 --> 00:27:28,736
one hundred renminbi notes.

433
00:27:28,738 --> 00:27:31,272
It was a stack of
notes over two feet long.

434
00:27:31,274 --> 00:27:34,375
Me and two little
Asian girls were my backup.

435
00:27:37,679 --> 00:27:40,081
We returned to techno's room.

436
00:27:40,083 --> 00:27:42,984
First we wanted to take a
look at the piles of money,

437
00:27:42,986 --> 00:27:45,052
I could see techno's
eyes light up.

438
00:27:45,054 --> 00:27:47,955
For a moment I had second
thoughts about leaving all that

439
00:27:47,957 --> 00:27:49,790
money in his room.

440
00:27:49,792 --> 00:27:52,360
The next day was another
split second timing day.

441
00:27:52,362 --> 00:27:54,762
I had to collect the
money from techno's room.

442
00:27:54,764 --> 00:27:57,698
He was barking orders and being
rude to everyone, I stopped

443
00:27:57,700 --> 00:27:59,834
talking to him for a few hours.

444
00:27:59,836 --> 00:28:01,769
I had plenty of
other stuff I had to do.

445
00:28:01,771 --> 00:28:03,838
First I had to
go pay off dr Lee,

446
00:28:03,840 --> 00:28:06,040
then I had to rush
over and pay the hospital.

447
00:28:06,042 --> 00:28:09,276
Everything went perfectly
smooth, except one of the stacks

448
00:28:09,278 --> 00:28:13,848
of bills was short a
one hundred renminbi note.

449
00:28:13,850 --> 00:28:18,052
I made the difference with my
own money, then I rushed back.

450
00:28:18,054 --> 00:28:21,055
Dr Lee had to explain how all
the anti-rejection drugs had to

451
00:28:21,057 --> 00:28:23,958
be taken, all of
which was in mandarin.

452
00:28:25,694 --> 00:28:28,863
Then I had to rush back and
collect techno, who was having a

453
00:28:28,865 --> 00:28:30,998
smoke by the lobby.

454
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,268
He had a surgical mask pulled
down, he was wearing his black

455
00:28:34,270 --> 00:28:38,806
cowboy hat and his white suit,
which was two sizes too big.

456
00:28:38,808 --> 00:28:42,243
I told him about the missing
note and he said 'yeah I know,

457
00:28:42,245 --> 00:28:43,878
cos I took it.'

458
00:28:45,047 --> 00:28:47,014
long pause...

459
00:28:49,284 --> 00:28:50,685
I was steaming.

460
00:28:50,687 --> 00:28:55,322
'Let me get this straight,
you stole a hundred renminbi,

461
00:28:55,324 --> 00:28:59,093
of your own money?'
Grabbed his cigarette, snuffed

462
00:28:59,095 --> 00:29:02,063
it out on the ground and then
we headed to the airport.

463
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,402
First I had to see kung off,
and then techno and I had to

464
00:29:08,404 --> 00:29:10,871
get a plane to Hong Kong.

465
00:29:10,873 --> 00:29:14,442
And this is where the
story gets really fucked up.

466
00:29:14,444 --> 00:29:17,078
I'd over-stayed my
visa by a couple months,

467
00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:19,013
that's a big deal in China.

468
00:29:19,015 --> 00:29:23,017
This caused all sorts of
alarm bells to start ringing.

469
00:29:23,019 --> 00:29:24,885
Then they took
us to a holding room,

470
00:29:24,887 --> 00:29:27,955
we were about to
miss our connecting flight

471
00:29:27,957 --> 00:29:31,926
there was no way techno was
not going home on that flight,

472
00:29:31,928 --> 00:29:35,429
so I turned to him and I said
'you go, and I'll meet you

473
00:29:35,431 --> 00:29:38,232
in Hong Kong.' And that's
the second time I saw fear

474
00:29:38,234 --> 00:29:40,301
in techno's eyes.

475
00:29:40,303 --> 00:29:44,772
He nodded and then I had this
image in my head of him limping

476
00:29:44,774 --> 00:29:46,407
away from me towards the gate.

477
00:29:48,777 --> 00:29:52,780
Meanwhile, back in the holding
office another guy showed up.

478
00:29:52,782 --> 00:29:55,816
He said he needed money, he
made a space between his fingers

479
00:29:55,818 --> 00:29:57,785
about an inch and a half deep.

480
00:29:57,787 --> 00:30:01,188
Hell, I had a wad about 50
inches deep the day before.

481
00:30:01,190 --> 00:30:04,125
He had someone escort me to
a couple of atms and they

482
00:30:04,127 --> 00:30:07,161
shook me down for about
seven hundred us dollars.

483
00:30:07,163 --> 00:30:09,897
He was actually
a pretty nice guy.

484
00:30:09,899 --> 00:30:12,199
I was about one
hour behind techno.

485
00:30:12,201 --> 00:30:14,401
This is the first time
techno was unsupervised

486
00:30:14,403 --> 00:30:16,303
since he arrived in China.

487
00:30:16,305 --> 00:30:19,874
We were too close to
home to blow it now.

488
00:30:19,876 --> 00:30:22,843
I arrived in Hong Kong and
immediately scanned every bar

489
00:30:22,845 --> 00:30:25,212
and smoking room
all the way to the gate.

490
00:30:27,382 --> 00:30:31,285
I finally caught up to him at
gate one hundred and something.

491
00:30:31,287 --> 00:30:33,454
He didn't look so good.

492
00:30:33,456 --> 00:30:37,324
In fact, he never really
looked good again after that.

493
00:30:37,326 --> 00:30:39,960
He walked all the
way from gate five.

494
00:30:39,962 --> 00:30:42,062
I don't know why he
didn't get a wheelchair.

495
00:30:42,064 --> 00:30:45,099
At one point he sat down on a
bench that said 'wet paint.'

496
00:30:45,101 --> 00:30:48,135
he had black marks going across
the back of his white suit.

497
00:30:49,271 --> 00:30:52,072
We boarded the
flight to Vancouver.

498
00:30:52,074 --> 00:30:56,076
He had a business class
ticket and I was in coach,

499
00:30:56,078 --> 00:30:57,344
what the fuck?

500
00:31:01,349 --> 00:31:05,820
I could see the top of his
cowboy hat through the curtains.

501
00:31:05,822 --> 00:31:09,156
I called the flight attendant
aside and I said 'my friend

502
00:31:09,158 --> 00:31:11,992
cannot drink
under any circumstances.

503
00:31:11,994 --> 00:31:16,197
He's also very persuasive,
so don't be fooled.'

504
00:31:16,199 --> 00:31:18,299
I was totally acting
like a cop again.

505
00:31:21,369 --> 00:31:24,205
And at one point, techno
came back to coach

506
00:31:24,207 --> 00:31:26,307
and sat next to me
on the flight.

507
00:31:28,476 --> 00:31:31,846
He seemed so calm and
happy to be going home.

508
00:31:33,081 --> 00:31:36,951
I hadn't seen techno
this happy for a long time.

509
00:31:36,953 --> 00:31:39,420
With all the commotion
happening that day,

510
00:31:39,422 --> 00:31:43,090
I can't remember if he took
his anti-rejection pills.

511
00:31:43,092 --> 00:31:45,192
He was supposed
to take them twice.

512
00:31:47,495 --> 00:31:50,598
This next part of the
story is a little hard to tell.

513
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:54,969
It seemed like we had finally
got home after this huge ordeal,

514
00:31:54,971 --> 00:31:57,104
and I handed
techno off to his folks.

515
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:01,141
I sorta thought I needed
some time away from techno

516
00:32:01,143 --> 00:32:02,443
for a while.

517
00:32:05,413 --> 00:32:10,017
That night, techno made a turn
for the worse, and went into

518
00:32:10,019 --> 00:32:14,288
pure rejection mode,
and began to turn yellow again.

519
00:32:14,290 --> 00:32:17,625
He was rushed to the
Vancouver general hospital.

520
00:32:17,627 --> 00:32:19,660
Over the course of
time his situation went

521
00:32:19,662 --> 00:32:21,161
from bad to worse.

522
00:32:22,964 --> 00:32:25,165
I couldn't believe it
when I heard the news

523
00:32:25,167 --> 00:32:27,134
that techno had died.

524
00:32:30,906 --> 00:32:33,607
Techno was convinced
that nothing could kill him.

525
00:32:33,609 --> 00:32:38,012
The truth is, is that by this
time, there really wasn't much

526
00:32:38,014 --> 00:32:39,480
keeping techno alive.

527
00:32:43,051 --> 00:32:45,486
His ashes were gonna be
distributed out at the cliff

528
00:32:45,488 --> 00:32:48,555
where he used to dive
off of at lighthouse park.

529
00:32:48,557 --> 00:32:52,393
His father said a few words
and distributed his ashes.

530
00:32:52,395 --> 00:32:55,195
Just then a big gust of wind
came and picked up that big

531
00:32:55,197 --> 00:32:58,365
cloud of ash and blew it towards
this group that was about a

532
00:32:58,367 --> 00:33:02,102
hundred yards downwind from us,
and they completely got dusted

533
00:33:02,104 --> 00:33:03,671
with techno's ashes.

534
00:33:03,673 --> 00:33:07,241
And his dad said,
kinda comically,

535
00:33:07,243 --> 00:33:14,348
'son, even in death you're
still giving me troubles.'