I may have only been friends with Max for a couple of months, but I'd like to say that we were pretty close. What can I say about Max...there were so many things to love about him. I met Max in what he told me was his first college class ever, media asthetics, back in the fall of 1999. Right away I knew there was something I liked about him, but I was too shy to say anything outside of class.

Then, this past February, the 20th to be exact, he happened to be on the same train to the city as me and my friends from Entertainment Unlimited. I got enough courage to say hi, and it made me so happy when he said he remembered me from that class. Turns out he was trying to get into Letterman while me and another friend had actual tickets. We hung out for the whole day, and though he didn't get into the audience, he managed to get on camera at the Pizzeria across from the Letterman studio.

Ever since that day, I've had the most fun doing several things with Max. We went to the the movies, we went to the city, sometimes I would just drop by his room and he'd very courteously invite me in and we'd watch TV or he'd show me all his special gadgets on his computer. But whenever I'd come by, even if I didn't call first, he'd stop what he was doing, which was usually studying, and spend some time with me. Except on Thursday nights at 8, during Survivor. I knew not to disturb him then. But still, I'd invite him to campus events on a Thursday night, and he'd show up telling me he set his VCR.

There were other times when I'd invite him to the office of Entertainment Unlimited and he would stay and play card games or listen to music with a group of us until 3 am.

As many of you know, he shot his class film project recently. I was so flattered when he asked me to be the lead female role, but I declined because the last thing I wanted to do was kiss another guy in front of Max. I did help him for the entire shoot though, and I had a bit part.

One of the greatest days of my life was when the two of us went to the city to see The Producers. It was just the two of us the entire day, and he showed me some places he liked such as the Sony Building, where he played with a Playstation 2 for almost an hour. We had dinner at Planet Hollywood and then saw the show. He was on his way to San Fransisco the next day to stay for the rest of spring break, so I decided I wanted to express my feelings to him before he left. I was too shy to say exactly what I wanted, but he hugged me and said he'd send me a postcard, which he did.

The Sunday night before he disappeared, a group of us took another trip to the city, this time to see the filming of a movie. Max was completely awe-struck by the size of the production. He even walked through the crew and set, pretending to be a passer-by just to get a closer look at the cameras. That was another great night I was able to spend with Max.

On the drive back from the train station, our friend's car was a bit crowded, so Max offered for me to sit on his lap, which I obviously did. For those ten minutes, as he held me and joked around, I realized how badly I wanted him to be part of my life.

The next evening I finally found the courage to go to his room and tell him. It felt so good to finally let him know how I felt, but it felt even better when he expressed mutual feelings. We made plans for the rest of the week, and I said goodbye, not knowing that it would be the last time I ever saw Max.