Posted Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 1:21 am under me, twitter.

10,000 things: Andrew Hensel lives (on Twitter)

Andrew Hensel was an extraordinary human being.

We were graduate students together at The University of Waterloo in Canada in 1986-88. I met him on my first day there and we spent many hours together on a daily basis over the next 2.5 years. I don’t want to try to say too much about him now. It occurred to me a few days ago that I might post a few stories here. We did lots of crazy things. At one point I had wanted to write something titled “100 things to a Hensel” and I made a bunch of notes, but it went no further.

I wrote about him in my Ph.D. acknowledgments in 1995:

Andrew Hensel, with whom I shared so much of my two and a half years at Waterloo, was the most original and creative person I have ever known well. Together, we dismantled the world and rebuilt it on our own crazy terms. We lived life at a million miles an hour and there was nothing like it. Five years ago, Andrew killed himself. There have been few days since then that I have not thought of him and the time we spent together.

I still think about him frequently. Today I was remembering one of his many, many oddball projects (most of which went unfinished), which he called “10,000 things”. It was to be a list of 10,000 things that he thought of. By the time he started sending them to me we had both dropped out of Waterloo. He was back in Australia and I was in Munich.

He only sent me 300 of the to-be 10,000. Of course I still have them. They’re all very short. At the risk of being thought macabre I’ve decided to bring Andrew back a very little and post them to Twitter, chosen at random, one a day. You can follow adhensel to get just a glimpse of his mind. The first tweet, people being planted into earth, is already up.

There are at least half a dozen twitterers who knew Andrew, including one who knew him probably better than anybody. Once in a while I get email from someone who finds my online mentions of him. Invariably they also found him extraordinary.

What would Andrew have made of Twitter? I have no doubt at all that he’d have immediately dismissed it as “weak”. That was one of his favorite adjectives. Almost everything was weak. It’s a small miracle to me to partly bring him back to life 18 years after he died, by posting just some of his 10,000 things to Twitter.

And… my apologies to anyone who knew Andrew and who finds this upsetting.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 1:21 am and is filed under me, twitter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

  • http://blogs.fluidinfo.com/terry terrycojones

    Sounds great, I’ve eaten at G in several cities, but never in London :-) I’m terry@jon.es Thanks!

  • samdutton

    Ha! Just in time for the floods! If you fancy it, come and have lunch chez Google if you’re in London. I’m samdutton@gmail.com.

  • http://blogs.fluidinfo.com/terry terrycojones

    Hi Sam – I’m still reading :-) And I recently moved to Cambridge, so I’m just up the road…. Terry

  • samdutton

    Only just came across the comments here.

    Not sure anyone is reading this any more, but thought I’d comment anyway.

    Andy made a big impression on me, just like he did with other people. He was a good friend and is still (decades later) sorely missed.

    My brother said the other day, ‘You were lucky at school — you had that Andrew Hensel guy to keep you in order’. Actually, I feel like I was mostly just tagging along in his slipstream: imitating Andy’s immaculate/unique handwriting, memorising Pi, climbing trees, attempting astral travel in the chapel… He was so rigorous, always a brilliant bullshit detector.

    If anyone here is ever in London, give me a shout and I’ll buy you a beer.

    Best wishes to Andy’s family, if anyone here is in touch with them.

    Sam

  • Grum

    Hi, Nigel Grummet here.
    An ocean of time has passed since the days of school lunch-time bands like “The Concrete Frisbees”. Andy, Jamie, Matthew, Tom Turner, myself and intermittant ring-ins were ”The Rejects” at high school – you know, that bunch of folks left over after all the standard teenage demographics have been filled. We found our bond in NOT being like everyone else, and it’s why I still recall Andy once in a while with a fondness reserved for few, and aspire to live the fullness of my life remaining staunch in my resolve to think, feel and experience in a way that is not even remotely aligned with “the norm”.

  • http://twitter.com/terrycojones Terry Jones

    Hi Peter – I’m really sorry for such a slow reply. I’m pretty sure I remember Andrew talking about you (often) when we were at Waterloo. Nice to meet you too.

  • http://twitter.com/terrycojones Terry Jones

    Hi Matthew – nice to meet you!

  • Matthew Bateman

    I grew up with Andrew as our families lived on the same street. We went to the same primary and high school, made 8mm films, did performances and pranks ect. with Nigel Grummet, James Mayfield and David Peters.  A sly, musical, smart, funny man.

  • Moschakis Peter

    Thank you Terry for bringing a little bit of the existential miracle that is Andrew Hensel in his memory. I was blessed by the gods to have known Andrew from 1st year high school through to his last days. My heart always fills with amazement & longing when I think of Andy. Anyone that knew him half well would say the same. The world is a richer place filled with unique spices due to his wonder. I too think of him often & hope one day will collide into his cosmic dust & be touched again by his creative presence. We will never forget the JOY Andy gave life, for he extracted it so brilliantly. ps Richard or Keith if you read this, tweet me at “petersm3″ … Peter ‘Mozzie’