The Ozorian Prophet aka Gerely Borbely (olrajt keszeg konzumidiota cickány) was born today in 1976, in the body we got to know and love him as.

Not only did he arrive into our lives with an incredibly blazing mind, but also a huge spirit and deeply caring soul. This is perhaps why it’s possible that each and every one of his friends have their own personal Geri bestie, and each of us have our very own, unique Geri moments and anecdotes.

Gerely was also the one who dreamed up and founded our tribe’s magazine, which many of you know, and he was and stays the real life manifestation of The Ozorian Prophet himself. But he was also prophetic through deep and complex thought, as well as some 6th sense powers.

He claimed he knew how he was going to exit, but was not sure about the exact time. Thinking back to his Donnie Darko World’s End date of 28:06:42:12 tattoo on his forearm, it’s uncanny when I realize that 28/6, if we only look at the first digits, was the date when a certain reality starting shattering for us all.

The numbers are not wholly random in the movie either, and have multiple explanations. For one, the sum of the numbers is 88, which can be seen as two infinite loops, where the infinity symbols stand for the two universes, the Primary and the Tangent one. Also, if you add or subtract 1 from each part of the figure, you get the precise length of a lunar month (27d 7h 43m 11s), called a Sidereal month because it is the time it takes the Moon to return to a given position among the stars.

Considering this, it feels closer to some truth, either that he has simply transitioned from one universe to another, or that he has returned to his place among the stars, or both. His absence we feel physically, but not on a soul-level. His spirit makes its presence felt in unquestionable ways.

My last words to him expressed how I’d be there to take his hand any time he felt the need in the dream realm, where physical limitations have no power over us. And sure enough, there he was a fortnight later, in one of the very few dreams I do remember after waking, taking me by the hand and asking me to help him look for a new home. Thank you for that, friend.

Then when we were planting him a tree, autoplay played us a tune we had listened to on a number of occasions together…

And in Morrison’s voice He said:

“This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I’ll never look into your eyes… Again”

A few months later, just as we were raising our glasses of vodka (for him, nothing else would suffice) to drink to his memory, gathered outside his favorite Chapora bar in Goa, his second home, Paulo’s (“You ain’t ever gonna escape!”), at that very moment, This Is the End started playing from inside… He did always have a flair for the dramatic.

It’s also unreal how for some reason, for his last birthday that we all celebrated together on earth, the 40th on 11.16.’16, his friends pulled together to make a special Geri XL Prophet vs ÉS edition. (FYI: ÉS is a famous Hungarian literary and political weekly, Geri’s longtime favourite journal.) And in the foreword it says:

“You decide how special this birthday of yours would have been for you if your beloved ones hadn’t chosen to intervene, but this  year you had no word. They say respect is recognition and honour manifested in actions and we found this occasion perfect to act. Why would we have waited for  you to turn 50 or 60 to make  your special edition if you have already put way more than enough on the table by the age of 40. So without explanation let’s declare: this journal was edited with honour, respect and lots of love specially for and about you.”

Who would have thought how important this birthday would actually become…

Yet for many of us who stand close to him, in many ways he has not left our side after all. Perhaps it’s like what Einstein wrote when his lifelong friend Michele Besso died:

“Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

His spirit, not weakened anymore by this world’s limitations, keeps on acting for the benefit and support of us all. We still feel his caring touch. We still hear his grumpy comments. And we continue loving him. We are all here together.

Happy everlasting birthday dear Gerely! We fcuking miss your flesh and blood. We promise not be too square!

“A csapat jobban szeret téged,
mint a rokonok vagy a feleséged,
megtesz-megtesz mindent érted…
amit még te sem tennél meg-amit még te sem tennél meg.”