#memorial post

[eve-was-framed]

rest in peace to Shannon Hanchett, and Oklahoma woman and bakery owner who died due to after getting put in a “temporary” cell during a mental health crisis. The room she was put in had no sink, toilet, and no bed for twelve days. The lights were kept on 24 hrs a day so she couldn’t sleep.

Allegedly she was denied water for 12 straight days.

At the time of her death, police and staff were joking and laughing just several feet away from her body.

[zexapher]

A Fond Farewell

With Rooster Teeth beginning its draw down, an era has truly passed. The company has lasted more than two decades. 18 (soon 19) seasons, five mini-series, and cameos and references in Halo itself for Red vs Blue. 9 volumes alongside two movies, a chibi series, Ice Queendom, and its own games for RWBY. And so much more beyond that, RT Shorts, podcasts, Achievement Hunter, The Slow Mo Guys, and on and on. That’s a lot, especially for a little startup launching off a web series. I was listening to “This Isn’t Goodbye, It’s See You Later” by Richie Branson while I was making this little memorial post. It’s a song made for another Rooster Teeth show, Camp Camp, and I have to say it’s some very appropriate music for this moment.

The day the news dropped, I wrote up a little comment in response to Rooster Teeth beginning its closing down, and I thought I’d share some of it here. I grew up with Rooster Teeth, a bit of a cheesy line I know, but it’s true for a lot of us. I was just a little kid way back in the early 2000’s, a kid that liked Halo (a game I didn’t even own for a long time, but played at a friend’s house), and was just getting curious about what I could find about it on YouTube. And that brought me into the world of music videos and skits and montages made for that little game I liked.

From there, I discovered a small web series called Red vs. Blue. I’d sneak onto my folk’s computer to watch it since they didn’t appreciate the language, and in doing so I dipped my toes into the wide world of the internet for the first time. As I got older, I eventually hopped onto Reddit for its discussion threads of Rooster Teeth’s latest show, RWBY. I began my first in-depth fandom interactions, speculating about the show, enjoying the flood of fanart, even got into fanfics about RWBY (those fics have had their own amazing evolution alongside the show) and to this day it’s the fandom I’ve followed and bookmarked the most fics from. All the while I was making friends and bonding with people through the community this company and its shows have created.

Watching the shows and people grow over time was, looking back on it, just like watching myself grow. I was never really a social media/internet kind of guy, until it came to Rooster Teeth. The shows, shorts, podcasts, it all opened up a whole new world for me. It’s sad to see it coming to a close, and I hope it gets picked up in the future. But I’m happy, too, that it’s left so much behind, and had such an impact on me. It’s left me with so many good memories. Rooster Teeth, its shows, those that created and worked on it, and above all the community around it will always have a special place in my heart.

So, I bid a fond farewell to Rooster Teeth and its crew, and anyone who may drift away from the fandom in time. I wish you all the best.

[thelazzyblogzz]

Happy birthday, Stephen Hillenburg.

1961 - 2018

Original image.

[teaandmisanthropy]

We had to say goodbye to Snookums a few weeks ago, on August 16, 2024. These are some of the last pictures I have of him.

He was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as a result of (probably) lymphoma and had been losing weight for a couple of months and his digestive system was deteriorating.

He got lots of attention and extra treats at the end of his life, and he lived to the age of fifteen and was a happy, goofy, lazy snugglebug who was full of affection for us and friendly to everybody, including multiple dog acquaintances. He was a devoted, biddable sidekick to the BB (Arwen) (2007-2021) and a wonderful adoptive uncle to Tristana (2020, adopted April 2021-). And despite being a mellow fraidy cat who had always been submissive before, he didn't hesitate to become the senior boss cat and tell off Anubis (who is young and unusually strong and was about half again his size) and actually defended Tristana from Anubis's attempted attacks a few times when he managed to breach containment.

Snookums was my baby, and what you might call my familiar animal or one true cat, from the time we brought him home. He spent three days hiding in a blanket cave in the sauna at our old apartment in Turku and wouldn't eat for over 24 hours, until I finally got him to by feeding him from my hand.

He was afraid of crackling noises and especially plastic bags and loved chasing/ collecting hair elastics and chewing on rubber bands and silicone oven mitts and old wired earbud wires, all of which had to be hidden from him. He loved kisses and his method of kissing was to headbutt you in the head, earning him the nickname "butthead".

He was also the most talkative cat we had ever met when we got him, and used to meet me every time I came home and make a long speech that I referred to as the Kittysburg Address. He purred very loudly and was terrible at cleaning his own claws, which was perhaps partly because he was already missing a couple of the tiny teeth when we got him at age 1.5, but mostly because he was lazy. So he had to have toe gunk cleaned from his claw sheaths basically his whole life and he hated it, but was fundamentally non violent, so the most resistance he ever offered was occasionally squirming in a half hearted escape attempt.

When he was young he also used to wake me up in the middle of the night wanting to play, and I woke up many times back then to find his toys (usually hair bands and silicone oven mitts) in or around the bed. But even when young and irrepressible, Snookums was pretty lazy and spent much more time snoozing and snuggling than the BB, who often ran around bouncing off the walls without him, even though he was her constant companion and playmate.

In later years he got more lazy, as well as becoming more like himself in other ways (snuggly, silly, food-motivated), and he also acquired diabetes, which reduced his energy a lot. But he lived for about six years with his diabetes under control after his diagnosis, and was doing very well recently. The final illness was probably not related to his diabetes.

For many years, actually since he was very young, I used to periodically just start crying while I was holding him in my arms, because I loved him so much. The spectre of losing him someday, even when it was far in the future, was already scaring me. (We got him two years after the death of @waxjism's One True Cat, Lily, so this wasn't out of left field.) Maybe I did some of my grieving in advance. I felt like I didn't have time to grieve right after, but even though the sadness is massive, I have had an easier time adjusting my brain to the new reality than after the loss of past pets. Cornish rexes are very snuggly and affectionate cats and most of them spend a lot of time lying on people's laps, giving out hugs, basically, but Snookums is the only pet I've ever felt was comforting and soothing me just as much with his snuggles as I was soothing him.

[useless-englandfacts]

Devastated to learn of the death of British icon and chef Dave Myers, best known for his run as one half of national treasures, The Hairy Bikers.

Dave passed away from cancer at age 66 on the 28th of February 2024, surrounded by family and his dear friend and other half of his culinary duo, Si King.

Dave and Si have provided the nation with wonderful recipes, gorgeous views of England and the world, and invaluable advice since their first show aired in 2004.

Dave will be deeply missed by the nation and all who loved him.

[clown-ged]

goodbye, TJ. thank you for all the love, and all the boogers.

[flashtheponyofwind]

Day 6 of November

"GRANDFATHER"

November LOVES to spend time with Grandpa Flash, having jokes and talking about her Great Grandmother Page and her stories.

(Mod Note: My grandfather had just passed away this morning and thought it would be ideal to include this prompt today in his honor. He served in the Vietnam War, and lived a very great life. Love you grandpa.)

[robinjay1]

🩵🪽🩵🪽🩵

Memorial post for my boy, Percy. Thanks for the three good years we had. I’m honored that you let me love you, and i hope we can meet again someday.

Grief is such a funny feeling. I think I’ll be asking God ‘why’ for the rest of my life, but I think I already know the answer.

You’ve taught me so much about life. You’ve taught me about patience, compassion, the art of gentleness, and so much more.

There are so many things I want to say to you, but I know I can’t. I would give so much for just 5 more minutes with you.

My life feels so empty now. I think there’s forever going to be a little bird-shaped hole in my heart.

Out of all the birds, you’re always going to be my favorite.

I love you.

???-June 26th, 2024

[gongedtornado]

memorial post

Fuzzy ( 20?? - August 18, 2024. lived to be around 18 or 19 years old.)

to my old man that i love so dearly. i hope you’re playing with bubba, bella, and baron up in the beyond. i love you and i’m gonna miss you terribly. i’m just glad you’re not hurting anymore. i hope you’re running around freely and that your legs work much better there than how they were back here. i’m glad you were here as long as you were. mom, brother, and i miss you.

[anodyne-sunflower]

Last night my grandmother passed away. She lived a long life and I'm happy she was a big part of mine. We were very close and my love for animals came from her entirely lol She had 20 dogs and over 10 cats at one point and my memories of playing with all of them inside the giant dog house or the pool means the world to me. She was perfect. She was the typical grandma, her cooking was to die for and every Christmas she used to make me champurrado, even though I was the only one who liked it haha, and she would use cute cookie cutters to make me adorable homemade tortillas.

We all saw this coming, she had breast cancer, and unfortunately had to spend the last year of her life diagnosed with it. She also had dementia...it's unfair to me. She didn't deserve any of that. But I am so happy I had her in my life for so long. She was my last grandparent, and it's an odd feeling now but at least it isn't a surprise and we got to have her as long as we did.

I just wanted to write her memory down here, to just make her existence known somewhere to strangers.

Thanks, grandma. You were and are the best of the best of the best.

[ohhoneato]

This morning, Bestie lost her best friend, her little baby, her sweetest protector. Her dog,

Country Bumpkin.

She's been with her for 15 going on 16 years, loving her unconditionally and no one else, stealing food off of everywhere she can and coming with her everywhere she went. But now she's done, and she's done an amazing job.

She's finally resting, no longer having to be annoyed by random new animals we get, no longer in pain.

She was loved by everyone, the sweetest lil' bumpkin you'll ever meet.

Rest in peace baby girl.

[hauntedhousecollective]

saying goodbye

[jolikmc-thoughts]

Jimmy Buffett "Take Another Road" Off to See the Lizard (1989) MCA Music Entertainment Group

For those who don't know… Jimmy Buffett, an American icon, has passed away.

I was formally introduced to his music through a friend sharing the song "Cheeseburger in Paradise" (1978), but I'd, of course, heard "Margaritaville" (1977) prior to that. When I finally decided to investigate his songs properly… I became a fan. The song I've linked is one that I feel like I can relate to more than any of Mr. Buffett's songs. I frequently wonder how life would be had I taken "another road"…

Jimmy Buffett's funtastic mix of country, calypso, easy listening, and pop has been a favorite of mine for many years. I've listened to Jimmy's SiriusXM radio station, "Radio Magaritaville", off and on over the years and enjoyed all of his music, as well as music by his friends and partners. I'm very sad to hear that he's no longer with us. However, I'm glad to know that he went peacefully, surrounded by people who loved him.

Rest in Peace, Mr. James William Buffett. And thanks for all the wonderful memories.

Sincerely, J

[annakie]

Four Hours and Fifteen Minutes

I cannot put into words how normal today was until about 11:15 this morning.

Fry woke me up, mostly, around 6am.  I also needed to pee, so I got up, then went back to bed.  Fry kept being annoying, so I didn't really sleep that last hour, and eventually I sat up and browsed Reddit.  Fry started being EXTRA annoying, telling me every few seconds that I needed to get up and feed them, so I put on my headphones and played music, especially when Leela started joining in the chorus from the living room.  They don't get fed until after 7am, or they start expecting it earlier and earlier.

Later, as I was still sitting up browsing, Leela jumped up onto the bed.  She occasionally comes and visits in the bedroom since it's opened up after Patchy died in August, but rarely stays long.  She didn't stay long this time either, but for about five minutes she walked around me, and I petted her a bunch as she did.  She hopped back down and headed to her bed on my desk, between one monitor and my computer, a bed on a heated mat on fairly low heat.

Always in the back of my mind now, especially the last two months, is a reminder that I almost lost her in April, 2021.  Since then she's been on borrowed time, when the emergency vet brought her back around when one of her kidneys started failing and got infected.  She's only had one working one since, and her blood levels have started inching up in bad kidney-related ways.  So the last two months she's been on a pretty strict diet of low-phosphorous food.

Tomorrow, I reminded myself, she had a vet appointment to get those levels checked.  I was hoping for a good report, though she does still get her treats, and sometimes sneaks off to eat Fry and Pemily's not-low-phosphorous food. Still, she's been happy and energetic the last two months and I had very little to report.

Eventually I got up, fed the Outside cats (still working on making them inside cats), grabbed a small handful of their food, sprinkled some on the floor to make Fry hunt for it.  Opened the bedroom door.  He, Pemily and Leela ran in.  Fry ran to his hunting spot while I called Leela and Pemily to follow me back to the Office.

Leela got about six pieces of the junk food, Pemily got about twice that.  I grabbed Leela's water bowl and now-empty-except-for-crusties food bowl and Pemily's little water bowl, along with my Yeti mug.

Leela yelled for food as soon as she finished her few pieces of kibble.  I opened a new can of her food and spooned out over half of it into a clean food dish, filled the two small water bowls with cold, filtered water from the Brita, and walked back to the desk.

I set Pemily's water bowl down first, and Leela headed for it, before I called her back over to her own bowl of cool water and plate of food.  She ate, ravenously, and drank her cool water with gusto.  I headed back to the kitchen, filled my Yeti with ice, refilled the ice tray, poured water.

A little while later I made coffee and a bagel, Leela had almost finished her food and wanted the remainders smooshed so she could eat it better, I smooshed it.

A little while after that she was about done and calling for more food, loudly.  So I went back and put the rest of the food from the 3.3oz can in the dish, knowing she wouldn't quite finish it.  That's fine, Pemily or Fry could have it before I got Leela's dinner that evening.

I was right, she only ate about half of the remainders of the food.  Whatever.

At 10:30 I had a meeting.  I had to tell Leela to shush a time or two and apologize for her friendly talkative nature.  I also told my boss about the vet appointment the next morning.  He asked if everything was OK.  Yeah, I said, probably!  Just a check on her blood levels, since she only has one working kidney.  She's old, almost 18, but aside from that, she's doing great.  Hopefully we'll get a good report tomorrow!

I stopped Pemily from eating Leela's food as she snuggled in to the other bed on the desk, then the meeting started in earnest.  I was mostly just taking notes, which is easy but requires a lot of looking at the screen.

At about 11 Leela hopped off the desk and went to her bathroom spot, and relieved herself.  Then she had a good run around the house for about a minute, as is her way after her morning constitutional.  She was yelling as she ran, as is usual, but I had my mic muted so didn't have to shush her or apologize for her.  I don't mind it.  She's running and happy, which must mean, she's healthy.  Run all you want, itty bit.

At 11:15, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Leela standing up on her hindquarters for an inordinately long time.  I looked over and she was falling backwards off the desk.  I didn't have a hope to catch her.  I expected her to leap back up in a few seconds.

But she didn't.

So after about fifteen seconds I got up and went behind the desk and looked, and she was laying on the floor, looking dazed.  She didn't look like she hit her head, more like she was splayed out.

I carefully checked her to see if she was hurt, but didn't seem so.  She was slowly moving herself. Still, I was concerned. I unmuted my mic and said I need to be out of the meeting for a bit, remuted, then took my headset off.

I picked her up and put her in the other cat bed so I could see her easily, Pemily had left at some point.  For about a minute she just laid there looking around slowly, then she got up and walked back to HER bed.

OK.  She's alert, she's walking.  Nothing seemed broken or hurt.  She just had an oopsie, she'd caught her claws on something, yanked her arm back too hard, lost balance and fell.  Clumsy, but it happens.  I'll keep an eye on her.

After being out for five or seven minutes, I put my headset back on and finished out the meeting.

For the next two hours I was checking her every ten or fifteen minutes.  She seemed a little slow, but mostly alert, and she didn't throw up or show other signs of trauma, so I let her be, and let her sleep.  I’d mention it tomorrow at the vet.

Leela was awake around one forty five.  She was alert and acting completely normal.  She ate a bite or two of food.  I was watching her, with one eye on my work screen, when her entire body tensed up, she pulled one arm to her body in a true claw-like manor, and was shaking a little.

No, something WAS wrong.  I tried comforting her for a second then grabbed my phone.  By the time I got my camera recording it was mostly over, but I caught some of it at the end.

She has a doctor's appointment in sixteen hours, I thought.  What is this?  Can I google it?  She went back to being normal within a minute of the incident.  I thought about the icy roads outside, if it would be safe to leave, or if it was an emergency now.

I tried, for about ten minutes, and of course none of it was good.  I realized I was being dumb.  I grabbed my phone and started pulling up my vet's number.

And then she did it again.  It was definitely some kind of seizure.  Now near freaking-out levels, I dialed, and it connected to my fucking headphones, and the next time too despite me trying to stop it.  The third time, now I was full on shaking as I held Leela through the end of whatever was happening to her, I tried to hold my panic in as I talked to the office.

They put me on hold to check to make sure they had the capacity or if I'd need to go to the emergency vet.  I quickly threw on clean clothes while waiting, forgoing a shower I probably really needed.

Bring her in, they said.  I'll be there in twenty minutes, I said.

The ice had, thankfully, mostly melted on the roads throughout the day.  I slid a few times, there was a lot of slush out there, but I told myself from the second I got her in the carrier and into the car, that I had to drive safe.

I did.  And I talked to Leela the whole way, wanting to hear her cry because that meant she wasn't seizing.

And I thought about December 28, 2016. Driving Cebu to the vet after I woke up and he'd been throwing up blood and barely responsive.  I thought about my dashcam recording of that morning that I found myself watching, listening to Cebu moan in pain and me begging him to hang on, knowing I was taking him to leave, more peacefully than now.

I thought about December 25th, 2016.  When I didn't take Jim to the vet soon enough and he died in the middle of the night, alone without me, and probably scared.

I thought about August 12th, 2022.  Worried, but not really giving thought to the fact that Patchy had gotten THAT bad.  Thinking they'd re-hydrate her, give her some anti-nausea meds and tell me to double her prednisone again, buy her a few more weeks or months.  Until Dr. N saw her blood levels.

I tried not to think about that, tried not to think that this could be Leela's last car ride.  That I could be leaving there without her.

I mean fuck, her KIDNEYS are supposed to kill her.  I've known that for almost two years!! What the fuck was THIS!?

I made it to the vet, with only a light amount of crying and icy road problems along the way.  Took her inside and she'd been vocal the whole time AND while waiting in the lobby, voicing her displeasure.  Got her into a room and she'd peed in the carrier.

I took her out and was starting to clean it up when Dr. N came in.  

I gave him the history of the day.  Of how ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY NORMAL she was all morning.  The time of her first seizure.  I was sure I hadn't seen anything like it earlier in the morning or anytime yesterday.  I was with her like twelve to fourteen hours most days.  It's possible she could have had one overnight but... she was normal by Breakfast so I didn’t think so.

Yes, she ate a lot.  She pooped and RAN before the first one.

Okay, he said.  It could have been a lack of oxygen and too much stress from the running. While we were talking, she tried jumping off the table, but I caught her pre-jump and held her.

Let's do bloodwork.

He took her, took some blood, they cleaned her up of any pee and cleaned the carrier as well.

They brought her back in and it was awhile for the results, so I was just holding her, talking her, then she climbed down and was hanging out on my Kaidan hoodie crumpled in the corner of the bench.  I was absentmindedly petting her watching animal planet on the TV in the room... when she fell over onto me.  Seizing.

I stood up carefully and laid her flat and called for Dr. N.  A few seconds later he and the vet tech rushed in, put her on the exam table and held her through the seizure.

And when he was done, he looked up at me, still petting her as she recovered and told me the news.

Her bloodwork was very different this time than last time.  Her kidney levels looked fine.

But some other numbers (he said them but I don't remember) were off the chart.

She's got lymphoma.

FUCKING.  LYMPHOMA.

THE SAME.  FUCKING.  THING.  THAT.  KILLED.  PATCHY.

They aren't related.

It happened in the last two months, and we didn't do any further tests, but he was sure that at the levels she had, and you know the fucking SEIZURES, it must have spread to the Central Nervous System.

He said we could TRY anti-seizure meds and prednisone, the same medicine Patchy was on for the last thirteen and a half months of her life.  But this had ravaged Leela much faster than it had younger, healthier Patchy.

I could take her home and try over the weekend, he said.   It would be at least a weekend before we knew if it would help.

If it didn't help, she would be seizing all weekend.  She could die at any time from one of the seizures.  It would be uncomfortable and painful for her.  It would be difficult for me, especially if she didn't respond well.

It's possible it would buy her weeks of life, but literally one of the numbers she had was off the chart.  Normal bad was like fifteen thousand.  Hers were like two hundred thousand, he explained.  They ran the tests twice, that's why it took so long.

It was my decision, he said.  Give me a few minutes to think about it, I said.

He left.  I held Leela and cried and tried to decide.  She was worth the pain of trying to me.  Tomorrow is Friday, I could see how tomorrow went on the meds, and they were open half of Saturday so I could bring her in then, if things didn't go well---

she seized again.  In my arms.

Each one looked worse and lasted longer.

I called for the doctor but he was with another patient.  I just held her and rubbed her head through it, until she twisted so much she almost slipped out of my arms.

I put her back on the table, and kept her warm while waiting.  Dr. N came in and I told her she seized again, just minutes after the last one.  He looked at me, and we both knew.  We knew.  I nodded.

He gave me a few minutes to say goodbye.  I told her over and over again how much I love her, and that she was going to go see Jim again.  Tell him, and Target, Sampo, Cebu and Patchy how much I love and missed them.  

They took her to put the catheter in, I texted my boss and my family.

They brought her back in, already sleepy.

And then the medicine went in, and I petted her until her last breath.  She still had bits of food on her nose from breakfast.  

I thanked Dr. N.  Told him I wanted to full package individual cremation, gave Leela one last kiss on the head, and left.

It was like, four hours and fifteen minutes from "Leela fell off the desk" to goodbye.

I left the vet in a daze, feeling like I'd been punched in the face.

I came home, changed into clean pajamas, didn't look at her spot where she was supposed to be on the desk.  Grabbed my Yeti and a new box of Puff's Plus and went to the bedroom, where I laid for three hours, crying wondering how the fuck this happened.  Texted one person, then felt like a jerk for dumping on them.

Called my mom, telling her all of this made me feel better.  

Eventually got the courage to come out here and start typing this.  After I cleaned up her bathroom area, and swapped out her tiny cat bed for one of the bigger beds.  There's no reason why Fry and Pemily can't sleep there now.

I tried showing Fry he could go there now, but he left immediately.  Different reaction than them happily reclaiming the master bedroom the instant I left the door open when Patchy was gone.

I've wracked my brain for some kind of sign that I'd missed.

Patchy had slowly gotten sick, eating less and less and throwing up more and more when she got lymphoma.

Leela has been eating like a horse and only thrown up hairballs a few times.

Leela gained weight.

There was a sneezing thing Leela had done a few times lately but it didn't seem neurological.  I had videoed her doing it last week, once out of the like, three times she did it in the last two months.  I didn't ask about it today.  I could next time I go in, I guess.  Not that it matters now.  That’s the only thing I can think of, though.

I just... I can't wrap my head around how fast she went from "having a great morning!" to rapidly seizing five times in four hours.

I still worry that I should have given her a CHANCE.  It was four hours.  It's not impossible that she would have gotten through it and...

...and her blood numbers were way off the charts.  And she likely would have had many more seizures, and she could have died here at home and I could have done nothing to stop it but watch her suffer.

Fuck.

She deserved to leave peacefully, and not in pain.

She was old.  Two months and a week from eighteen.  Once she became mine, she had a mostly happy life, once Fry stopped bullying her.  

I very nearly lost her almost two years ago and every day since then has been bonus time.  I used to morbidly joke that the money I spent on saving her life back then would be divided by the number of days that she survived past that, and I paid that much for every day of her life had been worth that much.  The number is $7.71.  I'd so gladly give $7.71 every day for another almost two years with her.

She's with Jim now, I am telling myself.  In my little cottage in heaven.  Cuddled up with Jim for the first time in a long time.  They were friends.  Jim didn't really like other animals but he did tolerate or even love Leela.  They didn't cuddle often, but he let her when she wanted to sometimes.

So now I'm imagining her up with him, Cebu hanging out nearby.  Meeting Target and Sampo, checking in on the bedroom and seeing Patchy there.  Jim and Leela in a spot near where they know I'm going to be, just within arms reach, waiting.

I'll write a memorial post later, write down everything I want to remember about her.  Right now I just am in that place where I am trying to believe it's real while desperately hoping it's all a very bad dream.

[prismmxrose]

In the loving memory of Pepe

Pay respects to Pepe in reblogs and comments.

This boy was a master emotional support cat, a very good boy. He comforted me during my issues with my anxiety and my C-PTSD, as he slept by my side, knead on me and made sure I calmed down in his presence.

Unfortunately he passed away due to illness at only 3 years of age

[eldritchdemonfox]

Happy 24th Birthday Technoblade.

We all miss you so much. Technodad has been doing an awesome job keeping your community alive. I hope you’re having fun conquering the kingdom of heaven. Blood for the blood god, rip potato king. o7

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