This week we have a memorial to Choco. His person writes,
I lost my very best friend, Choco. (aka Choco-Cat, Buddies, Buddy, and Butters).
For a few years, I nick-named him Vampire Bill while HBO was airing True Blood - he had little
vampire teeth that always showed. His shadows on the ground or walls always looked like a
vampire or that of batman with his pointed ears. I always said that he would probably outlive
me believing that he would live a hundred more years.
We would tirelessly play games - we would bat each others paws for what seemed like
endless lengths of time. He often slept on top of my Mac Pro tower - with a folded towel
across the top of the computer that always provided some subtle warmth for him, especially
in the winter. He would always lay next to me while I often stayed up late into the night
editing and processing photos. He loved the computer and at times would walk across my
keyboard to type incomprehensible messages like "a23c3465ji;;;;;;;-=0" while I was typing
emails or on Facebook - at times I would just leave them in my messages and say my cat
typed this. And for as great as Google translate might be, they've never been able to
translate cat - I'm guessing there are so many ancient dialects these days that it might be
impossible. He always knew when I had been working too long at the computer and would sit
between me and my Apple 30 inch monitor as though to say "It's time to take a break, dad -
it's time for me."
We liked the same cheese, Uniekaas Robusto, and loved the same milk, Smith's Creamery. He
loved the flaky crust of my guava cream-cheese pastries, bread from Belgrade Bakery and my
Siggi's yogurt. We shared most everything although I was never as fond of his canned cat food
as much as he always liked what ever chicken or fish I was eating, and if there was a cream
sauce, he loved it even more.
I was always jealous of him as he preferred to sleep in every morning while I often times
get up before sunrise for work but he would often get up and spend a few minutes together
before going back to sleep or he would raise his head to see me off as I grabbed my large
camera bag to head out for the day. He was always home to greet me every night and loved to
jump on top of my camera bag the moment I got home always wanting to know how my day was and
to say "It's time to take a break, dad - it's time for me."
When I had my diesel Mercedes, he always recognized the sound of my car pulling up and he
would always run up to greet me.
He was the mayor of the block and would often survey the area. I believed at some time during
his life he lived a secret life with neighbors down the street - leading a sort of double-agent
kinda life. And he loved the pretty girls - and would stop for any pretty woman for some
attention... whether it was a pet on the head or shamelessly rolling over on his back.
I'll miss him for ever and ever -- and while I'm not a fan of posting my personal stuff, I just
wanted him to live forever in cyber-space. I miss you Buddies, you will forever be my buddy.
