May is Dennis Hopper Memorial Month!

May is Dennis Hopper Memorial Month, because of... precisely why I was forced to create the 'Rainbow Bridge' airing security, and even pledged as a Koopa fan.

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It'd be one thing if people simply disliked if not hated the live action Street Fighter movie, if only so I'd leave it at that and "Meh" the hate comments - but some people hate it so much, they genuinely believe it killed Raul Julia, when he died from cancer shortly after filming was completed. This especially touches a raw nerve for me, because I was shocked to discover his funeral took place on the same day as when the NES War began - so I took my own fight for all I hold dear, dare I say it, to the street! Not to mention, the hate trend is not unlike the superstitions surrounding a certain Shakespeare play, which some would politely refer to as 'The Scottish Play'.

Just over a fortnight before the original Mute Incident, one former visitor here, Jagwire (anyone remember him?), 'pointed fingers' when his cat Shiloh died on the same day when I completed the Street Fighter: The Movie arcade game (itself, the first Capcom game to be a pre-airing gaming achievement!) - thereby already proving, peeps will blame the movie for a bereavement clashing with it. The cheek!

Anyways, in late Nightwalker Month-early Street Fighter 2 Animated Movie Month 2009... we learned Dennis 'King Koopa' Hopper had been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, and it was terminal, with his summons to Coin Heaven being expected in the coming year. Mom enjoys the Super Mario Bros. movie (you should have seen her face light up, when I bought her the DVD!), so she was more than happy for us to watch it when the time came; and I had half a hand on a lot of my old Mario games.

My family does enjoy and appreciate game movies, Super Mario Bros. being another of the favourites in this family. I actually went to see the Prince of Persia movie at the cinema, five days before we lost Dennis - and when I eventually got mom the Prince of Persia DVD, she loved that movie too, despite the games not appealing to her.

There was just one problem: Dennis died on an airing day! This rang alarm bells in my mind - the "Street Fighter is so bad, it killed Raul Julia" crowd would have a field day, especially with Super Mario Bros. being not too far behind on the hate list! I knew I would have to pledge myself as a Koopa fan, as well - an effort I knew would likely please Wizzard, a Mario fan here since before Lemmy joined.

Indeed, I felt the need for a fresh new airing, to clear the lungs and somewhat avenge Dennis. With this, the beloved pre-airing gaming achievement tradition also came to mind... so I also opted to try a few Mario games, and single out a few of them to be achievements when the time comes. But all of that's another story - along with how avenging Dennis would also yield another surprising result: the events we now celebrate as the Final Countdown Festival! I guess Dennis was really eager to fulfill his duties as another guardian angel to me, after Raul Julia told him everything.

I particularly became wary of potential trolling of Dennis's passing, when a certain Nostalgia Critic video -itself, a common feature in some hate attacks on me- was posted at the now-corrupt Bucky O'Hare site just after the 'Van Damme suffers a heart attack' rumour was spread. Such particularly bad timing was, indeed, a red flag in my eyes.

Zane may remember the incident I'm talking about, as it was precisely what launched our investigation which flushed out Jenny de Cerna as a traitor... but my fears were indeed realised. On New Year's Day ten years ago, one person on my 'ignore' list harassed me on the since-defunct AOL Instant Message, with these wild accusations about me posting nasty comments here under different 'guest' usernames... and that person couldn't resist the opportunity to bully me, including to say, and I quote, "That movie was a curse", when I dropped the bombshell of the 'exceptional circumstances' of Dennis's passing. I would eventually opt to contact Zane and plead my innocence... and he believed me, thus initiating our investigation; and thankfully, he was understanding of my concerns about Dennis.

After Zane allowed me back (on Jay's big four-oh, no less!), I explained about Dennis Hopper... and my friends were very understanding, not to mention then-relative-newcomer Lemmy even crowned me as the 'Koopa Princess' for my efforts! Awwww!

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My family, in turn, will support the Rainbow Bridge security as and where needed. They agree, the "Street Fighter is so bad, it killed Raul Julia" hate trend is very wicked - and we know some peeps would not blame the movie for a bereavement, and yes I'm surprised (but nonetheless thankful/grateful/whatever) when even my enemies offer prayers and condolences; but unfortunately there are those who do, so I know in my heart I cannot afford any chances! If a red flag is waved, my family will accept all marching orders, to patrol the person or animal with all needed military precision.

Thankfully, we've had a clean sweep, whenever we were forced to carry out the Rainbow Bridge security. We even had to 'hurry up' in letting go of Crystal, when her bones started to get bad at her age - and in her case, yes for the E Honda fans among you, I didn't want to give our favourite sumo a nasty birthday present.

Most of all, I'm relieved that no "Street Fighter is so bad, it killed Raul Farrell" meme will dominate the World Wide Web! There were no airings during my cat Raul's end-of-life care... and I didn't even object, in that we let him go yes on the one-year anniversary of my revenge on Carie. But his successor, Yoshimoto Imagawa Farrell, now plays a small but significant role in praying for the most precious of all airings.

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Apart from my airings, and of course the Dennis Hopper anniversary... the only other special date this month is my cat Raul's birthday May 16. He was born just 12 days after the first step toward just why airings mean so much to us as they do today, so arguably it's just as well I named him Raul!

Yoshimoto, in turn, had his 'operation' on what would have been Raul's 15th birthday. No, the timing wasn't deliberate - that was the only available date mom could find, when booking him in well in time for my airing a few days later. As seen in the Pet Gallery, Yoshimoto is also the first of my cats (or at least, the ones living with me?) to receive the Cone of Shame!

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Few things that I am wishing for this month that I hope will come true

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I carry the spirit and soul of the mighty "Blue-Eyes White Dragon"

May should also be a co-Jasmine month

	Alexis wrote:
	May should also be a co-Jasmine month

Awww, how sweet! But like with Sapphire, Jasmine's birthday is in Airing Month 0:-)

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Airing month is the perfect month to be born in

	Raven wrote:
	Airing month is the perfect month to be born in

And of course Deadeye/Spanish Deadeye Month! Willow and Sapphire were both born in Airing Month; and we suspect Jenny and Zelda were too, as we don't know their birthday... but when I went to look at them, they were still too young to be homed, so we had to wait until Bully Koopa Month to have them.

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I fear I may have sinned, however - yesterday, I killed a spider (when I meant to catch it, and put it outside) within the final countdown. I'll have to look for another spider-catching toy, like the one I used to have - so I don't commit this sin again...

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Shouldn't be something too big to worry about

Make sure no airing was ruined. Don't let that spider be bad luck

	Mod Soul wrote:
	Make sure no airing was ruined. Don't let that spider be bad luck

Rest assured, the airings were safe - but that's precisely why I'm looking into getting another spider-catching toy, so this doesn't happen again.

Why, while my parents and I tried to save Yoshimoto... I had to remind my parents about my frequent number of airings, and the respective final countdowns - so if we started talking about having him put down, then it would obviously have to be before I start any of the final countdowns, thereby preventing him from being trolled by the "Street Fighter is so bad, it killed Raul Julia" crowd. Mom promised to check with me first, before making the hard decision itself.

As such, when I waved the red flag on the morning of May 6 (AKA 'Revenge of the 6th'!)... I had to tell mom my next airing since then was on May 11, which meant the final countdown was at 1:56 p.m. on May 10 - so if we do have to euthanise Yoshimoto, it has to be before then. Mom's immediate response was, and I quote, "Would today be acceptable?", which yes it obviously was. But how sweet for the vet to give my sick kitty a second chance, no?

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It would have been so disastrous if Yoshimito left while you were watching an airing

	Raven wrote:
	It would have been so disastrous if Yoshimito left while you were watching an airing

Precisely my point! If not for the "Street Fighter is so bad, it killed Raul Julia" hate trend, I wouldn't have panicked so for Yoshimoto, let alone for Mel and Crystal - I'd have simply quietly watched him, and cleaned up after every little episode.

Again, for the cat owners here... if your feline has these symptoms, then watch him or her for as long as you can, if not immediately vet her:

-Frequent accidents, particularly in certain locations. This was actually also what caused mom, to make the hard decision for the having-just-turned-16 Crystal (who would go behind mom's couch).

-Spending hours on end in one comfort zone at a time - only leaving to eat, drink, accident etc., before either returning to that comfort zone or finding a new one. I think Yoshimoto's best comfort zone was the cabinet under my TV (he spent the majority of one of my airings there, only briefly leaving at the start of the movie to eat and/or drink), as that was the best spot away from Thunder's boisterousness; while his last, and most unusual, was between my vacuum cleaners...

-Any sign of negative meowing. In part possibly due to him being very shy, Yoshimoto was a very quiet cat - so when he himself meowed at my door a few times since he fell ill, that got me worrying...

-Eating cat litter! This was the 'senility' in question, which caused me to alert mom and for her to finally decide to vet him. One Facebook page also suggested, Yoshimoto's doing so could have been Pica?

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	Raven wrote:
	It would have been so disastrous if Yoshimito left while you were watching an airing

Either get rid of the problem early and have a back up plan. This year is going so well. It can't be ruined

White Knight wrote:

	Raven wrote:
	It would have been so disastrous if Yoshimito left while you were watching an airing

Either get rid of the problem early and have a back up plan. This year is going so well. It can't be ruined

Well we did try to save little Yoshimoto, after we realised mom's, ahem, crap choice of cat litter wasn't the problem. Mom, dad and even Gran initially suspected it was just an infection, along with Gran also suggesting Yoshimoto may have had a chill on his kidneys (now that really does sound scary, like how Mel had a stomach blockage).

But like with Blinky, Raul and Mel... as hopeful as I was, I also prepared myself in my mind for if we needed to talk kittens. I could be positive but it's bad news, or negative but it's good news - you can never be too sure, y'know? We don't like a cat to suffer, we do try to save them and hope they recover - but if a serious red flag is waved, then we'll take action.

It was very sweet of Gin to say "Isn't it too early to talk kittens? Yosimito could still get better"... but remember, Yoshimoto came from a bad home (mom even said, the breeders didn't look like very nice people...), so there's a sad chance how any lingering ailment resulting from that may have finally kicked in, like how Zelda succumbed to her cat flu when she was only 6 - but obviously worse, as Yoshimoto was only 3.

But like with Mel (and later also Crystal), there was another point which added a whole new sense of urgency to the matter: we had to carry out the Rainbow Bridge security. I was especially vigilant on my airing days, and when I began each respective final countdown - which could have added to mom and dad first coming to check on Yoshimoto for themselves, following my airing on Star Wars Day; and mom promised to check with me first, if we needed to talk about letting him go.

The fact it spilled over into Dennis Hopper Memorial Month, the very origin month for why I created the Rainbow Bridge security in the first place... well yes, I guess we'd have to add to setting the example, no?

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May should have been Star Wars month

	Mina wrote:
	May should have been Star Wars month

I probably would have considered it, in the past - if not for (the extremity of) the hate trend against the Street Fighter movie, and the fact a part of me died with Raul Julia...

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Mew

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Mew

	Mina wrote:
	May should have been Star Wars month

Would have supported that

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Why so British?

Limey Man wrote:

	Mina wrote:
	May should have been Star Wars month

Would have supported that

I'm guessing we have quite a few Star Wars fans here? Heck, former visitor Adam Kasugano (anyone remember him?) made this video https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xaeoy9 years ago - he had me fight Darth Vader, because since my fiction self Princess Natalie has the same powers as Bison, I'm guessing he figured that would give me a chance against Darth (or The Emperor, for that matter)? And yes, this was obviously before I came up with the idea of having white hair and eyes, just like Bison now has.

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	Mina wrote:
	May should have been Star Wars month

Many nerds around the world all ready have