This week, I'm not too fond of Leukemia
In what's probably old news that i just found out about since I have had limited computer access, Wesley Willis passed away thursday. He had Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. I knew that Wesley was sick, but this news just sucks.

This week, I have one other leukemia case to report that, unfortunately, ends badly. Thursday night, my roommate called me outside. She found a stray cat outside of our house. Very friendly, but very sickly looking. She was very emaciated, you could feel her spine and ribs when you pet her. Her fur was matted and a mess, and she was also collarless, so I assume that somebody kicked the poor thing out of their house. We had to take her in and take care of her, there was no other choice in the matter.

After a quick trip to Walmart, she got her own litter box and was climbing up the counter trying to get at the food being poured into a bowl for her. We gave her a name, too: Yassa Aracat. ( My tongue is still planted firmly in cheek with that one.. Yes, it was my idea.) Little Yassa had a great attitude and even more superior temperament. When our rottie puppy tried jumping on her, she simply tried to get away from him, sitting in a window or on the coffee table. She only hissed at him once, and that's when she was on the floor and didn't have a chance to get away from him.

Yassa took to the house immediately like she had been here a million times before. Even with guests over and a dog chasing after her, she would sit in the living room, undaunted and not trying to hide.

When I got up friday morning, I couldn't find Yassa before I went to work because she was sleeeping on my roommate's chest, I found out later. While I was at work, she took Yassa to the vet. They also thought she had a funny name.

An hour after dropping her off, my roommate told me the vet called. Vets never call this quickly, and since this cat was a stray, she instantly knew that something was wrong. She found out that Yassa, at 4 pounds, was a full grown cat in the late stages of being affected by leukemia. Putting her down now would end her suffering.

What choice was there? There was no choice when we took her in, and she had no choice now. I found out after I got home from work.

It's just sad, but it's also a humane death. There was nothing else that could be done unless we wanted to see Yassa suffer before dying.

At least little Yassa spent her last night alive with new, loving owners. I was able to brush her and get her fur a little unmatted, and she loved that, rubbing up against the brush. The vet told my roommate that Yassa hadn't had a meal in a week before we got her, so at least she was put down when she wasn't starving, with some of her suffering eased.

I hope that Wesley didn't have to suffer. Nobody deserves to when they die, whether they are a human or another animal. I went to a Wesley Willis show once a couple years back, and quite honestly, I thought he looked terrible and I was worried...

Wesley was unique. Wesley also wasn't a quitter. No matter how much the voices in his head tried to put him down, he fought back with his music. What he composed was simultaneously simple and complex because of that, not to mention hilarious.

My favorite Wesley moment has to be listening to, "I whupped Batman's ass" during my brother-in-law's bachelor party. Me and 8 other guys were riding around Providence in a 15 passenger van, shouting the chorus at the top of our lungs, playing the song over and over again while speeding the van over that huge speed bump behind the RI state house in the wee hours of the morning. Wesley's music helped make that night one of the best of my life.

I already miss the guy. And I never took a chance to get a headbutt....

I don't want to hearing anything else about leukemia for a while.