Stephen Hillenburg: He was #1!

Stephen Hillenburg, creator of Spongebob Squarepants, died Monday from complications from ALS. He was 57 years old.

Spongebob is literally the most quotable TV show of all time. It's the show that influenced me the most when I was younger and I'm super happy it did. It's the test I use on people to decide if I actually like them or not. Drop a quick Spongebob reference, if they catch onto it, boom. We're friends forever. Nothing worse than coming across some dweeb whose parents never let them watch it because it was "too adult" or whatever the excuse is. The show was perfect in its heyday.

I think it's fair to say that this dude influenced my generation more than anyone that walked this Earth. Yeah, I got called Patrick Star way more than I wanted to, but that was okay because he was cool as shit. He was a little dumb, but isn't everyone? A huge plus in my life is when people dial me asking if this is _____ so I can yell "NO THIS IS PATRICK" and hang up. (It's happened once but it was hysterical and so so so worth it.)

I guess I'm gonna have to blow off everything I have to do for the next few weeks and binge Spongebob from beginning to end. That's how this works, right? Especially right before finals. Have to brush up on my quotes so I'm not out here misquoting the legend.

While we're on the subject, I have something to admit: I haven't seen any of the new episodes. I think I stopped watching new episodes in like 2010. You kinda got the feeling it wasn't the same anymore so I abandoned ship before it got ugly. No time for negative comments here, though. This is all about my appreciation for Hillenburg.

Seriously, he made KARATE look cool. Is karate cool? Hell no! But, when I saw Spongebob don that red helmet thing and those huge red gloves, I gave it some consideration. Sometimes the show was about teaching lessons on what not to do with your life.

Bonus time: he was a writer and director for Rocco's Modern Life, another great show that actually influenced me to name my dog Rocco. May the dog and the director rest in peace.

I was joking around throughout this whole thing but seriously, RIP Stephen Hillenburg, ALS is such a shitty disease.

Here is a Youtube compilation of the best Patrick Star moments because my name is Patrick. My name's not Rick. Firmly grasp it.

PS: got my DNA results back. Will update soon. And when I say soon I mean after Christmas.