Brian Yip's Memorial Day

This was my speech for him during his funeral service. My dog Iria passed away on Feb. 20th and Brian was killed in an accident 6 days later on Friday Feb 26th, 2010.

He was a couple of months away from turning 30...

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Hi my name's Brandon. I've been friends with Brian, ever since we were kids. In fact when my little sister was born in 1981, I wanted to trade her for Brian. This didn't really matter too much, as my family and his family use to have several vacations together.

Camping together in Yosemite or Big Sur, we invented this thing called water hiking. Instead of hiking on the trails, we would wade through the streams that ran parallel to the trail. This was actually quite a bit more dangerous than we anticipated. Rocks were slippery, and there were spots were it became quite deep.

Quite often he would spend a week or so at my parents house during the summers. We would spend the time playing games during the day and then at night, we would watch late night television when my parents were asleep. This consisted mostly of re-runs of Remington Steele, Silk Stalkings and of course the hilarious sketches of SNL. Of course what midnight viewing be without food? We would make ourselves waffles or have instant noodles. It's a wonder we didn't turn out to be fat kids.

We both had similar tastes in movies... i guess pretty much any boy would. Star Wars, Die Hard, Terminator, and of course those handful of chinese films our parents would bring home... like Panty Hose Hero or any movie with Jet Li or Jackie Chan. Brian had the best memory, and he could always quote something from any of them. One of my favorite quotes that Brian would say were from the first Terminator.

The terminator arrives from the future naked. He's walking down the street towards these 3 punks, and one of the punks go " nice night for a walk eh?".

The terminator responds.. "nice night for a walk."
Punks say: "Wash day tomorrow, nothing clean right?".
Terminator: "No clean clothes right."
Punks: "I think this guy's a couple of cans short of six pack!?"
Terminator responds: "your clothes give them to me now."

Ahh those were the simpler days... times without responsibility or money. Of course without money we could never have been introduced to Japanese manga. Around 10 years ago my older brother started collecting these Japanese Comic books called Manga. Brian and I would sit for hours reading a martial arts comedy called Ranma. While browsing the local japanese bookstore, I found another manga by the same author called Maison Ikkoku. At the time Brian was about the same age as the main character, Yusaku Godai. It was a complicated romantic comedy about a college flunkout who lived in an apartment complex with a lovely young female landlord. He worked hard to finally win over the her heart over the course of 12 volumes. This series really meant something to Brian. I think it was because it appealed to the old school romantic side of him. We use to take trips to the local japanese bookstore every month waiting in anticipation of when the next one volume would come out.

After I graduated college, I sort of drifted off in a different direction than Brian. We didn't hang out as much or chat online. I guess I thought he would always be around, and our kids would grow-up with each other.

Everybody has regrets about Brian's death, and this just means he meant a lot to you. Don't let his death let you forget about all the things that made Brian unique. I know a little bit of him will live on in all of us.

I wish you well my friend, your company will be sorely missed. Most of all... I will miss you reminding me of things I said or did years ago.

Iria's Memorial Day - February 20th

In Mid-February 2010, I had to bring Iria to the vet. She was very lethargic and little to no appetite. Her gums were very pale, so they knew something was seriously wrong. They performed an ultrasound, and found that she had a rupture on her spleen. The vet thought it was cancerous, so they referred me to a specialist.

She was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma. It is a fast growing cancer that typically affects the spleen and heart. Unfortunately by the time something is visibly wrong, it is too late. Iria was given a blood transfusion, and a wrap around her abdomen to keep the blood from flowing too fast out of her spleen. This was a temporary solution to allow my little sister time to fly from the east coast to say goodbye.

The blood transfusion really perked Iria up. She was starting to act like her old self. I did some research on the hemangiosarcoma, and there was some anecdotal information that Power Mushrooms and CoQ10 would help give her a better shot at recovery. Unfortunately before I could try anything, she started to do worse. I kept hoping that the bleeding would stop.

Last year on February 20th, I had to put my little girl Iria down. It was the toughest decision in my life. Should I put her down and stop the suffering, or hope she can miraculously recover? During our drive over to the Emergency Pet Clinic, she put her head out the window just like how she use to. She seemed quite perky in the car ride over. I had second thoughts about going through with it, but I knew I had to end her suffering.

One option I was given was to remove her spleen, but there was no guaranteed that the cancer on her heart wouldn't rupture like the one on her spleen. The cancer is very aggressive, and attaches itself to large blood filled organs. I was in the clinic room for over 2 hours deciding. She was with me for 13 years. All through out my college years to get both my degrees. She was always there for me, and the decision to put her down was overwhelming. How DO YOU DECIDE??!?

She helped me get over Tony's death in 2008. She was an excellent running companion, and I miss her greeting me at the door after a tough day at work. I miss her jumping on my bed to go to sleep. Most of all I miss how she would put her nose under my hand to make me pet her.

I miss you my dearest Iria. I miss you so much.