Here is to Obie, a loving, brave, friendly, curious, and charming cat. He was the unofficial mascot of our rooftop here at greenlake, and would warmly greet everyone who comes. He was a great friend and a wonderful part of our family.

Obie has lived a wonderful life filled with adventures, friends, and love

A Canadian cat, born on Canada day, 7/1/2020, I adopted him from the Waterloo humane society on September 19, 2020. I fell in love at first sight. He was a very relaxed cat, and loved to explore. His curiosity was so strong that it made him have even very interest in treats, nor any fear for people.

When we got home, he seem to have realized that he has found his forever family, and began purring for hours on end while exploring the apartment.

At the time, it was the middle of COVID lockdowns, I was full time working on Lumos while finishing up school. And our apartment was filled with electronics and gadgets that we were using for developments. Obie, with his wits and curiosity, soon became an indispensable part of our engineering team.

Here he is inspecting our circuit board, our workstation, and the finished prototype.

A tech cat -Elon Musk (from love death robots). And here he is watching the episode from love death robots, where cats took over the world and replaced Elon Musk in getting to mars (he might have felt somewhat inspired). XD

One of the most wonderful things that was super validating for our work is that Obie would love to hang around our light therapy lamps. Knowing that animals also enjoy light and hanging around light, helped to validate that we are on the right track. Obie, in his way, was my cheerleader. And was my light in times of darkness. Sometimes, after having tough meetings with mentors/investors, I would feel very stressed out and defeated. Obie seems to have a sense of these things and would come up to me and start purring, and I soon got better and kept moving forward. Other time, he can sense that I was too much of a workaholic and been tunneling visioning on a single line of code that is bugging out, and he would start jumping on my desk and run around the apartment, meowing super loudly until I paid him attention and took him outside to explore. And this usually made both of us happier. He was my best friend, and the best partner.

Obie is an explorer. Because of his curiosity, we’d often venture out into the wild to explore. As a kitten, Obie would play fetch, although he doesn’t bring it back (XD).

Perhaps because of his affinity to light, he would often scream to go outside when it is nice and sunny out, and we developed a healthy habit together of taking walks together outside. And this habit continued even after we moved to Seattle(pictures). He also went on trips with me to LA, back to Waterloo, and back to Seattle again. Although after a few months, Obie seems to have gotten a little more lazy, and rather take naps and hang out on the roof deck rather than go out on these long walks at Greenlake. The roof deck was his favorite place to hang out.

Obie was my partner and best friend. We’ve traveled to many places together, and he has been with me through thick and thin. Through graduation, relocating for a job, engagement, and later my heartbreak. While heartbreak is never easy, his presence made me feel that I could get through it. He was a warm ever-present light in my life. Sometimes when I’m having a rough day, the thought of coming home to Obie makes me feel comforted. And after long days at work, Obie would always greet me at the door, sometimes even angry at me for being out for so long. But rain or shine, he was always there without fail. In many ways, Obie taught me trust, unconditional love, and healthy friendship.

And after a couple of months of healing with Obie. He witnessed the growth of our family again. He met Bast, along with his new best animal friend Ori, and big brother Asa. We had a great time (happy pictures), and even moved up to the 5th floor penthouse, where he would enjoy the wonderful views with his siblings and parents. During this time, he also made friends with Nicolas, Kevin, Zoe, etc. And even had a girlfriend Peach, who sometimes like to hit him, but hey, they still love hanging out together.

Although with more kids and people in the family, I wished I had spent more quality time with Obie. While to me, Obie was an unforgettable and wonderful 3 years of my life, to Obie, I was his best friend for the duration of his whole life. Thank you Obie for spending the short time you had on earth with me. In many ways, you’ve changed me into a more loving, patient, and trusting person. I love you Obie, rest in peace

-your human, Lucas