2018 continues to play it’s cruel jokes on us, and today this greedy bastard of a year claimed the life of yet another God amongst men. Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of the hit animated show Spongebob Squarepants, passed away this morning from complications from his battle with ALS. When it comes to dealing with this news, my reaction can best be described with a slight modification to one of the title character’s most popular phrases: I’m not ready. Some of you older folks might not really give a shit about this news, unless you had kids of your own who grew up watching this show, but this really sucks. Spongebob is the highest rated show in Nickelodeon history, and that shit didn’t just happen by accident. In fact, Anybody that is my age +/-5 years can attest to how great this was, especially in it’s early seasons. Not even gonna lie, I still watch Spongebob occasionally if I see it’s one of the classic episodes and I laugh just as hard as I did when I was 8. The way Hillenburg was able to create something that transcends time like that is great, and given that the show was littered with numerous adult jokes that I didn’t catch when I was little, I’m sure my parents appreciated while watching it with me.

My friends and I already made on average about 1-2 Spongebob references throughout the course of the day, but you can expect that number to multiply by infinity in the near future. All across social media today, I’ve seen people posting clips from the show, writing about their favorite episodes/moments, making memes etc., and even though I’m not a religious person, part of me wants to believe Stephen Hillenburg is out there somewhere seeing all of this and smiling at what he was able to create. You don’t realize how big of an impact something really has on your life and generation until it’s gone, and even though I don”t think anybody was expecting Hillenberg to start pumping out new Spongebob episodes any time soon, I’ll always be appreciative for the huge role he played in my childhood. So rest in peace Stephen Hillenberg: An extremely talented artist and an even funnier guy. Fuck ALS, and I’m glad that this shitty disease is atleast starting to get the attention that it needs. To close out this blog, here are some of the best moments from one of the greatest shows of all time: Spongebob Squarepants