Hatrack River Forum: Death wish

This is topic Death wish in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by Anthro (Member # 6087) on :

Do you want to be cremated? Buried? Blasted into space? How will you make your exit?

Personally, I want to be stuffed with a big smile on my face and my hand outstretched. There will be a mechanism in my shoulder so my arm can move up and down. When we have visitors, they'll be introduced to me and asked to shake my hand.

No, I don't think if I have daughters will they ever be able to keep a boyfriend passed the "meet the parents" stage.

Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :

Perhaps cremated. I'm not religious so I see no point in me occupying a place with my dead body. If people will want to remember me, then they could put a picture of me on their wall or something, that's enough.

Or, I'd like to be burried directly into the ground and then that they plant a tree of some kind on me. A cherry-tree would be perfect. Like the Bene Gesserit. Efficiency at its best ! [Big Grin]

[ August 08, 2004, 03:15 AM: Message edited by: Corwin ]

Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :

I know it isn't original, but I've always thought being made into disc golf discs was a particularly nice way to deal with your remains.

Option B is to design a concrete headstone, then have my ashes mixed into the cement.

Feyd Baron, DoC

Posted by Richard Berg (Member # 133) on :

Cordoning off a dozen square feet of land for every man, woman, and child to ever live doesn't sound desireable, much less sustainable. I think it would be funny to end up on a $4 Chinese lunch buffet where they give everyone fortune cookies that say "that wasn't chicken," but people never seem to appreciate dead guys' sense of humor.

Posted by Anthro (Member # 6087) on :

Actually, human flesh is closer to pork in flavor, texture, and nutritional content.

Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :

I'm not sure what I'd ultimately want done, but before I'm buried, cremated, whatever, I'd like my body stripped of everything that could possibly be useful for a transplant. I guess one cool thing to do would be to launch my ashes into space, preferably on something that leaves the solar system.

Posted by esl (Member # 3143) on :

You mean if it weren't dangerous right? Just cuz I heard that anything out in space is a potential missle to anything else. The way I understand it, a piece of ash/dust/whatever could crash into the International Space Station and break it.

Ya, okay, off the tangent. Up til my grandma died and was buried in a coffin, I figured I'd be cremated like my grandfather. I don't really know now, but probably still cremation. And I agree with Shigosei about transplant organs; I have a donor sticker on my driver's licsence.

Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :

I've got to get myself one of those donor stickers. I'll attend the class/lecture/whatever the next time I see signs for "How to become an organ donor" around campus.

I don't want to occupy land. Nor do I want an expensive funeral. I do like that picture idea. Maybe I'll have my family give out pictures of me at my funeral. That'd be cool. I don't know if I'd be around to autograph them or anything though.

Posted by Verily the Younger (Member # 6705) on :

As I'll be dead, I can't imagine that it will make the slightest difference to me. I doubt I'll ever even know if my loved ones carry out my wishes. Thus, I don't really care. Bury me. Cremate me. Toss me to the sharks. 'Tis all one.

Posted by from Cythera (Member # 6749) on :

I agree with Corwin, I want a tree. But not one with fruit... A big shady tree where people can sit underneath it and read books.

Posted by Eduardo_Sauron (Member # 5827) on :

I want the cremation (the tree would be also nice), but my family thinks I'm a heretic.

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

I remember when Porter and I had that first date in a cemetary (the night we kissed for the first time.) He told me he liked the idea of having a gravestone in the shape of a bench so that people could come and sit on his headstone and meditate, contemplating the beauty around them. I thought it was a cool idea. So, since I intend to be buried by his side, perhaps our two headstones can be the two pillars of a bench and y'all (whoever is still around) can come sit on them after we die. [Smile]

Posted by Suneun (Member # 3247) on :

I was interested in the idea of letting scavenger birds clean off all the bones then burying the bones. But I dunno if I'm so interested in that anymore =)

I'm pretty sure my sister wants to be cremated because she doesn't like the thought of worms and insects crawling over her dead body. I can understand that.

It's funny, I think my atheist/agnostic friends can't really understand the sort of "superstitious" stuff my sister, mom, and I sometimes do. Like I don't tell my sister that it's ridiculous for her to feel icky about what happens to her dead body. And neither is it wrong for my mom to refuse to be buried in the same plot as my father because he'll talk to her for an eternity. It's kinda cool that that's what she believes.

I also used to be a little worried that maybe your "soul" doesn't stop feeling what happens to your body after you die. That would suck.

Wouldn't it also suck if once you die, you experience the last feeling you had before you died for eternity?

So, I don't know. I'm sure if I die before my parents, they'll insist I get buried in the family gravespot.

Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :

There is a company in Germany that will turn your remains into a diamond.

I'm still working on the puns after that. [Big Grin]

-Trevor

Posted by Suneun (Member # 3247) on :

Oh, true. I remember when someone posted that on hatrack.

I don't think I'm interested in being so morbid and making friends uncomfortable like that. "Here you go, Mike. Clara wanted you to have this small diamond. I think it used to be her toe."

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

Remember when I said that Sara's fondest wish was to do good works and then, immediately afterwards, be annihilated not only physically but from the memory of man? I wasn't kidding. [Smile]

Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :

Feh - cremate me and dump my ashes somewhere.

-Trevor

Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :

...no kidding.

Posted by from Cythera (Member # 6749) on :

Beverly and Porter, *such* a sweet idea. Be careful of what tree you put the bench underneath...it could be me!

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :

Thanks. I love cemetaries. They are peaceful, beautiful, and make me think about the past and the future.

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

^_^

Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :

Ha ! mph & bev, I should show your posts to some students around here. The year before I moved to Lyon they arranged a blind date for one of my (current) friends. And at some point he took the girl at a cemetery that's right outside the campus. Afterwards everybody laughed at him about his *poor* choice... Well, apparently he's not the only one who thinks cemeteries are romantic ! [Big Grin]

(btw, that girl and him: really not a match...)

Edit: It's cemetEry. Because of your posts I wrote it with an 'a' too the first time... [Grumble]

[ August 08, 2004, 03:33 PM: Message edited by: Corwin ]

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

That's one of those words I just spell wrong all the time. You know, in the Philippines there is no "one right spelling" of any word. You can spell Caloocan Kalookan and you can spell kumusta komusta. I like how laid back they are about it. As long as it is spelled mostly phonetically. [Smile]

Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :

Well, I'm even luckier: Romanian is a phonetical language, so what you hear is what you write. No combinations of vowels giving this or that. And everything is read the same way each time. One exception: there's "x" that you can either read as "cs" or "gz", but that just comes naturally. The grammar though...

Then I started learning English and my world was never the same. (think *spell-checking*)

Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :

Jamie has the responsibility of cremating me, and sprinkling part of my ashes on my sisters face as she sleeps. I promised my sister that, once. I'm a man of my word.

[ August 08, 2004, 05:10 PM: Message edited by: T_Smith ]

Posted by from Cythera (Member # 6749) on :

[ROFL]

and on second thought...EW

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

Yeah, I like how in Spanish there is pretty much just one way of spelling any given word. In the Philippines the words are spelled phonetically, but there are slight differences in the way people say words, and there is the matter of certain letters not being part of the language yet being found in names and titles. Like the "v" in Davao. There is no "v" in the language. So it is also acceptable to spell it: "Dabaw". The second spelling is more Philippine.

Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :

Damn those whacky Filipinos.

-Trevor

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

[Big Grin]

Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :

I'm signed up as an organ donor, so hopefully they'll take whatever is needed. Then I want to be cremated, and have my ashes spread in a peaceful place. Doesn't matter where, exactly - just a place filled with beauty. Mr. Opera doesn't like this idea at all, so I guess I have to hope that he goes first. [Wink]

space opera

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :

I want to be buried because I enjoy visiting the graves of my ancestors, and I want to give my descendants the same opportunity.

[ August 08, 2004, 07:25 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]

Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :

See, my family (extended) always visits the graves on memorial day. And yeah, its nice to be remembered, but something about taking pictures at the graves kind of creeps me out.

Edit:
But I suppose no more than having my ashes sprinkled on my sisters face while she sleeps.

[ August 08, 2004, 07:28 PM: Message edited by: T_Smith ]

Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :

I want a cremation, cheap as possible. What a waste of my money, body disposal. Although I do think graveyards are beautiful places, for other peoples' remains.

I spend more time thinking about what I want to happen when I am at the brink of death, rather than after death. For examples, don't bring me back if my heart stops or my breathing stops. Thats called Do Not Resuscitate. Or, if I am unconscious, don't leave me in the dark in silence. Leave the light on, and leave music on. Then stop keeping me alive.

Posted by punwit (Member # 6388) on :

If any poor sucker wants my used and abused organs they are quite welcome to them. Personally I really don't care what becomes of my body after I'm done with it.

A large unweildy paperweight? Pin the tail on the smelly corpse? Worm fodder? Makes absolutely no difference to me. Whatever those that are left behind feel most comfortable with is what I tell my family. If you really want to do the casket and burial thing, have at it but don't do that on my account.

[ August 08, 2004, 07:38 PM: Message edited by: punwit ]

Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :

Jamie: "NATHAN!"
Nathan: "JAMIE!"
Jamie: "No, wait. That deserves NATHANIEL! EEEEEW!"

Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :

Would you rather mount my head on the wall?

Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :

NATHANIEL!

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :

This conversation makes me want to take the family out for a walk in a cemetary. Mary and I can talk about which headstones we like. We can go shopping for our long-time retirement home. [Smile]

[ August 08, 2004, 07:45 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]

Posted by T_Smith (Member # 3734) on :

Oh, take the kids along! They'll love that. [Smile]

Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :

Continues to build MY business.

Posted by skillery (Member # 6209) on :

I'd like to have my skull modified to appear as though I had three eyes, and then have my skeleton propped up in some remote corner of Lechuguilla Cave for some poor grad student to discover.

Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :

Ya know, I don't much care where Mac wants to mount your head, bud. [Taunt]

-Trevor

Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :

*stab*

Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :

I really don't care in the least what is done with my body once I'm done using it. I'm all for people getting any use they can out of my organs. As for the rest...I don't know. Burn it? Bury it without a bunch of preservatives, and plant a tree over it?

I have to say, skillery's idea is pretty damned funny.

Posted by from Cythera (Member # 6749) on :

Yeah I don't want to be filled with a "bunch of preservatives" as Noemon put it. I would like to decay naturally. Heh, now there's a sentence I know I've never used before.

[ August 08, 2004, 11:15 PM: Message edited by: from Cythera ]

Posted by Primal Curve (Member # 3587) on :

I want my corpse put into one of those dark-age cages and hung from the town square. Gotta scare away them evil spirits!

Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :

I really like the idea of decaying naturally next to my sweetie.

Posted by Theca (Member # 1629) on :

Ewwww.

I've actually watched a necropsy done on someone six months after his death. I remember the smell and look of that body is very well. I can't find the idea of decaying naturally very romantic or even a choice, personally.

Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :

Wow. That is really romantic and gross at the same time. How often does that happen? [Laugh]

Posted by from Cythera (Member # 6749) on :

Well it's not a choice because it's illegal [Wink]

Would it still be illegal if it were on private property, like a home with a lot of land?