This is topic New column: Remains to be seen, or possibly flung (warning, potentially morbid) in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.
The year is drawing to a close. The land is barren, the trees are bare, the wind is chill and unforgiving. My thoughts turn, as they do at the end of every year, to the haunting specter of my own looming demise. Oddly, this always cheers me up.
Not because I have any particular death wish, mind you. I've never had the slightest suicidal impulse, not even during TNT's Ben Affleck movie marathon. But the amazing options available to me for the disposal of my final remains are truly exciting, and frankly I can barely wait.
No one who's anyone gets buried anymore. Sure, some people still go for the flashy burials in Cadillacs or ice chests or sarcophagi made of Popsicle sticks or something, but ground internment is so last-couple-thousand-years. The in thing now is to get cremated and do something more interesting with your "cremains" than you ever managed to do with your actual living body.
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
Totally.
Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
I will never look at fireworks the same way again!
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
quote: Prefer to get away from earthly things entirely? No problem! MemorialSpaceFlight.com will arrange to have your ashes hauled...
AJ
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
Wondered how long it would be before that showed up...
Every now and then I have to do my part to bring back old-fashioned innuendo.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Ewwww! Now I wonder about that dust on the top of my coffee......
FG
Posted by peterh (Member # 5208) on :
Great article Chris!
Personally I found those lifegem diamonds, really ugly.
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
I'm a little worried about black-widow-type widows who start marrying and killing off husbands just to complete a necklace...
Posted by eslaine (Member # 5433) on :
One friend of mine had his remains placed in his favorite cannibus cleaning cigar box, to be scattered, secretly, at one of his favorite wilderness spots.
Another's ashes are buried beneath home plate at Pac Bell Park. They are also orbiting the Earth, after having been released from a space shuttle.
I hate the idea of my body not returning to the biosphere. I think I'll go for sea disposal.
Nothing so creative as Chris.
Posted by Megachirops (Member # 4325) on :
Posted by littlemissattitude (Member # 4514) on :
Brilliant as usual, Chris.
Actually, my best friend and I have talked about this. If she dies before I do, I have agreed to deposit a small amount of her ashes in a specific location within Disneyland - which I will not disclose, as I don't want to be prevented from carrying out my assignment (so to speak) should the occasion arise.
Posted by Ralphie (Member # 1565) on :
"I'm a people person."
Brilliant.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
quote:An hourglass would be appropriate and stylish.
Sign me up. Something in stainless steel, I think.
You should add this to your 10-article portfolio.
Dagonee
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
To be honest, I was sitting at my computer desk Monday night, looking around to see where I could be posthumously stuffed, and saw my heavy gothic hourglass...
Posted by whiskysunrise (Member # 6819) on :
Very good!
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Necrolittering...hehehe.
Posted by punwit (Member # 6388) on :
The fireworks, ballon, and low earth orbit options should appeal to those intent on ascending to an ashtral plane.
[ December 29, 2004, 07:00 PM: Message edited by: punwit ]
Posted by Scythrop (Member # 5731) on :
Classic
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Punwit, that's very inappropriate for a thread about such a grave matter.
Posted by CaySedai (Member # 6459) on :
well, now. I've considered what to do with my husband's remains should I outlive him (and I'm planning to!). He wants to be cremated and his ashes scattered in the ocean. We live in Iowa - it's kind of a long trek.
I thought about having him cremated and do the living reef thing, but wouldn't want to do the actual mixing - that's beyond my comfort zone.
Now I think I know what I can do - have his ashes made into a diamond - and sell the diamond! Any takers?
Posted by Chris Bridges (Member # 1138) on :
I think I'd rather have mny ashes made into a cubic zirconia. Less chance of theft later.