don't let me die in a funny way

(paul simms (for the new yorker magazine. which i did not buy. which marco left here) recently published the following plea to god. this work is copyright to paul simms).



lord ? ... please don't let me die in a funny way.


like being beaten to death with a shoe. especially not my own shoe. and, if it absolutely has to be my own shoe, i'd rather not be wearing it at the time.

or like choking on my own fist during a bar bet.

i know i'm going to die someday, i'm just asking not to do it in a way that leads to people who don't know me to email one another news items about my death.

please don't let me die on or near - or perhaps worst of all - because of a toilet.

please don't let me get so fat that paramedics have to come to my house and cut out a wall to remove me, but then bang my head against a load-bearing pillar in the process, thus killing me.

please don't let my death involve a blimp of any kind. or anything inflatable. a hot air balloon would be ok, i guess, but only if i'm actually in the balloon at the time.

what i'm trying to say is: if someone else’s hot air balloon falls out of the sky and smothers me while i'm lying in a hammock reading "hot air balloon enthusiast" magazine, i'm going to be a little pissed.

a vehicular accident ?. fine, bring it on. i understand that. statistically, there's a pretty good chance of it happening anyway. just please don't let it involve a go-kart. or a moped.

also, i'd prefer not to die in a head on collision with someone who - against all odds - has the same name as me. or anyone named, for example, roger crash. or ed oncollision. or jennifer safedriver. i could go on, but i think you get the message.

i'm sure you get this one a lot, but please don't let me die during sex. unless the technical cause of my death is a heart attack or stroke.

if i have to die during sex, please don't make the cause of death any of the following: extreme dehydration, undiagnosed allergy to fruit scented or 'massage' oils, dermatological complications arising out of severe rug burn, or anything involving the use of any object best described as 'foreign".

and i would have to consider any fatality involving a prolapsed anus, of course, absolutely beyond the pale. i mean, come on lord.

if some kind of organism eats away at my body from the inside, please let it be microscopic. or just slightly bigger than microscopic. let's put it this way: if it's big enough to have a face, that would be too big.

and i'd rather be burned beyond all recognition than be burned almost beyond all recognition. especially if the pictures are going to end up on the internet.


thank you for your time, lord.


"
17,692 views 37 replies
Reply #1 Top
So basically for those who don't want to read the article, the gist is this:

He doesn't want to be on Rotten after he's gone.
Reply #2 Top
mignuna - it's a good thing I set my drink down before reading. My wife came back to the bedroom to see what I was laughing about.

Oh, and I'll second this entire article. I don't want to go in any of these ways. I also don't want any of the following words to be related in any way to my death - crotch, gopher, doily, cheese, or make up.
Reply #3 Top
mig: Do you ever read news of the weird? Link They have a section called "undignified deaths" and although I guess it shouldn't be amusing . . . some of them are . . . I'm sorry . . . I'm a bad person, aren't I?

Reply #4 Top
Wow! That was funny. I think I might have literally been or the floor laughing. I think that's the hardest I've laughed in the last couple of days. This article made my day Mig!

~carebear~
Reply #5 Top
singing.....Ah..........Men..........
Reply #6 Top
I want to die like Majin Buu in Dragon Ball Z, or if I'm still a good guy in the future, I want to simply ascend to Heaven on head of Shenron and have the dragon balls enter me boosting my power level to a half billion.
Reply #7 Top
So basically for those who don't want to read the article, the gist is this:

He doesn't want to be on Rotten after he's gone.


prescisely, historyishere


mignuna - it's a good thing I set my drink down before reading. My wife came back to the bedroom to see what I was laughing about


i'm glad you got a chuckle out of it, chip. i was giggling the whole time i typed it

Oh, and I'll second this entire article. I don't want to go in any of these ways. I also don't want any of the following words to be related in any way to my death - crotch, gopher, doily, cheese, or make up.


the mind boggles, chip ! ... gopher ????



mig: Do you ever read news of the weird? Link They have a section called "undignified deaths" and although I guess it shouldn't be amusing . . . some of them are . . . I'm sorry . . . I'm a bad person, aren't I


texas wahine, i didn't read it yet, but i will now !. you're not a bad person, this stuff is funny ! hehe


Wow! That was funny. I think I might have literally been or the floor laughing. I think that's the hardest I've laughed in the last couple of days. This article made my day Mig!


oooh, lucky you didn't die laughing, carebear (oooh bad joke bad joke)


singing.....Ah..........Men..........


smiling ! amen to that.


vanessa/mig XX
Reply #8 Top
I want to die like Majin Buu in Dragon Ball Z, or if I'm still a good guy in the future, I want to simply ascend to Heaven on head of Shenron and have the dragon balls enter me boosting my power level to a half billion


that sounds like my kind of death, messy buu.


vanessa/mig XX
Reply #9 Top
Dude, I want a DBZ death too. It would be half a season of exposition, and then my death would take all of 15 minutes.

Glorious!
Reply #10 Top
I don't want to die from a wah-fur theen meent.
Reply #11 Top
hmmmmm no mention of dying at the keyboard? 
Reply #12 Top
Dude, I want a DBZ death too. It would be half a season of exposition, and then my death would take all of 15 minutes. Glorious!


you got it, zweihander01!


I don't want to die from a wah-fur theen meent.


okay, you don't have to, historyishere


hmmmmm no mention of dying at the keyboard?


there is now , kingbee


vanessa/mig XX
Reply #13 Top
I like New York magazine..it's cheesy, and inane and yet so informative...I like the pictures best.

I hope I DO die in a stupid way. Nothing is coming between me and that Darwin Award. Unless it's my own shoe,..or a foreign object.



Dyl xx
Reply #14 Top
I like New York magazine..it's cheesy, and inane and yet so informative...I like the pictures best.


yes ! the squirrel cartoon was very funny !

I hope I DO die in a stupid way. Nothing is coming between me and that Darwin Award. Unless it's my own shoe,..or a foreign object


oh dyl, how can you tempt fate in that way ? lol.


vanessa/mig XX
Reply #15 Top
oooh, lucky you didn't die laughing, carebear (oooh bad joke bad joke)


Yes, lucky me.

~carebear~
Reply #16 Top
Yes, lucky me.


hey, you're still laughing. you left a smiley. (it is 3.35am why can't i sleep ? why ? why ?). if you don't stop laughing, it may still happen, cb !

mig XX
Reply #17 Top
the mind boggles, chip ! ... gopher ????


I just put the words that first came to mind when I thought about the odd ways to die explained in the article. We have gopher issues in our neighbor hood (as well as turkey problems, too - and I don't want the word turkey related in any way to my death, either - not pecked to death by, nothing to do with bad turkey breast sandwhich, or even Wild Turkey), so gophers came to mind...
Reply #18 Top
I dont really care how i die, as long as i outlive my parents, they went through enough pain when my brother died.


i hope you have your wish of outliving your folks, sabrina, as hard as it will be for you to face their loss, you'd prefer that to them facing yours. i feel the same .

Beyond that, hey, if the tale of my demise can provide chuckles for others after im gone, at least ive left that as a gift to the world, i doubt i'll be remembered for anything else.


if the world was fair, sabrina, you'd be remembered at the VERY LEAST for your poetry. and i'm sure you will go out with a 'bang', so to speak, my lady. the world will not be getting two of you (more's the pity !).

vanessa/mig XX
Reply #19 Top
I don't want to be found dead in a hotel with a midget wearing a cheerleader outf.....uhm did i day that out LOUD? Dammit!
Reply #20 Top
We have gopher issues in our neighbor hood


gopher issues ! really ? i'm sorry, but to an australian, that's funny !!!

(as well as turkey problems, too - and I don't want the word turkey related in any way to my death, either - not pecked to death by, nothing to do with bad turkey breast sandwhich, or even Wild Turkey),


ooooh yes. you should write one yourself chip. you're good at this. turkeys are an awful thing to be associated with. imagine the headlines ... 'dude, where's my turkey ?' ... 'the new hero ... turkeyman' ugh !

so gophers came to mind


yeah. i can go 'fer that, chip


vanessa/mig XX
Reply #21 Top
I don't want to be found dead in a hotel with a midget wearing a cheerleader outf.....uhm did i day that out LOUD? Dammit


um, brian, statistically speaking, and considering your life, give me the chances of that happening to you ?

how about please give me the chances of that happening to you ?

*rolling on floor delirious with sleep deprivation and mirth over brian and a midget wearing a cheerleader outf ..*

oops !. i nearly said it too hehe


vanessa/mig XX
Reply #22 Top
and I don't want the word turkey related in any way to my death, either -


ya know...this isn't that far fetched....

My hubby was driving up a trail behind our house on a four-wheeler with our black lab running ahead of him. The lab flushed up a turkey. A BIG turkey (course, they're never small, right?) and this BIG turkey flew right at my hubby. Knocked his coffee cup right out of his hand and his cap off his head. He damn near hit the dog too cause it was still chasing the bird.

Hey, it coulda been fatal! Instead it was only amusing. Now someday I'll have to tell you how my hubby got the Indian name "Kicking Skunk"
Reply #23 Top
Well mig.....i would say 50-50.... Any more than that...i'm going to have to take the time honored American method of pleading the fifth amendment ( "I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate me")
Reply #24 Top
xtine?

I have been told that my tribal name should be "types with forehead"
Reply #25 Top
and this BIG turkey flew right at my hubby. Knocked his coffee cup right out of his hand and his cap off his head. He damn near hit the dog too cause it was still chasing the bird.


xtine, i have seen those turkeys on the 'wild turkey' ads, and they are the most formidable looking things. and imagine how revolting it could have been ?. ew, the turkey could have made your hubby crash and squish his own dog. imagine poor you having tp put up with it all over the internet !. and being known as 'that turkey guys wife' !

Hey, it coulda been fatal! Instead it was only amusing. Now someday I'll have to tell you how my hubby got the Indian name "Kicking Skunk"


if it's anywhere near as funny as this, please do xtine !



Well mig.....i would say 50-50.


brian, you kill me !

Any more than that...i'm going to have to take the time honored American method of pleading the fifth amendment ( "I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate me")


funny. too funny. do you plan to blog your holiday 'happy snaps' then, brian ?

I have been told that my tribal name should be "types with forehead"


brian, remember my blog you commented in (turning miggy into muggy), and i said i'd go spell check your name ?. well, it gave me "that one guy in ... (your choice of... sulk, sack, sick, suck or (my personal favourite), silk !" (that's your mig tribal name lol)


vanessa/mig XX