Learning to Die

All my life I have been surrounded by things I'd rather not know too much about, so I have come to feel that truth made naked without purpose is really a wanton. The Kraken Wakes, John Wyndham Since we're all going to die some day, we might consider imagining as sooner than too late imagine … Continue reading Learning to Die →

Dying Is Irritating

Why are the dying in such foul moods sometimes? Why the moodiness when you say you're not in pain, Mr. Hospice? Is it a pain you don't know how to talk about? Well, I can say this: For those not fully invested in their consciousness being transferred to some sweet hereafter, it's irritating when we're … Continue reading Dying Is Irritating →

A Hospice Takeover: What’s Left When You Can’t Take It With You

What's left to do before we die? What must we leave undone? And what does that mean to our relationship with our stuff now, or to the stuff of our relationships? "Youth's a stuff [that] will not endure" wrote Shakespeare. Petruchio called his new bride Katherina ...my goods, my chattels; she is my house, my … Continue reading A Hospice Takeover: What’s Left When You Can’t Take It With You →

Some Icky Sounds, and Silence

Here's a sound for you: gurgling. It's the frequently misnamed, so-called "death rattle". Does that involuntarily raise your hair follicles = make your skin crawl? Do you feel queasy on hearing or remembering the sound? If your scrotum involuntarily contracts (what's the female equivalent?), then you'd agree with me when I call it the creepiest … Continue reading Some Icky Sounds, and Silence →