OCTOBER 13, 2011 2:13AM

Dead People

Rate: 7 Flag

I got this Motorola Razr V2.

Not a bad cell phone.

I had the V1 a few years before that.

I don't want to buy a new one.

_____________________________

I've got dead people in my directory.

 I don't want to remove them.

 The V2 just sucked up the V1's directory without any conscious effort. Just showed up on the little sim card or the ether or somewhere.

_____________________________

I don't look at the names much. Notice them much.

But they are in there.

_____________________________

 They are of no use in this world.

 _____________________________

 

Chinese joss paper iPhone

 

Ghost phones and cell card. Nokia and iPhone. Cell card in Vietnamese, 1,000,000 dong. Made of folded cardboard.

___________________________

I don't know.

Maybe we will chat in heaven.

Or hell.

___________________________

I'm keeping the phone numbers.

My memory isn't that good. 

===============
 
Joss paper (simplified Chinese金纸traditional Chinese金紙pinyinjÄ«nzhǐ; literally "gold paper", Chinese:陰司紙pinyinyÄ«nsÄ«zhǐChinese紙錢pinyinzhǐqián, or simplified Chinese: å†¥å¸; traditional Chinese: å†¥å¹£; pinyin: míng bì; literally "shade/dark money" / Vietnamesevàng mã in the North or giấy tiền vàng bạc in the South), also known as ghost money, are sheets of paper and/or paper-crafts made into burnt offerings which are common in traditional Chinese religious practices including the veneration of the deceased on holidays and special occasions. Joss paper, as well as other papier-mâché items, are also burned in traditional Chinese funerals, to ensure that spirit of the deceased has lots of good things in the afterlife. 

 

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Comments

Type your comment below:
Oh, man, Nick, I get this. So much. I've got dead people, too.
~R~
a piece like this is why i'm still on this site, reading. breathtaking piece, nick, all of it. literally made me gasp.
Like when exactly is the right time to delete someone?

The obit? Funeral?

Next week?

Month after?

Which is why I just leave them.
Thanks for the comments.

Readers like Kimberly and Candace are one of the reasons I still post things here.
I tried to watch "Hannah Takes the Stairs" once. Or was it "Greenberg"? Are they the same movie. Probably.
This is you at your finest - few words, big impact. I've missed it.
This is a great post and one that deals with an important question about what to do with the "dead folks listing."

I had an art dealer once who did a mailing for an announcement of one of my exhibitions. The dealer had simply marked through the name of a recently deceased husband on one one of the announcement envelopes. Too damn cheap to use a new envelope...
Now that Jobs is up there in Heaven,
DO NOT erase those numbers, boyo.
(a word to the wise!)
Now that Jobs is up there in Heaven,
DO NOT erase those numbers, boyo.
(a word to the wise!)
the dead are in need of communicating.
the wires to their habitat will be ethereal, but solidly built,
if done correctly.

eg:

since sex is on my mind today:

Man becomes, as it were, the sex organs of the machine world, as the bee of the plant world, enabling it to fecundate and to evolve ever new forms.
The machine world reciprocates man's love by
expediting his wishes and desires, namely, in providing him
with wealth. (p.56) mcluhan.
Yes, it's tough. You seemed to have considered all the angles tho'

I'm in the habit of saving messages on the answering machine just in case ... it's freaking me out