you tacky thing

The idea of death doesn’t particularly frighten me. I don’t like the idea, of course; I assume that dying will be unpleasant or at least immediately preceded by unpleasantness, like getting stabbed or having a degenerative cancer or thinking “Gosh that fish looked a bit off.” All things considered, I like being alive. I would prefer to remain that way, given the choice. But dying doesn’t haunt me like it used to, when I was young and obsessed with the possibility of late-Cold-War nuclear annihilation.

Except for one sort of death, that is: The death you know is coming in only moments, and which you cannot stop. (more…)