A headstone of 140 characters

I didn’t fully intend for this to happen, but I didn’t tweet for 25 hours. Some kind of Twitter detox, I guess you could say. Twitter is such that you get a lot of small bursts of information, and despite them individually being in bite-sized chunks, that’s no different to having to read a drab academic article on journalism especially when you might follow a lot of people, or the people you follow are borderline spam with their retweets of teen quote accounts and love lyrics or just whining or using Twitter as an instant messaging service. Information overload isn’t pretty, and that may explain why some people don’t read everything on their timeline, and you’re certainly not expected to.

That aside, I don’t put my following at fault, because I follow people on Twitter because I’m interested in what they tweet. So the other night when one of my favourite bands The Griswolds tweeted about their remix of Hey Geronimo’s song Carbon Affair, I had to click that YouTube link and watch it right away. I’d been expecting it for a couple of days. I found the video horrible but hilarious. I don’t particularly like remixes but The Griswolds made a huge parody out of this one by using Andrew (from Hey Geronimo) – or his face, rather – as the subject of the video. It was the hardest I’d laughed that week, and jokingly tweeted this:

I had a very silly idea that I would pretend I really did die watching that video and not tweet for a while just to make people worried. I usually don’t pull these kinds of jokes but I was bored, and tweeting less would be a challenge to see how long I would last. After tweeting such a message it was easy to just leave Twitter alone and not tweet, and from that moment I decided to go back to finalising my Christmas cards, and shut Twitter for the night.

Last Friday I bought some pretty paper and card to make Christmas cards. I lost interest in Christmas cards a few years ago when Christmas stopped being a big thing for my family (I don’t remember the last year we put a Christmas tree). I also tend to hoard things, and I still have Christmas cards from fifteen years ago, which is pretty awful. Only recently have I managed to put some into the recycling. In this digital age, it’s a bit sad to know that that is how something like greeting cards are left to be, but a lot of other things we use are also eventually used and let go of and thrown out. Despite that, I thought it’d be nice to send some Christmas cards to my fellow bloggers, given that we really only keep in touch online and sending an e-card would be a bit redundant given that our only point of contact is online.

I enjoyed making the cards more than I thought, and they’re simpler than I expected them to be. I was also shipping some gifts overseas and I didn’t want to spend too much money on pretty paper, not to mention the postage of greeting cards really adding up. I’m keen to send out some more so feel free to if you are interested in exchanging cards (or gifts, if you’re keen!).

It was night-time so Twitter was fairly easy to ignore. Throughout the day it was tempting to reply to a few people whose tweets I caught a glimpse of, but I managed to keep myself busy at work. I think I got a few messages from some people but I waited until later to respond to them. Close to 24 hours passing, I thought it’d be a boredom-cure to hold myself a little “Twitter funeral”. I fished up @georgiebot, my Twitter bot (I’ve just programmed it to say random catchphrases every couple of hours), and got Daniel to help me post status updates on a memorial service.

I was reminded of my funeral playlist, a small list of songs I wanted to have played at my funeral. I know people have often completed memes for something like “Soundtrack of my life” or “Songs summing up this year”, and for me that’s just something that gets added to over time, or simply develops. But ever since discovering my love for Montpelier’s music, I’ve found that their emotional songs would be songs I would want played at my funeral. Also, thinking about the songs I’d like played when I get married, it made me think of another huge event in one’s life where they play music, so that got me thinking about funeral music – and why must it be sad and dull? So I made a list in my head, and decided I’d tell my friends that they would have to play Hey Geronimo at the conclusion of my funeral if I ever happen to die before them. It’s a peculiar thing to think about, but it sort of sums up your life better than thinking about the soundtrack of your life – because while your life’s soundtrack would contain songs representing individual and special moments and memories, the soundtrack at your funeral would be songs that people would remember you by, and for… and they would be songs you’d want those closest to you to hear when they gather to remember you.

  1. Naive Orleans (acoustic) – Anberlin
  2. Girl – Montpelier
  3. The Rafters – Montpelier
  4. Danny – Montpelier
  5. China Shop – Montpelier
  6. Last Boat – Montpelier
  7. I Started a Joke – Bee Gees
  8. Don’t Wear Me Out – Oceanship
  9. Just For You – William Tell
  10. Swing Life Away – Rise Against
  11. So Long, Lonesome – Explosions in the Sky
  12. Cry With Music – Lime Cordiale
  13. Co-op Bookshop – Hey Geronimo
  14. Dreamboat Jack – Hey Geronimo
  15. Heart of a Lion – The Griswolds
  16. Evil Woman – ELO

I listened to my ridiculous funeral playlist while Daniel tweeted this funeral service, and it made me sad that half of the songs were not even fun. I’d always thought – make the people cry, then make them dance. I watched a drama television show once where a girl recorded a video just before she passed away and in it she said to her friends, “Don’t you dare cry!” The video was humourous and littered with jokes, and that was how she wanted to be remembered. She said she didn’t want anyone crying about her, she wanted them to remember her and smile.

I like the sound of that, but of course, if I actually weren’t alive, there would be at least a few people crying and unable to smile.

Those were my favourite tweets that Daniel came up with; I absolutely adored the references to Hey Geronimo and his witty remarks – albeit posting as my bot, my alter-ego, my evil twin, myself from a parallel universe, et cetera.

Following that, I “came back to life” after a tweet about the video that made me die of laughter. It’s strange what comes to mind when it comes to microblogging – you couldn’t do this on a regular blog. The internet makes even the most morbid things funny. I’m pretty sure if I found myself in a dark coffin hearing music on the outside, I’d panic more so than just demand to be let out.

Do you know what you’d want played at your funeral? Or would you be cool with dancing monkeys or a scene from Evil Dead 2 being played up on a big screen?

Comments on this post

That was heaps of fun! XD (Not saying it was fun getting disconnected at the critical moment, being unable to save your life as a result and mourning you thereafter… you know what I mean!) I’m proud of you as well, not for dying, but for managing to stay off Twitter for 25 hours — more than a full day (even though I haven’t been around for literally months)! Oh, and coming back to life too, of course :P

I didn’t expect that you’d get me to post as your bot, much less knowing what to say! It was a pretty fun experience though, I’ll admit. And I guess I did post some pretty witty tweets after all! I’m glad you liked them :)

Of course, for the sake of completeness, I ought to quote myself as tweeted by your bot (aka… myself):

Needless to say, I’m thankful that you’re not really gone /hehe Love you, little big sis!

Unfortunately, I’m not that big on music, so I don’t really have a funeral playlist nor have I thought about one. But if I were to have one song to choose to be played at my funeral… it’d be Everywhere by Michelle Branch ♥

25 hours!? That’s more than a day! D: I don’t think I would ever be able to do that, unless I was on vacation & didn’t have internet access.

I hoard too! I have cards that were made out to me for every occasion, oh gosh!
I haven’t made Christmas cards since I was 5. :( They’re just not big in our family, but we do celebrate every year! We used to put up a Christmas tree every year as well, but since we got cats, we can’t — all they do is climb up the tree (even if it’s fake!) and it ruins it. :(
I would love to exchange Christmas cards! I’ll email you in a bit, maybe tomorrow lol. I would exchange gifts, but I literally just started at my new job & my paycheck has to go to the Christmas gifts for my family. :|

A soundtrack for my future funeral or future wedding sounds like a good thing to be planning when I’m bored! I think I might start with the wedding one though! :P I think I would want to listen to more oldies before I start planning my funeral playlist!
I love your Georgie Bot! It’s adorable & Daniel did a great job with those statuses lol.

In reply to your comment on my blog: Really? The same person? I went through all of their pages (for their review that they applied for), but I didn’t see anything! :O Maybe I just overlooked? I’m contacting her today (or tomorrow) about it though. Will you be contacting the person?
I know it’s not worth getting angry about, but I can’t help it. :(

I have some people who I find to be borderline creepy because they actually read everything I tweet… Yeah, it’s super weird. I think I do break the rules of “tweeting”, though. :p

I actually didn’t see that tweet, though. :o

Cards do seem fun, though. :) I’m in a Christmas/holiday card exchange on daydreamz.net, only I can’t participate this year. P: They do options for both, though, so it makes it easier for me. I missed out on it last year altogether. D;

Out of curiosity, I read the “funeral” thing on your Twitter bot, and that’s actually hilarious. :P

Having a funeral playlist seems like a good idea. I’m not really sure what I want to have play at mine, though.

I have a Twitter but never really used it but I can understand why it would it seemed like you “died” and you guys had a funeral especially if you are frequent user.

It’s okay. I keep Christmas, birthday cards from years pass especially ones I really like.

Maybe next year I’ll participate. I’m done with Christmas cards. Lol

I did see that RIP tweet of yours, but didn’t feel like replying back to it…
But you really didn’t tweet for the next 25 hours?? OMG! That really is something.
I think Twitter is very convenient to be used for IMing, etc.
But yes the retweets does spam your account unnecessarily!

I loved the idea of a funeral playlist…. and your playlist looks great. (H)

Take Care, Georgie!

It’s good to see that there are people who appreciate a good joke and had fun with you! I watched the video that the Girswolds made and didn’t really get it, but figured that it was probably something that you don’t really get unless you’ve been following the Griswolds and Hey Geronimo for a while, which I haven’t been doing.

I have no idea what I’d want played at my funereal right now, and the last funereal that I went to (which was years ago), only played one song. But I’ll figure out something. I am tempted to say that Heart of a Lion will be on the list, but my funereal is still far far away. (Or at least I hope)

I can’t even tweet 24 hours, lol. I may do, but it depends on the Internet. I don’t expect much on my tweets (if you really read my tweet, ahahaha), as I don’t have anything to be share.

Smile (:

Hahahahaha that’s hilarious! I always go through little spurgers of tweeting, where I post EVERYTHING on Twitter, Tweet every 5 seconds and reply to all of my followings. Then don’t tweet at all for days on end. Haha.

I mainly use Twitter as a sort of mini news update. I check certain profiles like NME, celebrity gossip and Apple related news every few days, just so I stay in the loop haha (H)

I made my first every Christmas card today too! I was in Brighton the other day and got inspired by a little bookshop. So I decided to make one of the flats in my building a Christmas Card. it was made from spare fabric I found and my typewriter. It was one of those so bad it’s almost good kinda things haha.

Have a nice Christmas!

You went 25 hours without tweeting? That’s pretty impressive! I go through days when I don’t tweet because I get occupied by so many other things.

And I can’t wait to get your Christmas card! I only hope yours doesn’t end up on some US Navy ship and get delayed for 2 months! That’s what happened to one of my cards (that a friend in Australia, ironically!) last year! It was missent to USS Carl Vinson O_o;; I was just like WTF at that, hahaha!

When I was in middle school, we had to plan our funeral. (It tied into our study of Egyptian mummification, etc. somehow.) And I have to say that none of it included “update Twitter to notify followers of death.” I don’t think any of us even used the Internet yet…. so basically your faux death is completely opposite everything in our faux deaths. Although we did also have to pick a song. I can’t remember what I picked… I hope my mother still has that project somewhere, it would be very entertaining to find now, haha.

I’m not very good at keeping up with Twitter, haha. I’m one of those that reads everything, but only posts every few days (or less often than that), so 25 hours doesn’t sound that bad to me.

I thought having a fake Twitter funeral, though dark, is a fun idea :) It’s kind of like dark humor, which I’m usually a fan of. I like the tweets that Daniel came up with! I actually never thought of putting together a funeral playlist. I guess the thought of it is kind of depressing to me.

Don’t post that you’ve passed away. :( I’m very gullible when it comes to these things. /angry

I have times like that I don’t know what to tweet or don’t want to tweet. But I usually end up tweeting something boring…like always actually.

I can’t wait for your Christmas card! I hope mine gets there soon! I actually had a friend help me send it because I forgot mine. :( Hopefully she didn’t forget…so sorry if she did, but it’ll get to you! ♥