Odd-topsies

I'm sure most people would like to choose what music they could listen to before dying. If I were to go back in time and visit my nerdy little high school self, I'm sure I'd suggest something like Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera. Since then, my preferences have changed - everything from the dulcet repetitive tones of Phillip Glass to the smooth acoustic sound of the new Beastie Boys soundtrack and even to favorites like Return to Oz, by Scissor Sisters and Nowhere With You, by Joel Plaskett. (Still tear up to that one.) In a way, it's like choosing the song to which you'd like to summarize your whole life - one tough decision.

However, perhaps there's another way to solve this dilemma - let the music choose you. While I still can hardly believe there is such a profession, music thanatology offers musicians to use their talents essentially lulling the dying in their final moments. Using mainly a harp and lending their own voices to soothe patients and their families, music thanatologists do not respond to personal last requests, but perform according to the stasis of the patient. Breathing, restlessness, discomfort and relaxed are all somehow worked into the music by a professional musician, an angel of music, if you will.

If you were to ask me if I'd like one of these music thanatologists to be in the room, plucking on their little fairy harp in accordance with my haggard breathing and assured panicked state of being before being thrust into the unknown, well...I'm sure you can guess what my response would be.

...Get the f*** out of my room

This got me thinking - what do morticians listen to while they're prepping, dissecting and stitching bodies down in the cold recesses of the morgue? And if you think that seg was bad, check out this slightly disturbing but fascinating video on How Autopsies Work from HowStuffWorks.com. Even this woman can make the most fun out of an irksome profession with her Dollar Store ladle. (The video is near the bottom of the page.)

As I usually do when delving into such topics, I couldn't stop hitting the "Next" button as I Google searched "Autopsy photos," despite the fact that I was becoming more and more nauseated with each click. At the same time, a fire truck blared past my window, sending my mind into all kinds of bad thoughts, mostly concerning the safety of my boyfriend. I leave off now, considering this unsettling thought: Was it bad that I breathed a sigh of relief when he called me and, while knowing he was safe and alive, someone else's life was most likely in peril? For once, though distantly, I can now relate to some of the issues in Pushing Daisies...which everyone should watch. Until then, don't go toward the light!