yesterday afternoon a plane in LA screwed up its landing gear during the takeoff, so it had to fly around for a few hours then make an emergency crash landing right back here again. funny that since it was jetblue, who gives each passenger access to their own cable TV monitor, that each person could watch as the news covered the plane they were riding in up until just before they started the landing process. eat your heart out OJ.

the thing i was wondering last night is with us being to the point where almost everyone on board has a cell phone, how many of them turned it on do you think? either hoping to make a quick call to loved ones or potentially receive one. wondering what i’d do, mostly, because if i thought i was in a situation that could result in death, i’m fairly sure i would not make any attempts to hurriedly reach out to family and friends for a final farewell. i might even leave incoming calls to the voicemail, as cold as that sounds (however my resolve might waver in the face of seeing ‘parents’ on the little LCD at that particular moment). not only would i rather not involve them with the upset of that moment, i’m pretty sure i’d want to experience it alone with my own thoughts.

although given the opportunity to plan ahead, i think, i am all in favor of the method readers of dave eggers’ story, ‘notes for the story of a man who will not die alone’ from how we are hungry are familiar with: that is, gathering thousands of friends and family around to collectively rejoice at the exact moment of expiration of a life well-enjoyed. make it a party, not a tragedy.

[note: this was before watching my name is earl on tivo with friends, which has potential i think, in a raising arizona meets groundhog’s day kinda way, plus i gotta root for the jason lee based on mallrats alone.]