I was dead. I got better though.
Sometime in the beginning of the year, I woke up at 4 AM, I hopped on my phone, and I listened to film director, Kevin Smith, talk about how no one imagines themselves dead. That we, as people, don't see ourselves not here.
That inspired me to write something. I started up my water boiling for a nice cup of coffee and began to write my own obituary.
That's when it became clear to me. Though my life has been nothing short of amazing, I was born, I did some cool things, and I died. I didn't become a serial killer, I didn't become a guy that got famous for being rude to women, I didn't steal the Declaration of Independence. Basically, a normal enough dude is me. Yes, I'm creative, yes, I've been in the creative arts with some success and lots of failures, but no, no one should make a movie about my life. I worked, I wrote, and I enjoyed my time.
So, once I wrote this initial obit, I decided it wasn't worthy of publishing in a blog. I decided that I would make my phony death a little more exciting. Yes, I was going to die in my bed, but it would not be normal.
So I wrote my own death.
It was my ode to journalism. To write something so crazy, but it reads straight and real. To a point.
What had started as a fun thought and writing experiment changed how I looked at social media. I posted a screenshot of the blog to my Instagram. It threw everyone in so many ways.
I had many people reposting and telling stories of how much they loved me and missed me. A few reached out to the family and somehow someone got word across the pond. I contacted these people and reminded them that I'm a comedy writer, and a damn good one too.
I've generally been a passive observer, but this death of myself posting got me to look at the opportunity of what I could do with my writing.
I stayed quiet for a few days, just considering where to go with this.
Eventually, inspiration hit. I was going to come back to life as my long lost twin brother that was visiting from Iran.
By this time, most people knew it was for fun, but I still had a few personal phone calls to make to those that didn't get the joke. As it turns out, making jokes about death is risky. Many feel it's too tough of a situation to make fun of.
I get it. I really do.
I had fun coming up with something new and exciting for my friends and family to see progressing live. It's a bit of a blur on the lines of what's real and what's produced. Andy Kaufman would've loved it. I know I did.
What's next? I don't know. I'm not going to fake my death for a while. It'll happen though. I'm sure people will get comfortable with me and I have to let people have a spiritual experience every once in a while.
The twin brother is now alive and well. And thanks to consistent disagreements between the American and Iranian governments, there's now an agreement that the twin brother could legally take over my own social security and debts and is now living as me. He had to shave his long beard though!
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