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No rapture, but we’re ready for next time

By Catherine Toth Fox • May 23, 2011 • Musings, The Daily Dish

So where were you at 6 p.m. on Saturday, the day the world was supposed to end?

I was eating Portuguese bean soup with my family and watching “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” debating if I should open a bottle of pinot noir or stick with Diet Coke.

If the world ended at that moment, I would have been pretty satisfied.

But alas, the anticipated rapture — as predicted by Harold Camping, a, 89-year-old retired civil engineer who built a multimillion-dollar Christian media empire around these apocalyptic predictions — never happened. And thousands of believers were left wondering, well, what now and, maybe more importantly, what should we do next time.

Honestly, I had forgotten about the May 21 rapture. Otherwise, I would’ve surfed a little longer, ate a little worse and shortened that midday nap.

It’s interesting what people did on Saturday (or days in advance), thinking the world was going to end. Folks drained their savings or gave away their worldly possessions. Others took trips or visited loved one.

Honestly, I don’t know what I would do if I knew the world was going to end, say, on Thursday. I certainly wouldn’t be counting calories.

What would you do?

***

And more important, what would your playlist be? I say this because CNN cleverly put together a doomsday playlist. And here are the songs:

  • “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire
  • “It’s the End of the World” by REM
  • “Until the End of Time” by 2Pac
  • “The End” by The Doors
  • “Until the End of the World” by U2
  • “Waiting for the End of the World” by Elvis Costello
  • “Doomsday Clock” by Smashing Pumpkins
  • “Apocalypse Please” by Muse
  • “The End of the World” by Skeeter Davis
  • “The Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash

Got any to add?

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About the Author

Catherine Toth Fox

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24 Comments

  • Reply WildeOscar May 23, 2011 at 1:40 am

    Save the playlist. Many people have been talking about our year 2012 and the end of human life according to the Maya long-count calendar.

    For 2012, I am predicting a leap day February 29, a London Summer Olympiad in June, and a US presidential election on November 6. Sorry, I couldn’t squeeze in the end of the world, but I think I might have a weekend free sometime in 2031 for that.

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 3:48 pm

      LOL. I think you’re onto something!

  • Reply oldshoes May 23, 2011 at 1:41 am

    so….how does that work for all the different time zones? When they say “its the end at 6pm”? Us in Hawaii gets a little more time? Anyways, i bet if you mixed that diet coke and the pinot noir it may have been armageddon after all….

  • Reply oldshoes May 23, 2011 at 1:52 am

    My particular preferred playlist would be : “Bark at the Moon”,by Ozzy. “Heaven and Hell”,by Black Sabbath. “Faries Wear Boots”,by Black Sabbath. “Mr.Crowley” by Ozzy. And then the entire album “Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd. AND, for the next end-of-days in 2012, i’ll start off with “Stairway to Heaven”, by Led Zeppelin….

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 3:48 pm

      “Stairway to Heaven” — good one!

  • Reply M May 23, 2011 at 6:30 am

    Hello Cat,
    I did even think or worry about it. In fact I didn’t even believe it. Only GOD knows.

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 3:48 pm

      I wish I had remembered, actually. I woulda done something extra fun. Just in case!

  • Reply Cody Zamboni May 23, 2011 at 6:46 am

    2012, and last Saturday end of the world predictions. Color me bored silly with all this hype. Sad thiing is lots and LOTS of people are making money off of guilible folks who believe this nonsense.

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 3:48 pm

      Wonder if Vegas posted the odds…

  • Reply Kyleepuu May 23, 2011 at 8:00 am

    At the supposed rapture hour, I was at Magic Island clowning with tweeps for @rsuenaga memorial photos, I couldn’t have asked for better company, weather, setting or purpose! Food would have been great though 🙂

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 3:49 pm

      FOOD! I’m surprised there wasn’t any!

  • Reply jaydee May 23, 2011 at 8:22 am

    One suggestion to those who fall for these “false prophecies”, just don’t drink the kool-aid.

    Aerosmith: “I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing”

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 3:49 pm

      Wasn’t that song on “Armageddon”?

  • Reply steve May 23, 2011 at 9:32 am

    You could put together a long set of Arnold Schwartzeneger movies about Judgement Day and The End of Days. He might just be wishing that it really happened on May 21.

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 3:49 pm

      No kidding! LOL!

  • Reply matt May 23, 2011 at 9:34 am

    I think I was in line at The Counter in San Mateo, waiting to get my burger on. probably browsing around Trader Joe’s next door, waiting for the text message that my table was ready.

    Blondie: Rapture

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 3:49 pm

      Not a bad way to go, actually!

  • Reply turkfontaine May 23, 2011 at 5:55 pm

    i would down a shopping cart full of psychedelic drugs and jump out of a plane with no chute while listening to Rocket To Russia by the Ramones

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 10:23 pm

      That’s one glorious way to go!

      • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 10:23 pm

        I like your style. 🙂

  • Reply myama99 May 23, 2011 at 8:11 pm

    I would add “Nah, nah, nah, hey, hey, hey, goodbye” to the list. BTW the dude’s new prediction is Oct 21 now. Kind of a nice B-day present for me I think. Guess I’ll throw a party XP

    • Reply Catherine Toth May 23, 2011 at 10:24 pm

      There’s always 2012!

  • Reply David Jackson May 24, 2011 at 2:31 pm

    What would I do if the world was definitely for sure ending on Thursday… fly to St. Andrews tomorrow and play the old course, next would be Pebble Beach, and on Thursday I’d have a 6:00am Tee Time at Augusta National. those are my bucket list courses… and there is one girl on this planet I might finally get around to telling that her husband is a complete a$$hole and she should marry me for 3 days. Tough call for me… I really really want to play those courses.

  • Reply MaxMaxMax May 24, 2011 at 4:38 pm

    Cat, when you say, “people were preparing…” it’d be more accurate to say, “a small number of people were preparing…”

    I doubt many at all gave credence to this loon’s ideas.

    I think you had the right idea–forget it was even happening, and watch a movie…

    “Oooooooooooklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma, Oklahoma…”

    My favorite part of the movie!

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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