Yellowknife (Jun 07/06) - How do you want to be remembered? It's a question about our own mortality and what kind of a legacy each of us will leave behind.

For most, a simple tombstone and the memories of our friends and family will keep us alive. But has anyone ever thought of taxidermy?

Kassandra Spoelder in her "oh-my-gosh" pose with a "dash of diva" -- her choice for how she would spend eternity in a state of taxidermy. - Jason Unrau/NNSL photo

OK, so it's a bit of a morbid idea, yet conversation around the office last week on this very topic produced some hilarious options for afterlife in suspended animation.

Yellowknife taxidermist Greg Robertson is not so sure.

"It would be very difficult because you don't have the hair like an animal," he said of the tanning process that would ultimately damage a person's skin tone and texture.

Instead, he suggests a mold would be made from the face that would be used to create a rubber replica similar to the kind special effects artists create for the big screen.

As well, he noted the challenge of capturing a person just how friends and family remember them.

"I would compare it to mounting a pet," said Robertson, who in his 15-year career as a professional taxidermist, specializes in game animals and has done very few cats and dogs.

"But each person is unique, so it would be much more difficult," he says with a chuckle at the very idea.

"I definitely want to be fishing," replied Robertson, when asked about the outlandish notion of being posthumously rendered into a state of taxidermy.

"Sitting there with my guitar, man, playing for all eternity with my teeth," said Michael LeBlanc.

His buddy Daniel Mikus' idea was almost as funny, but not as inspiring.

"Uh, maybe something like a hangover pose," he offered.

Much to the surprise of this reporter, dramatic sports poses were not so popular.

From the ladies, the most popular was referred to as the ta-da pose.

The ta-da pose?

"You know, the one game show assistants use to show off the prizes," said Cat Szabo of the Yellowknife Visitors Centre.

Another woman, who also declined to give her name explained the ta-da pose like this.

"Everyone who knows me knows I'd pick the ta-da pose," she said extending her hands out palms upwards to accentuate the prospects of winning a cruise for two or a new convertible.

"Because women, we're all drama queens."