Remember Tim Murphy? Once upon a time, his grandpa invited him
and his sister Lex to an amusement park because their parents were going
through a nasty divorce. And then dinosaurs attacked and he almost died
several times.
Now Tim is all grown up and living his very best life — a.k.a.,
trying desperately to forget the tragic events of his youth. But he
can’t, which is something you’d know if you followed him on Twitter.
In between tweeting average, mundane things like “Listening to The
National” and “Chipotle for lunch today,” Dr. Alan Grant’s number one
fan reminds us all that we’ve never truly struggled until the jeep we’re
in gets thrown into a tree by a T. Rex. He also has an impressively
straightforward bio, lest we need a reminder: “20 years ago my
grandfather invited my sister and me to a theme park with dinosaurs
& they got loose and tried to kill us. I love The National and
Arcade Fire.”
In honor of “Jurassic World,” let’s take a look at some of Tim’s best tweets:
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His first-ever tweet last July summed him up pretty perfectly.
Greetings, twitterverse! When I was 9 years old I was relentlessly terrorized and nearly killed by cloned prehistoric monsters.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) July 27, 2014
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He’s not always in the mood to talk about the past.
Guy
on train wants to talk dinosaurs. Usually I jump at the opportunity to
relive the most traumatic event of my life, but not right now.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) July 27, 2014
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He knows his situation is quite unique.
Only
a handful of people in history can say they were attacked by dinosaurs
and it’s a staggeringly awful truth that I’m one of them— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) July 28, 2014
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He sometimes reminisces on his relationship with his sister.
My
sister & I have been through a lot together. Being pinned in an
overturned jeep by the greatest predator to roam the earth, for example— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) July 30, 2014
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And his grandpa.
Thinking of my grandfather today. His hubris and reckless ambition put my life in unthinkable peril but I still miss him a lot.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) July 30, 2014
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But he and Lex don’t really talk about the past.
Grabbed
lunch with Lex today. We did not talk about the time I was brutally
electrocuted by a fence designed to contain literal dinosaurs.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) July 31, 2014
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He has some lofty goals for his life.
There’s
a lot I want to accomplish in my life & I would put “never get
attacked by a Tyrannosaurs Rex again” squarely at the top of the list— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) July 31, 2014
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As well as some average day-to-day goals.
So much of my life revolves around not putting myself in any situation where dinosaurs could or would ever want to kill me— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) August 15, 2014
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He sums up his childhood pretty accurately in less than 140 characters.
If
I could sum up my childhood in one sentence it would be: My parents got
divorced and then a few months later dinosaurs tried to eat me.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) August 1, 2014
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He really can’t overstate the impact of it.
Can’t
stress this enough: Dinosaurs tried very hard to kill me over the
course of several excruciating, life-altering days. I was 9.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) August 5, 2014
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He almost definitely knows fear better than you do.
I have a clearer and deeper understanding of fear than every single person in this Starbucks— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) August 1, 2014
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He sincerely hopes future generations are spared from dino attacks.
Congrats
to my cousin Kelly on the birth of her daughter. A childhood free of
being hunted by velociraptors is something I will always envy.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) August 3, 2014
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He sometimes wants to remind us about just HOW BAD his sitch was.
Did
you know that I was once in a situation so completely horrifying that
nearly drowning in mud was *by far* the most pleasant part of it?— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) August 4, 2014
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Remember that time a T. rex threw his car into a tree? So does he.
On a good day I can almost forget that whole thing that happened in the tree— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) August 5, 2014
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There was also that time he fell victim to an electric fence.
One thing to note about the time I was hunted and terrorized by dinosaurs for several days: I also got electrocuted.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) September 3, 2014
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There was also that time he was stalked by raptors.
One
vivid memory I have is being trapped in a kitchen with two of the most
horrific and nightmarish monsters you could possibly imagine— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) July 29, 2014
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He’d like to clear up this misconception.
People
ask if I saw “flying dinosaurs.” I didn’t. The dinosaurs that tried to
rip me into a hundred pieces could not fly, unfortunately.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) August 6, 2014
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He’s pretty amazed at his 9-year-old self’s strength.
Once
upon a time, the only thing separating me from the horrific jaws of a
T. Rex was a pane of glass supported by my 9-year-old arms.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) February 22, 2015
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He’s also pretty impressed with how far he’s come — as are we.
600
followers! I never imagined I’d get this far, especially given that,
when I was 9 years old, dinosaurs tried very hard to kill me.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) May 27, 2015
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He makes sure his new followers get the gist.
Hi
new followers. I was robbed of a happy childhood and confronted with my
own mortality at the hands of genetically engineered monsters.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) August 7, 2014
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Imagine hearing this in your head all day long.
I’ve had the deafening, gut-wrenching shriek of velociraptors reverberating in my skull for 2 decades now.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) August 23, 2014
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He sometimes has a totally ordinary thought, but then remembers that other thing.
The new Belle and Sebastian album is great. Dinosaurs tried to kill me when I was 9 years old and I’ll always live with that.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) January 21, 2015
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Like, it happens pretty often.
Listening to the new Modest Mouse album. Kinda underwhelmed. Unrelated but, velociraptors tried to kill me one time.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) March 28, 2015
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Even exciting Apple announcements are overshadowed by the sheer terror of his past.
I’m excited about the iPhone 6 and regularly have some of the most viscerally terrifying nightmares you could possibly imagine.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) September 9, 2014
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Same with viral pop culture discussions.
lol at the dress debate. I say it’s black and blue but who knows! Prehistoric monsters almost killed me when I was 9.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) February 27, 2015
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His nightmares are worse than yours.
I had a nightmare about dinosaurs trying to kill me last night, which makes sense because that actually happened.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) September 15, 2014
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One time he went a week without tweeting. But that wasn’t the worst thing to happen to him.
Apologies
for the Twitter hiatus. If it’s any consolation, at least velociraptors
didn’t try to kill you when you were 9 years old.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) September 29, 2014
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He doesn’t appreciate your sense of humor about the situation.
What
am I going to be for Halloween? If you guessed scarecrow you’re
correct. If you guessed dinosaur you’re a reprehensible piece of shit.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) October 30, 2014
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He wasn’t too amused when the “Jurassic World” trailer came out.
I could’ve done without this pic.twitter.com/K9P080apin— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) November 26, 2014
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And he’s pretty salty that it’s getting so much attention.
I
can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to being able to watch TV
again without seeing dinosaurs during every commercial break.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) June 10, 2015
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One time he asked if there are any good movies out, but then quickly had to amend that question.
Sorry I should’ve clarified: Good movies that don’t directly reference the single most traumatic experience of my entire life.— Tim Murphy (@The_Tim_Murphy) June 9, 2015
So please keep Tim in your thoughts this weekend. While we’re all
enjoying the fictional events of “Jurassic World,” there are real-life
survivors like Tim who are still trying to cope with the PTSD of
dinosaur attacks. Stay strong, dude.
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