Who's Bad

It is strange that my first blog post in weeks is about Michael Jackson (go back in time and ask past-me if I ever thought that would be the case and I would have first said that time travel is impossible, and then said no) but I find myself in this curious place where I can't get him off of my mind. Obviously his death is a total surprise and has hit the airwaves and internet with the force of a nuclear bomb. Trying to avoid the topic of Michael Jackson right now is like trying to avoid pulped fruit at a Gallagher show (google it or ask mom and dad...I'm in 80's nostalgia mode, all right!).

Let me take you on a journey through time as we view snapshots of the moments where Michael Jackson's life intersected mine...

1982 - First-grade-me hears about Michael Jackson from the kids at school. I agreed with them about how awesome he was and how he had the best dance moves ever, even though I had never heard a single song of his, had absolutely no idea what he looked like and didn't know he existed until they brought him up.

1983 - Became desperately jealous of the kid in school who had the red and black Thriller jacket, even though I had never heard the song or seen the video. This was when I also became aware of the fact that Michael Jackson was not a white guy. Kid-me was not Johnny Pop Culture. Tried to do moonwalk. Failed. Made dad record an episode of Silver Spoons where Michael shows up at the local hangout and dances with Alfonso. Was disappointed when it turned out to just be an impersonator. Alfonso could sure dance, though.

1984 - Became desperately jealous of the kid in school who had the red zipper jacket and one sparkly white glove. This didn't hurt too bad though, because I wanted the black zipper jacket. Practiced moonwalk often. Failed. Enrolled in break dancing lessons to learn it. Failed. Saw a "Making of Thriller" documentary on display at the county fair and begged my parents to let me watch the video. They had no idea what I was talking about. They were also not Johnny Pop Culture. I went to a friend's house after school one day and watched it in her basement on VHS tape over and over and over...Tried to do moonwalk one last time. Failed. Successfully did the worm, though.

1987 - "Bad" was released and I enjoyed the single, but got way more play out of Weird Al Yankovic's "Even Worse" album. I wore that thing out.

1989 - Discovered rock and roll and completely lost interest in Michael Jackson.

1994 - He married Lisa Marie Presley and I felt very uncomfortable about that. Started to sense some desperation in him.

2003 - The real downward spiral began. Allegations of sexual abuse. Dangling babies. Bizarre behavior. The guy I'd loved as a kid was gone and had been replaced by a ghost haunting his old hangouts, trying to resurrect the fame and success of years past.

Today - Michael Jackson is dead. I hear fans interviewed on the radio talking about what a great man he was and how he changed the world. How things will never be the same. For my part, he entertained the world for a time, but the man and the legend are separated by a pretty great divide. What I feel the most is sadness. For his kids - they didn't ask for the circus of a life they were given, nor did they ask to lose their father before they even hit their teens. For his family - regardless of what you think of them, they lost a son and brother. For him.

I heard on the radio today an interview with the man who was going to auction off all of Michael Jackson's belongings at the Neverland Ranch to pay for his $400 million dollar debt. He said that the house was filled with hundreds of life size statues that Jackson had purchased over the years. The fact that he filled his house with replicas of life-size people says more about his loneliness, I think, than anything else.

My prayer for his family is that God grants them peace in their hearts as they grieve and rest from the chaos of the hungry press and crushing fans. May his kids get only the best of him. And may God spare anyone else from the isolation and loneliness that hunted Michael Jackson for his whole life.

Less Than or Equal to Six Flags

On Tuesday, The Creek took a road trip to Six Flags in St. Louis. It was an incredible event with two notable exceptions:

1. We designed and ordered event t-shirts, and let me tell you...the design was super cool. We went with a roman numeral theme for the letter six, so it looked like "VI". It was totally cutting edge...until I went to the screen print place to pick up the shirts up and saw that they had printed the design sideways. So instead of "VI" we have a "less than or equal to" sign on our shirts.

2. We got to the park and had a great time on the rides. The lines were almost non-existent and we were moving quickly from one ride to the next...until at 1:45 pm a storm front blew in out of nowhere and poured down sheets, blankets and comforters of rain all over us. At one point we were lambasted with pea sized chunks of hail. We all gathered as quickly as possible (those of us who weren't in the middle of eating lunch at least) and huddled together in a steaming mass of cold wetness while we prepared to leave Six Flags a full two hours early. My shoes are still drying off in the basement.

The day will go down in history as the Less Than or Equal to Six Flags Trip.

Jedi Juice

Do I really get paid for this?