Knock knock. Time to crawl out from that rock you’ve been under and welcome to the biggest news of the year. Michael Jackson is gone. The King of Pop passed away on Friday of a cardiac arrest. It is confirm that MJ had injected himself with a powerful painkiller an hour before he collapsed and it is said that he was addicted to this drug for a good 20 years. Michael Jackson died before turning 51 and just 2 weeks before he put on the biggest comeback tour of the century. MJ’s music has always been part of my life, as I’m sure it did yours. When I was in primary school, our class sang Heal The World as part of our Hari Guru performance and just 2 years ago, the whole Fly family attempted to do the Thriller dance for our 2nd Flyniversary. The end product sucked of course but the hours we spent goofing around together was way more valuable than the dance itself. On Friday when we dedicated the entire show to Michael Joseph Jackson, Prem and I were moved by the storied you shared on how MJ has/had been part of your life in the most unlikely way. Natasha told of how she suffered from nightmares for years after seeing MJ in a movie and there was Steven who said he will always remember the King Of Pop when he orders a Michael Jackson at the mamak (it’s soya cincau in case you didn’t know). I’m going to stop here, because I’m sure you will come across many other blogs that will pay better tributes to Michael Jackson, King of Pop. I’m going to leave you instead with a brilliant cover of Man In The Mirror by Australian acapella group Idea of North and 2 videos. The first is of Chris Cornell (Audioslave) giving an emotional version of Billie Jean and the second shows 4177 people over 72 cities and 10 nations dancing to Thriller. The massive dance off is called Thrill The World, just like how Michael Jackson did. RIP MJ!
When I was filthy kid of 10, my dad drilled these words into my head: Never get a shift job. His take on it is that jobs that require you to work shifts would mess up your social life because of the inconsistency of working hours and such is its damaging effect on your relationship with your other half/kids/family/friends/TV etc. Dad was working as an air traffic controller at the time and he was speaking from experience. So naturally, the first proper job I got 3 years ago i.e the one I have right now is one where I have to work shifts.
When I first started, Fly Fm was located at KLIA so I spent alot of time commuting. And with all that time in my hands (it took an average of 2 hours to get to work), I spent some good quality time observing Malaysians and this is one incident I remember.
I was on the LRT early in the afternoon a.k.a. pre sardine hour. Opposite me sat a more than middle aged Chinese lady beside an elderly Indian man. I was engrossed in my choice of literature (#9 Dream by David Mitchel, highly recommended) but after a bit, I started listening in to their conversation. Neither could speak the other's language, so they found common ground chatting in Malay. The elderly man was telling the more than mid age lady that he was on his way to a clinic in Brickfields to get his sakit tulang looked at and he was lamenting on how difficult it is to get by on his pensioner’s allowance. The woman then began recommending a few sin seis he could go to to get his sakit tulang treated for a much cheaper price. She knows, because her daughter is in Singapore and doesn’t send her much money so she has to get by with what little she has. Then both of them started talking about anak tak hantar wang and ubat sakit tulang. 10 minutes into a conversation that was none of my business and I was already envisioning a unique cross cultural love blossoming between two over the hill people of different races based on the common ground of arthritis and prodigal offspring. That is, until the woman got off 3 stops later.
Anyway that little episode made me renew my faith in Malaysians all over again. We don’t have to scratch too hard at the surface to find that the majority of us truly value the fact that we are a multiracial nation, don't you think?
This morning I woke up at 6.45 a.m. and rolled around in bed for a bit, strangely feeling not as sleepy as I expected to be considering I had slept at 3.30 a.m. I waited for the toilet light to come on; that would mean that my sister is getting ready for her Big Day.
At 7.10, the light is still not turned on so I woke her up and started hustling her as we had to get to the registry by 8.30 and we didn't want to be stuck in the morning traffic. Surprisingly, for the first time my dad was first to be ready at half past 7 and he showed me the first message he got first thing in the morning from my younger cousin that said, "Leng chai... happy 26th birthday..." June 2nd is also his birthdate, see, and it's the first time one of his daughters is getting married so I think he was pretty psyched.
Anyway we get to the place early for once and had some breakfast while waiting for everyone else to arrive, including the groom, whose talent for tardiness would fit him right in to our family. At 9, the registry office opens and we were lucky to be the first (cheh... "we" it seems! I meant they :P) so the whole gang of us, family and friends, shuffled into the tiny room where countless of other lifetime commitments were made by the utterance of just two words.
It all happened so fast I didn't even have the chance to cry. Papers were signed, vows exchanged and rings were worn; it appears that all you need is 10 minutes and RM60 to get married.
Oh well, I'll just save my tears for the wedding next year.
Then we adjourned for dim sum which was pretty awesome because what celebration is complete without eating ala Malasie? During the car ride back home after brunch, my dad confessed that he was so excited this morning he actually woke at 5.30 and couldn't fall back asleep and he had the feeling that today would be a good day. At that moment I felt something prickling in my eyes but it was probably just dust that made them water.
It was only noon when we got home so the Imperial Monkey, myself and the new Mr and Mrs Chan decided to watch Terminator Salvation starring Christian Bale and Sam Worthington, directed by McG, runtime 2 hours 10 minutes. The movie, by the way, was bloody awesome (excuse my French). There're mixed reviews about this installation of Terminator but I say, love it or hate it, it's definitely worth a watch so decide for yourself after 2 hours 10 minutes.
Later that night La Familia regrouped for dinner to celebrate my dad's 62nd, oops, 26th birthday where again we prove that eating is indeed the great Malaysian past time. We started with our standard family discussion about the inhumane consumption of sharks fin (Sub debate: Is sharks fin served in restaurants genuine or not?) and ended with our usual cutting of B&R ice cream cake where my dad blew out 8 candles. Which candles represented what numbers were up to his discretion.
And just like a strange deja vu, the Imperial Monkey confessed to me later in the car that he thought today was a pretty darn good day. And I agreed
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