We Had Him

I never really thought of how much Michael Jackson's death impacted my life until I heard John Mayer say that in saying goodbye to Michael Jackson, we are saying goodbye to our childhood when we were all listening to Thriller being played on the radio. As a final tribute to probably the greatest artist who ever lived, I'd like to share the poem that Maya Angelou composed for Michael, which was read by Queen Latifah during the memorial.

We Had Him

Beloveds, now we know that we know nothing, now that our bright and shining star can slip away from our fingertips like a puff of summer wind.
Without notice, our dear love can escape our doting embrace. Sing our songs among the stars and walk our dances across the face of the moon.
In the instant that Michael is gone, we know nothing. No clocks can tell time. No oceans can rush our tides with the abrupt absence of our treasure.
Though we are many, each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone.
Only when we confess our confusion can we remember that he was a gift to us and we did have him.
He came to us from the creator, trailing creativity in abundance.
Despite the anguish, his life was sheathed in mother love, family love, and survived and did more than that.
He thrived with passion and compassion, humor and style. We had him whether we know who he was or did not know, he was ours and we were his.
We had him, beautiful, delighting our eyes.
His hat, aslant over his brow, and took a pose on his toes for all of us.
And we laughed and stomped our feet for him.
We were enchanted with his passion because he held nothing. He gave us all he had been given.
Today in Tokyo, beneath the Eiffel Tower, in Ghana's Black Star Square.
In Johannesburg and Pittsburgh, in Birmingham, Alabama, and Birmingham, England
We are missing Michael.
But we do know we had him, and we are the world.

I think this pretty much sums up how we all feel.

My FarmTown Addiction

Like any other person subscribing to this application, I started out by accepting a friend's invite to be her neighbor in this virtual farm. I had a small farm just like everyone else and my first crops were potatoes and strawberries. I wasn't at all interested in growing my farm until my stress level reached an all-time high and I had no means to de-stress myself. I found planting, harvesting and renovating my farm to be relaxing. I also found that working for other farmers was just as fun and fulfilling. I can't remember the last time I felt so excited about buying new stuff until FarmTown came up with new items. I remember being on Paid Time Off from work and all I did was spend the day renovating my farm with my daughter Angela. FarmTown, pretty much like other applications from Facebook, has brought me and my eldest closer to each other because we spend a lot of time playing. And weird as it may seem, I find comfort in knowing that my farm is well taken care of, there are no rotting plants and that there are crops ready for harvest almost everyday. With the newer items that have been released, I'm looking forward to spending the Independence Day weekend once again renovating the farm with the help of my best friend and fellow Facebook addict, my daughter Angela.

Gone too soon...

It's funny how my first blog entry should be about death.

Michael Jackson had been such a great influence in the lives of a lot of people. It's true that I am more affected by his passing than Farrah Fawcett, mostly because I grew up listening to his music. In 1982, when I was 5 years old, he launched the album "Thriller", which, up to now, has remained the highest selling album of all-time. During that time, I remember going to my Grandparents' house in Quezon City and after dinner, they'd play that song and watch me and my cousins dance to the tune of Thriller, Billie Jean and all the other heartstopping dance tunes in that album.

As I was growing up, his music had "grown up" with me, too. He was one of the few artists who was successfully able to reinvent himself time and again. In 6th Grade, I remember attending my very first recollection where his song Man in the Mirror was played for us to reflect about where we're at and where we're going. High School wouldn't have been complete without memories of dancing to the tune of Black and White and Jam. In College, I remember listening to Scream and watching You Are Not Alone being played over and over in MTV. Several years later, in 2008, I bought "Thriller 25", which honored the original album's 25th year. Just last June, I made my 4-year-old daughter listen to his songs and since I was getting rid of the post-pregnancy fats after giving birth to my second daughter, Angela and I were dancercising to the tune of Beat It, Thriller, Wanna Be Starting Something and Billie Jean.

The world will not be the same without Michael Jackson. There are only a handful of artists who are like him-- Cher, Madonna, Kylie, Bono and Sting to name a few. It takes a lot to stay in the business and he was among the few who had an amazing staying power because he's not afraid to take risks. While it's sad that the world has lost a musical icon, I feel blessed and fortunate to have lived in a generation where his music spanned for 3 decades in my life.

Farewell, King of Pop... Death is just the next big adventure.