Although I watched the slow evolution of MJ’s face and skin, it never occured to me that he was getting older. I mean, I knew that the years were passing. Maybe it was how his appearance was changing. It’s hard to say that MJ aged naturally and perhaps that is why I never thought of him as old.
Hearing of his death was a shock. I wouldn’t say that I am a huge fan of his but I was a fan. His songs were a huge part of my childhood. I never realised how much until I watched the tributes to him on television. Almost every song of his was tied to a specific memory in my life.
I was 5 years old when Thriller came out. I remember the MTV very well because my father and uncles loved to watch it. It both fascinated and scared me. I remember running into the next room whenever it came on, peeking out at intervals to catch bits and pieces of it. Even though I have not seen the MTV in years, I can still remember the red jacket MJ wore and if I see someone doing the dance moves, I recognise where they are from.
Billy Jean was on the same album. I remember watching the MTV and marvelling at how the tiles lit up when he stepped on them. For a period of time, every time I stepped on clear tiles, I wondered if they would light up. They never did. But I imagined anyway. And the starting pose of the song, I doubt I would ever forget that.
If you asked me what my favourite MJ song is, I would have to say Smooth Criminal. The leaning in the music video fascinated me. It never occurred to me then that tricks were used to do it. At that time, I think I believed MJ could do anything. He could moonwalk! Why not lean at an impossible angle? Also, I spent a great amount of time playing the MJ video game Moonwalker, at which I sucked. This meant I was stuck on the second stage while Smooth Criminal played in the background.
My first live concert was his concert back in 1993 at the National Stadium. And when I was in JC, I learnt to sign the lyrics to the song Heal the World (some charity event I think). Most of all, I remember watching tons of his MTVs and enjoying them all. When I was teaching, my students had an assignment in which they had to go out and find a song that best represented the novel they were reading and one group chose Ben.
So I am sad that he is gone. It’s like the end of an era. Despite all the controversy and weirdness, he was a great musician and performer and I think I will always be a fan of MJ.
So like every other teacher in Singapore, I have become a telephone operator, calling up all my students and asking for their travel history. I suppose I have long accepted that such things are part of my job but it gets annoying when I have to call the same parents up over and over again to double and triple check their travel history. Why? I have no idea. Instructions from the school.
I bet the parents are just as annoyed!
Anyway, school starts soon and I cannot decide if I am excited or not. The last two days in Singapore with all the rush because of H1N1 has really tired me out again.
What have I been doing most of this June holidays (aside from going back to school for remedials and sex education lessons, that is)? I have been watching Law and Order. I like. So to make up to the 3 people who read my blog for the lack of posts recently, here’s a clip.
Well, I’ve just upgraded my WP to 2.8 and now I can install themes from the dashboard! Whoo! You can expect the look of my blog to change often now. Heh.
Otherwise, I am in Jakarta now where there is 24 hours of air conditioning. A stark constrast to the barely working air cons I have back home. Heat, when you are in air conditioned rooms all the time, is strangely bearable!
So since Tampines 1 opened in my neighbourhood, I’ve found myself in it quite a bit. So far, the gym is great, the shops are not too bad (it’s good to have Topshop near by) but the food hasn’t been that great. Ok, I only tried two places but both of them were disappointing. The Sushi Tei at Tampines 1 is nowhere as good as the one I usually frequent at Raffles City (because it’s next to a comic shop!). The portions were small and the zaru soba was tasteless.
I also tried Say Cheeze which was more of an annoyance than a disappointment. Firstly, the waitress (or server as their nametag states) didn’t seem to know her menu very well. When repeating my order, she didn’t know what the code she wrote down meant.
I ordered baked rice with salmon and it was underwhelming. I’ve never had baked rice with such dry rice. Everything was dry – the rice and the salmon. The cheese topping was average. I’ve had better baked rice in Swensen. My friend with me ordered the baked macaroni. We waited for 45 minutes before it was served and despite my complaints about the waiting time (note that the couple beside us arrived later, ate their meal and left before the macaroni arrived), no one bothered to apologise.
So when you have awful service and mediocre food, don’t be surprise that I’m not going back. I’d rather spend my money elsewhere.
