On my way to work I was listening to The Sound of Young America podcast. There was a comic (name forgotten) talking about celebrity/celebutantes being a creation of the US government. Stolen election in Iran? Send in a celebrity to do something gawk-worthy and distract the national consciousness. I laughed at the concept, and then thought, I don’t even follow celebrity gossip.

Hah. A few hours later, the news started to pour in via Facebook and Twitter. Michael Jackson was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center. Can’t you hear the helicopters?

Yeah, there was no mistaking the noise. I clicked refresh a lot of times and talked to my co-worker who had just returned from lunch. He said he saw the ambulance rushing up Westwood Blvd followed by black Escalades. The SUVs were driving wildly, “with no regard for human life,” and almost hit someone. He said, “wow, someone important must be in there.”

I left work a little after the LA Times confirmed TMZ’s statement that he had died. I wasn’t getting any work done anyway. I walked down by the hospital on my way to the bus stop. It seemed that there were as many people with cameras and microphones as those just wanting to talk about their affinity for MJ and his music. I took a few photos and then went home, listening to Bad, Off the Wall and Thriller.

The rest of the day has been reading reactions, listening to his music, watching videos and reflecting.

I remember:

How much I loved Captain EO at Disneyland. It’s much better than what they currently have there.

Being jealous that my brother and cousin both had Beat It t-shirts.

Making my mom play the We Are the World record again and again. I also loved just looking at the cover.

Doing the “Thriller” dance with the UCLA band during our Halloween halftime show at the Rose Bowl in 1998.

The videos. For a brief period we had cable at home. I remember the “Man in the Mirror” video the most.

Most of all though, I think of the fact that my consciousness of pop music began with Michael Jackson (and the Beatles).

RIP, Michael.

A friend told me to update my blog. I hope a bullet point entry is okay.

• I was really happy to see the Lakers win their 15th NBA championship. I’m happy to see two former Bruins, Trevor Ariza and Jordan Farmar, win a championship. And of course I’m happy for the veterans like Phil “X” Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher (swoon!). For the record, I celebrated peacefully.
• I finally went to my first Dodger game of the season. I tend to avoid Chavez Ravine due to the parking costs. However, during their series against the Oakland A’s (first one since the ’88 World Series), parking is free. I caught a game with my friend Alfred and his family. Now that summer is here, I plan to catch more games. There’s really no better way to spend a summer evening than at the Dodger Stadium (the Hollywood Bowl and bonfires come in a close second and are on the plans for this weekend).
• I wrote my last letter to the UCLA Chancellor a few weeks ago. In it, I included recommendations from my committee — made up of students, staff and faculty — on how to spend a lot of money. I’m pretty sure my term as chair of that committee will be my last student leadership position. It was quite the positive experience and I’m happy I had the opportunity to serve students on that committee.
• Speaking of being a student, I really need to get back on track. I couldn’t sleep a few nights ago as I thought of how I was going to fund my 6th year.
• I went to MEChA’s 40th anniversary dinner and after party a few weeks ago. I got to see old friends and fellow MEChistas. The event was nice and both bittersweet. It really solidified how much things have changed since I graduated seven years ago.
• Speaking of graduations, I celebrated my cousin’s graduations last week. The three sisters timed their graduations perfectly. Valerie graduated from 8th grade with a 4.0 GPA. Vanny graduated with her AA and is currently a student at Cal Poly Pomona (along with my sister). Nancy completed her bachelor’s in social work. I’m proud of my cousins.
• I skipped out on the Education school graduation. I felt bad about missing the event considering some close friends who entered with me (or the year after) were graduating. Still, I think the event would have made feel worse as it would reinforce my own educational “lurch” (read Dr Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go! and feelings of being left behind.
• Family is starting to tell me I (a) look more like my mom now and (b) look more like my sister. I think the latter is due to the fact that Lori did my makeup that evening.
• My dad recently had knee surgery. He’s hobbling around the house on crutches, but generally doing well.
• When I’m with the boyfriend, I feel quite lucky.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I used to write late at night, now I go to the gym late at night.

The first earthquake I remember was the Whittier Narrows earthquake in 1987. The ground started shaking as I ate breakfast in the kitchen. I don’t remember if I actually got down and under the table nor what Danny or my mom did. They didn’t seem all that scared.

After the shaking stopped, mom turned off the gas and checked the kitchen shelves. There were no leaks; everything was in its right place. I went to my bedroom and found a dozen stuffed animals on the floor, rather than the high shelves nailed to the wall. Mom searched for Adrian in her bedroom, and couldn’t find him. He had hidden in the closet after being awoken by the shaking.

Mom sent me and Danny to school that day. I must have been one of three or four kids in Ms. Buxton’s second grade class that actually showed up that day.

Later, I’d check out books about earthquakes and write reports on them for school. As I read more, I grew more interested. Part of me found them fun, despite fully understanding that they caused a great deal of destruction and death. In college I took a class on the subject and would try to identify the different types of seismic waves when an earthquake struck. These days, I’m bummed when I miss an earthquake or am out of town when one hits, like last July’s Chino Hills quake.

Of course, I don’t always enjoy the ground shaking. I dislike the late night/early morning quakes and being shaken out of bed. The ’94 Northridge quake was one of those, but the actual 6.7 early morning quakes isn’t what I remember most from that day. Later that morning, my family went to Mass. An aftershock hit during the service as the entire assembly knelt and watched the priest consecrate the bread and wine. After the shaking stopped, the large cross behind the altar continued swinging from side to side. Everyone remained kneeling, the priest didn’t acknowledge the tremor, and a lone woman sobbed across the center aisle.

I didn’t watch The Sandlot until one of my classmates in junior high spoke so highly about Benny “the Jet” Rodriguez (played by Mike Vitar). In the words of Yeah-Yeah, “she was swooning.”

Soon, I was swooning too.

I watched the movie over and over, learned all the lines and continued crushing on Benny. My crush eventually wore off as (a) Vitar stopped acting and (b) it became creepy to crush on a 14 year old.

My friends from Puro Pedo Magazine joked about this in one of the first issues of the magazine. You can read the article here.

La Pregunta:
Did you have a crush on Benny?