Thanks for the memories - RIP MJ

Michael Joseph Jackson

R.I.P
(August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009)

I was reading CNN on the Internet this afternoon and there was breaking news that Michael Jackson was brought to UCLA hospital due to a cardiac arrest. I followed the proceedings live on the Internet as well as on TV, wondering if it was just a mild attack or if it was serious. When Kevin came home, I told him that Farrah Fawcett passed away today and he said that he heard that on the radio at work. I then said that MJ's in the hospital, brought in due to a cardiac arrest and jokingly said that he might die. Kevin was like "Whaaattt? No wayyy...really?" I believe that was also the first reaction of many people around the world when they heard the news. It's hard to believe that someone so young, a non smoker (we think) and not overweight would be a victim of a heart attack. While eating dinner, the breaking news came on TV. Michael Jackson had passed away. We both sat there in disbelief, just staring at the TV, trying to comprehend the piece of news that we just heard. The King of Pop is dead.

I was shocked and mildly sadden by this. It's not that we knew MJ personally or that he is in any way related to us. It's just that Michael Jackson is such a public figure, he seemed larger than life. Also, although we might not know him personally but we sort of grew up with MJ. I remember wearing a single white glove all over the house for period of my life as a little girl or trying to imitate his dance moves in various music videos like Billie Jean and Beat it. I also remember watching those videos over and over again, wondering how he could come up with such amazing moves ( especially the Smooth Criminal video). I'm sure Kevin was also like all the other boys around the world, trying their best to moonwalk, secretly in their bedrooms, in front of the mirror :P As I grew older, I remember loving songs like Black or White, You Are Not Alone and Remember the Time. MJ came to Malaysia as part of his HIStory World Tour in 1996. I had the chance to go for the concert, together with a few of my cousins and a friend from school. The excitement of actually seeing MJ in person as well as all the hype of a live concert was totally out of this world. For a 17 year old, it was a dream come true. I had never ever seen such a world class performance before, with amazing backup dancers, special effects and a whole lot of pyrotechnics! Here is a short documentary someone made on YouTube about MJ's historical visit to Malaysia.

I guess I've pretty much grown up listening to MJ and even though I do not know him in person, his music was a big part of my childhood/teenage years. Thank you Michael for memories and the music...may you rest in peace.

Fire in NYC?

I was laying on the couch watching the 6 o clock news on TV when Kevin suddenly said "You are not going to blog about that?" I was like "Huh? Blog about what?" Then he asked me to look out of the window. This is what I saw.

Wowwww! So much smoke. It looked as though the city was on fire!! I quickly went to take my camera to snap a few photos (just for you guys :D). Kevin tried to look up online to see what might be causing all that smoke. There was a car fire in the city but I don't think it would have caused so much smoke. He also found out that there is a brush fire in Secaucus, NJ as well as another fire in East Rutherford, NJ. Maybe that might be the cause for the smoke! Anywayy, the smoke didn't really last for long. It was really windy outside and I think it cleared up in about 15 minutes or so. We really don't know what happened but it was a scary sight. It somewhat reminded me of how the city would look like if it was under attack again :S Soooo, does anybody know what happened early this evening that might have caused all that smoke?

A Miracle On The Hudson

It was just another regular afternoon for me earlier today, staying in at home to keep away from the super frigid -7C temperature. It was really really cold out, with a wind chill of -15C. I was checking my email when I got an instant message alert from CNN that a US Airways Airbus 320 jetliner had just crashed into the Hudson River! I quickly went to the window and took out my binoculars to check if I could see what's happening. It was about 3:30pm in the afternoon and I believed the plane crashed somewhere near the midtown section of the Hudson. I couldn't see the plane but there were lots of news helicopters flying around.

I turned on the TV and saw on the NBC News later on that all 154 passengers and the captain survived the crash! What a miracle! With the frigid cold waters and both engines failing, God was definitely protecting all of them. Everybody was rescued from the crash site, thanks to the help of the NY Coast Guards, FDNY , NYPD, NJPD as well as some local Circle Line tour ferries. The plane was heading from LaGuardia to Charlotte, NC when a flock of Canadian Geese flew into the engines.

By nightfall, everybody was rescued but the plane was drifting south towards Lower Manhattan. It is now tied up at Battery Park and they will remove it from the river tomorrow or the next day. We can still see a lot of helicopters flying around the lower Manhattan area, even at this hour. It looks like tons of fireflies, just circling around that area! Oh well, I am glad that there was no casualty in this plane crash and that everyone is alright. Wow, a little excitement for the Podanys on a regular boring winters day :P

* All photos are taken from www.nydailynews.com