sparkle debacle

So, Michael Jackson passed away today.  I am very sad about it, on a personal level.  But that’s not entirely the reason I wanted to submit this post.  I haven’t posted in ages because I guess I haven’t really needed an outlet for that much recently, that and I simply haven’t had time.  Work here is crazy.  Anyway..

The reason for this post is the reaction of people to the death of a celebrity.  Whether it be Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcet, Steve Irwin or whoever…

My first point is that - since twitter and facebook and online news in general isn’t it amazing how the news/rumors/grief of someones death travels?  I remember when Diana died, I didnt have my iPhone out tweeting about it, I didn’t post a status update.  I sat and watched the news (my bro was in hospital at the time) with my family and we discussed how sad it was, especially for her children and what a legacy she left.  We weren’t really prone to hearing rumors about what may or may not have happened because we didn’t have such a huge, uninformed media network such as the internet.  All of that is here nor there - just it occured to me the massive change technology has had on even the most emotional things.

Another point.  People who say they will not grieve because they did not know him personally.  I dunno, maybe music didn’t have a big influence on those people’s life but it certainly did on mine.  This morning I’ve sat and listened to some MJ tunes on youtube, itunes etc.  It astounds me the amount of unforgetable music Michael made.  And almost each and every track I can relate to a personal situation or time in my life.  Even the songs that were released before I was born I feel relate to me life in some way.  People think of celebrities as brands, in some form or another.  You can’t say you think of them in the same way you would a friend or a colleauge, a real person.  I myself are somewhat hypocritical, I love Perez, but I don’t always agree with what he says.  Celebrities are actually real people though - the have minds that wander and hearts that break.  Keep that in mind, or things can only get worse for anyone famous. So, while I may not have known him personally, he had a massive effect on my life and who I am today.  You may think that sounds a ‘bit rich’ or whatever, but I don’t write here for your kudos.  I have no reason to exaggerate.

My biggest point of contention is people who can say such horrible things about a person who has died.  Yes, he’s led a controversial life, but sometimes I’m absolutely convinced that’s ALL media speculation.  Yes, he was charged with child molestation - but people who aim to hurt rarely mention the acquital. The video tape of the kid saying  ”If I go through with this, I win big-time. There’s no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever…Michael’s career will be over” never seems to come up! Or the fact that the childs own mother said it never happened.  I cannot fathom how someone could express such pure hatred for another human.  I will not re-post anything I’ve read here, but I’m sure everyone’s seen some form of critisism of him since he’s passed.

The media scrutiny of  Michael Jacksonalso  has to have taken it’s toll.  I kind of feel like - well, look at Britney Spears, she’s been under media scrutiny for a 10 years.  She reached a point within that 10 years where she hit her breaking point.  All of a sudden people felt sorry for her and became supportive Michael has been the ultimate topic of celebrity gossip for almost 40 years!  He’s never had any respite. And people question his reclusiveness?And call him strange? Come on.  When the media’s treatment of stars is questioned it always comes back ‘they need us for publicity’ and fair enough.  But look at it from their perspective.  They’re ‘built up’ as hero’s, they applauded, praised and loved.  Then they reach the top and we shatter them.  Regardless of strength of character to have the whole world talking about your private life has to cause emotional and physical stress on anyone.  Let alone for 40 years. MJ seemed to be such a simple, and yes childlike person.  When the most recent molestation charges were being investigated a phsychiatrist said that he was a regressed 10 year old who did not have the profile to be a pedophile. He may not have had a the mental capacity or ability to handle such pressure to be ‘perfect’ as you or I.  He DID however have the mental capacity to feel pain, both physical and emotional, I’m sure he felt the joy of love and being loved.

“Why not just tell people I’m an alien from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They’ll believe anything you say, becauseyou’re a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, ‘I’m an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight,’ people would say, ‘Oh, man, that Michael Jackson isnuts. He’s cracked up. You can’t believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth.’”

I worry for his children, I hope he had a will. And I hope they’re protected from hearing the bulk of the horrible stuff that is being said about him.

I hope he can see how much happiness he bought to so many people. His music has stayed relevant for generations.  He continued to evolve and produce remixed versions which were, in my opinion, simply amazing.  I hope he can now rest in peace and at least have a normal afterlife, whatever that is.

I’ll leave you with two things, the first a video I’ve just seen that I think pretty much sums up how I feel.

Secondly, my fave MJ song and MJ remixs’. I’ve been listening to all three on my ‘June’ ituned playlist - day in and day out.   I hope one day my kids can get as much from his music as I have.  I feel like a lucky minority to have seen him in concert, I’m sad that all the people who got O2 tickets will never get that chance.

We should be honoured he shared his gift with us all.

This is as close as I can get to a ‘favorite’

Remix - yew!

Oh and another favorite

Hallo Blogland.
So you may have thought I’d fallen of the face of the planet but I have not!  I have recently been a little over some of the dirty laundry being aired online and therefore been avoiding coming online(except for work!).  That has now all changed and I couldn’t care less.  Besides, this blog seems to be fairly unrelated to all of that!

Anyway, I am in New Zealand at the moment for about 5 days.  Steve and I have had a very very very busy past few weeks and a pretty stressful week before coming overe here, so we’re more than happy for a break, even a very short one.

My Dad has lived over here now for the last 12 months or so and as he’d given me money to pay for a trip over last September I thought it was about time I made good with my enf of the bargain.

We arrived in Christchurch Thursday night at around 11:30.  Although, being that it was only 9:30 Australian time we were not really tired.  After being picked up by Dad and Helen we headed to our hotel in the middle of Christchurch.  When we arrived the others went to bed and we decided to have a look around.  The hotel has a really cool concept, kind of like Formula One in Australia but much nicer.  The rooms are very small but very comfortable.  The beds are spectacularly comfortable and the shower head, although energy efficient, is quite powerful.  These are my biggest two complaints with most hotels (small or big) so I must admit I was pretty impressed!  There was also a groovy little ’sun’ light that woke you up with sunrays every morning, it was very peaceful.  The hotel also had a couple of ’shared’ rooms where you could cook/smoke/read/watch tv (the rooms had TV’s too) or just chillout with other guests.  There was also a bar/restaurant on the ground level. We didn’t really get a chance to use any of these facilities but it seems like a great idea. All that for only $80 night!  We’ve booked another room for the night before we fly home.

The first day we had we travelled to Akaroa, about 80 km’s north of Christchurch.  It’s a beautiful town that sits on the edge of a harbour and is the centre of what was once a volcano.  The town was originally a French settlement of New Zealand and a lot of the shops/restraurant’s seems to really play on the French history (This suited me just fine! Who needs Paris, right?). It was a beautiful sunny day for this time of year so we stayed and had lunch in one of the local restaurants before heading back to Christchurch.

Friday night in Christchurch we went out to dinner @ Helen’s sisters house.  The house was beautiful and had an amazing view.  We had a very yummy dinner and met some lovely people :)  Adam and Christy were unable to come as Christy had been unwell so once we arrived back at the hotel we had a couple of drinks with Adam whilst watching the Christchurch nightlife pass us by.  After a few very late nights it was then time for bed and a bit of a sleep in.

Saturday morning meant waking up at a reasonable hour (9ish?) and going to buy Steve some jeans.  We then had breakfast and headed to the Christchurch Art’s Cente.  There is a market here on Saturday’s with a lot of hand made craft and New Zealandy type souveniery stuff.  We bought fudge (typical) and some Kiwifruit chocolates as a gift to take home.  We then had a coffee at the local cafe and headed to a shopping mall outside the city centre.  The warehouse (!) in NZ is huge, about 5 times the size it is at home.  I also picked up a handbag because mine had broken.  We grabbed some groceries and then piled (really, piled high) into the cars to head back to the Motel that Dad has owned now for about four months.  On the way we stopped at Maruia Springs but were a bit late to go for a swim in the springs so we had dinner at the Japanese restaurant attached.  The food was beautiful and the staff were great :)  We then headed back to the motel for bed.  The rooms are much nicer than Steve and I had expected (we weren’t expecting anything terrible though)!.  Beautiful linen and comfortable, warm rooms to sleep in.  After a quick coffee we headed to bed to crash.  The wind(!) and rain(!) continued allllll night.  We thought we might wake up in China. We awoke to realise tha rain had stopped, briefly.  We were cooked a nice got breakfast and then decided to go for a short road trip to Murchison. On the way we stopped at the waterfalls and boy were they falling!  It seems lasts nights rain fell mostly into the river, it was hard not to laugh at the ‘danger! It is not safe to swim here’ sign. Once we were in Murchison we visited a kooky (I can’t think of another way to describe it) museum that had old dentist chairs and a lot of information/photo’s of the area around Murchison and Maruia.  I was left a little perplexed that ‘old style’ telephone exchange was only retired in 1987, but I guess it’s a very small town.  I indulged in a hot chocolate at the cafe and we’ve now headed back to the Motel for an evening of relaxation.

The holiday so far has been quite relaxing and despite a few moments of shivers we have kept reasonably warm.  Steve and I are glad for a couple of days away from the phones even if we still have to the return messages now and then.  We are greatful to have such gratious hosts too although Dad seems to worry too much we’re happy with his plans.  We’re enjoying seeing what he finds interesting about the area and aren’t phased with anything he may plan (except if he intended on my bungy jumping…).  It’s unusual for us to see so much greenery and the ‘autumn’ colours in the scenery is just stunning!

will post more soon,

<3 Katie

indeed.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=22627460

This is the most amazing thing in….a long time!

I simply CANT get enough at the moment of….Taylor Swift!
Ugh, it’s so embarrassing but I just love her!

I just had a lovely dinner for my sister-in-law’s(!) birthday. It was nommy sizzler and I am still super full Makes for bad sleeping.

In other news my kitty is adorable - I’m so happy to have him home.

Uploading some pics from the last couple of weeks soon - will keep u all posted.

You wouldn’t believe it would you - but the pound  found my kitty!

I got a call on my mobile this morning from the city pound asking if i owned ’smudge’ (his name when we was chipped).  When they told me he was there they were so nonchalant and I was hysterical but determined not to get my hopes up until i’d actually seen him and gauranteed he was alive and OK.

My car is in for repairs(!!!!!) so I called Steve and cancelled his appointment so we could go - we were there within 30 mins - and dun da d ana! there he was!  the lady was like “it’s going to cost you $84 to release him” LIKE A CARE!!!

I bawled like a baby through this whole process and I’m sure anyone that saw me would have thought I was a crazzy person - but he’s my baby and I’d given up hope so it was basically like seeing a miracle.

He smells a little like urine so even though he’s trying to headbutt me I’m keeping my distance for now - will wash him when Steve gets home and then i’m bunkering down for a night of serious cuddling.

For all of you that helped in some way or sent your well wishes - I am so appreciative I can’t begin to say.

I never thought my family would be restored to fullness - I think I’m still a little in shock.

Some photos for cuteness (notice the weight chance, 8kgs to I’d say about…4 maybe 5?  He needs a tummy tuck

whaddaya mean i've been gone four months?

vurrrrry shleeepyy..

we is heading to the vet in the morning for a checkup - vaccinations were up to date and mostly he seems ok.

He seems to have a chipped tooth, some blood around his claws (like he’s had to hang off them) and I’d say some severe sunburn.

For those who are curious he was found @ caltex/woolies ormeau and apparently had been hanging out there for a week or two.

I would imagine he has been hanging out maybe in a public toilet somewhere as he smells a little like pee - hey maybe he went to some of the recent festivals

<3 so happy I can’t explain…

So i’m going to have a little superficial moment with ya’ll…

these are things i want, but will probably not get…because…I’m poor

I am working on paperwork, and accounting…stuff. It’s hard and my brain hurts and reconciling is easy when things are done right - but y’see I only started using quickbooks a few months ago!

Puppy was uber cute today - I’ll have to download the photos from my camera later - there’s about 2 weeks worth on there.

I have a big pimple on my chin, it hurts.
It’s windy and the air con is on so I’m cold.
Kittens go crazy in the wind.
I have nothing interesting to say…..

Don’t get me wrong - I am a Joshua Jackson fan, but this is too funny not to post.

His latest movie is about Ben Tyler’s motocycle trip from Toronto to Torfino so it is being advertised heavily in Canada and will no doubt get higher gross’ing’s there than in the USA.

Anyway, the following advertisment was in a Canadian newspaper….

Small print down the bottom states that the quotes are all from YOUTUBE users, not film critics.  And most of them are altered to try and sound like these people have actually seen the movie - most of them haven’t.

All I can do is laugh.  I hope it’s a good movie and does well for mr jackson, really!

I was given a stat count of unique hits per day and I’m surprised. If you visit - please comment - I’d like to know if you’re enjoying this as much as I am