This is it!

I’m in my bed, alone with the room darkened safe for a few dimmed lights.

I’m waiting to fall asleep so that I, along with a gazillion people, can watch Michael’s last big show. Michael’s last concert was never meant to be “it”. His memorial service was.

I know some of the people who will be there. But I wonder who will be speaking at the service?

Will his children be there? Will they be wearing masks to protect their identity?

I know I will be deeply saddened. In fact, I expect myself to cry a little. But I’ll take comfort in the knowledge that this is the closure that all of us — hisb great admirers — are waiting for. I take comfort in the knowledge that although Michael Jackson was scorned and ridiculed in his life, in his death he is very much loved and appreciated.

Goodbye Michael, I’ll miss you!

Michael Jackson Private Home Movies Part 2

He was Allah’s gift

A couple of months back, I started posting Michael Jackson’s videos on my Facebook page. It was for no particular reason. One day, I realised that I miss the King of Pop — his songs, music videos and particularly his stage performances. So I went to youtube, searched for Michael Jackson and with just one click, I was taken back to my carefree childhood in the 1980s.

Little did I know that months later, MJ would die of cardiac arrest and that I, and his legion of fans, would be left confused and bereaved .

My sister was the first person to break the news to me. I had just woken up, expecting to get good news when I checked my Maybank2u page that morning — because all union members were expecting a chunk of money to be banked in — but her sms on my phone was the first thing that I saw.

I went to work that morning feeling dazed. I was happy I had more money in the bank but even that could not cheer me up. For what is an extra couple of digits in the bank account when compared to the news that the symbol of my childhood is now gone forever. The news of his death left me stupefied.

I can’t claim that MJ wrote the soundtrack to my life but he was there pretty early in my life. When my next door neighbour invited me to his son’s birthday party and bribed me with biscuits to get me to sing a song, I chose to sing Billy Jean although I didn’t speak even a word of English at that time.

Mind you, I was just a shy, skinny little Orang Asli six-year-old then. I stood with my back to the wall, mumbled some words to the tune of Billy Jean and was relieved when it was all over.

As soon as I knew how to read and speak a little English, I made sure I memorised the words to Beat It, bad, Thriller (right down to the speaking parts by Vincent Price) and all of his other hits.

I was never a dancer so I never attempted to moonwalk (more than once). Whenever I did try to imitate the move, I just shake my head in awe and think to myself, “How the hell does he do it?”

And I remember vividly being puzzled by the step-by-step guide for the dance step to Billie Jean (demonstrated by a bad MJ impersonator) which was printed on the sleeves of MJ’s pirated cassette that my older brothers bought from the pasar Ahad when we were living in small town Pengkalan Hulu.

Back then, straight-haired boys cursed their genes because they couldn’t get MJ’s fro or maggie mee curls.But when he started straightening his hair, I think a lot of curly haired boys attempted to relax their hair too.

When Remember the Time came along, I remembered my brother Sham imitating part of the Egyptian-inspired dance moves quite successfully. RTT is still one of my ultimate favourite songs from MJ.

But that was when MJ started getting weird. He became white, he got married twice, he had a court case etc etc. Wacko Jacko was more than a moniker, it was beginning to be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The 20-feet-tall gold statue as seen on the CD cover of HIStory seemed a little too self-indulgent to me. I still liked his music. I just a little less love for MJ as a person.

But now that he has passed on, and with the benefit of hindsight, I can see now that he was just misunderstood. I think I finally “get” him. But I guess it’s a little too late for that now.

Some people believe that MJ will be much more of a success in his death than when he was alive. As horrible as that sound, it’s probably for the best. In Jermaine Jackson’s words: “Michael is a gift from Allah and that He has taken him back.” I think he also said that some didn’t appreciate this gift.

For me, I’m very thankful that Allah blessed mankind with Michael Jackson for 50 years. He had been a wonderful, precious gift indeed.

I’m baaack!

Did you miss me? Did you notice me gone AT ALL?

Well, I’m back from my 11-day work trip to the Land Down Under. As I had suspected, this trip, which I initially dreaded ended up being the one that I enjoyed the most.

I wasn’t too keen on going on this trip partly because of the Swine Flu. The other part is because it was more than a week. I didn’t know how to pack for such trips and I dreaded the number of places I would have to visit and the people that I would have to interview. I mean, there are only so many questions that you can ask people. After awhile, you’ll end up asking them the same things.

Lucky for me, I quickly figured out a recurring theme after interviewing a bunch of people. It was a lot easier to focus on themes than to base the interviews on the number of institutions that I’ve visited.

Anyway, the first stop for my media familiarisation trip to Australia was Perth. At the pre-trip briefing, I had already met the two gentlemen who would be accompanying me on the trip. Both of them were really good company. I had fun with them.

I also met a group of reporters from Thailand and their chaperone-cum-translator. They were really nice people and we got along well despite the language barrier (with some of them). They tried really hard to converse in English and I really appreciated that. I wish I knew how to speak Thai just so that I could get to know them better.

We had a very busy schedule in Perth and we had a lot of walking tours of the campuses, so that tired us out. But I loved Perth for its scenery and the fact that it has lots of parks. I notice the people in Perth are outdoorsy — you can see people walking their dogs, jogging, cycling and canooing almost everywhere. The weather is slightly cooler than Malaysia and it rained a little bit when I was there. The temperature dropped significantly whenever it did.

Monday June 1 was a public holiday there, so we went to Freemantle to enjoy the sights. I had a huge fish and chips lunch — that I could not finish — at a restaurant which claims to be the best seafood place in Western Australia, while enjoying the view of yachts at the dock.

Then, we walked to the Freemantle museum and saw a hugeass submarine and a few torpedos which had a hilarious sign which reads, “If found, please contact this number.” Like, what is the likelyhood of people actually finding torpedos in their backyard? We had a good laugh with that. (Watch this space for photo of the submarine and torpedo)

Adelaide was right after Perth. We stayed at this hotel right smack in the middle of the city and very close to a shopping area. Perth seemed like a sleepy hollow next to Adelaide, which had shops open until 9pm. We managed to do a lot more things in Adelaide — lunch a Malaysian restaurant, shop for clothes and boots (that would be me), buy cholocates. I actually went out with a Sarawakian girl (a friend of a friend) for dinner on the last night in Adelaide. We had a great time and that was really nice considering we had never met before and I just got to know her from Twitter. She took me on a bus and shared little insights into life in Adelaide with me. It was nice to be able to meet up with fellow Malaysians abroad. Oh, I also met my namesake at Flinders University in Adelaide. That was funny.

Our last stop was Hobart. People had warned us that it would be cold and there wouldn’t be anything much to do. They were telling the truth. But the forgot to mention that Hobart and Tasmania in general was BEAUTIFUL! Hobart, despite its quietness, had to be my favourite out of the three cities. Sure, I enjoyed Perth’s warm weather and Adelaide’s shopping and bustling surroundings. But Tasmania had the most charm.

We went to visit Mt Wellington, which snowed the day after we went up there. It was freezing — easily 2 degrees celcius at one point — up there. I was a little bit underdressed because I had forgotten to bring a beanie and maybe ear muffles. Yep, it was that cold. If you happen to go there during winter, bring along your warmest clothes, snow cap, scarves and gloves. You’ll need them!

After that, we went to the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Centre which was very insightful. I learned a lot about Tasmanian Devils and how a devastating facial cancer has killed them in the thousands. I also petted a kangaroo there! I was scared because the kangaroo that we petted was really big and tall. I was afraid that it might kick me LOL. But I managed to get a photo with one.

Our next stop was Port Arthur, which used to house all the convicts which came to Australia from England. It had a gruesome history but ironically it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. The scenery was breathtaking. We even saw the clearest, most hugeass rainbow we have ever seen in our lives there. I would recommend anyone who has never been to Australia to give Tasmania a try. It has the best scenery in Australia, hands down!

I consider myself very lucky to have been picked for this trip. It is one of the best work trips I have ever been to. It was a good blend of work and leisure. I met some of Malaysia’s brightest people and best brains in Australia and it warmed my heart to know that they’re going to be successful people in the future. I’m also lucky to be amongst the most down-to-earth and hilarious people on the trip because that made it all the more bearable.

Thanks to them, I enjoyed Australia even more than I thought I would. I can’t wait for the next trip like this :)

Best Day Ever with Kradam

Best Day Ever with Kradam, originally uploaded by Suzi3ana.

VH1’s Best Day Ever is my new favourite show. This one with Kradam as guest artistes is beyond hilarious!

Click here to view full video.

Adam Lambert answers THE question

Adam Lambert answers THE question, originally uploaded by Suzi3ana.

He has had enough of the pink elephant question and he’s giving us the answer we’ve been dying to hear … complete with charts and a CPR doll. Click to view video.

Best week ever

Well, I don’t know if it IS the best week ever but IT IS one of the best Adam interviews I have read so far.

Here’s the link. You will not regret clicking on it.

Oh by the way, have you met Adam’s hot and single younger brother Neil? Hansolo, I think you’ll like him :) Well, he did call his brother “glittery alien from planet Fierce”. Hilarious!

My new obsession: little Nate

When I was growing up, my family had this blue Olympus camera that served us well. As a family we liked taking pictures and developing them. We had tons of photo albums of all sorts of family events.

While some families moved on to camcorders, that fad never latched on to my family. A camcorder isn’t very affordable. Although we now have digital cameras, we haven’t got into the habit of taping ourselves doing the most mundane things.

But I’m glad this couple decided back in 2006 to tape their children’s daily activities and post them on YouTube. It’s an absolute joy to watch little Nate and Mia grow up before my very eyes.

I love watching spunky little Mia but I have a soft spot for Nate, the music lover. He is one cool babe. When he was about 15 month old or so, he was already grooving to Justin Timberlake’s My Love and later, when he was slightly older, Sexy Back

It’s obvious from this video that his favourite American Idol 7 contestant was David Cook.

And he wanted so badly for Adam Lambert to win American Idol 8 in this video that he almost cried when Adam didn’t!

I hope his mom will post a new video of the two of them soon. I wonder what they’ll be up to next…

ADAM LAMBERT Exclusive, Part 2

I hate to gush so much about Adam Lambert but I can’t help it!!!

I could really sit and listen to him all day *lol*

P/S: He loves astrology and awww… he fell in love at age 25 too!

PP/S: He loves to read! *Hahahaha*

ADAM LAMBERT Exclusive, Part 1

Honestly, I love listening to Adam speak. Most people pause a lot when they speak and their thoughts are not coherent. But Adam can launch into a question almost immediately after being asked.

He would make a very good beauty pageant contestent *lol*