Troubleshooting Life 177, June 25 - Remember Michael Jackson, who died today in 2009

This is 1 out of 366 pages from my upcoming book "Troubleshooting Life."

1 page a day, 300 words or less, focused on education, entertainment, or enlightenment.

Pun intended, Michael Jackson’s music rocks my world. 

But I only started searching this man after he died on this day in 2009. 

I remember I was at my neighborhood pool with my friends, about a week before I was going to turn 13, and my little brother was home, watching TV. 

He walked over and told us the news he just saw, that “Michael Jackson died.”

I remember a trip to Costco with my dad later that year to get new glasses, waiting in the optometry section by the TVs. 

Every screen was playing Hold My Hand with Akon. 

That October, MJ’s This is It tour was cancelled. 

A movie was going to be released in the AMC on Route 1 for one show only. 

My heroic dad somehow got tickets for the whole family, who by that point had to see it. 

Michael Jackson fandom was at an all time high by that point.

We all sat down in the theater. 

Previews played. 

Then, weirdly, Where the Wild Things Are (2009) played, for like 10 minutes. 

The crowd, who had been waiting in line to buy tickets for this single exhibition, started chanting “Mi-chael Jack-son!” until This is It started playing. It was insane!

About 10 years later, I talked to my friends about this, in New Jersey and in Philly. 

The consensus was, we were toddlers when 9/11 happened, and sort of remember it. 

But we were teens in 2009, and we definitely remember when Michael Jackson died.

His doctor Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter with propofol. 

My big brother later bought The Essential Michael Jackson on CD and loaded it into his PC with iTunes, so we could put the music on our iPods.

ACTION POINT: Remember Michael Jackson, who died today in 2009