How Celebrities Bring Us Closer...or Just Make Us Chattier

The last time I had a day like this was probably 1994. Yep, you remember. The infamous day when OJ Simpson ran from the cops with his white bronco. Being roughly 12-years-old, I didn't really know much about OJ, just that for some reason it was a big deal that he was running from the cops. I remember exactly where I was at that moment. I was in a car, just pulling into a Circle K gas station to fuel up for a drive to Weiser, Idaho where fiddlers from around the nation would be gathering at the National Fiddler's Contest. Yep, I played the fiddle. (Does that make me a nerd?) That's not the point. I vividly remember where I was and what I was doing all because of some tragic celebrity story.

Yesterday I took the kiddo to the library for the Thursday night Hip-Hop dance clinic (A blog of it's own, i.e. my poor pasty white child being the only kid under the age of 8 in Houston that doesn't know how to hip hop coming out of the womb). In short, we skipped out on the clinic after observing for a few minutes and went to check out books. The self checkout computer froze up on me as I was using it so we asked a nice man to assist us. While he was resetting the computer, he kept trying to talk to the large black ladies working at the desk, but they were so into what they were talking about he had to keep repeating himself.

"Is it true?" He would say.

Nothing. He looks at me and rolls his eyes.

"Is it true?"

Still more chit chatiness coming from the desk.

"IS IT TRUE?" He says the loudest. (With a hip-hop class going on, this library is not the quietest. In fact, it is the noisiest library I have ever stepped foot into. Kids full on run past the front desk and one of the large black ladies will lean out of her chair and yell, "STOP RUNNING IN THE LIBRARY!!!" It's great for entertainment. trigirl82 you would love it. It's the place to see people.)

Finally the guy gives up trying to converse with these entertaining ladies and looks at me and says, "Did you hear Michael Jackson died?"

I say, "Well, I heard that they were taking him to the hospital while I was driving here."

This man (all the while resetting the computer which I swear was over 15-20 minutes) goes on to tell me about how Michael was the leading icon when he was in highschool. A very nostalgic look in his eyes the whole time. I respond with, "I wasn't really much of a fan."

Honestly, the things that stand out to me about him is that when I was 9-years-old I went to Disneyland and they had a 3D movie there that was a short music video done by Michael Jackson. I only remember it was him because he had the whole one glove thing going on and one of my brother's friends used to wear the one glove, just like Michael. The only other things that stand out for me are that he liked little boys (not the kind of sleepover I would let my son go to), plastic surgery, oh, and I think I danced to his music in 2000 when I got all decked out with my crimped hair with side pony tail, fish net tights, and hot pink mini skirt to attend an 80s frat party.

The man says, "Oh yeah....well me neither." Hmm...Riiiiggghttt.

After waiting for the self checkout to unsuccessfully start, I ended up standing in line to be checked out by these ladies at the desk. They do not move fast and are enjoying sharing the MJ news with everyone who comes up to the desk. Finally it was my turn. This lady says, "It's a SAD day today."

Me: "Yep."
Her: "I'm going to cry when I get home."
Me: "Mmmhmmm."
Her: "You're going to cry too aren't you?"
Me: "Um...probably not."
Her: "Whaaatt??"
Me: "I wasn't much of a fan."
Her: "Oh."

There were people literally crying inside of the library as the news filtered through the building. It's very strange. It's not a happy thing when people die, but I can't cry about someone that I don't know. It's just not in me. I don't understand.

Does anyone else remember where they were when OJ Simpson ran? Perhaps I'm abnormal. Celebrity tragedies cause vivid memories in me.