My first post

So, I finally succumbed to the thing of having your own blog. Not sure how much I will use it, but well, I guess it could be fun to sit down now and then and write your thoughts, ideas and such. Try to describe and put words on it, which is the same reason for me having bought two notebooks, so I can write anytime, and later maybe post it in here.

Anyways, two things that has occupied my mind lately is the environment and, something very hard to avoid living in the Western parts of the world, the death of Michael Jackson.

I will not lie and tell you I am/was a big fan of MJ, because I'm not. I barely listened to his music and never really cared much about what he was doing. Actually, when it became official he would perform at 50+ concerts during this summer, I became a bit annoyed and didn't think well of him. I have a thing against artists or sports people "retiring" and then a year or more later come back (same reason why I lost some of my good thoughts about Lance Armstrong). Of course it can happen, and far from everyone does it for negative reasons (such as money or need for fame/publicity), but it is as if it has become a trend. But that was not what I wanted to talk about.
I knew of MJ and thought he was one of the biggest, living entertainers, and "Black or White" (the only song I have of him that isn't Jackson 5 Christmas songs) is on my much played list on my iPod. It is brilliant, in so many ways. And I do think he had a lot of great hits, even though I never really took much of an interest in it. Oh well, a great entertainer and musician has died. And of course, it has been all over the media ever since. Too much, if you ask me, but that was to be expected I guess. That is the sad thing, other important news or happenings disappeared, like the death of Farrah Fawcett a couple of days earlier. And I cannot but help being a bit curious as to how he died, since there has been so many speculations and ideas about drug addiction and his trainer saying he was in an excellent shape. And the discussions about his funeral and the at first announced lit de parade in Neverland. I have no view in this matter, except that I understand both parties. He was a private person and the family wants to respect him and their religion by private funerals, but of course his many many fans wants to say goodbye and have a chance to pay their final respects to him. I don't like how it was announced there was to be a lit de parade, which was cancelled the day before it was to have been. Of course there was big practicality issues and almost impossible to go through with the plans, but why then at all say, almost promise there will be one?

How will he be known in the future? What kind of picture will he have in encyclopedias or Wikipedia? I hope it will be a quite positive one, as that is what he deserves. Yes, there were times when he could have acted better or should have known better, but I think he was too quickly judged. Of course, I don't know much about these episodes and the trials against him, but I have a strong feeling the media was quick to paint it negative, and the accusations were not correct. I rather think he was a boy who was raised in the world of media and entertainment and had far from the ordinary, protected childhood most of us had. Consequently he looked differently upon some things and probably wasn't sure where the line went for normal/good behaviour. Also, as he was forced too quickly to grow up and act like an adult, no wonder he was searching back towards his childhood and never really grew up at all. For the same reason he maybe enjoyed and felt more comfortable in the company of children and wanted to give them the fun and innocence he didn't have. Again, he may not have seen/understood when his company with children could make other adults raise their eyebrows and consider it abnormal.

So, enough about that. He will be missed. Not particularly much by me, but I am sure by a lot of other fans.

Now, environment. If you know me, you know this is a dear thing to me and I am very concerned. The reason why it has been extra much on my mind lately is something that happened a week ago. I was in Stockholm to visit my grandparents, and my uncle and young cousin was there as well the first night and day. After dinner Friday evening, my cousin asked me if I wanted to walk around the building (my grandparents live in an aparment block) with her, to do something after everything we had eaten (pizza and cake for dessert). I agreed, and she went straight to the kitchen and found us two plastic bags. She explained to me we were to pick up trash and sort it so paper went in my bag, and plastic in hers. We walked around the building for maybe 45 minutes, me and my 6 year old cousin, picking up countless of cigaret buds, candy wrappings and the like (I conveniently guided her around a condom, someone else had to pick that up). On a Friday night. She really enjoyed it and took the job very seriously, stopping up many times and carefully looking over the small grass areas on both sides of the path. We filled both bags, and she wanted to continue. It was getting close to her bedtime, so I said we had done enough for that evening.
But I was really positively surprised. Several people passed us, both young and old, and I can imagine some of them must have thought we were ridiculous. That didn't matter to me, and I could tell it didn't to my cousin either. She is really very conscious about trash and always remember to bring it with her, in general very wise for her age. We can thank her parents for that who have taught her and her older brother to take very much care of the environment and bring trash with them back home. It was a beacon of hope to me, and inspiration, and I hope she can be to others as well.

Okay, that's it for now. What a long first post, but there it is. It was actually quite fun... I'll have to do it again soon.:P