NHC Issues Orange Alert, Ups the Ante for ANA to form in the Carib.. & My Thoughts on Michael Jackson's Death

Amazing day for multi-tasking people. So much to look at and watch on the news and so much to pay attention to in the weather and does anyone remember North Korea still wants to test their long range missles? Crazy world we live in... time stands still and we all seem lost in the late 70s, 80s, 90s... listening to Michael Jackson songs.

Tropically speaking...the area in the Caribbean has consolidated it's convection now around the center of the system or where the powers that be have been running models on ... so give a look at a few pics here and a loop to loop and my advice to you all.. keep an eye on it... Ana could form from this blob of brightly colored convection.

Water is warm enough, if a high can develop aloft (as it may be doing.. *may*) and steering currents would take it north somewhere... through the Yucatan Channel and into the Gulf of Mexico. If this storm forms and gets into the Gulf of Mexico all bets are off on how strong it could become and landfall would be a given.

So... sit up and pay attention. Watch CNN's coverage on the King of Pop Music dying or keep watching Fox or listening to his music but pay attention because the NHC moved it up to Orange for a good reason and it looks a whole lot better this afternoon than it did this morning. This morning all the bright convection was not over the center and racing away. This afternoon it looks more like it's pulling together. And, if you watch loops you will see that if it develops it can become a nice sized system with a large pocket to enlarge size wise and move north into the Gulf of Mexico.

Early for June... moving towards July... but Alma did it back in 66 this time of year and other storms can as well. Might mess up someone's July 4th later next week.

An Alma track is possible, rarely happens but possible something similar to it maybe?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Alma_1966_track.png




Here you go in Black and White..the Dvorak Sat.. look how neatly round and strong it is:





Here is a model.. loop it. Very simple really. As easy as ABC 123

http://moe.met.fsu.edu/cgi-bin/gfstc2.cgi?time=2009062612&field=850mb+Vorticity&hour=Animation






How do I feel about Michael Jackson's Death? I suppose my mind is really on how I feel about his life? His death seems sort of ABC simple but we will wait for reports from his autopsy.

As I said, I went home yesterday expecting to watch coverage of Farrah Fawcett's death and came home to breaking news of Michael Jackson. Life is always so full of surprises.

And, yesterday was a day known to me as Gimel Tammuz. The 3rd day of the Jewish Month of Tamuz when the Lubavitcher Rebbe's heart gave out... though his soul lives on forever. It was the anniversary of that event in 1994 that weighed on my mind when I woke up yesterday. Suddenly, I was plunged back into the 80s and my mind kept walking through memories of living in L.A. and each of those new Michael Jackson songs being released.

I moved to L.A. at the end of 1978. I was married to my ex-husband and working for Chabad Lubavitch. We were living first in Long Beach, California and later Los Angeles. Not living in Mumbai or China or some far away place but the All American Dream I suppose, living in West Hollywood a few blocks from MGM studios. One of my closest friends lived in a house just south of Melrose Avenue where Clark Gable lived with Carole Lombard. The previous owner never changed anything and they didn't have the money to so in the little guest house in the back yard where Clark entertained his friends we let the babies run around and play. Amazing but true, so is life in L.A. I met James Caan when he spoke at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion at a Chabad Dinner. Handsome, all I could think was he looked a lot like my old boyfriend from high school. We lived in a strange world, we took drives on Saturday Night after Shabbos up La Cienega to Sunset and would look at the new billboards advertisting new records for Madonna, Cyndi Laufer and Michael Jackson. I was into country back then, still am... loved the song "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" and wow..so many memories.

Kids went to Bar Mitzvahs and moonwalked. He was everywhere, larger than life yet in my mind he was still little Michael Jackson from the Jackson 5. I never really could wrap my head around a man singing soprano.. it's just not my style or tastes but the music, the beat... and the beat goes on.

It was a good life in L.A. I did a lot of good things I am proud of to this day and made some great friends and well.. living in L.A. during that time was wild and when I moved there I was pregnant with my second child Shayna and spent most of my time wearing a dark brown Farrah Wig (Lubavitch and Orthodox Jewish married women cover their hair with scarves or wigs).. and wearing Candies platforms, jean maternity jumpers and on the radio was one song after another in an evolution of Michael's style.

LA was MICHAEL JACKSON.. talk man on the radio too named Michael Jackson:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson_(radio_commentator)

Strange but true..

And, stranger than truth was the way his life unraveled into a bizarre, strange way of life that no one could understand.. probably not even Michael.

You can't take away from him his body of work and how his various styles imprinted the 70s, the 80s and the 90s even if the last few years made him often a household joke or bizarre story. A family friend was there in a Mall in Miami when he rented out FAO Schwartz, she was so excited to meet him.. he rented it for the night for a slumber party and she was in shock at the way he had become.. how he looked and how paranoid he was for his privacy and well... sad to deal with truth sometimes. We were all shocked.

And, I think on how the $100,000 a month he was spending to rent a mansion in Holmby Hills could have gone to helping so many poor people who are struggling to just survive. And, yet he was a legend and he died and yes when Elvis died..that was sad too and also a little bizarre at the end.

So, I watched some loops last night and couldn't sleep..I had spent time earlier at Bais Menechem listening to a Rabbi give a talk on the Rebbe and I was lost in thinking on life and purpose and what my purpose is in the whole grand scheme of things... and I decided to put on CNN one last time to see what new news story about his death they were showing and I heard someone talking, a voice I know... familiar and far away... talking on how Michael wanted to make a difference, to connect spiritually and how the people around him were responsible for enabling him at the end and I thought.."what is going on and why do I know that voice" and the news anchor said, "Thank you Rabbi" and I thought "huh" and then I started to giggle and shake my head and think on my strange life and realized it was Shmuley talking about Michael Jackson. I had forgotten the whole day that Shmuley had worked with him a while back. Shmuley Boteach. Old friend, family friend.. Miami Boy.. Miami Beach Boy to be exact. Grew up with Shmuley ... he was my junior counselor when I was Head Counselor at Gan Israel Day Camp one summer, he would help me with the arts and crafts and later eat at our Shabbos table when we were first married... how do I know so many people, freaks me sometimes and I try not to think on it.. it's just normal for me I suppose.

Shmuley trying to talk to the legend...all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Michael together again but he was right.. he is right, he was always a bright young boy...with bright eyes that sparkled when he would talk fast and Shmuley or as the world knows him Rabbi Shmuley is right...

"Michael's death is not just a personal tragedy, it is an American tragedy. Michael's story was the stuff of the American dream - a poor black boy who grows up in Gary, Indiana, and ends up a billionaire entertainer. But we now know how the story ends. Money is not a currency by which we can purchase self-esteem and being recognized on the streets will never replace being loved unconditionally by family and true friends."

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245924935526&pagename=JPArticle/ShowFull

Nothing like true friends and family who love unconditionally and nothing like an adult trying to spend his whole life trying to get over the effects of being abused as a child. Takes a life time sometimes...

I don't always agree with Shmuely but this time.. oh yeah. And, Shmuely who is forever fourteen in my mind is talking about Michael Jackson who to me is still a small boy singing with his older brothers.

May I say that if he is remembered by one thing in his life for me it won't be moonwalking or singing soprano or being a creative genius it will be for bringing other artists together as diverse as Lionel Richie and Willie Nelson to see We Are The World ...making a song for a cause... to change the world.

I remember the first time my ex-husband and I watched them sing that song and we were blown away by the fact that such an event could happen and how it could change the world.

When people work together with love to make a difference... it is beautiful.

So.... at the end... I will hear the song "We are the World in my mind" always and think of the amazing kaliedscope of musical icons who worked together

"We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day
So let's start giving
There's a choice we're making
We're saving our own lives
it's true we'll make a better day
Just you and me"

I ask anyone reading this to make a difference in someone's life... do it for Michael Jackson.. do it for Farrah...do it for someone you know who was just born or who is dying or who is ill... that is what this world is about... doing good... sharing..giving love...

Leave this world a better place than you found out..

Great song..great message... on that level I think Shmuley is wrong.. he did find his purpose but sadly...he lost it and that is when his life spiraled out of control.

Find your purpose... and make this place a better place for you and i..

and..............keep an eye on the Caribbean because Ana may be forming down there as we listen to Michael Jackson songs today.

Good Shabbos... Bobbi

Thanks for reading...