Michael Jackson has passed away.

[Ninjinister]

So there I was, taking down a fraud website at work (obviously), when I accidentally hit the wrong bookmark, news.google.com. First story up top is a report from tmz.com: "Michael Jackson dead at 50".

"Holy F***!" I exclaim. "MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD!"

The entire office is silent for at least a minute, bewildered looks on everyone's faces. Then various co-workers are asking me for verification. I ask Lauren and Heidi, who are big on celebrity gossip, if TMZ is reliable (I don't know this kind of stuff). They confirm that it is. I am still awaiting further confirmation. One source doesn't do it for me. It was the same thing when I read about David Carradine.

Work grinds to a halt. Everyone is furiously pounding away at their keyboards and clicking their mouses, trying to find further evidence. All anyone can find quotes TMZ as their source. The girls are furious about Perez Hilton and E! Online timing out (and as it turns out, Jackson may be the reason).

Finally, I find an LA Times article that insists that their source is directly from the LAPD. This is 90% confirmation for me. I'm pretty certain that Michael is dead, but due to my conditioning, especially that of my work training, I need more evidence to be 100% sure. Some mild jokes start flying around the office, nothing too bad. A few Thriller and plastic body part quips are thrown, but nothing involving his alleged pedophilia, thank God. Those are left to the comments of the various news sites and blogs that I'm running across, and so they're easy to ignore. Co-worker Nick's cell phone goes off - a friend texts him regarding the reports of Michael's death. We joke how that's our "third pillar" of confirmation. This would actually only be the first of a godzillion times that someone's phone will go off before my shift ended at 4 Pacific, all dealing with people questioning and reporting the news. IGN has word of Michael's passing on their front page, and my infamous shift manager Elman calls that the "fourth pillar of confirmation".

On the walk home, ever Jackson song I know is running through my head. I also think to myself that now Farrah's an Angel and Michael Got Enough. Shortly thereafter, a car blazes down the street blasting, strangely enough, "Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough". I nearly shout words of support at the driver, but they're gone too fast for me to even get the first word out.

100% confirmation comes when I turn CNN on the TV at home and they're interviewing the coroner. Reverend Sharpton starts talking about how close he and Michael were, and how he arranged for Michael to see his idol James Brown's body and to be there for every funeral procession of Brown's. I watch for as long as I can stand, and turn off the TV to go take a shower (I've just always thought that Al was unnecessarily loquacious and have never been able to sit through any of his speeches in their entirety).

So after I get out of the bath, I pop on my laptop and head to playlist.com to stream some Jackson songs in memory, just as I had did yesterday with songs related to the four family members of mine who had passed on June 24ths of the past. The site already has a memorial playlist set up, and that's what I've got on now.

So yeah... this has been a f***ing s***ty week to begin with... this is just more to heap on the pile.

God bless you, Michael Jackson.