Oh, hey, I've run a swather that steered like that. Old memories, I was shy of 16, I think, and swathing oats that had too many weeds. So, I was out in the open thing, wearing a dust mask, hooded jacket, gloves, ear plugs, and for entertainment, an audiobook of one of Zelazny's Amber series.
This would be one of those types. I heard some fellows at the auction talking about how you could build a cab for the 400, but the base unit didn't have one. It does have a little canopy, so at least I won't be directly baked by the sun. Dust, wind, and bugs are likely to be an issue though.
The saddest part about Michael Jackson for me isn't the songs he'll never get to perform, or even that he died so young (about ten years ahead of me); it's the way he never seemed to fit in. That for all the money and adulation and the hordes of generational fans, he didn't seem to possess the tools for real happiness. He squandered much of his money on the trappings of youth, kept a displaced bubble of escapist reality alive, found his emotional equivalent in children, sought disassociation through drugs, and ended a terribly compromised man. A sort of botched pastiche quilt, fighting desperately against the most inevitable truths of life- of self image, race, gender, age. That's the Michael Jackson I see. It's something I can sympathize with. I think all that took him so young, and I feel sad for him. But like his ideal, Peter Pan, he didn't grow up. For all that's worth.
I wasn't aware that MJ ever did drugs, but then as I said, I wasn't a big fan so I never really followed the stories that closely. I think your assessment is pretty accurate, and perhaps it lends some truth to the notion that "Money can't buy you happiness." Here's hoping that he's found his true Never Never Land, and is happier there.
I can't claim to be an MJ fan either; I give him kudos for his accomplishments and I don't dislike his songs- I can even forgive him for Moonwalker- but this is more a fascination I have with what's not being said whenever he spoke. For instance, he blamed his lightening skin tone on a medical condition called vitiligo, yet people who do have this disorder tend to lose pigment in blotchy, irregular patches instead of turning into a china doll. He said explicitly that there is no such thing as 'skin bleaching' as far as he knows, which is technically true, since skin lightening probably doesn't involve bleach. And in the same interview, conceded that he only lightened his pigment so he would have an even tone. So it's dodgy
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That's the Michael Jackson I see. It's something I can sympathize with. I think all that took him so young, and I feel sad for him.
But like his ideal, Peter Pan, he didn't grow up. For all that's worth.
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