Today, I'd like to introduce a singer/songwriter from Arizona, USA... his name is Todd Herzog. Todd's music sounds like Jason Mraz or John Mayer, and he has worked with some of the top songwriters in the world, like Burt Bacharach and Dave Koz. His music and voice have also been featured in TV shows like "Melrose Place" and "The Young & The Restless".

Todd regularly sends out these newslettters via email to everyone in his mailing list, and I find them to be an interesting read. I've written him before to ask if I can share the contents of his newsletters with others, and in a very friendly manner, he said yes.

His latest newsletter contains the following message, which I find to be full of positive vibes... please read on.

Dear Friends,

I was thinking about what to share with you today, and in the process I was searching through some quotes online. One of my favorites was this one from Benjamin Franklin:

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."

It made me think of how often we treat life as if it is a dress rehearsal for "the real thing." Once I get the best job, the perfect relationship, when the economy finally picks up, when I get my degree...THEN I'll be happy! But aren't  these all just excuses we use to avoid being happy on a daily basis? It doesn't seem to make sense. Isn't being happy what we're all searching for? Why would we want to avoid it?

For me, I think the answer lies not in the fact that we don't want to be happy, but that we don't always look in the right places for that happiness... which brings me to another quote from old Ben Franklin:

"Happiness depends more on the inward disposition of mind than on outward circumstances."

Some people can have no money, be going through an illness, be dealing with physical or emotional hardships in their lives, and yet still have a smile on their face and a positive attitude. I got an email today from a friend who lost his job recently. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he realized that he finally had the free time to pursue his passion of photography - something he had wanted to do for years. He was able to transform his loss into a gift, not just for himself, but for everyone around him.

My wish is that each one of us is able to celebrate the opportunities we are given from day to day. I hope we can realize that what at first seem like a personal tragedy may in fact be the hand of destiny gently guiding us to an even greater adventure. And may we all recognize the true happiness that already exists in our lives.

In song,
-Todd Herzog

To find out more about Todd Herzog, you might like to check out his Myspace page or his Official Website.

Yesterday, I came to learn that a close friend who I have known for 17 years and dated for 7 years passed away in his sleep. His heart had failed. His 39th birthday was on 16 Feb. It was painful to know that he was taken so soon. But at the same time, it was good to know that he may be in a better place now. So today, I'm gonna dedicate this entry to my fallen Jedi friend to say a final goodbye to him and to remember his life.

"Gone Too Soon" by Michael Jackson (if you can't view the video below, please click on the link instead)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=101iXwPTNE0

"Wherever You Are" by Celeste Prince (from the movie soundtrack of "Sweet November" starring Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron... this movie makes me want to visit San Francisco!). I could only find a home-made video clip for this song at YouTube, and it has the song lyrics in it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtC2XDoVXn4

Just got a call from my Mom while I was in the office... my Dad is in hospital for his gallstones right now, but while he was in hospital, they did a scan on him... the scan revealed not only how many gallstones he had, but also a cyst in his liver... further tests were done, and we've been waiting for awhile now, but the results came in today.

Not so good news, folks... his liver cyst is cancerous... so my Dad has liver cancer... he is being discharged from the hospital today, and I don't know anything more yet... but I will probably get to hear more when I go home later today.

Please pray for my Dad, his name is Patrick Chin.

I had planned out this lovely romantic countdown to Valentine's Day... but on 11 Feb, I wasn't able to create Part 2 of 4, 'cos I were busy meeting someone from out of town, and was partying hard, didn't get home till the wee hours, went to bed at around 4,00am... was going to write Parts 2 & 3 the next day to make up for lost time, but then my Dad gets really sick, and in the wee hours of the morning, we had to bring him to hospital... he's now been warded and is resting, but I only reached home at 11am, and I haven't had any proper rest yet, and now I'm thinking that this whole Valentine's Day countdown that I was planning ain't gonna happen anymore... we were supposed to be having a family dinner tomorrow night at a nice country club place... now the mood is just sombre... and whatever plans I may have had for this weekend are now a question mark.

Someone out there evidently has a pretty darn wicked sense of humour... today is Friday the 13th.

Before I begin, I ought to warn you that this entry is one of 4 entries that are going to be very personal, sugary sweet, superbly mushy, heartwarmingly touching, highly passionate, and even a little tear-jerking... **sniffles**

If you think you can't handle this... well, you have been warned!

However, if you think you can be strong enough, then by all means, Brave One, please proceed......

Valentine's Day is just around the corner... 14 Feb 2009, Saturday... for a romantic at heart like me, it's Valentine's Day all year round, but 14 Feb is a day to celebrate that year-round love... it's just like how we celebrate life everyday we are living, and yet we only celebrate our birthdays once a year... capice.

Tonight, I'd like to share with you some of my most favourite romantic movies... this is just Part 1 of a total of 4 parts, I'm counting down to Valentine's Day here... some of these movies may not seem like your typical romantic movies, but if you watch them again, you might realise that they are love stories all the same.

In sharing my favourites with you, I'd also like to open up a little and let you into my heart and my life... this Valentine's, please take a little piece of me to your heart :-)

DIRTY DANCING (1987) - starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey
(Warning: There is going to be some nudity in the video clip below)

Let's begin with a coming of age movie... "Dirty Dancing" was one of my favourites, and I had a pretty amazing memory associated with this movie... at the time, I was into this guy who I had met at this 6th Grade Church Camp on Sentosa... he was the same age as me, and we even had the same star signs exactly (Leo/Rabbit)... he was the very first person in real life that I had ever had a crush on.

On the day I went to watch "Dirty Dancing", I had been missing him, and I had been thinking about him, and I was wondering where he was right at that very moment... as it turns out, after the movie was over, I was riding the bus back home, and sitting somewhere near the back of the bus, when I happened to look up, and guess who was standing right there in front of me, just as I had been wishing he would... my crush! He said hi to me and smiled at me, and I was in crush heaven... LOL! :-)

All of a sudden I felt like Baby did when she was sitting in the corner during the final show, and Johnny came up to her saying, "No one puts Baby in a corner."

What an amazing coincidence me getting to see him riding the same bus home as me, and just when I was thinking about him and hoping to see him again too! :-)

Well, coming back to the movie... "Dirty Dancing" had a great soundtrack, lots of very memorable songs, but this song stands out in my mind... "She's Like The Wind", sung by Patrick Swayze.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pNpR6KGLEk

SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL (1987) - starring Eric Stoltz and Mary Stuart Masterson

I never got to watch this movie in the cinema, but I did get to watch it when I was 15 and working in my very first part-time job in a video rental store. I was pretty much able to relate to this story right away, because when I was 15, I WAS Watts!

I was this tomboyish gal who was into skateboarding and who was an army cadet in school, my hair was as short as Watt's hair for much of my school life, and I played music (but in my case, I played keyboards mostly... although I was also able to play drums, since we had been taught some basic rhythms in the music school that I had attended).

And yes, I had a very good friend who was a guy, and I had a HUGE crush on him, but he treated me as a sister and called me his "sworn sis", and I called him my "sworn bro". He was a year younger than me, but I didn't care about that, and neither did he... we clicked.

Like Keith in the movie, this guy also turned to me when he wanted to go after one of my friends. He asked me for advice and confided in me. And it was very hard for me to help him, because of how I felt about him deep inside, but I helped him anyway... he ended up dating 2 of my close friends, but never me.

In my case, my "Some Kind Of Wonderful" ending only came about more than 15 years later... and even then, I think the ending isn't quite there yet.

This guy was my skater buddy and one of my closest friends at the time. We lived in the same neighbourhood and we used to skate every weekend all day long! He's probably still one of my closest friends now. There is an amazing comfort level that I have with him.

At one time, he was a model and probably one of the more well-known male models in Singapore. He doesn't model anymore though. I reckon that if he had continued, maybe he might have ended up being a celebrity like some of his friends did, but he chose to take a different path instead.

Just this past Christmas, he decided to surprise me by showing up at my place in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, and spent 2 whole hours with me, just chatting and catching up on old times... I'm still as comfortable with him as I ever was, and we still confide in each other like we did more than 15 years ago.

I'm still waiting for my "Some Kind Of Wonderful" ending to come, but hey, this is real life, and it's not likely to happen, so I'd best just move on from here... I'm happy enough if I could just continue being his close friend for the rest of my life.

Now here is a very memorable kissing scene between Keith and Watts from the movie "Some Kind Of Wonderful"...

In this scene, Watts is helping Keith with his kissing technique... she likes him, but he doesn't know it, and she suggests that she help him out, but when it gets to be a little too much for her, she suddenly pushes him away... he teases her when he notices her blushing, and she gets irritated with him, which makes for a pretty awkward goodbye... she quickly takes her leave, saying he's good enough already, and probably feeling really silly for letting him get to her like that... she's a toughie, she's not supposed to be giving in to her emotions like that... after all, aren't emotions meant for sissies?!??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhzEzaYXxdo

And this is a fan-made video using the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic and clips from the movie "Some Kind Of Wonderful"... I enjoyed watching this video, because it captures in a nutshell the relationship between Keith and Watts... how they go from being good friends, to him realising that she loves him enough to help him win over the girl of his dreams, and that she is really the one for him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7jOsh-aQgA

Alrighty folks, that's all I got for you tonight... tune in tomorrow night for more of my countdown to Valentine's Day! :-)

Much Love,
<3 Baby Doll <3