POP QUOTE: For The Most Gifted Girl I Know

ME. 

Nah. Just kiddin'.

FOR MY BABY SISTER, M.

You have the voice that can make people stay and listen - so sing.

You have the fingers that make others forget their problems for a moment - so keep playing.

You have the rhythm in your soul - so dance.

You have the strokes that speak to the world - so keep drawing.

You give up on your gifts, your passion, your music, your art... you die. And I don't even have to lift a finger to do it. It's something you can decide to do on your own.

You weren't given gifts to keep hidden, but to show to the world, to use as a weapon, to turn into gold.

Never give up. Never lose hope. Never say "I can't"; because if you do, then I will say, "I won't".

I believe in you too much to be nice. You know that. So GO. BELIEVE. TRUST. DO. Because no matter what happens, I will be here...

to push you, nudge you, kick you, slap you, hit you, try to break you - until you realise that the only way to make me stop is for you to BE WHAT WE WANT YOU TO BE. ;-)

Pop Thought: JOAN JETT (09.22)

"I think I was born strong-willed. That's not the kind of thing you can learn. The advantage is, you stick to what you believe in and rarely get pushed out of what you want to do."

I'm simply blown away by Joan Jett's tenacity, strong will and single-mindedness when it came to pursuing her rock n' roll dreams. Sure, she enjoyed all its ankle-nipping perks (i.e. boozing, drugs, indiscriminate sex, more, more, more) but not once did she detour from the path that would take her where she thought she truly belonged - to the top. The woman was genetically engineered not to acknowledge rejection and the word "no". I could go on singing this one praises the whole day, but it would all boil down to this: what Joan Jett wanted, she got - one way, or another.

Pop Thought: SOPHIA LOREN (09.20)

"Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go so much further than people with vastly superior talent."

Sophia Loren (with dark eye circles), before the advent of Photoshop

Pop Thought: JIMI HENDRIX (09.18)

"I'm the one that has to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life, the way I want to."

 R.I.P. Sept 18, 1970 (at the age of 27)
Image: Courtesy of Rolling Stone