Sometimes, it takes a death of a friend — succumbing to pancreatic cancer — to be reminded that one should live life to the fullest, and with purpose!
On what would be Herman’s 40th Birthday, 6 months and 15 days after his passing, I can’t help but ponder what I’ve done to ring true to the promise I made to myself after his burial: live as if it were your last day! 
So I’ve gone back to church (volunteering to sing with the Choir, even — it’s a great sense of community worship), made more of an effort to attend friends’ birthday parties (since each new year you are living is something to celebrate!), tried to spend more time with friends and family (like, two weekends ago when I finally went riding with my other bro after several invites from him), and being more charitable, whether it’s raising money for the Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research under Team Herman, supporting other charity work, pro-bono clients, helping my 80-something-year old neighbour get on Facebook so she can communicate with her great grandchildren… 
It’s cheesy but I’m trying to get the most out of my time here on earth before I beam up to the mothership, the JSS Heaven. Muahaha. But seriously, I know I still have a lot to work on — like eating smarter, training for races consistently, less-OCB, become a truly forgiving person, less vain (too late 
), less-road rage (Oops!), and other stuff that pisses me off — but short of turning into the Buddha or Saint Raciel of Old Torrance, I’ll just accept what I have and continue appreciating even the smallest things in life…
Herman truly celebrated life, loved his family and friends, and made the most out of silly situations:
NYE with Herman
Happy birfday, big brother! 
I will see you again… but not yet… Not yet!
p.s.,
I hope you can forgive me for sharing some these shameless plugs of the causes I support:
Team Herman 2012 (Participant)
Running the LA Marathon (again) whilst raising funds for the Hirshberg Foundation
http://www.crowdrise.com/teamherman2012
“From My Mothers’ Womb” (Backer)
A look into the homeless on LA’s Skid Row
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/grahamjohnbell/from-my-mothers-womb-photography-expose-skid-row
Snapshots (Webmaster)
Theatrical benefit to raise funds for a friend’s 3-Day for the Cure team
http://www.snapshotsbenefit.com/
Now the real challenge begins: keeping this fitness up and not falling back into just working out during the weekend, especially with another Overloaded October (albeit, not as overloaded as October of 2010).
Jo Nisha on 
