7 Quick Takes Vol. 14: Music and Life Edition

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I've been on a new music kick lately. There are two songs that I can't get enough of. The first is by Little Mix and it's called "Little Me." It's basically a female empowerment song that isn't in-your-face "feminism". It's a "you're beautiful, no matter what others say" / "don't let anyone put you down" kind of song that I always enjoy listening to. Here's the great video for it:

-- 2 --

The second is "Invisible" by Hunter Hayes. As someone who was bullied in school (part of where my PTSD comes from) and was an outcast in school for being "weird" (because I liked music, movies, and things others didn't), the lyrics hit close to home. I think it's a beautiful song. Here's the lyric video for the song:

-- 3 --

After the Great Music Purge of 2014 (740+ songs; 3.52 GB worth deleted off of my laptop), I decided to go through all my songs and pick and choose which ones I wanted on my iPod. Yes, I normally rotate songs in and out throughout the year. Anyway, while going through the songs, I was once again enamored with the Tord Gustavsen Trio's albums The Ground and Being There. I'll include a video but, uh, I don't expect any of you to like it. (warning: it's Norwegian jazz).

-- 4 --

"Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage, not weakness." - Katherine Henson.

I saw this quote on tumblr yesterday and immediately liked it. I feel like I get so much crumbs for being "too softhearted" and "too nice, Jane Bennet." Yes, some of my friends call me "Jane" after Pride and Prejudice's Jane Bennet because I can be "too nice" and people will take advantage of that. Anyway, this was nice to see; sort of "girl, you be you and don't let the haters tell you otherwise."

-- 5 --

I've been writing a lot of snail letters in the past two days. And by a lot I mean five letters. lol. I fell a little behind during the holidays but now I'm getting back to either replying to letters others have sent me or writing just because. I love having pen pals so it's always fun for me to write to them. And to show how diverse my friends are are: one is a priest, one is a professional photographer, one is a deployed soldier (and one-time guest blogger on this blog), one is a substitute teacher, and the other is young college student. Each letter is going to a different state (and/or country). God bless snail mail!

-- 6 --

If you've noticed that I've been online less in the last couple of days, it's because it's true. I've been trying to get my sleeping schedule on track (read: 10 p.m. sleep time and 4:30 a.m. wake up time; I don't even know who I am anymore, lol) and getting a better grasp at time management so a break from the social networking world has been a must. I have less than 3 months to go before I return to school so I need to make sure I'm ready for it. Intense summer program (and program in general) means a change for the better.

-- 7 --

I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do for Lent, which is a month-ish away. I will once again be using the St. Therese book I used last year but I think I want to add another one to it. Maybe Finding God's Will For You by St. Francis de Sales or maybe I'll just save up and buy the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary instead of using the version in the iPieta app. I am, for sure, limiting my time on social networks (maybe an hour per day). I'll be on vacation for part of Lent so we shall see what else I can come up with. ;)

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

And that's it for now. My life is quite boring but now you know what I've been up to. :)

I hope you've all been having a great week and that you have an excellent weekend.

As always, thanks for reading and God bless!

7 Quick Takes #3

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Yesterday was my dreaded/anticipated doctor's appointment; the first one since my stomach problems started two months ago. Good news: my complete blood work came back to normal. Not completely good news (but not terrible): My doctor said that they're going to do an Upper GI X-ray in 2 months (on Ash Wednesday of all days!) because she can't figure out what's causing my stomach problems. When I asked her what I could eat, she said that she didn't know because we aren't sure what's causing certain foods to make me feel weak/faint/sick. I took that as my being able to return back to a normal diet and if something makes me feel faint/sick (i.e. french fries), not to eat it. That means that I may have a couple of sick days while I figure out what I can and cannot eat. On the bright side, I am no longer restricted to only grilled chicken, oatmeal, and toast anymore. :D

--- 2 ---

Well, What I Learned Wednesday (#WILW) is off to a good start. Though there were only two linked posts, I did get some enthusiasm about participating in it from some of the CathSorority gals. I hope that we'll see more of them next week. By the way, if you're wondering what it is (for the tl;dr crowd): You write about your progress in learning about the Faith during the Year of Faith and you document it on Wednesday. It can be a blog post or a tweet; I accept both. :)

--- 3 ---

Novel update: my three beta readers have received the first half of it (162 pages; yeah, it's a long one) and so far the feedback has been positive. True, they are some of my best friends but I know that if something is off, they'll let me know. I ask for brutal honesty and I get it. lol. As of now, the title is still Will and Lina though I may change it when I am not preoccupied with freelance work.

--- 4 ---

As Mike from Distracted Catholic said on Wednesday, I had a "fangirl" moment when I heard that one of my favorite artists, Hunter Hayes, was nominated for three Grammy awards. I am a big, huge fan of his so... you know, I celebrated. Sue me. He's a good, Catholic guy (yes, he's Catholic - I had my sources confirm it ;D) and he's ridiculously talented. When it comes to him and Pope Benedict XVI, ooh, girl... I fangirl like I was a teenager. lol. I think I picked good people to "fangirl" over so I'm happy with my choices.

--- 5 ---

And, speaking of Papa Benedicto, who isn't following his twitter?! I started following him the minute I got home from daily Mass. I'm actually really excited about his presence on twitter. I don't know how often he'll send tweets or how often he'll engage with us, but I think that it'll bring more people to Christ and to the Truth. Yes, there is so much anti-Catholic hatred being spewed from the so-called "tolerant" left but it should ignite a flame in the hearts of some (currently) lukewarm Catholics. Reversions, here we come. ;)

--- 6 ---

On Wednesday I found out about the passing of two great people. First, one of my favorite jazz artists, Dave Brubeck, passed. I am not quite sure why but I was surprisingly emotional over it. I ended up listening to his music early in the day because of it. Later in the day, we found out that my mom's Godmother had passed away. She was 94 years old. I had not seen my mom cry like that since my father's death (and never before that) so it broke my heart. My mom, who was adopted, felt that her Godmother and her daughter (who is another one of my mom's Godmothers) were like her second mothers so she's mourning the loss of a mom. Please keep both the Brubeck and Mendoza families (as well as my mama) in your prayers.

--- 7 ---

To not end on a downer, here's two of my favorite tumblr pictures of the week.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Hope y'all had a great week and a stellar weekend. :D

As always, thanks for reading and God Bless! :D

Good News, Bad News.

Good news: I'm THISMUCH closer to finishing my Thesis. My original plans to finish on the 25th hit a snag -- mostly two major midterms and a bunch of extra assignments professors decided to give us because the majority of the class does not read what is assigned. Sigh.

Bad news (or perhaps it's good news for some of y'all, lol): No blog posts until I am done. The deadline is on the 31st so I have less than a week to finish. I should be back on Palm Sunday. I'm back on twitter and Facebook but won't have time to blog until then.

In the meantime, please enjoy these videos.

First: Like any other Hunter Hayes fan, I am encouraging y'all to vote for him for New Artist of the Year for this year's ACM Awards. Yes, I love country music. Yes, he is crazy talented; he played 30 instruments on his debut album. This video should help.



Ginger Rogers in Vivacious Lady. It's one of my go-to movies and this scene reminds me of my fight with my Thesis... and professors. Yes, I am Ginger Rogers (the blonde) in this case.



Okay... back to the salt mines. :D Hope y'all a great week.

As always, thanks for reading and God bless! :D

Grad School and Music Monday: Hunter Hayes

No, your eyes don't deceive you... this is yet another update. I'm getting better at the updating. ;) A special thanks to those who actually bugged me once they heard my second to last midterm was completed. lol.

Still not much going on my end except more and more schoolwork. 6 more months... just 6 more months at the CINO college and then my real education can continue. As soon as the semester is over I'll give y'all a little review of how my penultimate semester went. And, speaking of school, I've been looking at which schools I'd want to apply to next year as I want to take a year or two off to work before I go for my Master's.

I am not sure I want to pursue Theology or Education for my Master's. I am currently being pulled in the direction of a Master's in Creative Writing, Literature, or Journalism because, as much as I'd love to teach, I feel like I'd be happiest writing. It's just something I've been feeling lately, especially after all the novenas I've done regarding my vocation. Of course, making a living by writing is difficult so I'd want something to fall back on and that is why I'll keep my options open. I do have schools in mind and if I do end up wanting to go for my Masters in Theology so that I may be able to teach at a higher level, I already know where to look. Right now John Paul the Great in San Diego (they offer a Biblical Theology Master's degree that I am very interested in) and the University of St. Thomas in Houston are on top of that list but it's only the beginning of the search. If I do end up doing a Creative Writing Master's degree I am most likely going out of the States to do so.

It just started to hit me how fast the "real world" is approaching and how I feel unprepared for it. I do have post-graduation plans but with the economy being so unstable and more and more of my friend struggling to find jobs, I realized that I have to have some backup plans. I'm sure this is something everyone who graduates college goes through but it's my first time going through this AND I feel much younger than I am (quite possibly because most of my classmates are younger... and I regularly get told that I look like I'm under 21) so it's a little weird for me. lol. I am going to take things as they come and just be prepared for whatever may come my way. At the moment I'm just focused on getting through my classes in one piece this semester and also getting ready for my 40 page *groan* Thesis next semester. I feel another novena coming on... after I do the one for St. Jude's feast day (on the 28th) and the one I started last night for the Holy Souls in Purgatory.

I normally have movie or music reviews on Mondays but I am waiting to go watch The Mighty Macs this week so I can review it and Courageous together in a single post so look for that next week. :D Still, I want to renew the Music/Movie Monday tradition so here's a song off of Hunter Hayes' debut album. Yes, it's a country song but I love country music and country singers like Hunter Hayes who aren't afraid of singing about God, love, AND their mama so here we go. ;) The song is called "Faith to Fall Back On"



My favorite part of the song is when he sings the "prayer":
"God, I don't have to see you. I know that you're there
'Cause there were times I thought I wouldn't make it home
But I kept a little faith to fall back on.
Yeah, and I've learned to put my trust where it belongs
And I've gotta little faith to fall back on."

It's a good, catchy song. I've had his album (which just came out two weeks ago) on repeat since I was able to get it so I just thought I'd share one of the songs. :D

Okay, I technically have about a week to finish my last midterm (they dragged out my midterms for an entire month; unbelievable) but I want to finish and relax a bit so I shall try to finish it today or tomorrow. That means no new post from me until probably Wednesday or Thursday. I'm trying to get back on a schedule. I'm sorry my posts have been a little boring lately. I will eventually have more faith based posts (not just talking about the woes of senior year, lol) 'cause that's an area that's been on hold but I need to work on that. :)

Anyway, I hope y'all had a great weekend and have a great week. As always, thanks for reading and God Bless. :D