A couple of weeks ago I mentioned coming up with some interview questions that would see the light of day (on this blog). What I didn't mention was that I was going to interview Dr. Paul Camarata as part of Fallible Blogma's Catholic Speaker Month. While I don't have the interview to post up yet (Dr. Camarata has been understandably busy, he's a doctor! :D... me? School is slowly taking over my free time), I will give y'all a little pre-interview bio of Dr. Camarata.
Dr. Paul Camarata is the producer of SQPN's The Saint Cast. His knowledge of saints is impressive and he uses it to inspire us, through the podcast, to live more saintly lives. Not only does he update the podcast whenever his time allows it, he's also an active SQPN board member, and (if that weren't enough), he's a neurosurgeon who manages to juggle it all while keeping his Catholic faith alive. He's a great family man who will twitter about things such as seeing his kids in a theater production of Brigadoon (oh yes, I remember that). That was one of the big reasons why I chose him... his love for his family as well as his faith is impressive and is (sadly) not something we often see in today's society.
I hope to have the interview up as soon as both Dr. Camarata and I are able to have it ready for y'all. In the meantime, please go check out his podcast (which I highly recommend) and write him a great review on iTunes. :)
That's all for now... but keep your eyes peeled for more in the near future. :D
Honestly, not much went on today. I had a finance meeting (oh yeah, I'm getting into taking care of business) which went alright. I'm a bit worried about money issues because my family's been living paycheck-to-paycheck lately and I have to take care of some big expenses. Chaotic but it's good for me to start dealing with these things again because it makes me feel like I did before I got sick. YAY!
One not so good thing -- I had one of the scariest dreams this morning. I woke up saying "Ave Maria Purisima" which roughly means to "Hail Mary, the Purest" in Spanish. It's something one says, in Mexican culture at least, when you get a sense of something evil. My dream was pretty intense, I was actually fighting with the devil (which isn't the first time I've dreamt it) because he was tempting to into doing something completely immoral but my will was too strong for him. Then I felt this strong wind trying to pull me into darkest. As soon as that happened, I started naming saints to help me. I started calling "St. Teresa of Avila... St. Jude Thaddeus... St. Michael Archangel... St. Raphael Archangel..." as soon as I remembered to call on Our Blessed Mother, I woke up... and said Ave Maria Purisima. It's completely scary. Every time I've had dreams that I'm fighting against evil, I've always won... like that time my house was surrounded by darkness and I took a white stone/light in my hands and make the darkness disappear. I believe I wrote an entry about that a few months back. Still, it's scary to dream and I will definitely talk to a priest about this.
Moving onto something nicer... I've been catching up on this awesome Catholic podcast called The Hands and Feet Show. I love that the show is VERY relatable to young people -- especially us in our late teens and 20s. They aren't afraid to tackle any issues, no matter how taboo or controversial, while keeping everything faith related. I definitely recommend it to anyone who doesn't shy away from any topic. You can check them out here (http://sqpn.com/category/talkshows/hands-and-feet/) They're part of SQPN which has a slew of awesome Catholic Podcasts. Definitely recommend all of 'em -- all of Fr. Roderick's podcasts, Rosary Army, the Saint Cast, etc. And, speaking of Fr. Roderick, he's in Rome this week and he's already done a podcast there. It sounds like Rome would be my kind of place... as soon as I get over my anxiety.
We've got it all planned -- as soon as my therapist gives me the thumbs up for traveling to big, crowded cities (that I haven't been to before), I'm visiting them. :D I already have my list of cities (mostly in Europe)... and, to be honest, it's more of me checking them out because I fully intend on living out there in about a year or so. Well, in France or another country in Europe. The idea of living in France popped into my head a few weeks ago. I already understand and speak a tiny bit of French so I need to really learn the basics but otherwise, I'm intrigued. I also heard that someone that doesn't completely repulse me (which is my way of saying "you rock, you big nerd!" hahahaha!) wanted to go and live there I thought "Dude, then let's go!" We always seem to want to end up in the same place at the same time without telling each other. I'm always surprised and think he's reading my mind. If it's not being in New York at the same time (we're both kinda tired and done with NYC now), it's being somewhere else. So, now I'm going to plan -- for myself -- to move out to one of the cities on my list and I won't tell anyone until I'm there... and we'll see what happens. I'm excited though. The planning aspect is awesome. It does mean I will have to learn about 4 different languages ('cause I haven't decided where I want to go) but I'm excited! The travel bug has bitten me again. YES! lol.
Alright, well, I have pretty exhausted -- don't know why -- so it's about time I call it a day. As usual, thanks for reading and God Bless. .
I actually woke up late to go to the first clinic so, meh, will have to go tomorrow. Totally not my fault -- my alarm just didn't go off and without it, I sleep through almost anything. lol. Since I woke up late and didn't have my doctor's appointment at the other clinic (both are for different things) until 2 p.m., I got online and watched Fr. Roderick do a live recording of The Daily Breakfast on uStream. It was a lot of fun to watch, and participate, in the pre-recording of it. We get a chance to interact with other fans, and with Fr. Roderick, by using the chatroom. I got a kick when he mentioned a few things I typed into the chatroom. Oh, the technology! A few years ago that wouldn't have been possible but with technology now, almost anything is possible. :D Anyhoo, if you haven't checked out one of this podcasts, I would definitely recommend it. I'm subscribed to a few on iTunes so I never miss an episode (which are made on an almost daily basis). You can check out all different types of Catholic related podcasts he and others make at SQPN.
Moving from something awesome to something that's pretty awesome but freaking boring... I did make it to my second doctor's appointment but I was there from 1:50 p.m. and I didn't get home until a few minutes 'til 7 p.m. *hits forehead with palm* It was sooooo boring towards the end. It was awesome for the first hour because the doctor deemed me (besides the cold... yes, it's a cold like I suspected) completely healthy. I'm even back at my normal weight from before I got sick so... whoo. Haha. I do feel dizzy and all but she says it's still because of the stress and anxiety I had last year. Meh! That is why I'm going to the other clinic tomorrow -- because they specialize in stress and anxiety issues. Hopefully I won't have to wait hours like I did at today's clinic. Anyway, waiting in line just to get medication was a pain in my tush! It's worth it but, oy! At least I did manage to make some people laugh in line. :D Oh yes, I was back to my old dorky self and I made quite a few people laugh. Apparently I'm witty. *shrugs* I made two little kids giggle too, which always makes my day. Little kids laughing has to be one of the sweetest things you'll ever experience. :D Oh, and something that I managed to do... I found out who was Catholic simply by saying I was going to get home and ask St. Anthony to help me find a paper I need. The few people who laughed totally got what I meant (St. Anthony is the patron saint of lost things). Whoo! lol.
Another bummer thing... I KNEW I was going to miss the postman who was bringing me a book I ordered on Catholicism. I KNEW IT! I told my dad early in the morning, "With my luck, I'll have to go to the post office tomorrow to pick it up because I won't be home to receive it." And that is exactly what happened. I did get a Netflix movie (6 HOURS and 4 minutes -- yikes!) on the life and work of St. Teresa of Avila but no book. Hmph. Well, at least I got something. Still, I love getting mail so having to wait longer... not so good. lol.
I have a lot more to write -- including big plans/news I'm going to unleash into the world this weekend -- but it'll all have to wait until I am feeling better. I feel fine... just sooo sleepy (I've only slept a few hours in the past 48 hours), my eyelids are about to close. So, I'm going to snuggle up with my pillow and blanket and hope to have one of those awesome saint dreams. For now... thanks for reading and God Bless.
So, my cold -- or possible cold -- continues to rear it's ugly little head. Dad's also starting to get cold symptoms so if we both get a cold, it's because mom brought it home last week. lol. We're not blaming her, though. She works in a hospital so stuff like that is bound to happen. I'm still hoping it's just allergies, which would make sense because it's been unusually warm and windy lately (it was 70 degrees fahrenheit yesterday, a little warmer today). Even as I was sitting in church, during mass, I had to (discreetly) take a sip of water because it felt really warm. I should also mention I went to the noon mass (the second and last mass in English on Sundays) so of course it was at it's warmest. Last night was the first time in months I had to sleep without my blanket because it wasn't cold. Hopefully it won't be too cold tonight... which I doubt it will be because it's supposed to be 75 degrees tomorrow. *groan* This is why people get sick... because the weather keeps on changing without warning.
Even though I was really thirsty and warm in mass, I was very happy that I finally made it through an entire thing without either one of my parents getting sick, or me getting sick. I was so stoked that I was finally able to attend the English mass, too, because I usually go to the Spanish one with my parents. My parents also went with me, which was even better. It had been years since I'd gone to an English mass and I sure missed it. I'm most likely going to attend more of them, but I wouldn't be surprised if I went by myself because of the language thing (though my parents speak English, they're not fluent). One of the things I loved about the noon mass was how lovely the stained glass windows looked at my parish. I took a picture of the one that was facing west to share:
There are different windows but I decided to share this one because I love how it looks in the noon time sunlight. :D Tomorrow we're going to another late evening mass so I'll be looking at the windows to see how they look.
I'm going to share the following video of the late Pope John Paul II (which is in Italian, sorry) because I just love(d) watching him speak.
What a sweet man. Even though he was the only Pope I'd known in my lifetime (prior to his passing, I mean), I feel that he has been one of the most beloved Popes. And, did you see him waving his hands in the air with all the youngsters? Cute! It'll be 3 years, this April, since his passing and he still really missed. It's a good thing that GodTube exists so I can always search for more videos of him, and other religious things.
Ah, yes... GodTube. It's basically youtube for religion. It's mainly Christian but more and more Catholics are making their presence known. I've known about this website for a while now but today has been the second time I've actually visited it. It's definitely interesting -- though I don't appreciate some of the anti-Catholicism videos I've come across. There are some really funny videos I watched last time. I wonder if they have That Catholic Show on the site.
That Catholic Show is AWESOME! It's done by the same husband and wife team that does the Rosary Army podcast (both That Catholic Show and Rosary Army can be found on iTunes or sqpn.com). I think their videos are great, especially for those who don't know much about the Catholic faith. Here's just a sample of the type of videos they do:
To watch more, click on the link above or on the SQPN link on the righthand side under Favorite Websites.
I feel like this blog is getting too long so just a quick little story about yet another awesome, but scary, dream I had last night. So, last night I had a dream that there was something evil in the house -- which was almost pitch black for some reason. I had this white crystal cupped in my hands, which was almost blindingly white, and I went around the house with it touching different things to make the darkness go away. I finished in the living room (at the location where my PC is in real life) and I got on my knees and touched this thing (I forgot what it was) with the crystal and the next thing I knew, all the darkness had disappeared. I went to look outside, and I saw this little boy (who was about 7 years old and had this semi-long blonde hair) who was holding something white in his hands as well (I do remember it was an animal; possibly a dove) and he looked up at me and asked me where another little girl was. I told him I hadn't seen her. I knew he'd known what I'd just done (getting rid of the darkness in my house) and, still looking at me, said something along the lines of "I believe in you" but in Spanish. At that moment, I thought to myself "Oh my... that's the Child Jesus..." and he just smiled at me. I woke up shortly after that. No clue why I keep having these dreams about saints, and now the Child Jesus, but I am sure glad I did. It definitely beats having other types of dreams.
Okay, well, I still have to eat (it's almost 7:30 p.m.) and I haven't prayed the Rosary today (bad me!) so I am going to try to get those things done before I pass out from the icky, fatigued feeling.
