So yesterday was awesome. As you can tell from the title, I went to a convention. It was the first time I’ve been to a con since college and the first time I went to a con as huge as Comicpalooza. Cons are one of the few places where I can say it’s safe to talk to strangers. I wasn’t sure what line I was supposed to be in going in. The first thing I went to was the weapons... Read more
Sometimes vacations can be a lot of fun. Sometimes, they feel way too short. But for my California vacation, it seemed like I learned a lot about myself, things I never realized before. It wasn’t some big spiritual epiphany like in Eat, Pray, Love, but a lot of little things. The first thing I learned is that although I liked getting dressed up for my cousin’s big 18th birthday party, I felt like I was wearing a costume. I hated having... Read more
Monday was a very low-key day. I went to a Barnes and Noble to work on my novel. Overall, I felt like I had a good writing day. Plus, I finished my night with Castle, which is always fun. Today, I went back to The Town Where I Used to Live. It wasn’t a long visit, but I was there long enough to realize that there were subtle changes to the town. It felt familiar and weird all at the... Read more
Saturday and Sunday were jam-packed with a lot of awesome, wonderful events. Saturday was the day of my cousin Di’s 18th birthday party. I got dressed up to the nines and danced the night away. I ate sirloin for the first time. It was really good, all things considered. The best part was making funny faces in the photobooth, both by myself and with my cousins. At the end of the party, my uncle announced that there would be a... Read more
Today was a little more low-key than yesterday. I wore earrings for the first time in forever. (I had to get them re-pierced and I just took my earrings off.) It felt really weird, but I liked how they looked. But, like the nails, they are definitely not something I want to wear all the time. The best part of the day, though, was going to the local arcade, where they had karaoke rooms, just like in Akibaranger. (If you don’t know... Read more
So if you can’t guess from the title, I am travelling! I am spending a week in sunny California as sort of an Easter vacation. So why the title? Because I was reading Eat, Pray, Love on the flight to Los Angeles. I arrived in LA at around 10PM local time. It took a while for things to sink in because highways all look the same at night. It wasn’t until we found an In-N-Out that made me realize that I... Read more
So Lent didn’t turn out the way I thought it would be. There were a lot of struggles, but also a lot of lessons learned along the way. The wonderful thing about Easter is that it’s a time of celebration and redemption, to remember that death isn’t the end-all, be-all. At Mass, Catholics renew their baptismal vows. It reminds us of what we chose to believe in and what we are all striving for. To make a long blog post... Read more
Here’s a funny observation I made back in Advent of 2011 Interesting connection b/w Matthew’s family tree and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy…Matthew mentions the number 14 three times to represent the number of generations b/w Abraham and David, David to the Babylonian Exile, and the Exile to the birth of Our Lord. 14 generations pass in between these 3 huge events in Hebrew history…14×3=42. So why am I talking about Christmas so early in the year? Because you... Read more
It’s no coincidence that Passover and Holy Week take place around the same time. Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his apostles the night before his death, after all. But what if I told you that there was another connection between Passover of this year and the day that Jesus died? EWTN sometimes airs this documentary called Star of Bethlehem around the time of Advent or Christmas because it talks about whether or not the Star of Bethlehem was real and... Read more
A word of advice from experience. As much as I loved listening to my local Christian Music radio station, the occasional advertisement was always Easter-centric or said the words “He is Risen!” while I shouted: NOT YET! Sorry, Christian Radio, but you’re kind of jumping the gun along with the rest of America here. The purpose of Lent is to remember the Passion and death of Jesus first. Catholics celebrate Easter for 50 days. There is plenty of time to celebrate,... Read more
Monique Ocampo Writes
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