#I just really wanted to share something by now after writing for about 5ish months but one's currently a 35000 word giant outline/draft

[spikes-got-anger-issues]

Someone help me with fic writing or I will perish

[catholicartistsnyc]

Meet Theresa Ambat

THERESA AMBAT is a music composer, producer, and sound designer based in Seattle, WA. [website]

From Theresa: 

I have my own personal music on Spotify and Apple Music and I just started doing freelance music production for film and video games. I also sometimes compose music using a programming language called SuperCollider. 

CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION (CAC): Where are you from originally, and what brought you to Seattle?

THERESA AMBAT (TA): I was born in Japan and moved to Washington as a baby (dad was in the Navy). Lived in a small town for most of my life, then moved to Seattle to study Computer Music at the University of Washington. I now work for a parish in the greater-Seattle area!

CAC: How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist? Do you call yourself a Catholic artist?

TA: I'd say that I'm a Catholic who is an artist. My vocation is to be a follower of Christ, and creating music is a major way for me to do that. I'm not a praise & worship artist and my work isn't always explicitly Christian, but my work is built on the foundation that is my faith and relationship with the Lord. Everything I create is for Jesus.

All I desire is to share truth, beauty, and goodness through my art. If someone can encounter Christ through my work -- whether that be by feelings of peace and solidarity, or something as incredible as conversion of the heart -- that brings me so much joy. 

CAC: Where in Seattle do you regularly find spiritual fulfillment?

TA: I was a part of a really wonderful Catholic community called the Prince of Peace Catholic Newman Center when I was in college. If you're a college student or young adult in the Seattle area, I'd highly recommend getting involved there! They've got Dominicans, tons of young people looking to explore their faith, awesome events, just overall an A+++ community. That place played a serious role in my relationship with Christ -- I don't know where I'd be without it. 

CAC: What is your daily spiritual practice?

TA: I've been struggling a little bit with daily prayer habits since starting full-time work--I guess I'm still trying to figure out a good routine. But since I work at a church I have the opportunity to do a holy hour and go to mass once a week which is great. Usually when I get home I pray a rosary with my family. I've also been reading "The Mystical Journey to Divine Union" by John Paul Thomas which is about St. John of the Cross.

I found my spiritual director Fr. Marcin during my senior year of college. At the time I was making a pretty big life decision about my future: to accept a position as a FOCUS missionary or stay in Washington to further my music career. Fr. Marcin was actually the person who kept telling me I needed to find a spiritual director, haha. We already had a good friendship by then so I just asked him! In the end, I discerned that the Lord was calling me to stay in Washington to live out mission in my job/music. 

CAC: Describe a recent day in which you were most completely living out your vocation as an artist.

TA: When in-person shows were still a thing, I performed for a SoFar Seattle show in January. It was my first paid gig ever and like, 20 of my friends (who are also Catholic) came. I think they filled up almost a third of the venue.

What's cool about SoFar shows is that the audience remains completely silent during your performances. No phones, no talking, people have to stay for the ENTIRE show, giving you the artist full-freedom to share your work without the fear of people not paying attention.

Before performing I talked about how I was Catholic, the ways the Lord was working in my life at the time, and how they related to my music. Being in secular Seattle, it was absolutely terrifying! But wow, I was received so well. After the show people started sharing with me how my story/music resonated with their own stories. If they were Catholic or not, I have no idea!

The Lord was SERIOUSLY present that night. All of my friends who came are incredible witnesses of Christ and it was just so cool to even see them interact with other people at the show and share Christ -- not by bible thumping or swinging around rosaries -- but simply by their presence and the joy that bleeds out of them.

Thinking back, yeah, I really wanted to share Christ with others through my music that night. But I'm now realizing how much of an impact my friends had on the show. Just imagine walking into a venue where THAT many people are striving for sainthood. The environment changes. I really felt like I was a part of the body of Christ that night.  

CAC: How do you financially support yourself as an artist?

TA: I currently have a full-time job at a really wonderful parish which is my main source of income. I only started freelancing maybe 2.5 months ago but to my surprise it's been flourishing well! Creating a personal website and demo reel made it really easy to share my work with others and I've found most of my gigs through the Catholic Creatives facebook group as well as Instagram.

The biggest piece of advice I have for finding work is to use social media as a tool. Document your process on instagram, create a demo reel and put it on the front page of your website, post on the Catholic Creatives facebook group! 

[Editor’s Note: Remember, you can also post in the Catholic Artist Connection Facebook group and send and find notices in the newsletter!] 

I know we all cringe at the idea of "networking" but if you think about it in the lens of evangelization, it's actually quite beautiful. No, I'm not saying that you need to "convert" people in your tweets and insta posts. But just remember that very interaction you have with a person is sacred and is an opportunity to love. Even in the digital world. When people see your joy and desire to serve, they can tell you're serious about your art and will want to work with you.

In the future (maybe 5ish years from now) I'd love to make freelance music production a full-time career. I still have quite a ways to go but I know the Lord is asking me to be patient and invest in the season that I'm in now. Transitioning out of college it's very easy to focus so heavily on the far future that we miss out on what's happening right in front of us. I'm really grateful for the opportunities the Lord has given me to serve now. 

CAC: What are your top 3 pieces of advice for Catholic artists post-graduation?

TA: 1. Post-graduation is REALLY hard. Especially during this COVID-19 pandemic. You're going to be told a lot of lies by Satan, but just remember that that's all he is. A liar.

Jesus? He is truth. So in response to each of those lies you might hear, just remember a truth that Jesus is telling you.

2. Invite God into your creative process! Make your work a prayer, write something in the adoration chapel, ask God what he thinks about your work, etc. I recorded my first album in front of the tabernacle and the Lord has blessed that piece of work in so many ways.

3. DO IT! Just do it. That thing you've been wanting to make for 72589247329 years, just start. It's never too late to just start. Stop letting your expectations for yourself get in the way. Stop waiting to get that "one piece of gear" that will make/break your project. God gave you a gift for a reason--to bring glory to his kingdom. Use it!

Let's be saints, together!

[finn-nelson-for-the-win]

The Good Life

Hello, my lovelies! This is my new multi-chapter story that I’ve been mentioning for a while now. It took longer than I’d like for me to get the ball rolling on it, but I have the first 5ish chapters written and/or mapped out and I really think this story is gonna be a fun one.

I’m still compiling my tags list, so if you want to be added (or removed) from the tags list for this story and/or all my writing in general, just feel free to let me know!

@pink-royaute @believethaticanandiwill

The Good Life: Chapter 1

“Do you want anything from the kitchen while I’m up, sweets?” Chloe asked as she walked across the room.

“No thanks. I just have one more person to call and then we can get started, yeah?”

Chloe shrugged and went into the kitchen, leaving Rae alone in the living room.

After finding the contact information from her email inbox, Rae entered the phone number into her cell phone and pressed the green phone icon to make the call.

“Hello?” sing-songed the voice that picked up the call.

“Uh, hiya! Is this Alex?” Rae asked tentatively.

“That’s me! How can I help ya?”

“My name is Rae, well technically Rachel, but I’ve been corresponding with you via email about the room that is for rent.”

“Oh, yes! I’ve been expecting your call! Did you have more questions for me?”

“I do, actually! Just a second,” Rae scrolled down on the webpage open on her laptop, skimming the page until she found what she was looking for. “So, I’m looking at the listing for the open room that’s for rent and it doesn’t mention having a private bathroom or how many bathrooms there are,” Rae trailed off.

“There is a master bathroom attached to my bedroom and a guest bathroom,” the voice on the other end of the phone call said in reply to Rae’s implied question, “If you are interested in renting the open room, you’ll be sharing the guest bathroom with three other people.”

“Three people would share the guest bathroom in addition to me?”

“Yeah! There’re two other girls and one of their boyfriends just recently moved in as well. So it would be the four of you sharing the bathroom at the end of the hall.”

“Oh! The listing didn’t mention that there were only two bathrooms. Is the monthly rent on your website listing for the room correct?”

“Yeah! That bedroom has a south-facing window, which has a really nice view of the neighborhood park, so it’s more expensive than the others. The price online also doesn’t include internet, cable, or any of those extra things that we divide up evenly.”

“Huh, I see…” Rae mumbled as she typed this information into the open note she had on her laptop with details about apartments she was looking into.

“Did you want to arrange a time with me and the others to come see the room that’s for rent? Or did you have any other questions?”

“I think that’s all the questions I had for you right now. I’m still looking around, but I’ll stay in contact.”

“Alright! That works for me. Have a nice day, Rachel!”

“You too, Alex! And thanks again for the information,”

After ending the phone call, Rae set her phone down on the coffee table in front of her and sat back on the couch, heaving a drawn-out sigh.

“Wow, that bad, huh?” Chloe asked from the kitchen as she finished getting herself and Rae glasses of wine.

“Well, it certainly wasn’t great,” Rae replied with a humorless chuckle, “but at least it wasn’t as bad as the girl that said the room for rent would be shared with her Burmese Python named Daisy.”

“I don’t know...after we met up with ‘goat boy’ who was trying to rent out his mom’s basement without her knowledge, Daisy started to seem like she might not be the worst roommate you could wind up with,” Chloe added causing Rae to smile and shake her head at the memory.

“She was kind of cute afterall, but she had no concept of personal space!”

“In all seriousness, maybe you’re just not looking in the right places, Rae-Rae,” Chloe mused as she handed Rae her glass of wine and set the bottle on the coffee table beside Rae’s laptop so she did not have to get up to refill their glasses.

“I’ve been trying to look everywhere, but nothing that I find seems to match what I’m looking for, I suppose.”

“I’m sure you’ll find something that works for you!”

“I appreciate your optimism, Chlo, but I’m not so sure. You remember how hard it was for me to find my current studio apartment, right? And that was without any type of time constraint or added stress. I just don’t know what I’m gonna do if I can’t find somewhere else to live. I’m barely making rent and all my other bills on time every month and since I had to add on another semester to finish my degree, I’m going to have to pay for the upcoming semester of Uni out of pocket. I can’t afford to not find a cheaper place to live and I can’t afford to live alone anymore!”

“Well you still have plenty of time, right? When was it that you said your lease was up?”

“I put in my 60-day notice yesterday, so I have until about mid-June to find something before I have to be out of my current place.”

“See? You have plenty of time to find something! Just keep looking around and I’ll ask around with some of the people I know at work and be sure to let you know what I find, alright?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Of course I am! And if you’re still unable to find somewhere to live by the time you have to be out of your studio apartment, my offer still stands.”

“It’s very sweet of you to offer to convert the extra room in your apartment into a bedroom for me to live in, but if I moved in with you it would double my commute time to work, which is bad enough already. Not to mention, I’d feel like such a mooch if I lived here rent-free,” Rae said as she looked around at the upscale and modern decor of Chloe’s living room.

“Who said I’d let you live here rent-free?” Chloe joked.

“That’s very true. How rude of me to have assumed such a thing!”

“Anyways...that’s more than enough stress for you to deal with in one day, Rae-Rae! Now, let’s get back to our weekly movie night! There are cheesy romantic comedies to watch and this bottle of wine isn’t gonna drink itself!” Chloe replied cheerfully as she grabbed the remote to start the movie.

A/N: So this story has been drafted, written/rewritten, scrapped, tabled, and ignored for close to a year now for no particular reason other than I didn’t have a clear idea of where I wanted it to go and I couldn’t bring myself to start yet another multi-chapter story that I lost interest in and hit a wall with (sorry you had to find out like this, but that is where I’m at with two of my multi-chapter stories that I was writing in the latter half of last year, which is why there hasn’t been an update in months :/ ). Fear not, my loves! I have a good feeling about this story and I’m trying a slightly different approach to this story, so wish me luck that it’ll work out for me!

This chapter is quite short and doesn’t really do too much aside from plot development and providing some information that will be relevant in later chapters, so please bear with me because this story will be a bit slow to get up and running, but it should definitely pick up by the 3rd chapter or so.

Thank you for reading and I would love to hear any thoughts/opinions/questions/general feedback you may have about this chapter! Until next time: Stay awesome, my friends! :)

[jonasmaurer]

The great gallbladder update

A gallbladder update (I wasn’t sure if you guys would want one but it’s the #1 search term on the blog every single day).

So here it is! A whole post about an…organ.

I hesitated to write this post for a couple of reasons. 1) Maybe this signals the death of my blog when I’m writing about a gallbladder?? lol and 2) Not only is this about an organ, but it’s pretty much the least glamorous one out there. Never google pictures of an actual gallbladder.

I didn’t really want to write this post because ew and blah but after checking my blog stats, month after month, the top search term was “gallbladder.” I figured it made sense because I didn’t write much about it (not intending to be vague but to avoid boring you with personal medical details) and figured it would be worth a post because gallbladder issues are so common and many of you may be experiencing something similar. Please keep in mind that I’m not a medical professional. I’m just sharing my experience. Comments attacking me, my gallbladder (heh), and/or other posters will be deleted.

Here’s the story:

About 6 months ago I did some hormone testing. I was feeling tired and my previous hormone test had shown some low levels, so I did the DUTCH test, which is a gold star in hormone testing. It tests EVERYTHING. My body was making sufficient hormones but not processing them effectively, leading to estrogen dominance. This is what can cause PMS symptoms, mood swings, and fatigue. When my doctor was going over the Dutch test results, he mentioned that I had some signs of fatty liver disease. He said that the gallbladder supports the liver and that he would send me some supplements that would help my liver and my gallbladder work together to process hormones and all of the other functions that they need to do, especially digestion. I received the supplements and was really excited to try them out. They were plant-based herbs (and an ox bile one that makes my stomach churn to think about…) but it was a lot more supplements and I’m used to taking and many of them were alcohol-based. I only drink maybe twice a week now, so alcohol in my stomach first thing in the morning was rough. I took the supplements twice that day, and was up all night curled in a ball with searing pain in my stomach.

This was alarming to me because besides the occasional gluten food baby, I’ve never really had stomach issues. I I texted my naturopath and he said it sounded like an ulcer (even though I thought the supplements likely made me sick). I couldn’t eat anything besides applesauce for two days and I reached out to one of my good friends who is a PA to see if I could get in for an appointment. I’m glad I decided to see her through all of this because she’s become my favorite medical provider. She’s extremely thorough and while she has a more Western medical philosophy, she believes in solving problems instead of masking symptoms. She’s absolutely amazing and wanted to check all the boxes, so she ran a bunch of test and suggested an abdominal ultrasound just to make sure I didn’t have an ulcer or anything else going on.

When I got the ultrasound of my stomach, it was painful for them to press down on my organs. Thankfully everything looked good but the ultrasound showed two small polyps in my gallbladder. (No gallstones or anything like that.) My PA told me that the polyps could have been there this entire time and were likely cholesterol deposits but that we would keep an eye on them over time and monitor for any changes. Worst case, I would end up having to have my gallbladder taken out. (She said of all of the organs to lose, that’s the best one.) I also started working with Ali Damron over the fall and she has me on a couple of very gentle supplements that have helped remarkably with the estrogen dominance issues.

I understand that a lot of things are outside of our control but I am also a believer in controlling any variables that we can. I researched a ton and I learned a lot about gallbladders -I never thought I would know so much about dang gallbladders -and I’m not going to share everything I did here because the and result is that the polyps didn’t go away. (I highly recommend this book if you’re having any gallbladder probs!)

The good news is that there were no changes. I recently had another ultrasound and the polyps were same size. My PA said that since I don’t have any symptoms, we’ll likely just wait and watch. If they change or grow over time, or if I start to have symptoms, I’ll have to have it taken out. For now, it would be cool if I got to keep it, mostly because I’m SO OVER surgeries.

Over the past six months I’ve made some changes to my diet to make my gallbladder happy. They’re not huge fans of dairy or gluten, which are two things that have made me bloated and uncomfortable for years. Since I’ve paid more attention to keeping them away for now, I’ve been WAY less bloated and feel great. (Real sourdough doesn’t mess with me if it’s made the old-fashioned way.)

If I know I’m going to a party or holiday event and am going to eat dairy/gluten or super heavy/rich foods, I just pop a couple of these:

(I order these through Thrive Market! You can use my link to get 25% off your first order.)

I eliminated eggs for the past 5ish months (apparently gallbladders can also have probs with eggs and pork, and I don’t eat pork) in the hopes that maybe it would help the polyps go away. Since they’re still there, I’m eating eggs again and OMG I MISSED THEM. I’m just trying to be more moderate about it, and instead of 2-3 eggs per day (that I had for years and years!) I’m having about 2 a week. I found a lot of egg-free breakfast options that I love over the past few months.

Since this whole experience happened:, I’m doing more things that are good for our health as a whole:

– I’m eating way more colorful foods, leafy greens, and veggies.

– Stopped tracking macros. I was eating a lot of brown food and heavy animal proteins to hit my numbers, and found that I was often eating when I wasn’t hungry to hit a number. I’m back to eating more intuitively and it feels great. My food is way more nutrient-dense, higher in fat, lower in protein, and more varied.

– I’m drinking more water. My Hydroflask is my constant companion and I try to refill it at least twice during the day.

– I’m practicing hot yoga regularly again. Yoga can help our organs function more effectively, plus you get the benefits of mindfulness, flexibility, and a good sweat. I’ve been going about once a week since school started in the fall, and it’s something I look forward to each week.

So there’s the story! We’re just watching and waiting and hoping for no changes. Thanks to those of you who sent me good vibes along the way. <3

xoxo

Gina

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