9 Years of Lola By the Bay and 2022 Year in Review

It all comes down to this. The fanfare of the holiday season is winding down as champagne is slowly but surely being stalked up for the stroke of midnight tonight. Resolutions are being jotted down and vision boards are being crafted together, with the hopes of some of them actually manifesting by this time in a year. 2023 is now less so of a concept and now hours away from becoming our reality.

But before 2022 bows out altogether, I wanted to make sure I had my retrospective for this ninth(?!?!?) year of my website written down and ready to ponder for those who  may have missed any of what happened, or to read and go, “That happened this year?”

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Looking Back on A Decade of Writing (Part 2)

Note: The following is a continuation from last week’s post. To read the first part, check it out here.

Looking Back on A Decade of Writing (Part 1)

It’s around this time of year that retrospectives start to pop up. While I will be doing one for this past year a little later in the month, I did want to do a retrospective of a different kind starting today.

Finding Solace and Validity in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”

Yes, it’s been a hot minute (a year, actually) since I’ve done one of these. The last time I did an analysis on a film to this extent was “tick, tick… BOOM!” This time around, I’m delving into the highly anticipated “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” but with a slight twist, as I’ll be relaying how much this story resonated me with what I’ve been going through as of late.

WARNING: The following contains light spoilers from the film.

A Firm Stance in Loving Memory

There is a lot going on in the world and in my personal life currently. The past 24 hours have been some of the hardest I’ve had to ever deal with. While this blog is, for the most part, about writing and storytelling, you should know by now that I’m not shy about taking a stance against the numerous levels of wrong that continue to poison this world — and in this case, my stances on what I’m about to touch on have been amplified by what I’ve been through recently.

Exploring Authentic Stories at the Filipino American International Book Festival

For reasons predictable by now, it’s been a hot minute since I last was at a book festival; whether as an attendee or as a participant. To have seen book conventions like BookExpo shut down in recent years, as well as a recent surge in book banning in different parts of the country, books feel particularly precious now more than ever — especially those authored by historically underrepresented communities.

Remembering the Summer of Inspiration

Social media reminders of posts and moments that occurred a number of years ago have reminded me that it’s now been a whopping decade since – what I call – the summer of inspiration. In 2012, two distinct occurrences happened that summer that ultimately inspired me to start taking my creative writing more seriously.

Reflection on a Celebration of “Star Wars” Stories

(Before I dive into today’s topic, I do want to acknowledge the fact that yes, I am aware that it’s been about a month since I did one of my regular blog posts. That was unplanned, but trust me when I say that I have a really good reason for doing so. Aside from work having been busier than usual at my day job, I also have been hard at work on a project I am writing. It hasn’t been officially announced yet, but stay tuned. Something is coming very soon.)

About the Journals Pt. IV: 20 Years of Journaling

Say it ain’t so, but it’s very much true. As of yesterday, I’ve been writing in journals for 20 whole years.

Meeting David Mitchell

It’s the dawn of a new year with very little to expect. That’s why to kick things off, I decided to have a little fun with this first post for 2022 and share something that happened to me a few weeks ago.