Arrividercci, 2006

I am so very content right now. Christmas vacation is, I have decided, a combination of all of my most treasured things and people. Not only do I get to hang out with my family and relatives nearly 24/7, but there is much opportunity for enjoyment of movies, art-goodness, theological and philosophical conversations with Jess, Bluth family hilarity, traipsing around outside, and so on. To add to the fun of this Christmas, I am recuperating from my fortnight-long illness in my favourite convalescence modus operandi: with a raspy voice. On Christmas Day, I sounded strikingly like Barry White, while my voice transformed to that of Adam Sandler’s by Boxing Day, and for the past two days I’ve borne a strong vocal resemblance to a witch. While my throat is not very happy, and turns red periodically, having a croaky voice makes for great fun. I sang along to “I Wanna Grow Old With You” about 25 times on Boxing Day (Jess will attest to this; it was on repeat for the whole present-wrapping and outfit-deciding ordeal that morning). If my voice ever becomes permanently damaged, as my dad’s was many years ago, I would make a great Adam Sandler fill-in. Sounding like a witch has its benefits too, as I have discovered. I get loads of sympathy from customers at the café, and find a great deal of amusement in calling drinks out. Because my throat is so clogged, the air being forced out by my diaphragm often doesn’t make it out until I’m part way through annunciating a word. For example, when I called out mochachinos today, instead of exclaiming “Mocha!” into the seating area, I ended up declaring “Caaa!” several times. It was awesome, I assure you.

Perhaps the loveliest thing bout the additional leisure time I find myself with in these weeks off of school is the amount of time that I have to simply laze around and think at night. I’m going to sleep in until at least 9:00 tomorrow morning, and can stay up late reading books, doing devotionals, and pondering nihilism and love. My journal is full of page of Christmas-thinking, and I’ve found lots of issues to consider over the last while. I’m currently reading Hotel New Hampshire, What’s So Amazing About Grace, Velvet Elvis, The Conqueror’s Wife (thanks Jess!), and am going through Romans in my devos; it’s all terribly good stuff. However, I don’t quite feel like transcribing notes from my journal right now, so I’ll keep this entry as a meandering and topic-less one, and leave thoughtful writing for next week. If my grandpa were watching me write this, he would inevitably mention that I won’t write another blog entry until next year. I love my grandpa especially for his reliable excitement over his ability to remark that he won’t see us until next year, or that we wont go to church again until next month. His joy in saying these sorts of statements nearly rivals the thrill he gets from puns, and following up every pun he ever makes with the sentence, “English is a funny language.” I’m glad that God made grandpas.

My family and some friends watched The Good Shepherd this afternoon, and it was stunning. It’s currently at the top of my list for Best Film at the Oscars. Not only was it extremely well-written and excellently acted, but the cinematography was beautiful, particularly for what I assumed would be a basic spy movie. There was great depth in the script and plot, and the characters were complex and relevant. I have a penchant for movies that make use of symbolism and subtlety, and this one had especially metaphoric and nuanced moments. On the topic of film, my dad got the Babel soundtrack a couple of weeks ago, and it’s wonderful. Gustavo Santaolalla wrote the soundtrack for Brokeback Mountain, 21 Grams, and Motorcycle Diaries among others, and the music for Babel does not disappoint. Other recent music excitement has been derived from listening to a streamed version of the forthcoming The Band tribute compilation, Endless Highway. Of note is Jack Johnson’s cover of “I Shall Be Released.” It is, I daresay, my favourite Jack J song of all, and is almost as great as My Morning Jacket doing The Band songs. If I’d been born in another decade, I suspect that I might have been quite enamoured with Robbie Robertson, partially because of the fantastic-ness of his name.


Alluding to my previous mention of my grandpa’s keen observation of the upcoming transition into 2007, I am rather thrilled about New Year’s being nigh. I think I’ve blogged previously about my love of fresh starts, and how this is mirrored by the human desire for redemption, and God’s gift of grace. I really do enjoy beginning something anew, and of course January 1 is synonymous with having a clean slate. This past year has been full of twists and turns, and I’ve enjoyed it immensely. While school isn’t quite as fun as it has been in past terms, I can’t complain too much. I’ve been blessed by the community at McKernan over the past 12 months, and am happy to feel more at home in our new church. It feels like my family has found its groove again, and while we are a busy family, we mostly like the busyness (though my dad really wishes he had more time for baths, being outside, and reading). It’s been a year of kind of re-evaluating what I think about God and life, and while most of what I’ve felt for years now remains in my set of beliefs, it’s good to know that I’m not stubbornly believing what I do out of close-mindedness. I’ve felt comforted to get to know people who have similar perspectives to mine, and have loved being challenged by people who see things differently, or perhaps just think that I’m crazy (I don’t think I’ll ever forget the night of the Cait-smoking-marijuana discussion; there were even waffles and hot chocolate at Denny’s).
















I read an article recently wherein the author wrote about how she was exactly where she wanted to be in life. She had a great boyfriend, loved her job, felt secure in her values, and had many passions that brought joy into her life. I think it’s wonderful that she had achieved what she wanted to in life, but I’m not sure that I’ll ever be in that same position. While I’m perfectly content with where I am, if I wanted to remain where I was, I think that would be allowing complacency to breed stagnancy in my life. I feel blessed with my life right now, but I know that I still have much maturing, learning, and journeying to do with God. It’s tempting for me to be happy with how far I’ve come in my faith, and settle with where I am in my life. But, at least in the light of my walk with God, life is a journey that isn’t completed until the fat lady sings and my heart stops beating. I’ll always have more to learn, faults to improve, people to love more, intimacy and dependency to build with God, and ungodly things to let go of. At times, that can seem overwhelming, but it’s a huge relief for me to know that God loves me so patiently that he’ll wait and walk alongside me while I stumble along this journey. I hope that for you, dear friends, the year 2007 is one of growth, adventure, laughter, health, learning, and joy.


Favourite Moments of 2006 that I Can Recall

• celebration of Grandma and Grandpa’s 50 years together
• beating Mr. Schindel in the City Hall Fountain race, and then forcing C&C friends to endure Brokeback Mountain
• skiing without crashing once
• football at McKernan Park
• commemorating Rob’s leaving Edmonton with ice cream and chicken ball flinging, abandonment of me in the river valley, and Dusty’s “some clippers” statement (I had gone ~50 hours without sleep)
• agonizing over Citadel tickets with Caitlin in Steeps
• Break Forth with Donald Miller, Joyce Heron, and K.P.
• Canada’s Olympic d-domination in Torino
• seeing Death Cab and Franzy Panzy live
• Steeps “study” sessions
• improving my cooking skills significantly
• mattress struggles and “good competence” with Crystal
• the Oscars, despite losing the winner-prediction game
• the C&C Retreat in January
• gnoming with the guys for Larry and Konrad
• watching the Oilers’ playoff excellence with friends and family, and braving the crowds on Whyte
• riding on top of Brock while he moved slowly
• exploding lighters in Three Hills
• totally filling the hot tub at Allan’s acreage
• making the ghoulish Quinzhee with Jenn
• “The Cube” and the Hoff at Ashlee’s Christmas party
• observing the evolution of our family’s robot
• small group nights (especially ones with hair-free cookies)
• the C&C photo rally
• Google and YouTube fun and family functions
• building the snow fort with Jay Jay
• throwing a bowling ball backwards
• escaping Sherry
• my three-legged chair at the BBQ at Dusty’s
• the Mother’s Day brunch (mmm…. Egg’s Benedict…)
• Andrew’s always silly-fun dinner parties
• watching Talladega Nights while completely sleep-deprived
• the kitty-cats at Allan’s acreage
• volunteering at Head Start
• one-skate skating at the retreat
• being a gangsta and visiting horses with Crystal Whistle
• successfully living without La Familia for a month
• throwing cucumbers at Ben at the Kinsmen picnic
• making Jill’s birthday cake
• collecting pinecones with Bethany of Gesthemane
• the great workshops and concerts at the Folk Fest
• megaphone adventures with Mike et al.
• finding Darwin the Camera photo fun with Amy-Lynn
• back to school adventure day with Mom and Jess
• “turban time” with Nicole
• last day of classes mania with Crystal Whistle and Raw-Buh
• The 88 and Matty Costa at The Powerplant
• Mike’s amusing pilfering at Red Robin’s
• football games with Jess, Mom, and Dad
• Canada Day fireworks with the C&C crew and discussion of evangelism tactics
• meeting Fred and Sally the beavers
• the Government Park picnic with the Rinases, Anne, Tim, and my grandparents
• pouring a pitcher of water on Rob in my basement and then spraying him and Crystal with my garden-hose (sooo fun, until my board game was water damaged)
• ice battles and fun with Ross at work
• the Anne of Green Gables marathon with Jess
• pretty much every second of the Whistler trip
• hearing about Sarah Jane’s love life
• making smores and melting my shoes at Hawrelak Park
• Luke’s polo shirts and his song about “aplomb”
• late night chats and giddiness with Crystal
• gleaning music knowledge from Barista Chase
• Roman Candle war in Three Hills (in which I did not participate, of course)
• C&C Pizzazz Contingency with Andrew “Protestant” Browne
• drives through the country at night
• law and culture conversations with Corrinne
• the laziest pillow fight ever in Three Hills, and the subsequent water fight
• NEW YORK CITY

Things Learned in 2006

• sometimes the Eskies don’t make the playoffs
• it’s OK to not always be right
• periodic time alone is vital to my sanity
• Song of Songs isn’t actually so silly (alliteration!)
• loving God comes before loving others
• jealousy is a truly vile and insalubrious sentiment
• Conservative Christians are more like me than I once thought
• being ideological in my beliefs is imprudent
• I can no longer take my health for granted
• I think I could live in Edmonton for the rest of my life
• being loving doesn’t necessarily mean being a patsy
• cultural enjoyment isn’t ever worth being snobbish
• family is inestimably great and important
• Jack Layton has wonky ideas sometimes
• I still miss my old church
• I love my new church
• feeling guilty about awkwardness is silly
• time is precious; it passes by insanely quickly nowadays
• happiness is not my purpose in life

Potential Resolutions for 2007

• drink lots of water and eat more apples
• sleep slightly more regularly (Mom, this does not mean you should nag me!)
• Bible in a year
• bring amigos to church/C&C
• walk in the river valley twice a week
• sponsor a Compassion Child by myself
• obtain a driver’s license (for real this time)
• initiate a daily internet usage limit
• either use the treadmills at school regularly or take Yoga this term (with Caitlin?)
• make more miniature films
• have green tea or rooibos instead of Earl Grey
• love more
• carpe diem

P.S. In case it is unclear, the picture mosaics are of my favourite memories of this year. They kind of make this blog entry hideous because they're so overwhelming visually, but I quite like them, so I'm sacrificing this entry's prettiness for the sake of my happiness. Also pictured (inset with the first blurb) are my new shoes. They are gold and shiny. They cost $45 on sale at Gravity Pope. I am a super-shopper.

P.P.S. I don't have to work tomorrow! I have all tomorrow to see family, shop, walk, and read! Hurrah!!!