We're All in This Together

I think that some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever witnessed were things in unison, be they people, nature, or events in my life. In keeping with my semi-custom of citing psychological phenomena in blog entries, I’ll allude to the fact that the human mind is set up to find similarities between things rather than differences. This may seem obvious and insignificant, but our brains could have easily been set up to attend to differences, and according to evolutionary models, we would have been just as reproductively fit. In the millions of times I’ve learned about the Scientific Method as a Sciences student, we’ve discussed how we arbitrarily look for similarities among the things we study; we could easily examine differences between organisms and occurrences to learn more about them. The fact that we use Occam’s razor to uncover the laws and principles that govern our universe rather than something that explores how different things behave differently points to our similarity-seeking-minds. I love that God set up our minds to look for harmony and accord in His creation. He made everything so brilliantly unique and special, but there are commonalities in how He made them. I find that all of these God-created things can point me towards Him and the fact that He formed them (although how exactly He created them remains a mystery to me). I love seeing people in unison, and being in unison with others. Not that this justifies agreeing with someone simply because they believe a certain thing, or mimicking someone else’s behaviour just to be the same as them. But part of the joy of cheering obnoxiously with others at football games, doing the Funky Chicken, or singing songs together comes from being unified in thought and action. Whether I share a desire to see my team win a game, and cheer loudly when we score a touchdown, or share a moment of heartfelt praise to God, there’s something exquisite about joining with others in a cause or feeling.

There’s this Ben Lee song “We’re All in This Together” that I really love (he played the Sidetrack the night before I came home from New York; I was sad). The song basically explores what’s stated in its title: the idea that all of us are journeying through life jointly. I’m so sick of the capitalistic idea that we’re competing against each other for resources and happiness. There are more than enough resources for everyone, and it’s so much easier when we root for each other. Whether done explicitly or implicitly, competing to see who has the trendiest clothes, best relationship with their significant other, coolest car, prettiest face, happiest life, or greatest knowledge of Biblical trivia strikes me as such a waste of time and energy. This is not to say that enjoying fun t-shirts and delightful shoes is wrong, or that playing a game of soccer against another team means that you don’t care about the people on that other team, but at times we take our competitive natures to an unhealthy level. As Ben Lee puts it, “on the subway we feel like strangers, but we're all in this together. Yeah I love you, and you love her, and she loves him, and we are all in this together.” We really are “all made of atoms,” and 99.9999% of our genes are identical; why not work together to figure out this thing called life? I just returned home from a weekend spent with C&Cers at Winter Retreat, and while I was miserably sick for most of it, it was such a rich time. Time spent at camp or retreats reliably reminds me that we truly are all in this together. We use each other’s blow-dryers and sleeping bags, eat together, share thoughts about God and life, and are comfortable enough to embarrass ourselves in front of others. On Saturday night, a bunch of us played Skittles, and while reciting tales of past crushes and carrying Stu up a flight of stairs isn’t the most spiritual activity ever, I love that that group of people was able to be (almost) entirely vulnerable and honest with each other.

Sometimes I can be cynical about Christians, and become frustrated over how hypocritical we can be, but there really is something special about Christian community when it’s done well. There might be moments of boys using your camera to have a nipple (ewwww) photo shoot, and Mike might put a giant wasp in your sleeping bag, but it is good. One chapter of Velvet Elvis, which I clearly liked a great deal, spoke about the idea of heaven starting now, and Rob Bell writes about how God saw the world He was creating as good. It was still developing, and was perhaps not perfect, but He knew it was good. The world is still the same; it’s far from perfect, but it is good, and God’s kingdom is being built up right now as I type this. God’s people mess up a great deal of the time, but God is working in them, and He sees them as He sees Christ; I need to see others as He sees them more of the time. Sometimes I wish the church reached out to people on the margins of society more often, and I often think that we miss great opportunities to kingdom-build out of close-mindedness or selfishness. But spending time with people nearly 24 hours a day gives me a perspective that I don’t often have, and it makes me hopeful about the church. People really are intentional about their faith, and do care deeply about others, perhaps it’s just not obvious all of the time. I loved talking about common struggles and doubts with people in my small group, and was encouraged to remind myself that I know a group of people my age who genuinely want to live Christ-centred lives. I may disagree with a few of them on about a zillion things, and may find some of their dating practices to be amusing, but they’re really quite lovely.

As aforementioned, I’ve been unfortunately sick as of late, and have found that this particular virus leads to the strangest dreams. Last night, I had a vivid dream that I was going to San Francisco over the summer, and awoke to be bitterly disappointed that it had merely been a sleeping reality. The night prior, I dreamt that I was a teacher, and all of the children adored me. Viruses certainly have their upsides. In other extraneous news, the lineup for Coachella was recently announced, and I’m so very giddy about it. Loads of my favourite artists will be there, and it’s going to be an awesome festival this year. If I had one wish to be granted by a fairy godmother, and it couldn’t be anything like world peace etcetera, it might be that I could go to Coachella in April; it could potentially be the best road trip ever. I was a bit disappointed that Gnarls Barkley won’t be there this year, but others make up for their absence. Another über-exciting event that’s just around the bend is Break Forth this weekend. I’m in four workshops on marginalized people, and I’m super stoked to be able to work through issues surrounding this group of God’s children with like-minded people. Plus, Tony Campolo is speaking over the weekend, and The Newsboys will be in town on Sunday night. I loooove Tony Campolo, and while The Newsboys’ lead singer has worn mascara to every concert Jess and I have ever been to of theirs, they’re fun to hear live, and always sing the “Breakfast Song” at the end. I have to work Saturday morning, but will have the rest of the weekend to think and talk about God, sing and dance my heart out, and hang out with Jess, Crystal, and my parentiotas. God always challenges me so much through this conference, and it rivals retreats in levels of fun. Also, my dad just came back from Superstore with chocolate ice cream. January is a decidedly good month.

Cait’s Top 30 Moments from the Retreat
- camp songs and dances on Saturday morning
- only having to listen to one Dashboard Confessional song in the car
- communion on Saturday night
- discovering a giant wasp in my sleeping bag
- water polo (I almost got the ball from Matt C. one time)
- Melissa nearly being thrown into a snowbank
- a shoulder piggyback from Dusty
- playing Would You Rather with Crystal and Rob
- the stars in the absence of city light
- our “7-11” run to Westlock
- Rob not actually mooning us while driving in Brock
- the croissant I ate on Sunday morning
- synchronized swimming with Allan and Crystal
- Matt’s proposal to Dusty
- trying to figure out why there was a cellophane snowman on our porch
- unwrapping our cellophaned belongings (underwear and all)
- flutter-board tag in the pool
- waking Crystal up both mornings
- explaining our alarm clock prank to Rachel
- the sunrise on Saturday morning
- being stern with Jeremy and getting my slippers back
- defending the beleaguered newsletter with Andrew
- prank-plotting with Crystal and Melissa
- very nearly winning Apples to Apples (my winning card was so close to being picked)
- thinking we had to eat our meals with clothespins
- Crystal’s attempts to do flutter-board summersaults
- Mike’s Muslim Crusade Victim costume
- getting the silver medal twice in Cheat
- Matt’s “haircut”
- all of Saturday night’s Skittles game

Cait’s Top 30 Bands Coming to Coachella
- Arctic Monkeys
- The Decemberists
- The Kooks
- Klaxons
- Amos Lee
- Ratatat
- Damien Rice
- We Are Scientists
- Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Regina Spektor
- New Pornographers
- Gotan Project
- CocoRosie
- Andrew Bird
- The Fratellis
- The Frames
- Peter Bjorn
- Fountains of Wayne
- Kings of Leon
- The Cribs
- Mando Diao
- Tapes ‘n Tapes
- Kaiser Chiefs
- Explosions in the Sky
- Lily Allen
- Hot Chip
- Interpol
- Happy Mondays
- José González
- Tilly and the Wall



P.S. There are new pictures up on Flickr and a video on YouTube (shown above). Although the video was done haphazardly, it was too funny not to post. The hair will grow back, but the memories will last.
P.P.S. MSN is behaving cruel and unusually at the moment, so if I don't respond to your messages online, it's the fault of Microsoft. Approximately one third of my messages are being sent, and my relationship with MSN is certainly at a dysfunctional point. Hopefully after a brief cooling off period, we'll be able to restore our friendship.
P.P.P.S. TOMORROW THE ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS ARE ANNOUNCED. THERE ARE VERY FEW THINGS MORE EXCITING IN LIFE THAN OSCAR NOMINATIONS. I'M GETTING UP EXTRA EARLY TO HEAR SALMA HAYEK DECLARE ALL THE NOMINEES.

The Thrill of Anticipation

As psychologists suggest, 40% of the joy derived in most things comes from pure anticipation of it. I can’t wait for the other 60% of fun from the approaching C*C Winter Retreat. Last year, I slept a combined four hours on Friday and Saturday night, and had loads of fun being silly in the pool and sharing good conversation with a lovely group of people. Crystal and I have tried fruitlessly to come up with a decent prank for the retreat, and I suspect that our efforts may be trumped by the guys’ shenanigans. My parents are going away as well this weekend for a skiing trip with their small group; when I grow up, I want to go skiing with my small group and stay in a Bed and Breakfast. Consequently, my poor little baby sister will be left at home all by her lonesome self. Jess is in the middle of exams at the moment, so perhaps it’s good that my silly family won’t be here to distract her, though I do kind of wish that I could bring her along to the retreat with me; she will certainly be dragged along next year. Although I will miss Jess very much over the weekend, I will miss Jack Layton perhaps even more. Jacky Jack is coming to Edmonton tonight for the federal nomination of my riding of Edmonton-Strathcona, but I’ll be en route to Camp Nakamun by the time he rolls in. This is truly tragic; I missed his last visit as well, although my uncle was there to greet him. My uncle bears an incredible resemblance to Jack Layton, and so whenever he attends these sort of rallies, people ask him if he’s Mr. Layton’s brother. This pleases me immensely. I’m pretty much the niece of Jack Layton’s pseudo-brother; very few things in life are cooler than being the niece of Jack Layton’s pseudo-brother. While I’m not sure if I’ll vote Grits or NDP in the likely election this spring, no leader has the integrity and hopefulness of the white-moustachioed Jack and his fabulous wife Olivia Chow (who Rob, tragically, has never heard of in his life). It’s alright though, because Andrew has promised to imitate the esteemed NDP leader and discuss socialism with me tonight. Andrew is a good friend to be sure.

On the topic of Andrew, I would like to plead for all you C*Cers to be kind to the C*C Courier today when it’s released. This publication has been mired in an insanely unfortunate series of events, and it’s a miracle that it’s being printed off today looking decently pretty. The articles, however, are quite splendid, and I’m impressed by the quality of the writing and thought in the group. I promise that future editions will be attractive and more time-appropriate. Also, please refrain from mocking the cutesiness and predictability of the newsletter’s name. My small group found The C*C Courier to be a perfect target for slurs and abuse, and while I wish the name had a bit more panache and wittiness to it, it was the result of much deliberation and compromise to ensure that the title actually described what the publication was about, and that it wasn’t an entirely abstract name. The sad thing is that it’s difficult to change the name after one copy has gone to press, so we’ll have to make do with the Courier for a while. Also unfortunate is the cold that I have acquired. I slept quite poorly last night due to the combination of shopping with Crystal, Grey’s Anatomy, The Office, The OC, an assignment due today, and newsletter madness to figure out, and this has apparently resulted in the sniffles. Of course, a cold is nothing to be upset about, as they usually fade away soon enough and don’t cause too much pain, but I fear that I’ll have to sleep a substantial amount this weekend in order to combat the little viruses that have found their way into my system. I quite thoroughly despise sleeping when fun things are going on, but c’est la vie I suppose. My green tea consumption and abstention from sweets has apparently not held sickness at bay, although I did last for at least a few weeks with good health. Hopefully the absence of work this week will allow me to recuperate sufficiently before Break Forth. In a very awkward segue, my break has now come to an end, so I’m off to class! Please note how short this entry is, Caitlin. I hope you’re proud.