Carla Gypsygirl's Blurty

Mid Year Conference, 2004!

I'm back in Sydney now, everybody! "Hurrah!" I can hear you all exclaim! That's right, Carla Gypsygirl made it back home, all in one piece. It feels so refreshing to go away and then come back again...I think I'll try to get out of Sydney as much as I can in the future. I mean, I dig Sydney, but change is also good. And Gypsy by name, gypsy by nature...

It's Tuesday now, so I've been back home for three days. I spoke to Nathan on the phone last night, and we both felt so happy and so sad at the same time, because we had such a great time last week, but now we miss everyone! It's okay, we'll see people at Hannah's 21st...meanwhile, we're trying to convince someone to have a barbeque at their place. I think I caught a cold from washing my hair when the hot water ran out last week. So my voice sounds funny when I sing. My feet are currently encased in baby pink knee-high uggs, courtesy of Sonya's pre-Spring cleaning frenzy...I just love having a sister with the same shoe size as me.

Okay, okay, here's the update you've all been waiting for...it's funny, it's sweet, and kinda messy, too: it's MYC in a Nutella jar!

DEFINITION
MYC stands for Mid Year Conference, which is an annual Christian camp thing that is run by FEVA (Fellowship for Evangelism in the Visual Arts). A whole bunch of uni students (plus miscellaneous graduates and deferred people and friends and people's kids and stuff) hang out for a whole week to read the Bible and pray and sing and do the requisite crazy things. This year, MYC was held at a conference centre in Otford, which is just outside the Sutherland Shire (cue jokes about hobbits, etc).

THE JOURNEY
Oh woe, no Ro! This year’s trip to MYC did not begin with Roanne turning up on my doorstep at the crack of dawn with a grin on her face, but instead, it began with a solo hour-long journey by train to mysterious Otford Station. A nice homeless lady pointed me in the direction of the centre once I got there, so I trotted off with my suitcase squeaking on its wheels behind me. Then who should drive up and rescue me from having to walk to the centre, but Larinda, Cameron and my new gee-tar playing friend, Anthony! The Central Coasters had arrived! Tell you what, though, I would have gladly traveled for a day by train to get to MYC if it still meant that Ro could go along…

THE BEACH
The conference centre was right by the beach, HURRAH, so I was very happy! I ADORE the beach, and want to move there one day. I always feel peace and excitement and freshness and familiarity when I’m at the beach. I wish I lived closer to one. Anyway, I purposely didn’t bring my swimmers, as the memory of last year’s freezing waves at Terrigal (with only a stupid bikini to protect me) and the resulting two-week flu still haunt me. So I am always in awe of those brave boys who jump right into the surf (Luke, Ben and Paul, this means you!). On the Wednesday of MYC, we had a sandcastle building competition, and it was the bomb dot com! I felt like my whole world was in harmony as I worked with my group to build the bestest sand sculpture ever. I felt that I would be forever happy if my life could be spent building sandcastles. Our group made a sand sculpture of the whale that eats Jonah in the Bible, and we didn’t even have to bribe Malcolm’s kid Harry to pose as Jonah in the jaws of the whale. Unfortunately, the thing about hanging out with creative Christian types who study things like fine arts (including sculpture), architecture, graphic design and interior design, is that the chances of winning a sandcastle competition aren’t as high as they are if you’re hanging with your accountant and lawyer friends. Oh, and one more thing: I would like to thank the staff at Otford Christian Conference Centre for not getting mad when they discovered that I had taken the rubbish bin out of our room to use to make sandcastles.

THE FORMAL
Someone had the brilliant idea of having an Op-Shop Formal, where you have to wear clothes that your parents thought were hot in the 70’s, or clothes from the bargain bin at Vinnie’s. After we got back from building sandcastles, I crept away early to get ready. I was quietly grooming myself when about six girls burst into my room, giggling and jumping about everywhere. Larinda, who was the first to come in, screamed “OP-SHOP FORMAL, WOOOOOO!” It took us ages to get out of our room, because we were giggling so much at the shockers that came out of people’s suitcases, like Larinda’s golden bow and Natalie Ip’s sparkly Samurai top. Marinka was a total sweetie and brought along spare scarves and flower brooches for the girls who forgot to bring costumes. Ian even brought along a spare orange boiler suit for Mark to wear, which is also sweet but probably more on the weird side. My entrance to the Op-Shop Formal (which was held in the dining room) was somewhat anti-climactic, though…sure, the girls said they loved my outfit, but the general reaction can be summarised by a question posed to me by Nigel: “So when are you actually going to get into your Op-Shop Formal outfit, Carla?” I might have mellowed with age, but I still am an eccentric dresser. And one more thing: I will never be impressed by boys dressing in drag, ever!

MAGIC MOMENTS
Wednesday turned out to be the most beautiful day ever. After the Op-Shop Formal, the boys from Caecilius played a set for us in the dark and spotlit hall, and it was so special! I sat on the floor with Malibu Stacey and felt soooo bohemian and like Audrey Hepburn in “Funny Face”. The boys played wicked, gutsy jazz, with Geoff as the spun-out vocalist, Nate as the cool and intuitive drummer and Andrew as the quiet, chilled piano guy. And after they were finished, who should get up with his guitar but…Anthony! On the first day of MYC, Mel Deck (one of the most positive girls I know) and lovely Mel Dunne had sat out amongst the grass, wind and sky to hear Anthony and me sing and strum along. Anthony and I were both trying to convince each other to perform at the Op-Shop Formal, but we were both too shy. The Mels were so sweet and encouraging, though, and kept urging us to do it! But then, ka-bam, God gave Anthony the bravery to get up and sing his sweet worship songs in front of everyone on Wednesday night! And then, after he was done, he looked at me and held out his guitar and said, “I’m done singing for now. Carla, do you want to have a go?” And so I got up and performed in front of a proper audience for the first time! I sang all of my girly dreamy songs, and everyone was so nice to me about them! People even laughed at my jokes! And then, when I was done, Anthony performed a bit more and then Nancy got up to play the guitar as me and Edwina lead everyone in singing worship songs! A whole bunch of us spent the night singing and making music late into the night. After such a wonderful, spontaneous experience, we have decided to put on a fundraiser gig for FEVA, featuring Caecilius, Anthony and me! Stay tuned! I am so excited!

MORE MUSIC
Actually, one of the highlights of MYC for me was singing with the band. I get scared about singing church songs in front of people, because the notes are too high for my moody-yet-girly alto voice, but Nancy and Andrew were so cool to remind me that it’s not about how well I sing, but instead about me encouraging other people to sing and about me worshipping God. It was so wonderful to dance about and sing to God all week. And I always get a kick out of seeing people play instruments!

STARS
One night during dinner, I turned to Xenia and said, “Okay, girlfriend, let’s go for it!” We grabbed a whole bunch of star stickers (you know, the ones that school teachers give you when you’re good) and attacked everybody! We stuck them on people’s heads, clothes, hands and shoes. It was so much fun! My pink Cons still have twinkly toes…

DEER HUNTING
Like last year’s venue for MYC, the little brown poo pellets all over the grass indicated that we had a deer population amongst us. And unfortunately, the boys always get stupid ideas to hunt the deer. But ha ha to the boys- they didn’t catch any! And when they tried to, their careful stalking of what appeared to be deer legs eventuated in the discovery that they were not encroaching upon a stock-still deer but three thin white poles stuck in the ground. And I’m glad that the girls ruined it for the boys by creeping up behind them and making giggly deer noises- it’s MEAN to kill innocent deer, even if their poo does get all over everything!

AND OF COURSE, THE MAIN POINT
Everything about MYC was just the best, and do you want to know why? Because God’s way is the right way. It was so wonderful to hang out with so many gorgeous Christian girls and boys, who were so nice and caring and loving, with their main reason for being so great being because they loved the Lord. I loved how my Christian brothers and sisters carried my bags for me and offered me lifts (go Paul and Malibu Stacey) and provided words of comfort when I was sad (yay for Naomi and Malibu and Vanessa and pretty much all the girls) and encouraged me to keep being joyful for the Lord! I loved singing to God, and I loved how my friends said that they liked my singing! It was so awesome learning about God’s love for us…that over and over again, throughout history, He kept reaching out to us. And yet, we kept rejecting Him. The only thing that could solve our broken relationship with Him was for God to come down to earth Himself in the form of a man, Jesus Christ. I was blown away to learn that when Jesus died, he paid a ransom for us…and not a ransom to Satan, because God doesn’t owe Satan anything, but a ransom to God Himself. Because it is God who should be punishing us for not wanting to know Him, and for hurting our fellow humans, and for all the other awful things that humans can do. In Jesus’ sacrifice for us, God gives us a cheque for eternal life and salvation and joy…have you cashed yours yet?

Carla Gypsygirl, signing out, with love.

ps. Apologies to all the people whose photos appear without their permission...you're all so special to me, and such hotties, too! I just couldn't resist.