Ferdando

It's one of those nights where I wanted to do anything but stay in.  Yet what am I doing?  Blogging in my frigid living room.  Everyone is at home for break, except for Ellen, who's a studious little bugger that is taking a wilderness class.  Yesterday, a friend and I went to see my co-worker sing in the band, Finn Hall at a nearby restaurant, Kramarczuk's.  Of course, the music was excellent, but the best part was the atmosphere.  I was surprised to walk in and see almost every seat taken, filled with Finns and music lovers, from elderly to young kids.  Everyone was talking, and you could feel the sense of community; either people knew each other already, or they were introduced right away. A handful of couples were dancing traditional Finnish dances in the front of the room, and later on in the night, a mixer dance started.  Everyone moved to the dance floor, men in the inner circle, and women in a circle around them.  It was a really simple dance (obviously not simple enough for me because I kept messing up the hand clapping!) with a series of hand claps, a do-si-do, and then rotating to the next partner.  The best part was when I moved over and started clapping with this old man, he gave me this impish grin and said, "I hardly know you!"  I laughed, and then when I moved to my next partner, I heard him say the same thing to the next girl.  The whole thing was just really amazing to me, to see this subculture that exists and brings so many people together.  

As I was saying before, I'm having a really lame Saturday night, so I also pulled out my guitar and played for a little while.  

Being in a restless/goofy mood + listening to the album, Rajaton Sings Abba at work =