I fried myself in The Finnish E2 Get-Together, and all I got was a hippie song stuck in my head

The original invitation node seems to have been nuked. Thanks a lot. :(
 

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Some said we couldn't do it.. Others thought there was no way in hell we could pull it off.. But once again Finnish Noders beat all odds, by successfully holding The Unbelieveable Finnish E2 Gathering™ on July 1, 2001.

First of all, I'd like to thank Simppa and Omegas for all their good ideas and work making up for my own half-assed organizing. Second, typo for providing our overseas guests with shelter for the night.
Last but not least, extra special thanks to everybody who showed up. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought it was wonderful meeting the people behind the writeups. Everybody got along perfectly, and in my opinion the Finnish attendants did a fine job dispelling the myth of the unsocial and introverted Finn. :)

Of course, having the meet on a Sunday presented a problem: a great deal of us had to leave too early to make it to work on Monday morning. I myself missed some of the action, which afterwards made me seriously regret not calling in sick today. Perhaps the next get-together should be a full-on weekend retreat?

To put it short, I had a great time! If no one is against it, we'll do this again before 2001 is over. We just scratched the surface, and there are plenty of more noders out there waiting to be met.

All the attendants are hereby invited to add their post-gathering thoughts to this node. Detailed personal accounts about the course of events, a singular detail you want to inform the public of.. Everything goes.
 

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Who showed up?

• break
• CapriKorn
• Card
• Gordian
• Jeeves
• jope
• Loinen
• Nikka
• Omegas
• Simppa
• typo

What went on?

• Hanging out in Suomenlinna, watching boats go by and having endless silly discussions about E2, mosquitoes and Telia commercials.
• An intense drinking game between Omegas and Simppa, involving bottle caps being thrown on the opponent's balls, disguised as attempting to knock the cap off the opponent's beer bottle.
• Simppa demonstrating how to drink red wine straight out of the bottle with style. Don't let anyone tell you Finns aren't capable of acting classy!
• Ultimate Frisbee. Er, not really. But there was a frisbee, and it even got thrown around a bit.
• The Finnish/American E2 Band™ getting together for their first ever practice session. Even with their potential, I think topping the international charts will take a few more get-togethers.
• Being sober. The company kept me so busy I didn't even remember there was alcohol and herbal remedies present. Sober Finns? I'm afraid two people got a wrong picture of our kind. There was some minor intoxication going on, but none of the traditional puking-your-guts-out stuff in sight.
• Sunburn.
• Most likely the most interesting activities took place in the restaurant after I had already left for Hämeenlinna. Fill me in, people!

Anything else?

• The weather was as good as it gets around here. Our friends from Arizona told me it resembled what they get in March, which means I wouldn't survive 10 minutes around there during summer.
• Jope found a hilarious CD from a store near the train station for 5FIM. Hence The Flower Pot Men became the official band of the meeting.
  Maybe we SHOULD have gotten stoned after all.
• Call me crazy, but if I'm walking through a marketplace during one of the hottest days of the year, I except to see something else than fur coats and hats being sold.
• Since they came in all the way from The States, we had to reveal the power of the word perkele to our guests. Which means we'll most likely be jailed for revealing a national secret.
• There was the business with purple sunglasses and an empty wine bottle.. But let's not go there right now.

I'll fill in more stuff as it pops in my head. Go ahead and let me hear your side of the story.

Although I had doubts if everyone who had signed up would actually attend the meet, almost everyone did and made the day a legend to be told to grandchildren for many generations to come.

So, what went on at the gathering?

We spent almost the whole day in Suomenlinna. After the almost endless hiking around the island, we arrived to Kustaan Miekka where we had a nice picnic including cold food and warm beer. Simppa seemed to know everything about the place and it's history, so we all learned something new. (Can't remember anything, though). The weather was really on our side and most of the people went home looking like a boiled crab. (Sun lotions? Never heard.)

After returning to the main land and experiencing the Finnish-American E2 jam session, some of the gang had to leave while the rest of us went to have some dinner to a restaurant called Leningrad Cowboys, which I can recommend to every one who likes good food. After that, I regrettably had to leave. In fact it was damn close Gordian and I didn't miss the bus.. If there would have been time, I wouldn't have minded spending another day with the fellow Everythingians.

Even if Rome would have been built in a day, it wouldn't have been as amazing as The Unbelievable Finnish E2 Gathering^TM.

This is what us Discordians call "Creative Disorder". The plan in all its glory was to head to Suomenlinna, and have some good times. It worked, and it worked well.

I had never been to the Suomenlinna before, so I was pretty much awestruck by the beautiful scenery. I mean there we were, on this ancient fort, looking at Helsinki and lots of sea (not to mention the scantily clad female sunbathers, but I digress). We invaded a quiet corner somewhere, and officially started the first official Gathering of Finnish Noders. To back us up, we had some reenforcements from the good ol' U.S of A, as Jeeves and Nikka graced us with their presence.

The weather was perfect. The Sun gave us her cancer-inducing rays in abundance, and I daresay most of us got burned. So what? We had some serious fun. As comrade CapriKorn pointed out, our drinks were warm, but somehow that only served to lift my spirits. Simppa had brought some of that dreaded Flakpanzer Fuel, Salmiakkikossu (the allure of which somehow missed Jeeves and Nikka completely, a mystery which shall remain unsolved, I guess...). At some point, Omegas presented his frisbee, which served as great amusement to the already well-intoxicated crowd (Well, I don't know about the crowd, but I sure as hell enjoyed it).

When we got back to Helsinki, Simppa led us through a maze of streets into his Rehersal "Studio". This was to be the location of the Official Jam Session. The lineup was the following:

Simppa: Saucy Keyboards
Jope: Funky Drumming
Loinen: Great Cookie Monster Vocals (I really mean it, he ruled!)
Jeeves: 6-Strings (He was the only one in any condition to play music...)
Gordian: 3-String Bass (With the E-String missing. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking with it!)

Well, maybe we were a bit too progressive for anyones' tastes, but I hope we at least scared some grandmas and kiddies.

After the jamming, break, Card, Jope and Loinen parted company with us (They say it was because of the work in the morning, but I suspect it had something to with the music...). The rest of us headed towards Leningrad Cowboys for some food. There we had some interesting discussions about music and that sort of thing, but myself and CapriKorn were already in a hurry to catch our bus. So we marched doubletime to the Helsinki bus station, and it ended up being just a matter of seconds we actully made it (at this point I would like to say "Thank You" to Omegas for courageously jumping in front of the bus. Thankfully it stopped).

The only thing that troubled me was we never got to say goodbye to Simppa, Typo and our honored guests, so here goes: "It was really nice seeing you guys (and gal), and I hope we can do it again sometime. Thank you very much." After all, there was some talk about making this thing annual, and break has already suggested another meeting later this year. Well, I'm there, and I hope to see some fresh faces next time (and would someone please wake up amsaarel next time ;-)

Kiitos kaikille osallistujille. Ensi kerralla kaikki mukaan!

Truly, that was a memorable day.. :-) And I actually remember everything because I drank only three beers..

It was awesome. The sun was nice and warm, the wind was just right, my salami went sour because of the heat, The Flower Pot Men was a notable success, our overseas friends were very nice, Simppa's underground jamming facility's drums were in VERY bad shape..

.. I burned my nose in the sun ..

Thanks for everyone who showed up! We'll have to meet on a Friday or Saturday next time so that no-one has to limit their boozing. I myself had 200km to drive after the meeting so my intoxication was quite modest.. Maybe that was a good thing afterall.. :-)

Oh, by the way.. We left because we really had to go to work on Monday.

.. another case of "you had to be there", but that's inevitable when you talk about things like this.

It was my first geek-meeting ever. Before that I got only 24% nerdity rate at Mikrobitti nerd-o-meter so I had some flies in my belly when I promised to attend.
No, seriously, I knew that the worst nerds wouldn't show up anyway. Everyone there were really nice and I had a great day.

I also enjoyed the place for I haven't been there for ages. The weather was just perfect for me: I was wondering if my cheeks burned but they didn't. I guess it was only the six-pack that gave me some warmth.

It was pity I had to leave quite early. Luckily break and jope travelled with the same train so that the first hour of two hour's travel was enjoyable.
Unfortunately a sweet girl (who looked a lot like the sister of good friend of mine from France) with her wee sister got off the train with them..

What next?
Since someones have noted out that no one was extremely drunk leaving a bad picture of Finns to our overseas guests, maybe it's me who have to promise to be the one who will pass out next time. At least, being not so experienced drinker I need lesser amount of alcohol than most.

As a responsible Finn (no, really, it isn't a contradiction in terms) and, a host for our foreign guests (thanks guys, it was great to meet you!), I was obliged, compelled, and encouraged to acquaint the two with Finnish sauna.

With surprisingly few instructions and no paramedic calls or treatment for acute shock afterwards, Jeeves and Nikka (is that correctly written?) boldly went where they had not gone before: a sizzling hot (+70 degrees Celcius, okay so I turned the heat a bit lower than if I had went myself) wood-panelled room with a kind of an oven in one corner, filled with stones the size of a man's fist, and had their very first experience of one of the things Finns are so proud of.

What I was most surprised about, was that they actually seemed to like it (well okay, stating that it was quite an experience isn't exactly a praise but, hey, the previous time I introduced a foreigner to sauna, she came out crying).

Anyway, I must agree with the rest of the group - the meeting was a 101% success, and not the least because of Mother Nature so gently smiling upon us all day. More meetings to come? Count me in! :)

Yes... a geek meet indeed :)

I of course had also really good time and thanks for all of you people about that!

For your never ending complaining:
One bass string in Finland is worth of fortune! (and due our band doesn't have a real bass player no one hadn't take the responsibility for change the string)
Our former drummer (who plays now guitar mostly) isn't so wealthy and therefore drums are in such bad shape...
Although we bough a new 250 W amplifier...

Also explanation for drinkin red wine without a glass... I didn't have one :)

And for next year, when, where, who? In any case, count me in \o/