Because They're Burning Bricks

Went to a seisiún today. On the way there, I was worried that it would be only for tourists and totally lame. When I got there, the music was finishing up and I bought a beer (a Temple Brau (get it, Temple Bar:Temple Brau) lager, ok, not great) and heard part of an announcement that didn’t make much sense without the rest of it. Piped music came on, but it was pretty fun–Queen, ABBA, Grease, etc., etc. There was a girl on the other side of the bar–she reminded me of a chubbyish Joleen–that kind of joyful energy–dancing with whomever she could drag into dancing. She and another girl dragged me into dancing with them for a song. I couldn’t loosen up enough to dance well with them (Observation: I haven’t been able to dance as well as I used to–I’m stiff and it’s not just my body–and that’s all I’m going to say about that because I want to capture my joy today.)

I was thinking at the time that these were girls doing the “lesbian for boys” thing, but the one girl who reminded me of Joleen was so joyful that I was laughing and enjoying myself anyway. 

Eventually I saw the sign painted above the window that said after 8:30 the seisiún moved up to the 2nd floor, so I got directions to the staircase and went up there.

When I got there, there was a couple dancing. They were probably in their mid-30s (I remember when that was old) and adorable. The band mixed the ballads with the jigs and the occasional reel and encouraged everyone to dance–although most of the time there was no room to do so.  I started to sort of dance in place. There was one Swedish guy in a group who was sort of flirting with me–he was ok but a tiny bit sketchy. I was polite but reminded myself that I don’t need to flirt with someone just because they’re paying attention to me and aren’t completely atrocious. At any rate, he and his friends continued checking me and my dancing out for the rest of the night. I think I may have been flirting with the uilleann pipe player. I *think* he was flirting back, but I chickened out on finding out at the end of the set. I go lots of grins from lots of people while I was dancing, and after the seisiún, an Irish girl tapped my arm to tell me that I danced well.

So, here’s my musings on energy and renewal based on this evening. I know that when I’m happy I glow. I know that my real smile is infectious–even though I’ve never seen it. Tonight I felt high off of channeling all the good energy of the people around me. I could feel myself radiating energy, but it wasn’t coming from me but just all the rest of the energy coming through me. I feel rejuvenated in a way that I haven’t on the rest of this trip.

There was kind of a spiritual/faith in myself renewal in the Highlands–at 472 meters the world looks different. At 360 meters in a corrie, the highland peaks all around me, the world is amazing, as is the fact that i made it up there at all, but it’s more of a break me down, build me back up renewal than something whole/holistic. The feeling at the seisiún is more whole. When a ballad that 50 people in the room can sing along with is played, there is a sense of community that is automatic. You’re belting along off-key and you catch the eye of someone else belting the song off-key and you both grin–a connection is made, even if you’ll never be BFFs or even say hi.

A jig is played and–bare minimum–your toes tap. It continues and you snap your fingers or everybody claps or you start bouncing or pretending you can Irish set dance. The grin starts and you can feel it running through your body like fire. Body, mind, memory, spirit, community–it’s all involved.  A good seisiún with a good audience is like manna to me (I walked back to the hotel in 10 minutes less than usual because I was so high from the music and the experience.) Hillwalking left me rejuvenated in all but body. Most everything else i’ve done has left me rejuvenated in all but community. It was an amazing experience I’m not ready to let go of [here's where my handwriting started to become illegible], even if I am starting to get tired.