Many years ago, I worked for a kind, handsome man whose lovely little daughter grew up and married a funny-looking talk-show host who bears an uncanny resemblance to the president of Finland, who may or may not be re-elected on my birthday, January 29th. How's that for coincidence?
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
4 Degrees of Separation
Many years ago, I worked for a kind, handsome man whose lovely little daughter grew up and married a funny-looking talk-show host who bears an uncanny resemblance to the president of Finland, who may or may not be re-elected on my birthday, January 29th. How's that for coincidence?
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Are you indirectly calling the
ReplyDeletepresident of Finland funny-
looking ? Her skin is beautiful
for someone her age. (photo
retouched?)
Shame on you! LOL
That certainly makes me the proverbial pot! No doubt she and Conan will consult on skincare when he visits Finland next month.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Finland had a female president. You go, girl. Now Chile does as well. MTH
ReplyDeleteI think Conan is hilarious, and I've been following his Finnish antics with great interest.
ReplyDeleteI think Conan has a few qualities that endear him to folks with a Finnish background:
1) For those of us who led highly repressed lives, his utter inappropriateness allows us to live vicariously through him. :)
2) His self-effacing humor ("I am an *ss") fits in with our reserved outlook on life.
3) And for the Laestadians among us, he freely admits he is going to hell! ;-)
And Liberia. When will America have a female president? Laura Bush predicts it will be soon, but her pick, Condoleeza Rice, has said she will not run. I guess that leaves us Hillary, Geena Davis and Oprah.
ReplyDeleteNo, I'd like to see a female pastor at a Laestadian based church. That would be interesting.
ReplyDeleteI got to see her live at the Uspensky cathedral in Helsinki on the Independence Day (Dec. 6)! :) Unfortunately I didn't get close enough to see if she had wrinkles, but I think the picture is retouched one. She looks more beautiful in it than usual.¨
ReplyDeleteBut although I saw her I'm still not going to vote for her. :)
Why not?
ReplyDeleteI won't vote her for the same reason I wouldn't vote for George W - she doesn't have a clue. We've seen her and to be honest she wasn't much of a president. Besides, the office of Finnish president is mostly for foreign politics, a representative of this nation. And she's not good looking, convincing or anything that makes a good representative. The only thing I've been satisfied with her was that she hasn't managed to do much damage to Finland during her presidency. Real power in Finland belongs to the parliament, the council of state and corporations.
ReplyDeleteTarja re-presents un-Christian and un-capitalistic values.
I didn't vote her the last time, not gonna vote her now, but still she will most likely be elected.
My reasons for not voting for her are the same as the anonymous poster above stated. But she wasn't such a catastrophe after all as I thought when she was elected for her first period.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm not so sure any more she will be elected as I thought earlier. According to the polls, the other guy, Sauli Niinistö, has 47 % while Tarja Halonen has 53 % of the Finnish people backing them. So, let's hope for the best! :)
One lestadian / christian WorldWarII veteran says in newspaper "Iltalehti" (18.01.2006) that Finland should immediately become a member in NATO, so he gives his vote to Sauli already today! The veteran says that otherwise finnish defence forces will not get help anywhere like it happened in year 1939. Help migt be needed someday even "one finn is equal to ten russ" Thats his valuable point of view.
ReplyDeleteH. Finn
The NATO thing is about the only thing I have a different opinion about than mr. Niinistö. That's why I voted for mr. Vanhanen on the first round (he was clearly against the NATO).
ReplyDeleteIt's an unlikely coincidence that you will find a candidate who has exactly the same opinions as you have, and when the choice is between Niinistö and Halonen, the Niinistö's view on the NATO must be overlooked.
Did anyone hear that Conan has accepted an invitation to visit Finland for skiing this spring, and that he will be hosting a show or two to Helsinki?
ReplyDeleteThis busy single mother has no time to tune into pop culture and news these days, so I was completely unaware of Conan's Finnish antics. Can't wait to see it. If anyone hears WHEN, post it on this site, please.
As far as Finnish politics go, I think for sure I'd go with Ms. Halonen. I admire the Finnish version of socialism very much...how's that for a laestadian?
Off the subject but relevant to
ReplyDeleteall posts:
I have followed this blog since
its inception ( changed my moni-
ker once )and the discussions
plus composing any of my input
are helping me to answer the
central question in my life:
"Do I believe what I say I be-
lieve or is it something else?
Strange question is it not
is it ?
PS: Downside:
Checking daily and fighting
the urge to reply to every
post I agree or disagree
with is causing serious
neglect to my other duties!
Troll... I don't think it's strange at all. I have found blogs and forums very helpful to me also. If I have to actually put a thought or belief down in words, it certainly makes me think it through first. (Partly because writing isn't a strong point for me).
ReplyDeleteGrowing up with a view of being a Christian that depended more on a list, than praying and reading the Bible for answers.... well it takes a while to get it all straightened out, Even if we know and understand the SIMPLE truth of what Christ did. There is so much baggage that goes with an upbringing like that that needs sorted out... why do I believe that, or do I actually believe it etc.
By the way, it was originally Conans joke that "The best known finn outside Finland is for sure Huckleberry Finn". Quite good?
ReplyDeleteYours, H. Finn
The blog seems to have slowed
ReplyDeletedown so will throw in another
subject for possible discussion.
Re: Brogue & Idiom
I watched a PBS program entitled:
" Do you speak American ?"
You can be sitting at a lunch
counter in downtown Detroit ( an
area of 4.3 million people ),
strike up a conversation with the
person next to you and have this
happen:
When he gave me his name (Finnish
I suspected immediately that he
was a Copper Country Finn by his
Yooper brogue.
When he said " We just got back
from our camp up north and had
to shovel and pank a lot of snow
to get in
his idiom "pank" confirmed my
suspicion .
There is also a long list of
Yooper sayings ala Conan style
viz;
"My girl friend knows how to use
jumper cables."
My question is do other Finnish
settlements in Washington State,
Minnesota and out East have
similar identifying brogues and
idioms ?
What are some of these idioms ?
Free2b;
Finn Fest would be a great place
to try this identification game
out!
P.S. Of course I always thought
I was far too sophisticated to
have such a brogue but was
identified several times myself
by local Detroit people. LOL
c '
I have been gone for a week and almost nothing has happened on this site! I have to agree with you, Troll, about "fighting the urge" etc.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you should feel that what you "believe" is the central question of your life. Hmm, I wonder if that is generally true, or if it is a peculiarly Western / Christian preoccupation. It has certainly caused a lot of trouble, generating scenarios such as this: 1. I believe in X 2. You believe in Y 3. I'm going to kill you.
Why do we believe what we believe, and is belief so almighty important? What about the evidence of our own experience?
Many blessings (including wisdom!)
MTH:
ReplyDeleteUrge to reply overcomes once
again.
Following yous are generic.
Is not your love of music like
Finlandia evidence of your own
experience ?
Is not religous belief in the
same category ? If you are not
experiencing it then are you
faking it for fellowship,
family etc.?
P.S. The site certainly has
slowed down although hits
(lurkers)seem to remain
constant.
Well, Troll, I am not sure I am following you. Love of music is my experience, yes. "Spiritual" connection with the Holy Spirit / God / Jesus etc. is also my experience. But religious belief? That sounds like something from the rational (or irrational!) left brain and I would not call that experience. Why I would "fake" it, I don't know. Seems as if harmony and integrity should both be possible in most human relationships. Many blessings.
ReplyDeleteTroll, I was amused by your "brogue" comment. The other day a friend from North Dakota said "sometimes you sound so . . . midwestern." I left Minnesota when I was eight years old!
ReplyDeleteMTH;
ReplyDeleteIs not belief in the Holy Spirit/
God/Jesus a religous belief and
it certainly is left-brained and
can not be proven.
I agree fully with your state-
ment about the harmony and in-
tegrity needed in human relation-
ships which is a message sorely
lacking in some Leastadian
beliefs.viz, family splits.
shunning, etc.
P.S. Looks like the ability to
not reply to everything we
disagree with has evaded
both of us ! LOL
Of course that is what
dialogue is all about.
FYI: In the Finnish presidential elections, Tarja Halonen got 51.8 % and Sauli Niinistö 48.2 % of the votes, which means that she'll be the president for another six years.
ReplyDeleteI watched the elections show on the tv as they were counting the votes yesterday, and at one point also "the Laestadians in the Oulu delta" were mentioned. They said the Laestadians in that area (consisting mostly of the members of the LLC equivalent) typically vote for the Central Party, and they were assumed to have difficulties choosing between Ms Halonen and Mr Niinistö because none of them came from their party. I don't know, because their mentality is not familiar to me. However, at least the Firtsborn Laestadians (OALC) shouldn't have had any problems choosing because they usually vote for Mr Niinistö's party.
Getting back to some humor:
ReplyDeleteI saw a bumper sticker recently
that said :
"Finns have more fun!"
And here is a good example:
On CBC National News last night
they had a long segment about
Finns holding their annual super
bowl of wife-carrying races.
They even have a special stadium
in northern Finland built with
track, water hazards and barriers
much like a steeplechase course.
The Canadian couple interviewed
said they had trained for a year,
the wife dieted to lighten the
load and the husband did road
work.
The wife said she learned about
the race at a FinnFest.
The race was hilarious although
the competition was deadly
serious. How many can brag that
they are the world champions in
wife-carrying races !
P.S. Anyone know where I can pick
up the above bumper sticker?
Problems about selection between SDP(Halonen) - KOK(Niinistö) must be based on a myth "all the SRK laestadians vote central party".
ReplyDeleteAbout 95-99% voted mr. Niinistö!
Everyone who want Halonen for a president never said favour.
I think that even 30% of LLC-support laestadians voted mr. Niinistö at the first round.