2005-05-16 - 8:03 p.m.

...the magic of ABBA....

In response to my previous entry for today, I have put in the CD of ABBA Gold which brings me gloriously back to my days in Germany where I insisted it be played at every party I attended...

Mama Mia!! Here I go again!!

I have a permanent image in my brain of a party out at the old unrenovated house across the street from Westbahnhof. The house occupants had moved all of their living room furniture out onto the lawn and put a disco light in their now empty room. The band Defrogged played some funky blues before the DJ took over. The house was brimming to the top with 200 guests who all used the old-fashioned DDR toilet in the stairwell between the 3rd and 4th floor.

It was in the early days of getting to know K, before we were dating, but when we kept bumping into each other at every party. He brought a homemade tiramisu, and I thought he was gay....but not gay enough that I didn't try to get to know him better, and that he didn't walk me most of the way home.

Halfway through the party, when K was engaged with his economist friends, my friend Ulli went in to dance. I was standing outside on the grass - there was a mass of 100 people between me, the doorway, and the dancefloor when the glorious sounds of DANCING QUEEN came blasting through the windows. I immediately stood on the nearest table and started dancing. I looked inside at the dancefloor, and there stood Ulli. We both waved invisible Bic lighters over our heads. Across a crowded lawn through a window, over a crowded dancefloor - our eyes met and we shared an ABBA Dancing Queen fake bic lighter moment.

ABBA will always be a reminder of a magical and bizarre time in my life. I'm so glad I put this CD into my player just now.