what if...?

i was discussing with a friend in athens a month ago about the mundial favourites. you know, at the time it would be brasil, argentina, czech republic, maybe germany.

and he said to me: "i think you are forgetting one team. what if france wakes up?"

well, they just did tonight!

and btw, i have decided that now that oranje are out, i am not supporting any particular team. just enjoying good football hopefully.

oranje are out

now that the netherlands is out of the world cup (in a really unfair last game according to me) i have to find another team to support...i guess i'll wait for the 8 teams to be complete and then choose one. or go for the easy option (brasil)?

so cooooooooooooooooooooool

22-23rd july: lisbon!

28th-30th july: athens!

tickets purchased, weddings scheduled (yes, both trips have been inspired by friends' weddings :-), i just have to expect that everything will work out fine and we'll be having a great time out there!

pretty much i am in the red these days since i just moved here and havent received any salary yet, but i guess by the end of august i should be recovering financially. thank god for credit cards though!

see you guys around! it's also my only real chance to get out of london to warmer countries during the summer!

the unhappiest man

i fell accross this very interesting definition of the unhappiest man, by Soren Kierkegaard, as a reference in a completely irrelevant book - to philosophy, that is. but well, i still found it interesting enough to mention here:

"This is what it amounts to: on the one hand, he constantly hopes for something he should be remembering...On the other hand he constantly remembers something he should be hoping for...Consequently what he hopes for lies behind him and what he remembers lies before him...He is forever quite close to the goal and at the same time at a distance from it; he now discovers that what it is that makes him unhappy, because now he has it, or because he is this way, is precisely what a few years ago would have made him happy if he had it then, whereas then he was unhappy because he didn't have it."

Never read anything of Kierkegaard before but it suddenly sounds a bit interesting...

perspective

was reading through Anis's blog yesterday and saw these words in the title:

"Rover, wanderer, Nomad, vagabond, Call me what you will... Anywhere I roam... Where I lay my head is home..."

they seemed familiar but in the beginning i couldn't quite remember when i'd seen them before. i soon realised though that they are from the lyrics of one of the coolest metallica songs, which i last heard at least 10 years ago, if you exclude their gig in athens back in 1999. the song is called "wherever i may roam".

then it was just a song i liked.
today i realise it's more like a song the describes an important part of my life.

the lyrics are here for whoever wants to read. enjoy.

(whispering)..And the road becomes my bride..
(is louder)...and the road becomes my bride
I have stripped of all but pride
so in her I do confide
and she keeps me satisfied
gives me all I need

...and with dust in throat I crave
only knowledge will I save
to this game you stay a slave
rover wanderer
nomad vagabond
call me what you will

but I'll take my time anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind anywhere
and I'll redefine anywhere
anywhere I roam
where I lay my head is home, yeah

(whispering) ...and the earth becomes my throne
...and the earth becomes my throne
I adapt to the unknown
under wandering stars I've grown
by myself but not alone
I ask no one

...and my ties are severed clean,
the less I have the more I gain
off this beaten path I reign
rover wanderer
nomad vagabond
call me what you will

but I'll take my time anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind anywhere
and I'll never mind anywhere
anywhere I roam
where I lay my head is home (x3)

carved upon my stone
my body lie, but still I roam yeah
wherever I may roam

ronaldo

ronaldo scored his 1st goal against japan, just before the first half was over. his 13th goal ever in the world cup. a crucial goal since it was the equaliser, japan was winning by 1-0. he was also among the best players in the first half, and has created another goal in the world cup so far, by passing to adriano (against australia). also scored a very important goal in the 2nd half with japan now, equalising the all time top scorer record in world cups (Gerd Muller - 14 goals). One more and his name will stay in football history for yet another reason. what do the critics have to say now? oh, i bet they'll find something new.

ronaldo is unfit, he's fat (!), he's on a bad curve in his career etc etc. but one fact remains: no matter what, he's still one of the greatest players active. and most of his critics around the world will probably not be so lucky as to see any of their national team players play as great, come back from severe injuries, and make football the beautiful spectacle that it is. backbiting their competition will never make theirs better teams than brasil. and that's why they'll always stay miserable and sore losers. :)

i'll keep cheering for ronaldo anyway.

7 days

got a house
got a new phone number
got my contracts signed
got a bank account
got settled at home
learned my first lesson on not taking tube on rush hour/alternative routes to work
watched a lot of world cup
cooked after (???) years of not having cooked
went to work for the 1st time today
did a bit of sightseeing and fun activities
kept in touch with greece though i am jealous they are swimming on that side of europe now

pas mal for the first week.
and especially for a week which started on a full moon and Tuesday the 13th (= unlucky day in Greece) it's quite extraordinary.

a different football experience

today i went to a brazilian pub to watch the game of basil vs. the aussies. and i discovered why they say that for latin america football is more than just a sport: it's a celebration. there was music throughout, lots of dancing before, during and after the game, a very lively crowd and a fun atmosphere throughout. so, thanks fotis for the invitation :)

i guess my next goal is to watch football live in the southern part of america one day...

btw: just to mention i am supporting the oranje in this world cup, since my home country hasn't made it there...

covent garden

i went for a walk for a couple of hours around covent garden the other day. and though i haven't been there in years, i realise it's still my favourite area of london, bustling with life and will still a lot of things to see and do around. i guess now that i am staying in london i'm gonna see a lot more of it!

fake plastic trees

Her Green plastic watering can
For her fake chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth.
That she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber plants.
to get rid of itself.
And It Wears Her Out, it wears her out
It wears her out, it wears her out.

She lives with a broken man
A cracked polystyrene man
Who just crumbles and burns.
He used to do surgery
For girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins.
And It Wears Him Out, it wears him out
It wears him out, it wears him out.

She looks like the real thing
She tastes like the real thing
My Fake Plastic Love.
But I can't help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run
And It Wears Me Out, it wears me out
It wears me out, it wears me out.

And if I could BE who you wanted
If I could BE who you wanted,
All the time, all the time, ohhh... ohh...

radiohead forever!

blink by malcolm gladwell

not gonna say much about blink, just that it's an exciting read - talking about the capacity of our brain to make decisions based on very little information and time, or so we may think. the author does a really good job explaining how our brain uses past experience and stereotypes to form opinions and make decisions in ways that most of the time we do not realise.

malcolm gladwell is also the author of the (more famous than blink) tipping point, and his book is based on lots of practical examples in order to prove his point. in any case it's an interesting and different read, so it's highly recommended!

killing the past

and coming back to life. it's not me who said it, it's pink floyd, a few years back actually.

no big news.
just wanna mention here for the ones who don't know that I have now moved to london for work. for how long? i don't know yet. for now i am on a temporary contract.

it's exciting to make a new beginning. it's exciting to move abroad again, in a city where a few friends already are, 3 years after i came back to Greece. i've wanted to do this ever since. it's also exciting to begin work after 2 months of not working. what's most important though is that for the first time after 3 years i am again fully independent in financial terms, since i've had the army and one year of university interfering in my life somehow...

i guess it's natural for all people to feel good to be able to live on their own resources, as for me i feel at home since i believe i was born to be independent and have been very stubborn on this since i was a kid. i can do well in my team but i want to be distinguished on an individual level as well.

the best thing about these days though is (not the weather :p) the fact that all the excitement aside, i feel very much down to earth. i think i am somehow preparing myself for even better times ahead!

All glory comes from daring to begin

just the title for now

the news will come later :)

pinkpop

the red hot chili peppers on stage:
Pinkpop rocked, and it was the best way to close my two weeks stay abroad (UK & NL). The festival itself must be the event during which I have been among the biggest number of people, which I suspect is close to a six digit figure.

The trip from Rotterdam to Landgraaf lasted almost 5 hours, with an incredible 3 hour traffic jam in the last 10km of the distance, during which I found out that Landgraaf is right next to Kerkrade, where Euro Expro 2001 took place. So well, it’a always about returning to the same old places, isn't it?

After missing the first few acts due to the traffic jam, we finally managed to enter the site around 3 pm.
Bands that we saw, along with Jelle and Pascal:
- Deftones (not impressed)
- Keane (found out I knew half their songs without actually knowing the band itself)
- Nickelback (Need I say more?)
- Franz Ferdinand (my first touch with Scottish rock from Glasgow and they were quite cool I can say) and finally the festival ended with the
- Red Hot Chili Peppers, whom I wanted to see live for at least the past 4 years, and I finally did. I can say that they live up to the expectations easily and if I get the chance to see them play live again, I will do it for sure. They are playing in London within this month actually and they're much better live than their live at slane castle dvd :)

Unfortunately I missed Morissey who was on the other stage, but if we split our schedules with the other guys we wouldn’t be able to meet again – but Franz Ferdinand who was playing at the same time was a happy compromise for me since I am not a fan of Morissey, I was just curious to see him on stage. Other things I didn’t like: I had to stand for almost 7 hours (but you can’t really avoid that in a rock festival, can you?) and the incredible quantities of garbage everywhere which case a disgusting visual impression.

The impressions are great and it seems that Pinkpop has made a remarkable come back, since it had started to fade out during previous years. It was also the only dry Pinkpop of the past 20 years at least, since there was no rain. And it was all in all a fantastic experience, though I had to rush straight to schiphol for my 05:30 flight back to Athens.

If anyone has photos/videos/anything from Pinkpop this year, I would be happy to see them – let me know. the ones on the pinkpop website are only of the people attending, not the bands.

another weekend is here

enjoy it :)

world press photo exhibition

if you are around amsterdam, it's a definite recommendation to visit the world press photo excibition at oudekirk, it's in central amsterdam.

there are some pretty powerful photos in the church, more or less showing that in year 2006 there's still a lot of pain, mistrust, contempt, inequality, tragedy and injustice in our world. it's not a story on tv, these are the real stories.

makes you think a lot about the way our societies are segregated - the ones who can, move one. the ones who cannot not only are left behind, but are ignored as if they didn't exist.

[there's also a few photos of pure beauty, like the sports ones.]