old favourite

you gotta love this... :-) just came accross it over the internet again today and thought i'd share the love :-)

και να'μαι πάλι εδώ...

να 'τα μαααααααααας. μετά από σήμερα ξέρω πως και πάλι μετακομίζω. πότε? τέλος μαϊου, βασικά με την επιστροφή μου από την ασία θα είμαι στο νέο σπίτι (το οποίο θα βρουν οι μελλοντικοί μου συγκάτοικοι γιατί εγώ θα λείπω). δε μπορώ να πω πως χαίρομαι που φεύγω από εδώ που είμαι, αλλά μια αύξησξ ενοικίου δεν την αντέχω, κι έτσι φεύγω. βέβαια, η αλήθεια είναι πως το saga μιας ζωής συνεχίζεται και γι'άλλη μια φορά δε μπορώ να στεριώσω πουθενά. είναι το τρίτο σπίτι που θα μείνω σε λιγότερο από ένα χρόνο στην αγγλία. όλες οι μετακομίσεις έγιναν για καλούς λόγους, αλλά αυτό δε σημαίνει πως πρέπει να είμαι κι ευχαριστημένος, μιας που κοντεύω χρόνο εδώ, και δεν έχω βρει ακόμη ένα μέρος που να αποκαλώ σπίτι μου. κι υποψιάζομαι ότι το ίδιο θα γίνει και με το επόμενο, αλλά οψόμεθα.

ίσως αυτός να είναι κι ένας από τους λόγους που δεν τα πάω καλά με τη χώρα που με φιλοξενεί. εγώ τις έκανα τις επιλογές, ναι, και της δουλειάς, και των εκάστοτε συγκατοίκων και των σπιτιών και του να έρθω εδώ. αλλά δυστυχώς (ξέρω, υπεραισιόδοξος?) δε μου έχουν έρθει πολλά σημαντικά πράγματα όπως τα ήθελα, κι έτσι κατά καιρούς ξενερώνω. κι όπως έγραψα και σ'ενα φίλο σήμερα, "δεν είναι ότι κάτι συγκεκριμένο πάει στραβά στην αγγλία, απλά η ζωή μου εκτός αγγλίας είναι καλύτερη", εξ 'ου και κανονίζω συνέχεια ταξίδια.

το άλλο θέμα είναι ότι έχω εδώ και χρόνια φτάσει σε σημείο ισορροπίας με την αλλαγή. δεν είναι ότι δε με πειράζει, αλλά δε με αγχώνει γιατί έχω συνηθίσει. κι έτσι δε με αγχώνει το ταξίδι ενός μήνα στην ασία με δεδομένα που αλλάζουν κάθε μέρα, δε με αγχώνει που θα μπω σε ένα σπίτι που δεν έχω δει, και δεν με πειράζει που δεν υπάρχει αρκετός χρόνος για να σχεδιάσω όλα αυτά που πρέπει. ξέρω ότι όλα θα γίνουν όπως πρέπει. αλλά το μείζον ζήτημα είναι ότι πια δεν έχω καμιά αίσθηση της μονιμότητας σε κανένα επίπεδο στη ζωή μου τα τελευταία 10 χρόνια. κι ίσως σε κάποιο βαθμό να με βλάψει αυτό, γιατί είναι καλό να είναι κανείς προετοιμασμένος για την αλλαγή, αλλά είναι επίσης καλό να έχει προετοιμαστεί και για τη μονιμότητα (ή τη διάρκεια σε κάποια πράγματα) γιατί κάποια στιγμή θα πρέπει να την επιδιώξω, σε κατοικία, δουλειά, προσωπική ζωή κτλ, κι απλά έχω συνιθίσει να αλλάζουν όλα γρήγορα γύρω μου.

από την άλλη ίσως η "μονιμότητα" ή η σταθερότητα είναι ίσως state of mind που έρχεται μοιραία κάποια στιγμή στη ζωή, όταν κανείς νιώθει πια έτοιμος για κάποια πιο σταθερά πράγματα. κι ίσως απλά δεν έχω ακόμη φτάσει εκεί. οψόμεθα...

idle

i was thinking of maybe getting on my feet and going on an excursion, maybe to oxford, today, but the saturday mood just got to me once again...just sitting at home, doing my laundry, going for some shopping and basically spending most of the day on the internet, reading and listening to music. it seems to be the norm for the past few months that have been intense, as this might be the way to relax from work and everything else that the week behind me entails.

and it's not like i don't have other things to think about or plan/arrange. i have a 20+ day trip to arrange in may. i am moving again right upon my return from asia. and there;s a lot of logistics for both of them, and franly speaking, not a lot of time left. i have the next friday trip to greece to look forward to. but much as i would like to do otherwise, saturday is usually spent thinking abstractly and it's hard to concentrate on anything specific.

my visual profile

and yours - try this out - it's cool!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

the first step

today i booked my flight from london to shanghai and from singapore to london. 5th of may and 28th of may respectively. non refundable. i took my risks. and as a friend says, unless you book your flight, you will never start planning a trip. and it truly feels this way.

nomads in shanghai, get in touch!, since i'll be spending about a couple of weeks at your side of the world. will do some research on where to go over the weekend. lets meet up!

see you all there!

nightmare

last night i dreamt i was back in the army! i guess it's a recurring dream of everyone that didn't enjoy that time of their lives, since in the past couple of years i have already had this one a few times. this time not only was i back in camp, but i didn't have the key to my locker to be able to get access to personal belongings and uniform.
...

see you on the 18th of May in KL!

i don't want to sound too optimistic, but after a couple of phonecalls this weekend, it seems like my asia trip in may is coming to shape. thanks caro, and see you on the 18th in KL!

now the things to do is confirm the rest of the destinations, tickets and of course the days off from work! but it should all get done within this week! so cool!

psychometric

χτες κάναμε κάποια ψυχομετρικά τεστ από την εταιρία που θα βρει τα άτομα που θα δουλεύουν σε εμάς το καλοκαίρι. για να δουν δηλαδή τι χαρακτηριστικά έχουμε εμείς οι ήδη εργαζόμενοι, και να ψάξουν αντίστοιχα. τίποτα το φοβερό, αρχικά. έχω ξανακάνει τέτοια τεστ, και συνήθως βγάζουν κάποια συμπεράσματα για την προσωπικότητά σου, βασισμένα σε ερωτήσεις που πρέπει να απαντάς γρήγορα κι ενστικτωδώς, άλλες φορές ακριβή,κι άλλες όχι.

πρέπει να πω πως αυτή τη φορά ψιλοσοκαρίστηκα. μετά από 25 ερωτήσεις στις οποίες η απάντηση ήταν μία λέξη από 4, και δε μπορούσα να συσχετίσω καμιά ερώτηση με το πώς φέρομαι στη δουλειά ή πώς βγαίνει το συμπέρασμα, τελικά μου έβγαλαν ένα profile 95% ακριβές. και το εννοώ. τo προφίλ έλεγε μέχρι και τι προβλήματα αντιμετωπίζω αυτό τον καιρό στο εργασιακό μου περιβάλλον (!)...ουδέν σχόλιο.

έξω χιονίζει (ω, ναι, πάλι!) κι ετοιμάζομαι να φύγω για δουλειά.

what i'm reading these days...

i guess i am in a toubled period, and i know that cos i am normally a non fiction person when it comes to reading. i prefer to read politics, history, economic and generally real stuff. however in order to do that i also need to have peace of mind, which i currently don't. that's why my last few books have been on fiction (although i am halfway through a book on math and one on schizophrenia - but have been on and off for quite a while with them).

i recently read "albatros" by soti trantafillou last month. good story but exagerrated book when it comes to adding the historical details in order to get the aura of that time (end of the 1800s - beginning of 1900s) in the book. you just cannot include every single historical detail of that era in the book from England of that time (from Jack the Ripper to the first steps of Churchill in politics, to the building of new bridges in London to the establishment of new newspapers and have all those people having an active part in the story). Too much for my taste, although the story was good, as said.

Then i read "thinks" by David Lodge, whom i'm generally fond of when it comes to this sort of fiction, can be read very pleasantly. After that i just moved on to "a short story of Tractors in Ukrainian" which i am half way through and am enjoying so far...

unfortunately i am running out of fiction at home. only one stephen king waiting for me next ("cell"), and the rest is pretty much non fiction on the list. any suggestions?

dublin & st. paddy's

it's time i wrote something about my weekend in ireland, which is hard to describe but in a couple of words was great!

first of all i should say i scheduled this trip 5 months ago, in hope that i would find smn to go with on the way. it appears the only thing i did since then was book the tickets and nothing else, so last minute i was left alone, and with no accommodation. a couple of e-mails later, i had a place for friday (kritika's) and saturday (irish mc), whom i thank both for hosting!

st paddy's was lots of fun, as were all the new people i met while being there. combined with the rugby 6 nations, there was admittedly lots of alcohol around, lots of drunk people (i think i've never seen so many in my entire life - but a friend at work today said it's because i haven't been to australia), lots of laughing, lots of people staying in the same flat (18 i think?), some dancing and lots of good conversations - aiesec related and not. leprechauns, guiness, people dressed up in green etc all inclusive. and of course, re-discovering how small the world is through the common people we know.


it's not surprising to say that - although i regret not staying longer (i definitely have to go back when the weather is better) - i enjoyed myself so much and got a bit of the vibes of that country, ireland, on which i set foot for the first time. irish people are very friendly, and that's not because of drinking (only :-). i literally started meeting people from the moment i landed at the airport. the first impression dublin gave me was similar to the uk, but that's superficial and only on the surface, probably related with things that i have associated with the uk (architecture and driving on the left etc). but it's definitely more easy going, as are the people, and more fun than london (or so it seemed to me). it's also a smaller city, and with much more open spaces it occurred to me.

on sunday, believe it or not, aine, bruna and i went to the irish history museum, after walking around the city and having our bagels for brunch. after that it was time for visiting the jameson distillery and have some irish coffee at the brazen head (oldest pub in dublin). before i knew it i was on my way to the airport and back to london. it appears that although i returned back home exhausted, my batteries were fully charged, just from the excitement of meeting all these new people and having a different weekend in a new country.

i guess i ought to do this kind of thing more often :-)

[awaiting more photos]

believe it or not

when i got out of the tube on my way back from work today...it was snowing! it's the 19th of march today!

a scene from the future

nafplio, march 1996, 03:44

this was another reckless night at the last year at school excursion. coming back to the hotel from a live greek music club, we're just continuing the drinking and chatting with friends. these are the last few carefree days, before the pressure of the june exams starts mounting up. but after that, we're (probably) going to university. who knows where, or what faculty, or who of us will make it?

london, tuesday the 13th of march, 23:36

i am sitting at my desk in my room in western london. typing at my laptop, while just a while ago i was on skype with family in greece and earlier with a friend on the other side of the planet. these days my computer is more of a multi mixer. typing out my blog content, inserting photos from my cell phone and sending to friends, watching football online and keeping in touch with home. but i'd better not spend more time in front of the screen now, i wanna progress a bit with my book and go to bed, as i have an early wake up tomorrow. no, i'm not a tourst here. i live and work here. and this is all real.

this is a different kind of "sit back and look at your life". not so much with the purpose to evaluate, but just to stand in awe. both the above scenes are real. 11 years ago i was just finishing school. i don't know about you, but i was pretty reckless at the time. i had every intention of going to university, but that [entering] uni was just as far as i could see. and, well, i was not even 18. i didn't feel the need to see further than that. couldn't see where the future [technology, family, lifestyle] or my future [uni, profession, relationships and friendships] was going. that was the era when i didn't have a mobile phone or an e-mail address, wireless internet was not around, private tv in greece was just taking off, blogs and reality shows had not yet been invented and not everyone was a celebrity, people were making all kinds of speculations about how the year 2000 and afterwards was gonna look like.

except for the youngsters, who couldn't really care less about all these things, and imagined themselves in the future...like they were at the time! I could not imagine being in IT, changing faculty and city [i love you, thessaloniki], i could not imagine AIESEC, i could not imagine living in the Netherlands or the UK, I could not imagine travelling the world, having friends from every continent, keeping the closest relations with my family and keeping or losing my childhood friends.

sometimes i look back, but can only see the past year: what i achieved, what i did not. i can now (11 years later than that era) set more long term goals. realistic or not, only the future will tell. but the fact remains that looking at myself 11 years ago, looking at the two snapshots then and now, when i was at my final year in school, i could hardly imagine any of this. where the world has gone, and how my life has shaped. and if there was anything i could imagine about my future life at the time, it definitely didn't end up the way i had imagined it.

i am wondering if 10 [or more, or less] years ago, you were able to imagine the world as it is today, and the way your life looks like today.

murphy's law...multiplied

1. monday morning (need i say more?)
2. may holidays most probably called off. i need to be in london mid may as of today, and i had pretty much scheduled to be away for most of may beginning to the end. this is really something.
3. still got this cold since thursday (though i'm getting better) but it doesn't help to look back and see i spent the entire weekend at home
4. bank account has hit rock bottom (long live the overdraft facilities)
5. growing pressure at work these days, which causes the highly unusual effect of taking work home with me
6. housing situation post april still uncertain

however, as in all cases, there's always light at the end of the tunnel.
1. going to ireland this weekend
2. going to greece in 3 1/2 weeks
3. going to copenhagen end april
4. generally making plans about the next year...lets see where this takes me...

όλη μου η εφηβεία

μιας που ήμουν ελαφρώς άρρωστος τις τελευταίες μέρες, προληπτικά πέρασα πολύ χρόνο στο σπίτι, στο οποίο τώρα πια μένω μόνος μου. κι είπα (τι παράδοξο, δεν το έκανα όσο έμενα στην ελλάδα) να εξερευνήσω κάποιους σταθμούς που συνήθως δεν ακούω στο αυτοκίνητο. έπεσα πάνω στον δίεση και κόλλησα, κυριακή πρωί. κατσιμηχαίοι, αλκίνοος, παλιά πρωτοψάλτη και γαλάνη, αρβανιτάκη, λοϊζος, τρύπες και δε συμμαζεύεται...κόλλησα να ακούω επί ώρες τα λιγότερο mainstream τραγούδια από όλους αυτούς, και να φέρνω πίσω στο μυαλό μου στιγμές και καταστάσεις που μοιάζουν αιώνες πίσω, αλλά σε κάποιο βαθμό με έχουν κάνει αυτόν που είμαι.

συνιστώ το σταθμό ανεπιφύλακτα, παρότι δεν ξέρω πώς είναι τις καθημερινές!

belated chinese new year

but i thought this photo i got yesterday, from the celebrations in leicester square a few weeks back, is worth posting, even now. courtesy of my friend stamatis.

η λαμία στον τελικό!

εντάξει, δεν είμαι fan ούτε της λαμίας, ούτε του volley, αλλά από τη λαμία είμαι ο άνθρωπος κι είπα να το γραψω για όσους δεν το ξέρω: κύπελλο volley, 2007: η ομάδα της λαμίας νικά διαδοχικά τον παοκ, τον ολυμπιακό, και είναι πλέον στον τελικό με τον παναθηναϊκό. δεν έχει σημασία αν θα το πάρει ή όχι, απλά νομίζω φέτος είναι η πρώτη της (ή δεύτερη?) χρονιά στη μεγάλη κατηγορία κι ένας τελικός κυπέλλου είναι μεγάλη επιτυχία. επιπλέον, δε γνωρίζω πότε ήταν η τελευταία φορά που ομάδα της λαμίας είχε κάποια επιτυχία σε πανελλήνιο επίπεδο. ίσως δεκαετίες πριν, με την ομάδα του ποδοσφαίρου? ποιος ξέρει...

και το σχετικό άρθρο

Bush Urges Nation To Be Quiet For A Minute While He Tries To Think

This is an old one once again, but i just love some of the articles on the onion!

WASHINGTON, DC—In a nationally televised address Monday, President Bush urged all citizens, regardless of race, creed, color, or political affiliation, "to quiet down for just one minute" so he could have "a chance to think."

In a televised address to the nation, Bush called for "a little peace and quiet."

"Every American has an inalienable right to free speech and self-expression," Bush said. "Nonetheless, I call upon the American people to hold off on it for, say, 60 seconds. Just long enough for me to get this all sorted out in my head."

"Please," Bush added.

While the president said achieving a unilateral peace and quiet "would not be easy," he hoped that citizens would respect his wish and work toward a temporary cease-talk so that he could can hear his own thoughts "for once."

"Make no mistake: It will take patience and sacrifice," Bush said. "But such drastic measures could lead to a better tomorrow for all of us, especially for your commander in chief."

Bush then closed his speech by exhaling sharply, tightly closing his eyes, and massaging his temples. "I just—Christ, I just need a goddamn minute, you know?" he said.

The presidential call for national silence came as little surprise following weeks of rumors from White House sources that Bush appeared increasingly distracted and wearied by the ever-pervasive noise. Excerpts from an unedited videotaped meeting made public last Thursday revealed a frustrated Bush rhetorically asking Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan how "the leader of the free world was supposed to get any work done around here with all this volume."

Assuring the public it "can make as much noise as [it] wants" as soon as the Bush-proposed national minute of silence concludes, Chief Of Staff Josh Bolten said that the White House was making "every effort" to accommodate Bush's wishes.

the rest of the story is here.

everything you always wanted to know about sex

...but were afraid to ask! i watched this movie last night and i can't believe that it was made 35 (!) years ago. it's a classic woody allen, which you have to watch, if you are a fan, like myself!

great work

i came across the website of chris jordan on the net and i thought his idea of art is 1) original and 2) beautiful. check it out for yourselves. worth a look.

seriously now

is there anyone who hasn't watched this video before?

και υπάρχει κανείς που:
1) να μην του άρεσε και
2) να μη θέλει να κάνει το γύρο του κόσμου τσάμπα, απλά για να γυρίσει ένα τέτοιο video?

travel planning

today is march the 1st (καλό μήνα)

on the 16th i am going to ireland for the weekend (st. patrick's celebrations). i have a place to stay on friday, i don't have a bed for saturday night the 17th of march (any suggestions are welcome but from what i can see online there's not much left - or that i can afford - to book). any nomads in town, by any chance?

on the 5th of april i am going to greece for easter. will be back here on the 10th.

on may is my - pending - long trip to asia. for the time being it looks like i will be leaving the uk on the 4th or the 5th. going to china, staying there for a couple of weeks. shanghai, beijing, travel and then of to thailand or malaysia for a week. i wanna get some sun and swimming, as i don't have summer holidays due to my job. the trip ends with 2-3 days in singapore, to meet up with all friends who currently reside there. there is nothing booked and i need company for thailand and travelling in china. if you are travelling during that period, lets try and combine. i am back to london 28th or 29th may.

in july i am spending the 1st weekend in greece, since my cousin is getting married, and 15th september i am in the netherlands once again, for vivek's and lonnie's wedding.

in between all these, and excluding the summer when i will be messed up with work, i wanna try and get my ass over to barcelona, copenhagen, prague.

post october i should have like 5 days of holiday left. which i still don't know what to do with, but things might change if i don't manage the asia trip in may. lets see how much of this can be realised. so far the only tickets booked are to ireland and greece (x2)...