μεταμεσονύκτια...

είπα να γράψω κάτι να πω πως είμαι καλά. μια χαρά. τρέλα! και μη μου πεις πως ακούγομαι μελαγχολικός ή θλιμμένος, γιατί δεν είμαι. είμαι ό,τι μπορώ να είμαι σε ενα λονδίνο που τέλη ιουνίου βρέχει επί μία βδομάδα κάθε μέρα, και μετά από έννα σαββατοκύριακο με πυρετό στο σπίτι (και βροχή απ'έξω παρακαλώ) και μια δύσκολη δευτέρα στη δουλειά. θα γελάει η άρια, μιας που πρώτη φορά που με διάβασε απόρησε με την αισιοδοξία μου (άκουσον!).

εντάξει, και τώρα αφήνουμε τις υπερβολές. δεν ήμουν δα και του θανατά. και τώρα είμαι σχεδόν μια χαρά στην υγεία μου. στο κάτω κάτω ευκαιρία έψαχνα να μείνω λίγο σπίτι κι απλά να διαβάσω λίγο και να μην κάνω τίποτα. μέχρι που μαγείρεψα κιόλας την κυριακή (!). απλά με περιμένει δύσκολο καλοκαίρι στη δουλειά, κι αν έφτιαχνε λίγο ο καιρός θα βοηθούσε. όμως από κέφια δεν πάω άσχημα.

κι εξηγούμαι (για να μην παρεξηγούμαι, που έλεγε και μια καθηγήτρια στο γυμνάσιο):
- το άλλο σαββατοκύριακο πάω ελλάδα!
- έχω ήδη 20 μέρες χωρίς τσιγάρο κι αλκοόλ, 10 ακόμη και το κέρδισα το στοίχημα. και μετά πάλι κραιπάλη!
- σήμερα πληρώθηκα (say no more)
- σκέφτομαι πως το καλοκαίρι με μερικά ευχάριστα διαλείμματα - σαββατοκύριακα, κι επισκέψεις που θα δεχτώ, δε θα είναι καθόλου άσχημο
- έλιωσα όλο το σαββατοκύριακο να βλέπω θέμο από όλη τη χρονιά, όλα όσα έχω χάσει, κι έχει πέσει πολύ γέλιο
- κι έπειτα, αν δε μας βγει ο πάτος το καλοκαίρι, πώς μετά θα απολάυσουμε ολίγη χαλάρωση το φθινόπωρο? (μεγάλε, το παρατράβηξες!)

αυτά. και τώρα γκάλοπ τάιμ:
τι προτιμάς για τέλη ιουνίου: 44 βαθμούς στην αθήνα, ή 18 και βροχή στο λονδινο?

Ε.Σ

pardonnez mon francais, αλλά είδα αυτό το video και γαμήθηκα στο γέλιο...αξίζει πολλά, και είναι πιθανότατα και αληθινό! είναι αυτό που λένε - "κωμωδία = τραγωδία + χρόνος", αν και με το κόμπλεξ που έω τραβήξει με το στρατό, δε νομίζω ό θα σταματήσω ποτέ να το σκέφτομαι δυσάρεστα, παρά τα αστεία και τις φιλίες. απολαύστε video, είναι διαχρονικά κωμικό!

photos from the trip

...are finally here, uploaded. check them out (click on photos, login doesn't require full registration on kodakgallery.com, only e-mail and passwd)

China

Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

Thailand (Koh Tao)

Singapore

the ultimate truth

thanks lefteri for e-mailing this :-)

summer travel plan

- july 7-8: athens (chryssa's & socrates' wedding)
- july 20-22: rotterdam (ai transition party)/amsterdam
- september 1-2: oslo (kristin's wedding)
- september 14-16: amsterdam (vivek's & lonnie's wedding)

except for the fact that this is essentially a wedding tour (well, i am at this age when everyone around me is getting married and envious of my unmarried status :-P)...

...i am looking for a destination (and company) for the august bank holiday (25-27 august). i don't have holidays till october (no coincidence that all the above are weekends) and that's just about my only chance to go swimming and catch a glimpse of the sun - so i am thinking southern europe. sicily or sardinia could be a good option - not swamped (like ibiza) and i haven't been there. any ideas are welcome. it's 3 days.

i still have to fit prague somewhere in 2007, and potentially a couple of other european or north african destinations. οψόμεθα.

3.02

3 το πρωί...μόλις με άφησε το night bus πριν λίγο - ένα ακόμη βράδυ που τα κατάφερα - έστω και αργά - να έρθω σπίτι...

έβαλα τα πλυντήρια, ζέστανα φαγητό, το ράδιο να παίζει ("το αίμα μου όμως ακόμα σε θυμάται", τραγουδάει ο κατσιμίχας), και τέτοια λωρα πια, οι σκόρπιες σκέψεις πολλές (και χωρίς αλκοόλ άμα λάχει!).

σαν χρώμα που ονειρεύτηκα και πια δεν το θυμάμαι λοιπόν...κουβανέζικοι ρυθμοί, καλές κουβέντες με παλιούς και καινούργιους φίλους, και γενικά πολύ ανθρώπινη η μέρα. μερικές αλήθειες που άκουσα με τάραξαν (λίγο), παρότι δεν είναι νέα. ένας φίλος είπε πως βιάζομαι να κάνω τα πάντα στη ζωή μου, και γι αυτό δεν είμαι ευχαριστημένος με τίποτα. ένα mail είπε πως φεύγω συνέχεια - όχι από τόπους, αλλά από ανθρώπους. πιθανόν. πιθανόν και όχι. πάντως τελικά κι ένα σαββατοκύριακο τόσο απλό μπορεί να κρύβει πολύ ευχάριστες εκπλήξεις.

όπως και το μέλλον.

έξω βρέχει, το ράδιο το γύρισε στους u2, κι εγώ ετοιμάζομαι για μια ακόμη ξεχωριστή κυριακή.

chasing cars

a song that's been haunting me for the past little while...enjoy.



We'll do it all
Everything
On our own

We don't need
Anything
Or anyone

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world

I don't quite know
How to say
How I feel

Those three words,
are said too much
they're not enough

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

Let's waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads

(In album version but not in music video)
I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Forget what we're told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that's bursting into life

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes
They're all I can see

I don't know where
Confused about how as well
Just know that these things
Will never change for us at all

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

one year

it's been one year, since i moved to london. tuesday the 13th, 2006 was my arrival here. and how has it been? fast. can't say i am 100% happy with how my life looks like right now, there's a long way to go still. career wise, on a personal level, on a financial level etc.

but i can't complain.

...i have been financially independent, though not doing my dream job.

...i am back in touch with friends i had long lost touch with.

...the past year has seen me travel to portugal, the netherlands, belgium, greece (5 times), ireland, denmark, china, malaysia, thailand, singapore

...i have made new friends, explored london, although not to its fullest extent

...i have moved 3ice in a year, and this is probably one of the things i could have done better in

...i have erroneously trying to chase the lost time of the army and stagnation in my post AI studies completion. i gave up on this, and did well.

...i have shared ideas, drunken nights, dancing spreas and pool recitals with old and new friends

...i still keep making plans for the future (thank God).

it's been a good year, and i am thankful for that. hopefully the next one will be even better, and you'll be in it!

healthy boy

i had stopped smoking in the beginning of june just for a month (till i go to greece on july 7th that is) but after a terrible night out drinking last wednesday, i just realised i've never really gone without alcohol in a long time, for maybe more than 10 years...you know, it's really difficult, you'll have a drink after work sometimes or a glass of wine with your dinner or go binge drinking or clubbing or whatever, even once a week or a month, but you still will. i always thought that quitting alcohol is much more difficult that quitting smoking.

so i just decided to give myself a mini challenge and go without cigarettes and without alcohol till july 7th. and so far i'm doing ok...next step would be to start exercising. soooo not me!

so much death

was checking out the news on bbc england today, and i was upset to realise that on this screenshot at 4pm, most of the news are abour rape, murder, killings and crime. i think the news in this country in mass media are one of the two extremes: either too negative (like this example) or too shallow (like the newspapers that you get on the tube, which are full of celebrity news - only).

sad. these are not the only news and life's not only like that, and i'm afraid that a few people might be convinced that it is.

the trip

well, it's long gone now...i've been back to london for some 12 days now already. and it's surprising how being busy and moving houses and getting back to your daily concerns almost makes you forget (so fast) about great times you've been having - even though it hasn't even been two weeks since i came back.

so, well, i think it's not a good time anymore to post full stories of the trip. should have done that two weeks back. but my method for overcoming stress, rage, frustration these days, is to consciously think back to the times in china, malaysia, thailand and singapore, the friends i met, the places i saw and all the new experiences, and SMILE.

such different places, and quite a few days of staying there, i just will go into listing some moments from the trip, which, as said already, was much more than what i was expecting.

some selected moments in chronological order :-)

- staying at sathe's place even though he was not there
- finding out that in a 15+ million city like shanghai you can't count on your english to survive
- meeting aiesec alumni i knew of before and new friends, randomly in a party in beijing and in shanghai. devrim, chris, birtan, fulvio, da li, to name a few
- the great wall of china. need i say more?
- amazing food, when i had smn there to help me with ordering :-)
- KL - such a chilled place. couldn't take my eyes off the petronas towers, which explains so many photos of them
- playing scrabble late at night at pilli's with her and caro
- seeing a salsa bar full of chinese people skillfully dancing to salsa tunes in KL! surreal experience, but i guess salsa is a global phenomenon by now
- 36 hour trip in extreme temperatures and humidity, from KL to Koh Samui. train, bus, night boat
- snorkelling in thailand - so beautiful down there
- hanging out with a few people we randomly met in thailand - sunsets at the beach bars
- the best airport in the world: koh samui! you have to go experience this yourself!
- nights out in singapore and catching up with lots of friends
- ktv with ying, chao, brenda, ceci
- being the only backpacker in a plane full of people with suits, on the way back, transferring from amsterdam to london on an early morning flight.

i am forgetting a lot but the purpose of this is not to remember everything. the overall feeling i have is that i do not regret a single moment from these three and a half weeks, and that all was kept in good balance of seeing new places and meeting my friends. surprisingly, it all worked, and i just wanna say a big thanks to all of you that made my life easy. to all friends we hanged out with - my home is your home, whether in london or anywhere else on this small planet. see you soon.

compilation

έτσι μου τα έστειλαν σε e-mail κι έτσι τα ποστάρω όλα εδώ, για όσους δεν είναι ξύπνιοι εκείνες τις ώρες για να βλέπουν τα best of της αννίτας! πολύ γουστάρω. όλα αξίζουν! τρελαίνομαι δε που όλα τα τραγούδια είναι themed με τις ατάκες των καλλιτεχνών!




1. Mαλάμω - "Εξω απο τα δόντια" ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cpOC3R_-pk

2. Παναγιώτης Κολλημένος - "Εχω φάει κόλλιμα" ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iIFXIolffU

3. Κωνσταντίνος Βεντουράς - "Το θέλω" ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fJADVYrfsg

4. Τσίλα - "Μάυρη" ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhwzor9g5xU

5. Θανάσσης Ηλίας - "Ο σχιζοφρενής δολοφόνος με το πριόΝΝι" ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzSaw3f10s0&mode=related&search

6. Γιάννης Σταθόπουλος - "Σεξ Γαρδούμπα και ντονέρ " (όλα τα λεφτά) ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTW4_KoXVhU

7. Κατμαν - "Ο Εραστής" ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4iSC3z3FJQ

8. Εlisabeth - " Που ' ναι ο Wagner? που 'ναι ο Puccini?" ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0PTVkxtj4k

9. Χρήστος Ευαγγελινός - " 5 λεπτά" (Το χεράκι προσέξτε!!) ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4lNfXyFBGI

10. Παρασκεβάς - "Βας-Βας-Βας" (Το καλύτερο όλων!!!!!!!!) ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcUbtSFjGKc

this facebook business...

i swear it's the last network of this sort that i join. seriously. i don't understand why i have to be connected with the same people in about 100 different ways. but i succumbed for now.

the move

once again - moving to a new place - glad i took the day of for this and well, in just a little while we are getting the van to move our stuff to the new place along with my 2 flatmates...

hopefully i will manage to stay there for more than a year in a row :-)