Relevantly Irrelevant
Youtube comment of the month: “Is that four Varys’ on the cover?”
Randomly started singing this today while changing trains in Thessaloniki. I remember a time when I was trying to learn the bass line to this. I still keep trying to sing the bass line.
September 26th, 2006. This was the day that was to change some of the most superficial (but important at the same time) aspects of my life. Some days ago it was 2 years since that fateful day so I decided to write a little something about it all.
Summer 2006, shortly after my final exams. My university plans were changing every week or so because of my: 1. Subsequent low exam scores 2. Failure at drawing subjects 3. Entry score boost of the school I wanted to get in (Audiovisual Arts in Ionian University, Corfu). Cultural Technology, Mytilini, had been my second option but the one I ultimately followed. Many discussions later and after having fought urges of preparing for another round of exams just to avoid the move to Mytilini, September 26th was, in the end, the day I took my first ship to Mytilini. It was Nissos Mykonos, leaving at 12:30. I’ve kept the ticket.
I was very scared while making that very first trip. That Mario person I had found through the nintendo.gr forums sounded really friendly and had offered to host me till I actually found a more permanent place to stay, but alone and unaware, I was heading to that strange town (which I still thought was closer to a village than a town). Turned out Mario and his part-friend-part-roomie HouseMaster were cool people. First night with them they introduced me to what still is the largest souvlaki I’ve ever seen or eaten. I repaid the favour by teaching them what Katamari On The Rock feels like! Important note: inside my very first baggage were my GC and PS2 along with all of my games for them: Mario had specifically asked me to bring them along so he could try some GC games he never had the chance to play. In the end, a night with them was enough for me to trust them. Ready they were, not only to show me the whereabouts, meet me to people, help me integrate over the course of mere days, we had great fun while at it! Plus, they helped me find my old place on Gravias 1. My hat’s off to you guys!
Left ro right: HouseMaster, Mario, me. October 3rd, 2006
Fast-forward to September 26th 2008. What has changed now then?
I don’t really know how to begin. For one, these last days have been eventful and uneventful at the same time. For one, I haven’t really been going out. Since last wednesday when my finnish couchsurfer left (she was alright), I’ve been mostly indoors. I finished Heroes Season 1, which had too happy an ending I might say and I’m curious to see how the writers have made it go on, I watched The Big Lebowski with Garret and HM, Lola Rennt (AGAIN! What an awesome movie), The Nines (what a strange but also intriguing movie), I watched most of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (what an otaku fest this is), played some Lost Odyssey, more Boom Boom Rocket, more Viva Pinata, watched some more Blackadder, made some research at the uni library for me and my team’s project on copper and how to preserve items made of it, StumbledUpon pages and pages and pages (it definitely is the most complete time killer since the advent of the internet), read a very interesting article by National Geographic on memory, put up a couple of posters using BlockPoster (cheap and easy way of making posters out of any picture), and finally, made some arrangements for our summer eurotrip. This is a good point to start talking about what went wrong.
The past few days the weather’s been absolutely terrible. For one, there’s this dust cloud covering the sky. It makes sunny days almost look overcast… The stars aren’t visible at night and it generally feels humid, moreso than usual. Today the heat (probably in conjuction with the dust cloud) was sweltering. Spring’s upon us for sure, although the heat reminded of June… It was a deafboil as we greeks sometimes say. I used to like rain and moody weather once… Really like it, that is. Now, I tend to prefer warm, sunny and vibrant days. It makes me more cheerful… This sticky tropical kind of situation really gets on my nerves though. Another thing: I can’t seem to get anything done. Apart from going to the library, I’ve done little else for my other interests or obligations. I just sit around being lazy. I hate that, cause I feel like my lazy hours aren’t earned in any way. Even practising for my bass guitar lessons (yeah I finally found a teacher and he’s good to boot!) feels like a chore…
And that’s not all. Weird flylings have started appearing and getting on my nerves, my internet connection enjoys making me want to smash my modem (which by the way I have to return to HOL once I move out) and generally makes the Tower of Piza look like a masterpiece of stability in comparison… and today I was in bad spirits all afternoon. The arrangements about the eurotrip I talked about? Well, me and Alex tried to find the cheapest ticket to Finland for July. After a bit of looking around, we found what looked like a deal: easyjet from here to Berlin, then another flight to Riga and then another flight from there to Helsinki with AirBaltic. All for a grand total of €90 + LVL80-., LVLs being the Latvian local currency. When looking up the exchange rate for LVLs, I confused LTLs wtih LVLs. The LTL, the currency they have in Lithuania, is several times cheaper than the euro so 80 of that seemed a good deal. Well… I should have looked up my Baltic countries’ currency twice; the LVL is actually worth more than the euro, and that made what once looked like a good 20 euro bargain a horrible 120 euro rip-off, something we thought we had totally steered clear from. And I only realised that after buying the tickets… Luckily, I had deemed it a good idea to buy cancellation warranty but AirBaltic can’t decide whether they give refunds and how they go about it. Still, I can’t believe I was so careless, especially when we were in penny-pinching mode with Alex.
So, I’m off to do whatever I’m going to do. Probably watch another episode of Blackadder. Yeah. Or read His Dark Materials. What about german? Ohhh Ill just go to sleep. I only hope that the upcoming Easter holidays will help me take it easy and focus.
A few days now I’ve returned to Mytilini. Leaving Athens was strange… 17 days wasn’t quite enough to enjoy. I wanted more! But if I had stayed any more I would have missed my uni registration renewal! So eh. Highlights of my last days around were my and Alex’s second visit to the Planetarium, going to the theatre to watch a great play called “Η Κατσαρίδα” and of course my birthday. My birthday! Not only was it a great night with 6 of my close and very close people, I got great presents! Yes, presents! Do you really expect me to be tactful and not mention them? Hah! Fat chance. Alexandra gave me a HUUUGE scarf -a bit more than 3 metres in length- she knitted for me herself, and that on its own is one of the sweetest, most thoughtful and overall best presents ever. It’s a bit difficult to wear in everyday situations, and I do look a queerer than usual wearing it but I know it’s going to be great for stragazing nights for two… George got me a Super Nintendo with 2 games, Super Mario All Stars and Donkey Kong Country, which is great. I lost my old Super Nintendo at an unspecified time, so it’s fantastic that once again I can feel how it was… And even buy games I didn’t own! Thank you George for taking me back to the past… Nefeli got me a soundtrack of a movie I’ve wanted to watch for some time, that is “2046”. I still haven’t listened to the album or watched the movie, but once I do I’ll listen to the OST as well. The guys in Mytilini got me Pikmin 2, a rare game that I’ve wanted for a long time. A big thank you to them as well. And the last present was…
In association with mum, Martin, dad and Vasso, each (including myself) chipping in €100, we got me a present the way I’ve never had a present before. Everybody co-operated, and in the end I was able to get my hands on my new wonderful Olympus E-510. I got it from a guy who got it as a prize in a competition but didn’t want it so he was selling it cheap, almost €150 less than retail. I couldn’t miss it: An 18-42mm lens, a 50-150 one, and an extra expense for carrying bag, mini tripod and ultra-fast 1GB CF card. Owning a DSLR just like this is no easy task, especially when my only previous experience is from compact cameras. But I’ll work hard and learn how to use it well! Expect good pictures. *vanity*
For the first time in some months, these days I’ve been feeling kind of… anxious. Restless. I feel like I have so many things I want to do but there’s so little time in my disposal. I’ll take a detailed look at what I want to achieve in the near future (maybe it will help me relax):
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It’s come to a point now that it’s almost shameful that I don’t know the german language fluently. Last year, I started learning on my own… I got distracted in less than 2 months, and haven’t much got involved since. I’m now trying to revise what I hope I haven’t forgot during this past short year. My goal is to have finished the first half of Themen 2 by summer. |
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April 2007. I got my Bass Guitar then, aiming to finally learn how to play this instrument that I so love. I also aspired to learn a bit of music theory on the way, if I could. Today, almost a year leater, I haven’t progressed much. I have a good book and the internet in my disposal though, and I want to have the foundations clear first. My realistic goal is to be able to read sheet music for the bass guitar by summer. This is a bit confusing because I can read sheet music on the treble clef since I was little and played flute/clarinet. I’ll have to avoid adjusting my knowledge by learning the Bass clef through the Treble Clef and learn it as a completely seperate entity. It can’t be that hard, can it? Also I want my technique to improve, of course. |
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This semester in the Cultural Tec waters seems particularly demanding. Creating a Flash movie that’s to be used by a mobile device for touring in an archeological site from scratch, learning how to use Premiere again (4 years ago I made Krama using it), keeping in touch with all the subjects and making sure that I can do all the projects and essays. I feel it can be kinda difficult because my only availabe partners in group projects are Garret and Mordread. Garret is keen but lazy and Mordread is lazy period. I’m lazy too but that’s the thing, I want to get myself involved! Will I make it? Last semester was a huge success, but only for the subjects that I did sit for. That is, around half of the lot. |
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A huge piece of work, just like all other japanese RPGs, Lost Odyssey just begs for some more of my time. And the moral question of how much it should have is still unanswered. I’m still extremely early in the game. |
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There are some people out there that are ready to beat me up because I prefer Viva Pinata over Lost Odyssey at this point. I can give them four reasons for this: Rare, Grant Kirkhope, Sandbox game, addictive-as-crack game. I won’t count ultra-cutesy as an argument cause that will scarcely save me any beating. I’m joining the ranks of gamers that are so ashamed of liking this it drives their love for it hotter. |
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His Dark Materials. Only through rereading it can I understand how grand this trilogy really is. I first read it in greek about 5 years ago. I recently got all three books in english in a single hardcover tome and I want to finish it as soon as possible, while at the same time savouring it. Right now I’ve almost finished Northern Lights, yes the one that was recently turned to a pretty blah christmas blockbuster under the name of The Golden Compass. Also, check My Space and see if you agree that my daemon should be a snow leopard. It’s cool and appropriate, right? Hurry, you’ve got 10 days left! |
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This series is great. I want to watch more! And I will! |
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Alex gave me the complete Black Adder saga and I can’t wait to see it all! I’ve only watched 2 eps but I liked ’em and it’s obvious that the best is yet to come! |
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For the next week or so, students from the rest of the Aegean Uni islands will be coming to Mytilini. There’s a community site for students of the Aegean Uni, that is my.aegean.gr. Its goal is to unify the different depts and parts of the university. One of them will stay at my place for a few days. I have no idea when he’ll be coming and what we’ll be doing with the rest of the team, but I expect it’s going to be all good. The only problem is that it’s going to throw me a bit off from all the above. |
That’s about it. There’s loads of other things I still have in mind, like how I’m going to get by with my purposefully lowered monthly allowance or what other games, movies or outtings I can fit in all this mess. Not to mention more mundane obligations, like housekeeping, bills etc. If lifepoints came with such “achievements”, how many points would each feat get?
In the words of the Angry Video Game Nerd:
So much shit, so much shit, here we go!
Postscripts: Listen to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 II. Allegretto and Sylvan’s Artificial Paradise. Musical masterpieces in their own right.
It is New Year’s Eve. I’m in Aegina at my dad’s and Vasso’s (his wife) new house here. OK, it’s not exactly new, they’ve been living in it for more than a year now, but every time I come here there’s something different about it. I’ve been here since Friday (today it’s Monday) with the owners of the place and Ines, Karina (who unfortunately left for Canada yesterday) and their parents, Nejib and Iro. Lots of names, hooray!
Right now, Ines is sleeping, and I am sitting at my father’s laptop, thinking… 2007 is over. To be precise, there are about 12 hours left of it. Remember the old song “Πάει ο παλιός ο χρόνος”? The part which went “Γέρε χρόνε φύγε τώρα, πάει η δική σου η σειρά, ήρθε ο νέος με τα δώρα, με τραγούδια με χαρά!”? Every time I hear this part I imagine the year past as an old bearded man who’s about to die. And every time, I can’t help but feel bad for the poor grandpa. He’s dying, but nobody cares. Instead, we’re celebrating about some baby that could very well turn out to be far worse a person than the old man ever was. At this point, I’d like to switch from “pessimistic bastard” mode to something more cheerful:
May 2008 be the best sum of 366 days of our lives. May it be an enlighting, happy, productive and lucky year. Even though they always say something about that February 29th…
Instead of thinking out new year’s resolutions I’ll do last year’s highlights. What exactly made 2007 an even better year than 2006?
OK, that seems about right… What about the year’s disappointments?
I’d write a lot more but I’m being distracted all the time! Ines wants us to watch Midori no Hibi and we also have to write to the finnish national park we’re going to volunteer for in the summer…
“Γιατί ο χρόνος δεν υπάρχει
γιατί ο χρόνος είσαι εσύ και οι άλλοι
και κανείς δε γνωρίζει η ζωή που θα βγάλει
κι όλο αυτό είναι μια μεγάλη γιορτή
Κι όποιος είπε “και του χρόνου”
θα εννοεί πως δεν τελειώσαμε φέτος
Ευτυχές και στο χέρι μας το νέο έτος
και πες το μου κι εσύ.”