My last post was pretty sad and uncertain. Almost a whole month later, a lot of things have happened. First of all, Easter holidays have come and gone. 15 days that felt like 5. Seriously, time went by so fast. Back in January, the Christmas holidays, really did feel like 23 days. Now… I barely had any time at all to do anything, or so I felt. Alex, close friends and meetings (lots and lots of those two categories), a bit of Aegina and a bit of rural Larissa for the otherwise festive days… It was definitely the most unorthodox (pun intended) Easter I’ve had. I think it’s because I spent the really FESTIVE YEAH WE’RE GONNA EAT TILL WE GO NUCLEAR days away from my parents and close to my love.
Highlights of stuff in no particular order:
1. Improbable, by Adam Fawer. A mystery novel/action thriller/scientific manifesto/philosophical exploration that tells the tale of David Caine, an epileptic gambler that becomes Laplace’s Demon. It goes through various theories about probability, determinism, the idea of multiple dimensions (my favourite!) and the like, all the while maintaining a very tight plot and working on very interesting, distinct and memorable characters. Its scientific insight on mostly philosophical matters is great food for thought… A well-written but surprisingly unknown book, I recommend it to anyone who likes their science as well as their nail-biting suspense in one tight package.
2. Catan. My interest in unusual but exciting board-games sparked just a few months ago. The Settlers of Catan is a perfect example of the kind of board games I want to try and enjoy. I downloaded a demo of the Xbox Live Arcade version and liked it, so I looked out for it and spotted the greek version of Catan in Public (Athens). I think the 35 euros I gave for it were justified thus far, but my hopes of friends suddenly becoming just as excited as I am for board games are quickly being pissed on. I’ve only had one session of Catan since I bought it, and we didn’t finish it either. 🙁
3. Cats. During the Easter holidays I came across many a kitten. I even witnessed the birth of a kitten at Alex’s cousin’s house in the countryside. It was a beautiful moment, and I knew that since then, I’d never look at cats the same way. It wasn’t long before the first opportunity since then appeared; Oliva, everybody’s favourite Italian artistic spirit, whom I met at the street first day I was in Mytilini after Easter, was holding a beautiful kitten. Long story short, I’m now a proud parent of a little kitten. Her name is Yuki, and she’s snow white! I love her and I’m sure that my cat love is only just surfacing — I know we’re going to spend many happy times together… UNLESS SHE CONTINUES PESTERING ME WHEN I’M TRYING TO GO TO SLEEP AND HAVING DIARROEA ANYWHERE BUT IN HER SANDBOX!
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And here’s a pic from my secret Nazionalist Kätzchen Trainingsprogramm. Oops shouldn’t have shown that!
4. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. I read more than 3/4 of this book on my way back to Mytilini (the same trip I finished Improbable. I feel like a bookworm now! ^^). I couldn’t put it down. Simple as that. It certainly struck a chord with my animal lover part. “This story will make you believe in God” is a phrase often repeated within it and I heartily agree. Tender, brutal, religious and exotic at the same time, I can’t decide which shock was greater: the on that derived from my initial impression that the book was retelling a true story or my subsequent realisation that in fact it didn’t. Amelie director Jean-Pierre Jeunet was chosen for the creation of the silver screen rendition and he eagerly accepted. That alone speaks wonders. Read Life of Pi.
5. Projects. Yes my University projects are going very well. Kthxbi.
6. Planning Eurotrip. So this is the plan: Me and Alex are leaving on July 9th to go to Finland, where we’ll work at Koli National Park, shepherding sheep and preserving the habitat. We’re volunteering to enjoy Finland’s natural beauty and relax. After that, though (somewhere around July 20th-25th) our as-of-yet unbought InterRail ticket will be valid. And then, our month-long train journey will commence! We’ll take the train from Finland back to Greece, going from Helsinki to Copenhagen, traversing Scandinavia and from there just about anywhere in Central Europe. We’ll be going to Holland, Belgium, Germany, Czech, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia… But out schedule is wide-open and changes can of course be made. I want to stress this part: we DON’T plan on doing this just the two of us. Any participation from anyone that wants to travel with us is ENCOURAGED. We WANT company, we WANT to share the experience. Anyone that would like to join us can meet us anywhere along our trip. We’ve been stressing this for a few months now but nobody has been eager enough so now might be a bit too late. It won’t be a cheap ride, but we’re planning on making it cheaper by CouchSurfing and minimizing costs. If you are interested at all, please tell me and start making money. It’ll be either the two of us or >=4 of us, for obvious reasons. Anyway. WHILE THERE’S STILL TIME! HURRY! IT’S A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY!
7. GTA IV. It’s been a long time since ANY game received this much praise. Mordread and George bought it and I had the chance to play it and watch it — it’s one of the few games that’s actually fun to watch — at the former’s place several times. Well… It’s a great game, no doubt. The part of it that deserves 10/10 is not the actual gameplay though. The sandbox, go around shooting everyone, stealing cars, having fun with stupid (on purpose?) AI and laughing out loud many many times is notably better than GTA III & Co. but still not perfect. It’s more of the setting, story and atmosphere that are much more elaborate than previous renditions of the game. Since I’ve only played but a small part of the story, I can’t comment on how it unfolds. I can definitely say thought that if I had the €70 required to get my dirty hands on it, I’d gladly pay.
Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter by Tom Bissell
