Thoughts Put Into Words – Page 20

Abandoning the System

“The Matrix is a system Neo. That system is our enemy, but when you’re inside, what do you see, business men, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save, but until we do these people are a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. Most of these people are not ready to be unplugged, and many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.”
– Morpheus, Matrix

Last night we had a big discussion with Alex about Facebook… It made me think a lot about my use of the site. It was nothing new though. Alex has been frowning upon the whole trend of Facebook for months now. Huh, frowning upon is an understatement actually. She hasn’t missed a single chance to express how much she hates it and how it should not exist at all.

Now, I’m not a particularly heavy Facebook user but the past few weeks I’ve been logging in more and more. The Kinimatografiki Symmoria and organizing it has played a role in this but there are just so many new people I’ve met recently that checking up with them seems natural.

Well, Alex argued last night that Facebook does not fulfil any real needs. It only creates more and more needs that revolve around itself. Basically, she said that time spent on Facebook is 100% wasted: the only activities one engages in are voyeurism and pseudo-socialising with few “real-world” implications. “Why should anyone have a Facebook account?”, she pondered. “It’s just for self-promoting of the worst kind, I cannot see how it might be useful in any other way.” We argued for hours. I said that Facebook has become an integral part of one’s web identity and that it has become as necessary and versatile as a “real” mobile phone in some cases. I told her that my recent spark of interest was purely functional.

Deep down though, I knew that she was right. She had a point, at least. OK, Facebook is useful for managing groups and events. But apart from that? One creates photos for them to be seen, oggled, admired. One creates the perfect representation that most often comes from a mold of familiar shape. One exposes everything to his or her circle of imaginary friends… “Would you shed a single tear if any of these damn friends of yours died?? Would they ever call you to tell you their problems? Would they?!”, said Alex screaming almost but trying not to wake up my mother. It was late you see.

“They’re contacts, not friends.” I told her. “At least, most of them are contacts, but there’s friends in there as well, people I meet in my everyday life.” -“Do you need to contact them through Facebook? Is this the kind of communication you want?” -“No, but you cannot deny the usefulness of having your entire cirlce of friends within your digital reach.” -“Isn’t this what MSN is for? Can’t you send them an e-mail? How many people actually register on Facebook so that they can speak with their friends? Few, if any. Most just want to show off their entirely simulative representation which often has little connection with reality, find chicks or boys, create a circle of friends so that they can have the impression of being a part of something. Well, it’s not like this. If a group of friends decides to do something and forgets about me because I’m not on Facebook, therefore I’m not in, I won’t care. I do not want to be a part of anything that might resemble this. It sickens me!”

“Weeell… I understand what you’re saying but it’s not necessarily like this. I can do without my Facebook”.

-“Oh yeah? Delete it. Tomorrow. You can’t.”

-“I can! It’s not that I can’t, I don’t want to (that sounds very… not addicted, doesn’t it?). I mean, I’m using it everyday and I need to manage the Kinimatografiki through it. I would delete it if I didn’t need it as a basic means of representation on the world’s biggest social network. It’s part of my studies and field, after all.”

-“If you really wanted to quit it, you would have when you deleted all your photos and put that kangaroo as your profile pic. That was a nice middle finger. But no, you stayed. Something kept you in it. And now you’re hooked again. You just can’t do away with checking girls’ profiles, can you? You want to be seen.”

-“…”

-“Have you even thought of how much idle time you, everyone you know, and everyone you don’t know, spend on Facebook? Doing nothing productive, just having the impression that you’re socialising, when you’re only there sitting in front of a computer, writing comments on pics, not because you really mean to comment on them, but becase you want everybody else to see that you made the comments. Do you really think anyone cares about what you have to say on Facebook? I mean anyone who wouldn’t sit and listen to what you have to say in real life?”

-“…”

Long story short… I realised yesterday that when presented with the dilemma of deleting my Facebook profile or not, a profile on a site that isn’t really all that important for me, I couldn’t press myself to do it. I was making excuses, I could see this much. But as Alex was quick to point out, it was showing signs that it was controlling me and that I wasn’t fully able to control it. Keeping my Facebook use to the bare-minimum, would I truly be able to control the urge to play around with it, look at pictures, use applications, make my profile look good? Even if I get outside it, people still inside it might look for me. And then?

The whole question concerns the whole world wide web (WWWW), especially now that everyone has a voice and anyone can speak. Now that blogs are a force majeure. Is the “System” just Facebook, or does escaping mean abandoning the web altogether? If not, what constitutes being outside, or for that matter, inside the System, especially when everything is linked? Such questions might prove to be very intriguing, not to mention crucial, in the following years.

After much thought I decided not to delete my Facebook account altogether, even if such a move would be brave indeed. I’ll hide behind my excuses of responsibility but I’ll delete my pics as I had done a few months ago…

And I shall ask you:

“Would you fight to protect the System?”

Bonus thought-provoking:

Αεροπλάνα και βαπόρια — ή γιατί χτες ήταν απλά μία πολύ περίεργη μέρα

SotiriaBellou

Χτες είχαμε συμφωνήσει με την Άλεξ να επιστρέψουμε μαζί Αθήνα, ώστε να συναντηθούμε ξανα μετά απο 2 εβδομάδες χώρισμενοι. Το Λισσός, το πλοίο της ΑΝΕΚ που θα έπαιρνα, έφευγε στις 18:00. Με μία τσάντα με ρούχα και άδεια τάπερ στο ένα χέρι, στο άλλο μια σακούλα γεμάτη καθαρές συσκευασίες για ανακύκλωση και το sleeping bag και με παρέα τον Μάριο που είχαμε βγει για καφέ μαζί πριν λίγο, φτάνουμε στο λιμάνι 17:50.

Υπο κανονικές συνθήκες αυτή θα ήταν μια πολύ καλή ωρα για να ειμαι στο καράβι, για να μην πω θα ήμουν νωρίς. Έχω προλάβει να μπω και πολύ πιο τσίμα-τσίμα. Χτες όμως η περίσταση ήταν ειδική… Στρίβουμε με τον Μάριο λοιπόν μετα το τελωνείο και βλέπουμε πολλούς, πάρα πολλούς ανθρώπους να είναι στημένοι στην ουρά για να φύγουν με το Λισσός, όλοι αλλοδαποί. Δεν ξέρω για πού, δεν ξέρω απο πού, και δεν ξέρω γιατί. Όμως ήταν εκεί, και ήταν πολλοί. Περίμενα στην ουρά, οι διαμαρτυρίες πολλές, ήταν γύρω στα 5 άτομα μπροστά στο ταμείο και κούναγαν κάποια χαρτιά. Οι υπάλληλοι του λιμενικού έλεγαν “Μα να τους φέρουν 17:30; Πάνε με τα καλά τους;” Τελικά αρχίζουν να λένε σε αυτούς που περιμένανε ότι το πλοίο θα έφευγε χωρίς αυτούς και ότι ήταν άδικος κόπος να περιμένουν στην ουρά. Ρωτάω εγώ, “δεν μπορούν να μας περιμένουν”; Απαντά ο υπάλληλος, “το απαγορεύει η νομοθεσία”!

Ο ένας τύπος εκεί λέει “αν τρέξει στο κοντινότερο πρακτορείο, προλαβαίνει”. Και τελικά το ρίσκαρα. Άρχισα το τρέξιμο, 17:57 ή πόσο ήταν μέχρι τότε. Τρέξε cubi, τρέξε. Πήρα το εισητήριο, με τα παραξενεμένα βλέματα απο την κοπέλα στο πρακτορείο η οποία με προειδοποίησε ότι δεν θα μπορούσα να το επιστρέψω αν έχανα το καράβι… Αφήνω το 50ευρο, παίρνω τρία 10ευρα και ένα νόμισμα του ενός ευρώ ρέστα, και τρέχω στο σημείο που με περίμενε ο μάριος με τα πράγματα μου. Φτάνω, τα παίρνω, συνεχίζω να τρέχω, φτάνω στο πρώτο σημείο απ’όπου φαινόταν αν θα μπορούσα να το προλάβω (ήταν το Μυτιλήνη μπροστά και δεν φαινόταν το Λισσός απο όλο το λιμάνι) και όντως, το βλέπω να κάνει αφρούς και να σηκώνει τον καταπέλτη 10 μέτρα απο την προβλύτα.

Και εκεί, με την τραχεία και τα πνευμόνια μου να καίνε, να πονάνε, με τα πόδια μου να μην αντέχουν να τρέξουν γρηγορότερα, μόλις κατάλαβα, απλά έπεσα απο την εξάντληση στα γόνατα. Η οργή, η αδικία με έπνιγαν… Αλλά δεν μπορούσα να κάνω τίποτα. Μόλις είχα χάσει το μοναδικό καράβι που θα μπορούσα να πάρω για να δω την Άλεξ για τις επόμενες 24 ώρες. Και είχα πληρώσει και €19 ευρώ για αυτή την πολυτέλεια.

Η κατάσταση με τις μεταφορές στην Μυτιλήνη είναι τραγική… Όταν είχα πρωτοέρθει στο νησί, το 2006, το Νήσος Μύκονος έκανε την διαδρομή σε 8 περίπου ώρες και τα Μυτιλήνη και Θεόφιλος την έκαναν σε 12-13. Διάλεγες και έπαιρνες. Μετά η HS έβγαλε το Νήσος Μύκονος, έβαλε το Νήσος Χίος και αποφάσισε με έναν απίστευτο αέρα κεφαλαιοκρατισμού και γράφω-στα-μπαλάκια-μου-το-κοινό-το-οποίο-υποτίθεται-εξυπηρετώ να το βάλει να περνάει απο την Σύρο και απο την Μύκονο. Ταυτόχρονα, το Θεόφιλος έφυγε απο την γραμμή και μπήκε σφηνόπουτσα η ΑΝΕΚ με το Λισσός. Αλλά απο τότε, το Θεόφιλος πότε κάνει, πότε δεν κάνει δρομολόγια, όποτε της καπνίσει της HS βαζοβγάζει το Νήσος Χίος, και η κατάσταση είναι απλά απελπιστική. Πολλά έχουμε ακούσει, το αποτέλεσμα όμως είναι ότι πια είναι αναγκαστικό σχεδόν να κάνει το δρομολόγιο σε τουλάχιστον 10 ώρες. Σε περίπτωση που αποφασίσεις να πάρεις το Νήσος Χίος θα αναγκαστείς να πας σε ώρες που βολεύουν μόνο τους ταξιδιώτες που πάνε Σύρο και Μύκονο, με το πλοίο να φτάνει στις 2 το πρωί στην Χίο και στις 5 το πρωί στην Μυτιλήνη… Τις τελευταίες μέρες υποτίθεται ότι το Χίος δεν έκανε το δρομολόγιο για επισκευές, ενώ στην πραγματικότητα εκτελούσε τα χρέη του Νήσος Μύκονος προς Σάμο. Το κερασάκι στην τούρτα της εξευτελιστικής αυτής ιστορίας είναι ότι η HS σκέφτεται σοβαρά την ολοκληρωτική απόσυρση του πλοίου απο την γραμμή. Και τότε με τι θα μείνουμε; Δύο, στην καλύτερη, παλιά πλοία τα οποία θα κάνουν την γραμμή. Και τώρα που η ΝΕΛ πωλήθηκε, ποιός ξέρει τι να περιμένουμε…

Τελικά την έκανα την θυσία μου… Αγόρασα αεροπορικό εισητήριο τελευταία στιγμή και πέταξα τέσσερις ώρες μετά τα παραπάνω για να μην χάσω μια ολόκληρη μέρα απο τις ήδη μετρημένες στα δάχτυλα του ενός χεριού και είμαι τώρα εδώ και γράφω απο το σπίτι της Άλεξ. Τέλος καλό όλα καλά; Όχι φυσικά. Γιατί οι μεγαλοεπιχειρήσεις των εφοπλιστών συνεχίζουν να ελέγχουν την ζωή μας, γιατί μας μεταχειρίζονται σαν πρόβατα προς σφαγή, γιατί η κατάσταση σχετικά με τις άγονες γραμμές με το παρον οικονομικό μοντέλο και κυβέρνηση δεν οδηγείται σε βελτίωση, κάθε άλλο, γιατί δεν υπάρχει κανένας σεβασμός στον άνθρωπο, παρα μόνο στο χρήμα. Γιατί αν χάσεις ένα ταξίδι το οποίο έχεις πληρώσει, το χάνεις πραγματικά, εντελώς παράλογα και αλαζονικά, χωρίς να υπολογίζεται το ανθρώπινο στοιχείο ή οι ανθρώπινες ανάγκες. Την στιγμή μάλιστα που υπάρχει η δυνατότητα έκδοσης open εισητηρίου.

Ακόμα και η Ολυμπιακή, η οποία με μετέφερε χτες απο την Μυτιλήνη στην Αθήνα, πρόσφατα αγοράστηκε απο την Marfin Investment Group (και δεν χάνουν ευκαιρία να το αναφέρουν στις ανακοινώσεις εντός του αεροσκάφους), του κ. Βγενόπουλου. Πηγαίντε στο link για να δείτε τι ακριβώς έχει αυτός ο άνθρωπος, πέρα απο αεροπλάνα ΚΑΙ βαπόρια…

Αλλά τελικά μένω μια βραδιά περισσότερη στην Αθήνα. Ουδεν κακό αμιγές καλού! Πολύ σοφή κουβέντα αυτή…

Α και είναι η γιορτή μου σήμερα! Χρόνια πολλά σε μένα και σε όλες τις άλλες δεκάδες μήτσων που ξέρω!

Plus2/Minus2 Summer Edition! Part 2

Ships, ships, ships, only a pee away from shit.

I believe that I was one of the best customers of the shipping companies this summer. A normal person wouldn’t take more than 4, 5, a maximum of 6 ships during the summer. Not me. Hohoho, not me. Between mid-May and my trips to Athens for supporting Alexandra’s exams effort and mid-August and our return to Mytilini, I travelled in a grand total of 18 ships (not 18 unique ones). My rough estimation is that I spent a total of 156 hours of this time travelling at sea. That’s about a week’s worth of non-stop travelling!

The problem is that greek ships are, well, shippy. I mean shitty. Most of them are old, the new ones are too expensive, the food and drinks on board are ridiculously expensive, they go slower than what they claim to in order to save fuel… They treat passengers as if they’re worthless sheep. Even when some of the crew are trying to be polite, you know that the general company policy is “passengers are sheep, and you are the herders!” It’s just a huge industry of money-thirsty shippers. They are the ones who control the Aegean Sea. I really hate them all. What I hate the most is the spam with which they bomb you on board: the safety messages, the cheesy music (especially ANEK’s, although Hellenic Seaways is epic as fuck! Tan-taaaaaan, tan-tan-taaaaaan…), “passengers wishing to di(n)e are kindly requested to proceed to the self-service restaurant, “due to increased truck, the ship will delay”, I could go on forever! These can be a good source of amusement for the first few trips but after hundreds and hundreds of hours on board it gets kind of… annoying.

Anyway, it’s no wonder I find it ironic when people wish me a good journey before I hop on a boat for the umpteenth time; it’s become a second nature finding a comfy spot, laying my sleeping bag, watching One Piece or reading a book for tens of hours at a time, no matter how shippy the shits are! Oh, the joy of studying 12 hours worth of voyage away from your own, but also your girlfriend’s, home…

Destruction of small neighbouring house

Ever since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, I remember walking by a strange old house on my way to school and the neighbourhood mini-market. I could see this house from the heights of the balcony of my room for many years. It was a nice old abandoned house, with dense foliage and many cats living around. I never really knew if anyone did live there, apart from the cats. The guy owning it supposedly died at some point and his wife moved to another house.

A few months ago, to my great astonishment, mum told me that they had put up a sign in front of the house announcing that the house would be demolished and a brand new block of flats would be built in its place. Right then, I felt as if part of my childhood died.

The actual demolition only started in July. Hammers and bulldozers worked furiously every morning. The noise of course was too much to handle so me and Alex always had the balcony door closed, which led to extreme temperatures building up in my room. Mum warned me that during most demolitions swarms of cockroaches crawl out of the fresh ruins looking for new homes. Not really into the idea of hosting a dozen or ten cockroach clans, we decided that we shouldn’t leave the balcony door open even at night.

This went on for many weeks. Even when we left Athens a few weeks ago, terrible machines were still digging for the foundations. The hole was already abyss-like in depth.

In a few months from now, my once bright room will become dark and gloomy. This new apartment building will block all light coming to the back side. But it’s not only this. When certain things occur, it just hits you that you’ve grown old enough to see the world change. Nea Smyrni has sure changed in the 15 years that I remember it. The Alsos next to our home, the new parking, Nea Smyrni square, the tram… The city has even expanded during my lifetime. Places I remember as being just soil and nothingness (at the borders with Brahami) are now fully urbanised. Nea Smyrni has sure changed.

Recently, I found out that Nea Smyrni was originally meant to remain a lower density suburb. The height of apartment buildings used to be regulated everywhere in the city but along Syggrou Ave. Only after 1974 and the fall of the Junta were the regulations revised. Ever since, the number of small houses has fallen dramatically. I don’t think the surviving ones will be around for much either, unforunately…

Alexandra’s Dream

Quick question: What had Alex been doing the past year? I’ll let you think for a second. Yeeees…

If you haven’t remembered by now, allow me to remind you. She was studying for her Panellinies!

Yes, Panellinies. This little final exam that gets all 17-year-old nervous and their parents broke. This exam that’s stuck somewhere between the Middle Ages and the Paleolithic Age that forces teenagers to decide what they’ll do for a living within a matter of months. This incredible exam that works by somehow making mathematics, greek language and physics only slightly less important than special subjects when calculating points for entry in the university or school of choice. I could go on.

Alex had a strange experience last year. When we met, she was studying German so that she could go to Austria and become a better musician. Apparently though, she had a change of heart somewhere along the road and decided that she did not want to either leave me, her country, (the rest of) her loved ones ;P or all that. To just suddenly go and live abroad for almost 6 years. I agree, that would be a shock, even though shocks can be useful from time to time. All was good then. She didn’t have to leave and we could stay together. Here comes the strange experience though: she realised that she was already 22 and had not lived the life of a student, she hadn’t gone through this magical process of living on her own! Many times before had this change of scene been delayed and her not going to Austria was added to the list. What was she to do?! Oh the horror! I can still remember when we were talking on MSN and she was panicking about her future, or lack thereof, as it seemed at the time at least.

The answer came quickly. She did not have to move out of Greece to receive the musical education of her dreams. A bit of research later and along came Musical Studies Dept, Ionian University, Kerkyra (Corfu… silly name). It sounded like best thing since Geometry Wars. Indeed, all opinions agreed on how it was one of the best, if not the best, musical universities in Greece. The problem? She couldn’t just walk in and start lessons; she had to be admitted. And how do people get admitted to universities in this day and age? Exactly.

Panellinies was the name of the game and Alex was more than willing to play. She even travelled to Kerkyra to see for herself before doing anything rash. Typically, she fell in love with the town and student life. I was slightly depressed at the time; no matter how good and well it is in Mytilini, I will never forget my disappointment when I failed entering Audiovisual Arts in the Ionian University.

All this was around this time last year. Alex did play hard. Harder than I expected. I was telling her “you’re gonna get in, but only just. You’ll be too lazy to get a better score, but not lazy enough to fail”. This year we even met every weekend almost, much more often than last year. She’d have all the excuses in the world to not go very well. But she did. And it was awesome.

In May I watched her as she fought hard for her 6 compulsory subjects: greek, maths, biology (easy and hard mode), physics and chemistry. If you’re wondering what all that has to do with music, well… don’t ask! Her score was a very satisfying 14860, thousands of points above the previous year’s minimum. She hadn’t even begun with her music subjects yet! But that was the catch; one wrong step at that point and all would have been for nought as it’s necessay to have a score greater or equal to 10/20 in both music subjects to get into a university musial dept.

The harmony exam was a breeze, Alex got more than 18 in that one. Dication was a surprisingly cruelexam though. It was plain evil. Girls got out of the exam centres crying, everyone was pessimistic, it was a mess. Alex was on the positive side although not certain and got a 12 finally, thus securing her entry in the uni and ending a few weeks of nervous uncertainty for both of us.

A few weeks ago the official result were announced and as we all expected, Alex is among the people that will be studying Music in Kerkyra starting this year. She’ll probably be getting a laptop too for her superb results!

It’s been a happy story till now. But there is a darker side to it, as the most perceptive of you will have noticed.

Till now, our relationship with Alex has been mostly uncomplicated. I live in Mytilini, she lives in Athens. A big obstacle for some that we jumped over easily. As if it did not even exist. Only rarely has distance ever affected our relationship. Distance can also be refreshing for a relationship. As I said in my previous Plus/Minus, travelling 8-12 hours at a time is manageable, as is travelling twice a month to Athens and back. No big deal, right?

Right! But what about… 24 hours worth of travelling? Starting in a few weeks, Alex will live in Kerkyra. That will be her effective home. Consider this: Mytilini is on the border with Turkey; Kerkyra is on the border with Albania and the western-most island of Greece, only a few hours away from Italy. How will this ground-shaking change affect our relationship?

This past summer I’ve been thinking about all these things. Not just me, of course. Alex has been just as pondersome. This feeling that our days are numbered hung, and still hangs over us, affecting our emotions. The natural response is to try and make use of these remaining days the best way one can. This often backfires… The looming sensation that time is running out often makes one take even less advantage of what time really remains. But maybe it’s because deep down we refuse to believe, no, we refuse to make the “time is running out” a facet of our reality. I still do not feel as if it’s anywhere close to being over. On the contrary.

All that said, how does this imminent change (and its awaiting) strike me, in the end?

: Alexandra’s finally finding her career path. It is the change she’s been waiting for years. She’ll do what she loves most and get even better at it. I can’t even imagine what great music she will compose! She will find new friends in the ultimate artsy-cultural university city in Greece. I am really and sincerely happy, most of all, that she’s getting exactly what she fought for, she’s doing what she dreamed of doing. It is something a lot of us forget to do nowadays. We compromise. We think too much of what people will (or won’t) say or what people will or won’t do as a reaction to our actions. Alex is setting an example. An example of purity of intent. How difficult is it for us people to know exactly what we want to do and be sure that it is exactly what will make us happy? Besides: travelling to Corfu? Count me in!

: The distance between me and Alex will soon double. What will happen between us? Taking for granted that we will keep on seeing eachother no matter what, there are two scenarios within sight:

1. Distance only makes us realise how much in love we are with eachother. Our less frequent meetings are much more intense and we live happily ever after.

2. We’ve thought of giving eachother the freedom to experiment with random people if we so wish (now we’re yound and free etc) while still, in theory at least, remaining a couple. I can already imagine the clusterfucks such a scenario might produce, the jealousy and quarreling… but we will end up together in the end, and we’ll live happily ever after.

Whichever of these 2 scenarios happens, increased solidarity is something that might help me concentrate on my last year on this island and all this might implicate…

: …but it’s all nice and good declaring beforehand that my last year in Mytilini will be be better if I concentrate on Mytilini-centric activities. How can I say that when I’ve been with Alexandra for more than 1.5 years already?! I may not have forgot how it was before her, but I sure don’t know how it’s going to be after her. They say that you only really appreciate something when you’ve lost it…

:…and even if I won’t have lost Alex, it will be harsh. It’s coming closer and closer, and the closer it comes, the harder it hits me. The day I’ll take the ship to Mytilini and she won’t follow me… and knowing that after a few days she’ll be in Kerkyra, in one of the most important moments of her life, and I won’t be there for her… and also knowing that being there would only make it worse for her… but definitely, I don’t wanna think about that day…

OK, OK. That last part was a bit emo. But you can’t help it. Most emos become emos over stuff like this. Now just let me look at the glass half-full again…

Done!

cubis_dilemma_alex

Plus2/Minus2 Summer Edition! Part 1

Kalo mina. It is September already, isn’t it. I’ve been writing up the following post for almost a month now. Day by day, hour by hour even, more and more stuff is added to this list. I can’t keep up anymore! Originally this was intended to be a complete ++– of my summer highlights… This is quickly becoming overwhelming, what with the summer not being over yet and bits and pieces of my life constanstly becoming potential highlights. I will post what I’d already written weeks now and see how it goes. Oh and I’ll start with the most recent ++, what took most of my time these days actually.

August.The cicadas are chirping, Taurus and Orion have just started to appear a few hours before dawn, summer is depressingly close to its end. Depressingly? This word is up for discussion. Yes, I do agree that summer is almost over and that that is generally considered a bad thing but no bad thing has ever come with no benefit; autumn is right around the corner and along with it comes everything that symbolises our hopes, plans and process of renewal. Everything flows, said Iraklitos (and the Book of Change).

Enough with this little introduction. What I want to share with this post is the good, the bad, the attrocious and the fantastic of this year’s summer, which (for good or bad, you decide in the end!) is over in a few weeks, at least theoretically (cause really, who knows till when the weather’s going to be happy this time around?) In short, I’m giving you another Plus*2/Minus*2. And this one is going to be loooong!

Flash, Grafistiki and September Exams

This year the comeback to Mytilini has come earlier than usual. I had long decided that this time I would stand 100% ready for the upcoming exams. I would study a lot, do all my projects in time etc. August 21st was the day we returned to the island. Happy Rock Band 2, Mordread’s birthday and Alex’s nameday aside, it hasn’t been all that fun for me! First thing I wanted to do was complete my Flash/Grafistiki project. A couple of bucketfuls of tears of *insert feeling here* later (including joy, frustration, achievement and despair) and stinking my chair from sitting in it for tens of hours, I can proudly say that today, just in time too, I presented my work to Myrsini. And it was good! It has got to be one of my most advanced works to date. It being in Flash makes it even more impressive of course. I invite you all to have a look and tell me what you think:

www.hallografik.ws/oldstuff/grafistiki

This, of course, is only a sign of things to come. I can stand proud, can’t I??

Today was special in another way as well. I sat for another two subjects, namely Java and Image Editing. Too much effort put into the Flash Project, of course I didn’t have the time to study them properly. Yet I didn’t do all that badly. I think it’s been a successful day… But I REALLY WANNA PLAY SOME GAMES! I MISS THEM. And even though Alexandra is around and has helped me considerably with housework, cooking, cleaning, relaxing, keeping in touch with the real world etc… I do not think we’re spending our time together as we should be. I mean…

…nah, this is another highlight in its own right.

Salonica: City of Ghosts, by Mark Mazower

I finished reading this book in June. I must have mentioned it before, or maybe it was Mazower’s “The Balkans”, a short introduction to the regional history, especially during Ottoman times. “Salonica” is similar. It takes you from the creation of the city in ancient times to what it is today, focusing on its multicultural identity during Ottoman rule (1430-1912) and until the Second World War and the jewish holocaust which killed a significant part of the population.

Did you know that Thessaloniki was only founded after the death of Alexander the Great? Kassandros, the guy who got in charge of the province of Macedonia after Alexander’s death, named this newly founded town after his wife Thessaloniki, daughter of Philip II and thus Alexander’s sister. So why the statue of Alexander in the centre of the city? Why has the city been so closely connected to Macedonia and indeed Alexander?

Did you know that in the 16th century thousands of sephardites, jews that were pursued out of Spain, emigrated into Salonica? They remained the majority (!) of the city, with muslims coming second and christians (greek and slav speaking) third. These jews really considered Salonica their home, they spoke a strange dialect of spanish changed throughout the years from their contact with turkish and greek. During the Second World War most were killed by Nazi Germany and their plan to eradicate the world’s jews (along with other unwanted elements).

Did you know that Salonica became a greek city in 1912? The greek revolution may have happened in 1821 but before 1912 the modern greek state’s borders had not yet changed into the form we know them today. Salonica, along with most of the Eastern Aegean islands and later Thrace, were conquered in the First and Second Balkan Wars by the Greek Army. Salonica wasn’t a particularly greek city before that. As I said, greeks were the minority. However, within 10 short years and after the Population Exchange that made all the muslims leave the city, Greece used the poor immigrants from Asia Minor, some of which did not even speak greek, to effectively “hellenize” its newly conquered territories with christians. Descendants of Macedonians? I don’t think so.

The rest is, as they say, history. Leaving 400 years of (mostly) peaceful and tolerant coexistance behind, the greeks swiftly destroyed everything that would remind them of “the dark ages”. A lot of the historical city centre was burnt in the Great Fire of 1917, however most buildings that had survived did not make it into contemporary, metropolitan Salonica. The “neogreeks” of course have dug up any roman or byzantine (to be fair, Thessaloniki was an important byzantine town, with Ayios Dimitrios and everything…) building that is possible to find, at the same time trying to hush-hush, forget and destroy history, situations and buildings much more relevant to the Greece of today and not the Greece we would like to once have existed.

“Salonica: City of Ghosts” tells a story you’re not likely to hear. It tells of Salonica’s cosmopolitan days, of when it was a crossroads of cultures. A true multi-culti gem. It was a book that gave me a brand new perspective on matters with superb research and excellent, gripping writing. It made me want to visit Thessaloniki, even if the Thessaloniki it desribes is long part of the past…I recommend it to anyone who might want to study revisionist greek history but also the history of the Balkans or the Ottoman Empire.

Did you know that the White Tower was an Ottoman prison?

salonica_2

June Exams

I can say that I was quite satisfied with my exam results. I did not sit for many subjects. In fact, 2 of them I sacrificed in order to have time to go to Rodos in mid-June. For those I did sit for, however, I could not have gone better! Stefanos and me, together with the –let’s face it– minor contribution of Anna and Vasilis, worked on a Flash application during May and June that represents the various kinds of relationships students have with Ermou St. in Mytilini. This was for Cultural Representation II. It gave us a straight 10, for all its misgivings (I’ll make sure to upload it in the main site as soon as possible!) This project’s design along with some personal graphic designs scored me another 10 in the respective subject.

Last but not least, I got another 10 at perhaps my favourite subject last term: Cutural Industries and Digital Culture. Despina Catapoti was our mentor, a great person and teacher! She turned the subject I failed one year ago into a fresh, postmodern-counterculture-philosophical experience! I got a 10 for my answers to the inspired, open-ended test. But I give her a 10 as well for her very interesting, knowledgeable lectures and her special way with the students. I can only say that I cannot wait to learn beside her once more come Spring.

I got a 2.5 at Montage and that thanks to the… interesting video Garret and me made one day at the lighthouse. 😛 Otherwise I would have got a 0. I’ll be quietly sitting for this one soon.

Counting Sheep, by Paul Martin

counting_sheep

Picking up books on random, fascinating subjects as I sometimes do, this summer I got a book on sleep called “Counting Sheep”. Alexandra used to mistakenly call it “Science of Sleep”, like the movie. I thought it was funny mixing the two names up! On a side note, we still haven’t watched “Science of Sleep” in its entirety.

“Counting Sheep” is the ultimate book on this 1/3 of our lives when we “go comatose while hallucinating vividly”. REM sleep, which is the scientific term for dreams, actually occurs for just 25% of sleep in adults. The rest is NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep. This is the wiki on NREM, pretty interesting. NREM is vastly different from REM in many aspects, in fact brainwaves during this state are much more characteristic than the respective REM ones (which are, unsurprisingly, similar to our waking state ones). Our sleep can thus be divided into two distinct states which leads to the conclusion that we go through three unique cycles, not just two: waking state, NREM and REM. Each cycle of sleep roughly comprises 90 minutes, going through the 4 stages of NREM sleep and finishing with REM. A typical night’s sleep will consist of 5-6 cycles…

…I can’t stop! Here I am typing scientific stuff about sleep from the top of my head. I could go on. But “Counting Sheep” is not just excellent explaining how sleep works. It goes through all kinds of culture that has been created around sleep, beds, caffeine, dreams, lucidity, sleep disorders, it tells tales of horrible sleep-deprivation and resulting torture, it outlines how sleep works in animals (every single living being, even bacteria, display some kind of low-activity cycle — dolphins sleep one brain hemisphere at a time!) and perhaps most important of all, it definitely proves that sleep is not only important, it is also a luxury and a pleasure unsung for – nevermind the ridiculous numbers of relevant William Shakespeare quotes.

“Counting Sheep” makes you want to rush to your bed, hug your pillow, rub your feet under the quilt, hang a hammock from the trees outside your door or in case you have no trees plant a couple for this very purpose. It makes you cherish your only pure and unfiltered existence and not feel guilty about that couple of extra hours under the blanket. This book proves that the world would be a much, much better place if only politicians, drivers and nuclear reactor operators took their40 winks more seriously. If you, like all too many of us these days, think that sleep is nothing but wasted time, you ought to make yourself a favour and read this!

Gytheio

Urk. Gytheio is supposedly the correct way of writing the greek town name in English. But you pronounce it “Yithio”!

Anyway, I went for 3 days and 2 nights to Gytheio to find Fanis and a couple of his friends who were camping there and stay with them. It was fantastic! I had only ever camped once in my life before (Bouka Beach Club! Savi, Tousis!) and it was great, not to mention 3 years ago. So I had a great, fantastic time camping again.

The beer was cheap, the friends’ friends I met there were pretty interesting and unique people (a 15-year-old bassoon-player rocker anime lover? A 17-year-old who was exactly like Garret in almost every way, except he liked One Piece and played the clarinet and was thus also musically inclined), everyone was relaxed but also cheerful and funny. I was at peace.

On the first night it was full moon. We made a fire on the beach, just like the second night. On the first one though we also went for a swimin the sea right in front of the fire. The moonlight was so bright and the sea so calm I could literally see the sandy bottom. But it wasn’t like looking at it under daylight. It was different, it was magic. I felt the sea different in spacial kind of way, as if I could really feel how deep it was or that I was actually floating in it at that point. It was truly something else.

Alina, another member of our charming little party, showed me her father’s camera. It was a Nikon F301 he’d had for almost 25 years! The sound of the shutter, the complete lack of electronics, the large viewfinder, the sturdy lens… It certainly didn’t take me a lot of messing around with it for me to realise that I NEEDED ONE OF THESE! So, oh what surprise, ever since I got back from Gytheio and that’s 11 days already, I’ve been hunting…

Camping is probably the best type of holiday. Not a care in the world, total relaxation, socialising, enjoying nature. Sleeping in a boiling tent just might be the highlight. I’m already looking forward to doing some more.

Deutsch

Dieser Sommer ich habe gedacht:”Ich hatte genug!” Danach habe ich mehr Deutsch studieren. Ich will das Zertifikat in Januar bekommen. Ehrlich gesagt hoffe ich, dass ich nicht zu faul bin… Mama ist aber eine gute Lehrerin!

KTEL

Buses have become, or have always been, I’m not really sure, the main means of transportation for those who want to go from one greek city to another. But they are so bad. The stations are dirty, the drivers are rude, the schedule is seriously strange, and the bastards have made it so that you can’t find out when your bus is leaving unless you call a high-cost helpline! They’ve even removed lists and schedules from the internet, at least from what I’ve seen.

Even more worrisome is the fact that there are no plans of expanding the train lines in any part of Greece. Actually, OSE announced during the summer that they are changing their routes so that only connections between the main cities are properly serviced. Where is the environmental planning? Where is ANY kind of planning at all? If you could go anywhere, anywhere at all, just by hopping on a bus, things would be different. If they weren’t so polluting or if the drivers were a bit more considerate about their clients music tastes, things would be different. But they aren’t. And as it is, people like me that object to owning a car have little choice. It’s depressing…

At least the tickets are relatively cheap. For now…

To be continued… with more amazing ‘s and even juicier ‘s!

Η δίαιτα της σούπας και το σωτήριο ρυζότο.

Δεν ήταν πως δεν είχα ξανακάνει ποτέ δίαιτα στη ζωή μου. Κάθε άλλο. Από τα 12 μου, που με θυμάμαι να κοιτάζω κριτικά το μέγεθος των γοφών μου μέσα στο πράσινο τζην παντελόνι μου, στο μεγάλο καθρέφτη που βρισκόταν στο σαλόνι οικογενειακών φίλων στη Ραφήνα, μέχρι και σήμερα, πάντα έκανα δίαιτα. Ακόμα κι αν δεν έκανα στ’αλήθεια. Τουτέστιν, άρχιζα τη μέρα μου κάνοντας δίαιτα, συνέχιζα τη μέρα μου λέγοντας πως την υπόλοιπη ημέρα θα κάνω δίαιτα, και τελείωνα τη μέρα μου ορκιζόμενη πως αύριο θα κάνω δίαιτα. Με λίγα λόγια, δίαιτα πραγματική έχω κάνει ελάχιστες φορές συγκριτικά με τις φορές που δήλωνα πως κάνω δίαιτα. Παρόλαυτα, η γνώσεις μου πάνω σε τεχνικές, διατροφικά μυστικά, θερμιδομετρήσεις και χημικούς συνδιασμούς, μεγάλωσαν εκθετικά με το καιρό, παράλληλα αλλά και ανεξάρτητα, με τις αμφιλεγόμενες επιχειρήσεις μου προς εφαρμογή τους. Ετσι λοιπόν, νομίζω πως είναι πλέον λογικό να θεωρώ τον εαυτό μου, αν όχι παλιά καραβάνα, τουλάχιστον ανεμοδαρμένη και ξεροψημένη στο θέμα της απώλιας βάρους.

Όπως έλεγα λοιπόν, ήταν η νιοστή φορά που δήλωσα το υψίστης βαρύτητας, καθοριστικό και βαρύτιμο “από σήμερα αρχίζω δίαιτα”. Όχι όμως όποια κι όποια δίαιτα. Τη δίατα της… σούπας! Όποιος τα έκανε σαλάτα με τη δίαιτα της σαλάτας, όποιος έκανε τη παπια με τη δίατα της πάπιας, με τη δίαιτα της σούπας, αποκλείεται να τα κάνει θάλασσα. Τουλάχιστον αυτό υποστήριζαν πλήστοι φορουμίτες στο ίντερνετ, οι οποίοι εγκωμίαζαν στα σχόλια τους τα χαρίσματα της μαγικής αυτής σούπας. Θύμα λοιπόν κι εγώ της εικόνας μου και των κοινωνικών προτύπων ομορφιάς, υπέκυψα στην υπόσχεση των “7 κιλών σε 7 μέρες!!!” .

“Ένα ολόκληρο λάχανο, 16 πράσινα κρεμμύδια, 1 μάτσο σέλινο, χυμός ντομάτας από 2 κονσέρβες, 2 πιπεριές, ζωμός κρεμμυδιού, αλάτι, πιπέρι- τσίλι”, ιδού η συνταγή της χαριποτέριας σούπας. Τη πίνετε για 7 μέρες (σίγουρα τη πίνουμε και δεν την κάνουμε κομπρέσες γιατί από αυτά που λέει δεν είμαι σίγουρη αν τρώγεται) με συνοδία διαφορετικής ομάδας οπωροκηπευτικών κάθε μέρα, γάλα και μπανάνες μία από αυτές, ελάχιστο κρεατάκι προς το τέλος, και αναποφλοίωτο ρύζι τη τελευταία μέρα.

Δεν είναι να απορεί κανείς που μεταξύ των εγκωμίων ύπηρχε ένας σεβαστός αριθμός σχολίων που μιλούσε για σκισμένα σώβρακα και παντελόνια απ’το κλανίδι, τα οποία όμως δεν αποθάρρυναν κανέναν πιστό να προσέλθει και να δηλώσει το ενθουσιώδες “την αρχίζω κι εγώ από αύριο!”. Έτσι κι εγώ. Ενθουσιώδης μπορεί να μην ήμουν, αλλά κάτι βουτυράτα μπινελίκια που είχα καταλανώσει λίγες ώρες πριν με έσπρωξαν την επομένη στο μανάβη, μαζί με έναν ταλαίπωρο Δημήτρη ο οποίος προσπαθούσε ακόμα να αποφασίσει αν ήθελε τελικά λαχανόσουπα για μεσημεριανό, αυγουστιάτικα.

Ψωνίσαμε λοιπόν το λάχανο, τα πράσινα κρεμμυδάκια, τις πιπεριές, το σέλινο και το πουμαρό για την απαραίτητη ντομάτα, με όνειρα εγώ για την επικείμενη ελαφράδα μου, με μια ξυνίλα στο στόμα ο Δημήτρης για την επικείμενη λαχανίλα- γενικότερα. Σημειωτέον πως τη συγκεκιριμένη δίαιτα, αν και δεν την είχα δοκιμάσει ποτέ μου, την είχα ξανακούσει από έναν οικογενειακό φίλο ο οποίος μας είχε πει τότε πως, παρόλο που η σούπα δουλεύει, η γεύση της είναι τόσο αποκρουστική που πραγματικά το αν αξίζει να τρως αυτή την αηδία για 7 μέρες , έστω κι αν κατά τη διάρκειά τους χάνεις 7 κιλά, είναι συζητήσιμο.

Άρχισα το μαγείρεμα μετά τη κατανάλωση σταφυλιού και πεπονού- τη πρώτη μέρα η δίαιτα έλεγε να φας τη σούπα και όσα φρούτα θες- αποφεύγοντας στρατηγικά να σκεφτώ τα όσα μας είχε πει αυτός ο φίλος περί της γεύσης αυτού του παρασκευάσματος. Νταξει, λέω, θα βρω και ένα μούλτι να περάσω τα λαχανικά και θα γίνει βελουτέ η σουπίτσα, δεν θα αναγκαστούμε να φάμε νεροζούμι, καλό θα βγει. Ξεφύλλιασα το λάχανο, έκοψα τις πιπεριές κομματάκια, έπλυνα το σέλινο, τα έβαλα όλα αυτά μέσα στη τεως-κατσαρόλα-του-Γκάρετ-νυν-κατσαρόλα-του-Δημήτρη και τα περιέλουσα με το ντοματοπολτό, το αλάτι, τη κανέλα και… ένα τόνο πιπέρι (όπως αποδείχθηκε εκ των υστέρων). Το παρασκεύασμα άρχισε νε παίρνει μορφή και…μυρωδιά. Η αλήθεια είναι πως δεν μύριζε και τόσο άσχημα. Και ήμουν σχετικά αισιόδοξη μέχρι και για τη γεύση έως ότου συνειδητοποίησα ότι πουθενά στη γειτονιά (στο σπίτι και στο σπίτι του Μόρντρεντ δηλαδή) δεν υπήρχε ένα καταραμένο μούλτι να αλλέσω όλη αυτή τη πρασινάδα που επέπλε στη κατσαρόλα. Η προοπτική μιας πραγματικής σουπας, ενός ζουμιού με λίγα λόγια του οποίου την υδαρότητα την καμουφλάριζαν ανεπιτυχώς μερικές μόνο μάζες ημι-πολτοποιημένων λαχανικών, μου φανηκε μελανή..για να μη πω λαχανί. Ε, λοιπόν δεν θα είχε σημασία. Μπρος τα κάλη τί είναι ο πόνος.

Λίγο σερφάρισμα στο ίντερνετ κι έναν σύντομο ύπνο μετά, η σούπα ήταν έτοιμη. Το σερβίρισμα συνόδευε και μια προσευχή -μια για κάθε πιάτο, (το πιάτο του Δημήτρη συνόδευαν και δυο ψαλμοί με μορφή ψωμοτυριού, το δικό μου ένας εξάψαλμος- που μου θες και ψωμοτύρι!). Να μη τα πολυλογώ, η δυνατότητας βρώσης της σούπας αποδείχθηκε αναλόγως αντίστροφη με το χρόνο. Σε αυτό συντέλεσε όχι τόσο η αυτή καθ’αυτή γεύση της πρασινάδας, όσο ο προαναφερθής τόνος πιπεριού που περιείχε. Μέχρι να καταφέρω να ρουφήξω -έστω- το ζουμί, το στομάχι μου είχε παρει φωτιά. Ο Δημήτρης αν και φαινομενικά πολύ πιο χαλαρός από μένα δεν τόλμησε να πάρει δεύτερη μερίδα, γεγονός εξαιρετικά ύποπτο εαν λάβουμε υπόψην μας πως όλη μέρα στεκόταν με ένα καφέ και δυο ρόγες σταφύλι.

Από κείνη τη στιγμή κι έπειτα, η κάθοδος ήταν ιλιγγιώδης. Καλοπερασάκιας απ’τη φύση μου, ήταν αρκετή μια ματιά στην αντανάκλασή μου στο τζάμι της μπαλκονόπορτας αγκαζέ με την ενθύμηση της λαχανένιας πύρινης γεύσης για να τρέξω να δροσίσω το λαρύγγι μου με λίγο γάλα και μούσλι. Δεν βαριέσαι, τί 63 κιλά τί 58. Και τώρα μια χαρά είμαι, όχι που θα κάτσω να τρώω λαχανόζουμα για 168 ωρες!

Είπα και το έκανα. Με αρχή τα μούσλι και συνέχεια έναν σούπερ καφέ με λικέρ και γρανίτα σοκολάτα μέσα, η λαχανόζουπα θα μπορούσε να έχει ξεχαστεί ριζικά και αμετάκλητα εαν δεν υπήρχε ένας τόσος δα μικρούλης αστάθμητος παράγοντας. Στη κουζίνα του Δημήτρη υπήρχε μία χύτρα λαχανόπλασμα αρκετό να ταίσει ένα λόχο, και ταυτόχρονα στις τσέπες μας αρκετά λεφτά για να ταίσουμε δυόμιση σπουργίτια. Καθόλου βολικός συνδιασμός δηλαδή. Συνδιασμός ο οποίος οδηγούσε λογικά στο συμπέρασμα πως με τον ένα ή με τον άλλο τρόπο, με το καλό ή το άσχημο, η σούπα έπρεπε οπωσδήποτε να φαγωθεί. Ε, ρε μπελάς…

Ε λοιπόν, καλύτερα μπελάς με ρύζι παρά μπελάς ον δε ροκς. Με τις σπουργιτίσιες μας δεκάρες, τσιμπήσαμε ένα πακέτο ρύζι και δυο γιαούρτια προς εκ νέου παρασκευήν εξωτικού εδέσματος ( ή έτσι έλεγα στον εαυτό μου μπας και πίστέψω πως υπάρχουν ελπίδες να μαγειρευτει κάτι, το οποίο τουλάχιστον να τρωγεται χωρίς πυροσβεστήρα στο πλάι). Σκέφτηκα λοιπόν, πως εαν ψιλόκοβα τα λαχανικά, τα περνούσα με λαδάκι και έβαζα και το ρύζι μέσα, το φαί που θα έβγαινε θα ήταν ουσιασικά έμα ρυζότο, φαί καθ’όλα βρώσιμο. Κι αν ακόμα κι εκεί υπήρχε πρόβλημα με τα καυτερά συστατικά, λίγο γιαούρτι θα έσωζε τους συνδαιτημόνες και τον σεφ.

Το σχέδιο μπήκε σε εφαρμογή έπειτα από εξόντωση κατσαρίδας τύπου long vehicle, από το πάγκο της κουζίνας, με χρήση πυρ και αεροζολ. Το σπίτι, ευτυχώς δεν κάηκε, κάηκε όμως το φαί το οποίο ξέχασα πάνω στο μάτι με δυνατή φωτιά. Ευτυχώς η αφηρημάδα μου δεν ήταν αρκετή για να καεί όλη η χύτρα. Το αποτέλεσμα ήταν ο τσουρουφλησμένος πάτος να δώσει κάποιες νότες φλαμπέ στο ρυζότο μου (ναι, τώρα το λέμε ρυζότο- πρόβλημα?).

Ο Δημήτρης δεν φάνηκε πολύ πρόθυμος να δοκιμάσει τη νέα γαστριμαργική δημιουργία μου, την οποία επιπροπσθέτως έσβησα με λίγο γάλα πριν την τελευταία βράση. Παρόλαυτά, και μόνο η ιδέα να τρώει για τις επόμενες μέρες το ίδιο δυνητικά απαίσιο φαί χωρίς να ξέρει αυτοστιγμί στ’αλήθεια πόσο απαίσιο είναι, ήταν αρκετή για να με στείλει στη κουζίνα να περιποιηθώ ένα δοκιμαστικό πιάτο. Το εν λογω πιάτο εκτός από το αμφιλεγόμενο ρυζότο, περιείχε ακόμα γάλα εβαπορέ, τυρί γούντα και μια καλή δόση γιαούρτι, πρόβειο, μυτηλινιό.

Το κάναμε να. Ήταν νοστιμότατο και βάλαμε και δεύτερη μερίδα.Σοβαρά! Τρελή επιτυχία! Και αν σκεφτεί κανείς από τι κατάπλασμα βγήκε αυτό το ωραιότατο φαγάκι. Οπότε ούτε τα λεφτά μας κλάψαμε, ούτε χρειαζόμαστε από δω και πέρα συνοδευτικά μανταλάκια για τη μύτη μας την ώρα του φαγητού.

Όσοι κατάφεραν να κάνουν τη δίαιτα της σούπας αποτελούν πλέον κατά τη γνώμη μου ηρωικά πρόσωπα άξια του θαυμασμού μας. Παρόλαυτά δεν το μετανιώνω και πολύ που δεν είμαι ένα από αυτά. Και είμαι σίγουρη πως την ώρα του φαγητού , δεν θα το μετανιώσω ακόμα περισσότερο!

Συμπέρασμα : μάλλον καταλάβατε, πως το παρόν κείμενο δεν έχει κάποιο ουσιαστικό λόγο ύπαρξης, δεν είναι προιόν ιδιαίτερης πνευματικής εργασίας, ναι, γράφτηκε σε στιγμές βαρεμάρας και ναι, ίσως να ήταν πιο χρήσιμο και παραγωγικό αν είχατε αξιοποιήσει κάπως αλλιώς αυτά τα λεπτά της ζωής σας. Την επόμενη φορά να προσέχετε περισσότερο.

http://pixieweexie.wordpress.com

alex-argh

Σκέψεις νοσταλγίας

Αυτά τα Χριστούγεννα είναι διαφορετικά.

“Old satellite image is old. Η διαδρομή που έχω κάνει με τις τσάντες γεμάτες βιβλία στα χέρια πολλές πολλές φορές αυτές τις μέρες.

Βρίσκουν εμένα και την μαμ σε κατάσταση μετακόμισης και αναμπουμπούλας… Οι περασμένες μέρες μου στην Αθήνα κύλισαν με μένα να μην έχω ένα σταθερό σπίτι, κοιμώντας στο σπίτι της Αλεξάνδρας, στο “παλιό” σπίτι (εκεί που μέναμε απο το 2003 έως τώρα) στο “καινούργιο” σπίτι” (το οποίο είναι αυτό στο οποίο ουσιαστικά γεννήθηκα και μεγάλωσα μέχρι τον θάνατο της γιαγιάς μου το ’98, οπότε και το νοικιάσαμε. Απο τότε και μετά έμενα μόνο στον 3ο όροφο της πολυκατοικίας, στο διαμέρισμα της μαμ, το οποίο και πουλήσαμε όταν πήγαμε στο “παλιό” σπίτι). Ενώ το παλιό σπίτι είναι άνω κάτω και σχεδόν στοιχειωμένο μετά τις συνθήκες τις οποίες προκάλεσαν την ανάγκη για μετακόμιση (ναι, η μαμ και ο άντρας της χώρισαν και αυτός είναι ο κύριος λόγος), το καινούργιο (παλιό) σπίτι είναι αναζωογωνητικό με την προσωρινή αδειανότητα του και εκτός απο τις 2-3 πρώτες φορές που πήγα, σχεδόν ξεχνάω ότι εκεί μέσα πέρασα το μεγαλύτερο μέρος των 9 πρώτων μου χρόνων…

Κάθε μετακόμιση είναι μερικές φορές σημείο καμπής απο ψυχολογικής άποψης αλλά απο υλικής είναι πάντα, αφού ο υλικός και ζωτικός χώρος αλλάζει τελείως και είναι μοναδική στιγμή για ξεκαθάρισμα και φρέσκα ξεκινήματα. Έτσι κι εγώ τις τελευταίες μέρες άνοιγα συρτάρια, ντουλάπια, τετράδια, περιοδικά, βιβλία, έβρισκα γράμματα, μικρο- και μεγαλομπιχλιμπίδια που πάγωσαν στον χρόνο… Τεύχη απο Τα Σαϊνια, την σειρά Δεινόσαυροι, Αστερίξ, Κόμιξ, Ντόναλντ, Focus, τις παρτιτούρες του κλαρινέτου μου, μια παλιά φωτογραφική μηχανή, ένα discman, διάφορα καλώδια, 6 πράσινους αντάπτορες USB to PS/2, βιβλία γερμανικών και αγγλικών και τετράδια με 2-3 γραμμένες σελίδες. Όλα αυτά επιβίωσαν απο άλλα, παλιότερα ξεκαθαρίσματα. Τότε προφανώς ήθελα να τα κρατήσω και όσα επέζησαν είχα κρίνει ότι στο μέλλον θα τα χρειαζόμουν. Τα χρειάστηκα όμως; Όχι βέβαια. Ο σημαντικότερος λόγος που και εγώ αλλά και όλοι κρατάμε κάποτε χρηστικά αντικείμενα είναι η νοσταλγία, το τι συμβολίζουν αυτά τα αντικείμενα απο το παρελθόν μας, είναι κατα κάποιο τρόπο αποδείξεις των εμπειριών μας. Πάντα νοιώθω ότι κρατώντας κάτι θα μπορώ εκτός απο το να το βλέπω και να θυμάμαι καλές αλλά και κακές εμπειρίες, θα μπορώ με τα αντίστοιχα αντικείμενα να διηγούμαι στα παιδιά μου τις ιστορίες τους ή απλά για να κρατάω αναμνηστικά του παρελθόντος, χαρακτηριστικά του πνεύματος των καιρών κάθε εποχής . Ακόμα και σήμερα έχει μια μαγεία το να κρατάς κάτι το οποίο αναγράφει ΑΠΡΙΛΙΟΣ 1994, πόσο μάλλον σε 20 χρόνια.

Το πρόβλημα με την νοσταλγία είναι ότι δεσμεύει. Οι άνθρωποι είναι φτιαγμένοι για να εξελίσσονται συνεχώς. Κάτι το οποίο τους ενώνει με μια συγκεκριμένη χρονική στιγμή κρατάει ένα κομμάτι τους αιχμάλωτο του παρελθόντος. Εκτός αυτού, το να θέλει να δείξει κάποιος το τι έχει ζήσει στα παιδιά του είναι αρκετά εγωιστικό και αυτάρεσκο. Πώς είμαι τόσο σίγουρος ότι τα παιδιά μου θα θέλουν να δουν τις κονσόλες μου για να βλέπουν τι έπαιζε ο μπαμπάς τους μικρός, γιατί να θέλει το παιδί μου να δει την απόδειξη των εισητηρίων του interrail ή ένα γράμμα μιας μυστηριώδους ολλανδέζας; Θα θέλει να ανοίξει το τεύχος 51 του “Δεινόσαυροι” ή μήπως δεν θα μπορεί καν να διαβάσει ελληνικά; Πάντως, κακά τα ψέμματα, η μεγαλύτερη δέσμευση έχει φυσική υπόσταση. Αν μπορούσαμε να έχουμε όσο χώρο θέλουμε ο οποίος θα τακτοποιούταν αυτόματα, τότε το να κρατάμε οτιδήποτε μας είχε ανήκει σε οποιαδήποτε στιγμή θα είχε κάποιο νόημα. Όμως απο την στιγμή που ο χώρος ο οποίος αναλογεί στον καθένα μας είναι περιορισμένος αυτό σημαίνει ότι πρέπει να υπάρχει μια προσεκτική και χρηστική διαρρύθμιση του χώρου στον οποίου η οποία περιστρέφεται γύρω απο το παρόν και όχι απο το παρελθόν. Ακόμα και αν υπήρχε ο χώρος για κάτι τέτοιο πάντως, ο χρόνος και η ενέργεια την οποία θα απαιτούσε το να έχεις στο σπίτι σου ΤΑ ΠΑΝΤΑ τα οποία μπορεί να σου θυμίσουν κάτι, απο το να τα δεις και να χαθείς στις αναμνήσεις μέχρι να τα τακτοποιήσεις (συν το ότι κάθε μέρα προστίθονταν σε αυτά καινούργια αντικείμενα)… Κάτι τέτοιο σίγουρα θα σου έκοβε κατα πολύ τις εξελικτικές δυνατότητες αφού συνεχώς θα σε απασχολούσε το παρελθόν και όχι το μέλλον.

Πριν λίγες μέρες, στο δικό μου νοσταλγικό ξεσκαρτάρισμα, πέταξα όλα μου τα FOCUS στην ανακύκλωση. Κάποτε, είχαν γλιτώσει απο αυτή την μοίρα, όχι όμως αυτή την φορά. Το τι γλιτώνει και τι όχι αλλάζει ανάλογα με την ωριμότητα του ατόμου. Αν και κάνω μερικές χαλαρές συλλογές (βιβλία, ηλεκτρονικά και επιτραπέζια παιχνίδια, EDGE) δεν είμαι σίγουρος κατα πόσο έχουν διαφορετική ρίζα και αφορμή απο τον λόγο που κρατάω τις παλιές μου μπλούζες. Δεν μπορώ παρ’όλ’αυτά να βάλω τα παλιά βιβλία σε διαφορετική μοίρα απο παλιά μπιχλιμπίδια ακόμα και αν τα έχω διαβάσει. Δεν έχουν πρακτική αξία παρα να δείχνουν την βιβλιοθήκη πιο γεμάτη: δεν με βλέπω να τα (ξανα)διαβάζω εκτός απο εξαιρέσεις, και μόνο και μόνο το εξώφυλο ενός βιβλίου αρκεί για να σε κάνει να θυμηθείς πόσο ωραία ήταν όταν το διάβαζες…

Την επόμενη φορά που θα κάνω ενα ξεσκαρτάρισμα μπορεί να απαγκιστρωθώ απο πράγματα τα οποία ποτέ δεν θα άφηνα σήμερα. Είναι αυτό καλό; Θα είναι δείγμα εξέλιξης ή απλά θα μετακομίζω σε καινούργιο διαμέρισμα στο μέγεθος γκαράζ; Ακόμα δεν μπορώ να πω με σιγουριά, πάντως ελπίζω όντως τα παιδιά μου να ενδιαφέρονται για ό,τι κρατάω σήμερα. Αλλιώς, πόση αξία θα έχει για μένα; Αν δεν έχει για μένα όμως, αξίζει να τα κρατάω για τα παιδιά μου; Αλλά αν τα παιδιά μου δεν ενδ…

ΟΚ ΟΚ. Καλά Χριστούγεννα! Να χαιρόμαστε τους δικούς μας ανθρώπους, τώρα που αυτές τις μέρες μπορούμε να είμαστε κοντά τους (εμείς οι τυχεροί-άτυχοι, κατα τους γνωστούς-αγνώστους, που σπουδάζουμε εκτός Ελλάδος! :P)

A blow of the Future

It has finally come to pass: Cubilone’s Dimension is 1 year old today. It’s been a strange year, full of changes and magic. I’ve been reflecting upon these changes by reading my older posts… You may spot these differences if you look up my first posts yourself. This time last year I was waking up early with no aid of alarm clock and feeling happy, really eager to write all about it! This initial, powerful enthusiasm has sadly worn off. That is not to say however that Cubilone’s Dimension isn’t alive. On the contrary: I’m even planning to turn it into something a bit more ambitious! I will say no more however. One year is not a lot of time and this place still has not matured all that much. In fact it has not even reached puberty. What may the Future hold?

Dreams, hopes and nightmares are nothing but floating specs of dust to Its eye. With one lazy movement of its hand, the Future plays with them in the sunlight. No spec is better than the other; afterall, they’re all just dust. Strangely though, they seem to all be floating towards the same direction. It fixes Its eye upon a single spec. “The spec’s weightlessness is a gift but also a burden”, the Future ponders. “Even if it can fly, it can only fly following the wind’s wishes… and when the wind wishes of nothing, then the spec will gently fall. Its stop will only be brief however for any wind can still do with it as it likes…” The Future thought that listening to the wind was a small price to pay for flying.

It watched the spec making its way to the floor, finally touching it with a sound even It could not discern. Feeling mischievous, the Future took a deep breath and blew at the spec. Listening to the wind, it and the other specs scatteringly took to the sky once more.

Pink Dawn

It’s 7:30AM. Me and Mordread are sitting in my futon couch, going though the last, epic stages of The Force Unleashed, watching the final twists and turns of its plot unfold. Outside it is raining. The gentle sound of the drops hitting the street outside is audible even through the soundproof aluminum windows. It manages to reach our ears, as well as the lightsaber hums, Darth Vader’s iconic scuba breathing and the sound of lightning coming out of Starkiller’s fingertips. The sky is not entirely grey; in fact, its colour would be best described as a kind of dim pink. Soon I would witness what should have been the tie-in between the original and the prequels, the old and the new, the successful and the perhaps disappointing. My drowzy mind, amidst all this, was thinking that the line had been crossed; a new blog entry was finally at hand.

More than 3 hours later, the time is now 11:05. October 3rd, 2008. Rain sporadically cheers my ears but the sun has decided that its no time for playing hide-and-seek. The result is a wonderful colour of the sky. A fantastically unusual bright cloudy grey. Isn’t it strange that I often choose to write when my mind is working in ambiguous ways, powered by the strength of overnight determination but deterred by sleepiness? This fact could mean many things, quite controversial in their own right. Is it because I deem blogging so important a task that only the special moments of sleeplessness can truly get it going? Is it because writing is a time-consuming activity, best left for when my time constraints are only limited by my fatigue? Is it just because I’m bored and feel somehow special that I want to share my thoughts with the world (surrounding me)? I digress…

It’s been almost 3 months since my last blog entry. 3 busy, important, fascinating months. My last entry was written just hours before our journey to Europe had begun. Now, in mere weeks 2 months will have gone by since we returned from our trip. I won’t go into much detail about how it was, what it meant to me/us, if it was interesting or if I have any pictures to share. Answer to last two questions is yes. To the first two it is… well. I just can’t do it now. When I first came back from the trip, I was eager to tell everyone about it! Trying to remember every little detail so that it doesn’t get lost somewhere in the mists of memory lest it isn’t readily available so as to tell anyone who might be interested or write right here in Cubimension. But my enthusiasm was quickly discouraged. Not all that many people, especially friends, were genuinely interested in what I had to tell or show (I might write something else on this subject one day. It’s a deep matter). A lot of them will never read these lines either but the sentiment remains. It does sound too self-important, (as much of this particular entry, forgive me!) but I think it does have some right to be. Anyway, to not sound too melodramatic about something that doesn’t deserve it, if anyone would really like to ask me anything about our experience out there, I’d really gladly discuss anything! YEAH! But as it is now, I just can’t bring myself to summarise 38 days of travel for a questionable audience. Alexandra says that if we write all that happened down (something we did try to do…) we’ll remember it much easier. I kind of agree but writing it down isn’t exactly easy in the first place (hell, visit this topic on MyAegean and maybe you’ll catch some of all the previous feeling: http://my.aegean.gr/web/ftopict-991.html. But when it comes down to it, for whom do I opperate this site anyway, is it just to showcase what I do and am all about or is it too more like a personal dia… ANYWAY! My apologies for this nervous breakdown! 😀

OK after this last bit my post has lost the aethereal tone it had in the beginning. Fudge it, it was taking too long to think of all the difficult words anyway! What else has been going on? Well on August 23rd I first walked through the door of my current home. It was the week I was looking for my new place to stay. I was with Kira/George/Darthy. I’m not sure he had a good time, since I had to wake up early every morning just to take care of all the sudden obligations and do some new-home-hunting. We did have our very fair share of nargile and WoW discussions though (yes I was always the debunker! Sort of…) August 23rd was also Mordread’s 20th b-day. This can’t have been random cause now he’s my new neighbour! Walks in for gaming sessions, brings Pepsi along, takes care of the cat when I’m away — everything a good neighbour should do! Thanks Mordread, you’re a star! 🙂 After another week in Athens, IKEAing, meeting up with long lost friends and celebrating Alexandra’s nameday, it was time for me, her and mum to come back to Mytilini armed and ready! September 3rd-8th was the moving to brand-new home preperations. The two girls helped me a lot and I do so love them for it, even though one of them worked significantly more than the other, oops shouldn’t have let that one slip! 😀 It was a great time us being together, had some talks, some good breakfasts and stuff. And I can’t forget mention: whut!! We played Rock Band all together. Mum played a video game. As we say in greek, many bakeries fell in ruins on that day…

The real fun started when mum left, which was right on the day we moved! For another week, it was just me and Alex taking care of the brand new home. We painted every room in crazy happy colours, pondered on what should go where, watched sick and crazy funny movies, cooked some tasty food (I tell you, squeezing meatballs isn’t nearly as disgusting as it once seemed… nor is chopping turkey), quarreled for a little bit just to break all the happy tension, played lots of Geometry Wars (and Alexandra made a brave new footing into the world of Hexic! A round of applause for our would-be hardcore please), explored the new surrounding area, discovered that afternoons are sexy too (sometimes sexier than evenings), quarreled a bit more to keep things balanced, and had to keep Yuki’s teen sexual heat under contro as well. Shut windows, air-condition. Yeah. This is what brought that happy week to a close. I did something I will never forgive myself for doing which was nevertheless necessary… *read on*

I had to have Yuki neutered. I wasn’t happy that I had to keep windows shut to keep her tomcat-seeking skills at bay and neither was she. But having little Yukinos around wasn’t the problem here. The problem was that there’s the bloody busy road just down the street. One sexy night out for Yuki could be her last, as she made a perfect white contrast against the cold, hard pavement . They’d be one in their lifelessness… Nightmare inducing, I agree wholeheartedly. So for us to be both happy (or for me to be happy and at least hoping she will be happy rid of her sexual distractions or at least indifferent to their absence — pleasure or pain) it was a tough, not to mention costly decision. Seeing her dizzy from the anaesthesia was a cruel pleasure though, have to admit! She also bit her stitches out, had an open wound Mordread thankfully treated while I was away in Chios visiting good old Fanis, ignorant and blissful about Yuki. We had her second stitches removed yesterday. All is well with Yuki now. She’s as playful, active, cuddly, hungry (for “milk” and more serious food) as ever! Minus her uterus.

While Alexandra was here I tried another first. I pursued the foundations of some career as a waiter/barman at none other than Mousiko Kafeneio. Yes, the one and only! It took no less than 2 weeks of me trying to make coffees and other beverages, failing, drinking my concoctions and always looking somehow confused to realise that I was not entirely suitable for the job. Not because I wasn’t any good at all at it but due to new emergency weekend tactics by me and Alexandra that can’t allow any weekend work obligations. No less, of course because of Piscean inherent looking-for-excuses when being in situations I don’t particularly like, behaviour; that woman pulled no punches when it came to rookie training. She demanded I took full care of bar and service within my second week! Negotiating unacceptable. Hey, at least now I have some experience. And hey, I did eat and drink for a few days for free. That’s something! And now I can set out for some less stressful work solution. English teaching here I come (?!).

If we undserstood something together with my little sugary crabby (believe me it sounds better in greek) these weeks, it’s that we cannot manage to be apart for more than a few days. Meaningless misunderstandings through MSN (which is the DEVIL!), general dysphoria and everything just proves that. We couldn’t not meet last weekend (even though there were more fights last week because I didn’t have any money, which by the way made me cook some truly good but thick chickpeas (name sucks in english, revythia all the way) but it was urgent so I could just find some but it doesn’t work that way and and and and it wasn’t hard for things to just settle right. Last weekend in Athens was just made in heaven. Everything was so great! We had such a great time within such few hours. If our emergency weekend plan ends up like this, it’s going to be grand.

Well. It’s 13:05 straight! Hah, I’ve been writing for 2 hours straight. And now again, it’s all stuff that only interests me in the end. Maybe Alex as well. But I feel very satisfied that I finally came down to writing something! If you’ve reached this end, dear reader, we should hang around more!

Next blog may be (but it may also not be) about all the new games, movies, music, books and cool stuff that has come to my attention recently. It’s going to be big! Don’t expect it soon! 😀

On studies

After reminiscing my days in Rodos, my exams are finally underway since Wednesday. Well actually since Tuesday but I decided to not sit for Globalization; I felt that I still haven’t studied it properly. My copper project was rushed but completed and my respective exam went well. Yesterday and today, though, I gave in two blank sheets. I hadn’t studied for these two subjects, namely Graphics & Animation and Introduction to Digital Audio and Video Editing. They were both subjects that require a more involved, deeper kind of studying. Since last year, I’ve been mostly putting off studying for subjects such as these; I already did it for the alleged Flash project, which turned out to be too much for everyone. Today, while my attention was hovering over my perfectly white sheet and the disappointingly incomprehensible questions on the much less white one sitting right next to it, I wondered.

The main reason I chose Cultural Technology as my theoretical career path somewhat less than 2 years ago was because I thought that it’d give me all the valuable knowledge and technical expertise for a job I would enjoy in the future. Isn’t that scandalous? I believe that in university, one has the perfect opportunity to explore themselves and their true interests and develop as a person, learn lots of new things about the world. Discovering that, in the end, it’s all there to throw another person in the job market is rather shocking. Where’s the real knowledge? Why do we receive 15 huge books every semester but only a tiny little fragment is ever taught or needed? Professors themselves only assign certain parts of books as study material as if the rest is irrelevant. And how can anything work when students and academics alike all know that there’s cheating going on? Why would anyone want to cheat in the first place? The prof today casually announced “If you’re gonna cheat, at least don’t make yourself obvious”. What?

Myself, I hate cheating for the reasons stated above. What’s the point? We’re in university to learn, not get a stupid essentially worthless piece of paper. If I feel like I haven’t had enough of a particular subject, I don’t even sit for it. Neither do I sit for it if I haven’t completed a difficult and experience-rich project or essay for it. Yet an alarmingly high percentage of people think it’s perfectly OK to pass subjects they have no idea about just by cheating. And what happens next? They get the same bachelor’s as me, perhaps even with a higher mark, and then proceed to discredit me and others that have the same degree by not having a single clue about their job.

Generally, I have this feeling that I’m not going to get really involved with Cultural Technology in my life. But only time will tell. I’m not really worried about my studies, the above were just thoughts I had today and have had for some time now. Maybe it’s because I’m LAZY and not a model student. Still, I do feel that I’m way more responsible than most of my fellow students but that can’t be good exactly. Maybe I should take a more focused approach, but I can’t NOT enjoy my time when Alexandra is here and when such a full and exciting summer is ahead of us…

World of Nylon

After watching this (watch it. Like, now) particulary well-made and enlighting flash movie a few weeks ago, not that I hadn’t thought about our wasteful nature as a species before [certainly not], I started observing how careless people are when it comes to plastic and especially packing and bags. I tried counting how many plastic bags I received in one day, and the number was somehow higher than my purchases in the same day. I recently read that 11.000.000 plastic bags (I have no idea about their mean size) are used each day in Greece alone. Using this number of bags you’d be able to encircle the earth many times. This figure is enormous, just imagine the kind of volume 11.000.000 full plastic bags can take, for a lot of those are used for garbage disposal purposes after shopping with them. Plastic does not biodegrade, so if anything is within the bag that actually does, it will not since it will stay in the bag. That breaks the circle of carbon, one of the environment’s most important bases of structure. You get plastic bags everywhere, just try to think of ONE shop that doesn’t use them. If you did manage to think of one, congratulations, but it is the exception that proves this rule. It would be nice if we started seeing more reuseable bags people can buy or even paper bags, which are recyclable. But of course there IS no way to recycle paper in Mytilini. But that’s a different story.

Secondly, there’s just so much stuff when it comes to packages apart from the product. I opened the box my motherboard came in and every little accessory and thingie came in its own plastic wrapping or bag. And every accessory and every part I got had its own little plastic packages and bags. And every thing you ever buy has its own little plastic package that won’t melt before your grandchildren’s grandchildren write down their wills. It’s pathetic. The world is filling with more and more plastic every day. What are we going to do with all the stuff? Oceans are filling with it, land is, our homes are… It’s just crazy. I really hope that at some point there will be a collective realisation of how wasteful it is to use plastic wrappings, bags or just plastics in general in such quantities…