Relevantly Irrelevant
Happy new year! I wish this is your year’s soundtrack. May you swim with the seals all the way.
Found this awesome little song from Ran Prieur who had this to say:
Doctopus – Wobbegong is a garage rock masterpiece, and an example of the elusive raw and intense happy song that I mentioned a few weeks ago. This is their only great song.
Last year, I was preparing myself for leaving Greece for Bulgaria. For nine months at least.
Bulgaria happened. It really did, and it was nice.
Other things happened too and they, too, were nice. But lately I’ve been quite forgetful for some reason, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you what they were from the top of my head. Nothing I did alone, for sure. Scratch that. Travelling. Learning. Participating. Doing things like 7×7. Trying to devise ways to combat my demons. Those were the highlights.
Last year, when I was mentally preparing myself for Bulgaria, I had something coming up. Now I have nothing. I’m floating in limbo. I’m the master of my future and its slave, too. For the promises of alternate futures kill the excitement of the now.
Hey, I also wrote something about alternate calendars. Sometime around May. What would you be doing tonight if tonight wasn’t the end of a completely arbitrarily-marked period and the start of a new one full of—mostly false—promise? What if it was just another night?
It is just another night, isn’t it?
Maybe it isn’t. Or maybe it is! Especially if you want to pump out some goals for the year. It’s all in the mind, but that’s not a reason to dismiss the importance of new year’s, since some minds do place importance on things having distinct beginnings and ends. Some other minds are more cyclical in nature, but then that’s what the year is.
What the fuck is this rant? Am I writing things just to sound and feel important just like everyone else with their end-of-year-things is?
I… suppose. What else might the purpose of any such post be?
Ideally, right about now I would have the time, mental clarity and drive to post a New Year’s post that would show the world my ideas about what I wish to happen this year, my “resolutions” etc. Talking about resolutions, Mario blessed me with a brilliant idea: I wish my resolution this year to be HD. Everyone’s expecting a kind of VGA year. Well, not me.
You see, I’m at a crossroads of my life. I now live in Athens — for good. My future is uncertain beyond the point in time when I’ll get my degree in Cultural Technology, which can’t be too far away now. Uncertainty is refreshing but also scary. It’s not the change that is scary, it’s the possibilities, the endless possibilities… Before I have to take some important decision, I’m engineering my life to make living in Athens properly after something more than five years as much a pleasant, efficient, productive and educational experience as possible. In this way I may be able to make the eventual decision, under the insofar unknown circumstances, from a better position. It’s not easy and if one thing’s for certain, it’s not going to become easier. No matter how hard you plan to learn this language, read that book, cook that food, play this game, meet that person, gain the skill you always wanted to (now you have the time!), earn that money (with a little bit of luck), do that totally random thing, it’s obvious even from this early on that I won’t be able to make it all. I do have a list of things I want to do or achieve within 2012 (it does have a ring to it, this number, doesn’t it?), or at least within the next few months, but I feel it is kind of pointless to share it with my readers — either of them. Actions are going to talk much louder than words. In text form: actions are going to shine much brighter than pixels on a monitor.
My personal hope for 2012 is to not let myself be drowned in this constant pessimism that is spoon-fed to us in every way imaginable (it’s a pretty large spoon, hence the suffocation hazard). Right now, I want to live my real life, breathe the real air, take my real chances, radiate my true colours; everything else will come. I wish the same thing to everyone else. Don’t allow yourselves to be kept in the depths. Make it to the surface! See the world that is above and beyond, at least catch a glimpse of it. Be true to yourselves and maybe we can make something out of this situation. Even if the change comes, surf the wave, don’t break it. Never be afraid. Peace and respect. That is all.
Είμαι κρεβατωμένος και άρρωστος στην Αίγινα. Θυμήθηκα ότι δεν είχα γράψει για τις αλλαγές που είχα κάνει στον φελοπίνακα — τι φλασιές μου ‘ρχονται χρονιάρες μέρες… Ελπίζω να κάνω σύντομα και ένα εορταστικό Πρωτοχρονιάτικο ποστ, πάντως για τώρα:
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Μας εύχομαι όλους μια καλή, εποικοδομητική, συνειδητοποιητική, υγιής χρονιά, γεμάτη με αυτά που έκαναν, για μένα και για πολλούς, το 2010 τόσο ιδιαίτερο, και με ακόμα περισσότερα, πιο έντονα, πιο καθοριστικά, πιο υπερβατικά. Μακαρί η αλλαγή να έρθει στον κόσμο. Το νιώθω, κάπως, το νιώθω ότι αυτή την χρονιά θα γίνουν πολλά τα οποία ποτέ δεν θα περιμέναμε, και δεν εννοώ απαραίτητα καλά. Για την ακριβεία, μάλλον μιλάω για κακά πράγματα τα οποία μάλλον θα μας βρουν απροετοίμαστους. Πώς όμως θα φτάσουμε στην συνειδητοποίηση, στην μάχη για κάποιες ιδέες τέλος πάντων, χωρίς να φάμε τα σκατά; Για να δούμε. Γκουχ-γκουχ.
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Έλεγα για το corkboard! Αν δεν το έχετε κάνει, ρίξτε μια ματιά και προσπαθήστε να εντοπίσετε τις (λίγες) διαφορές/προσθήκες! Λειτουργικά, διόρθωσα μερικά προβλήματα επικάλυψης κουμπιών και πρόσθεσα και ένα mute/unmute button (ναι, Alhaz, άκουσα τα παράπονα σου περί εκνευριστικών τζιτζικιών…
Άντε, ορμίξτε στα περισευούμενα μελομακάρονα όσο υπάρχει χρόνος!
Last December had two full moons. Popularly, a second full moon in a single month is called a blue moon, even if that is not the correct definition (check here for more details). This moon rose on December 31st and set on January 1st. It was a full moon that connected two years. Or should I say, it connected two decades? I find it strangely symbolic that the last day of the year and decade just happened to be a full moon day… It was surreal going out to see the fireworks and having the huge light in the sky illuminating everything.
I will not treat the turn of the decade as time to contemplate change, look back or act as if starting today the world’s going to be different in some sort of way. It is still too early for us to even be able to say what the decade we just left behind us will be remembered for, let alone compare it with the fresh new one that’s just a signle day old. I will thus spare with the retrospective craze about how the past decade changed our lives. All I have to say on that is that every change made during this decade was sort of transitional… We ain’t seen nothing yet (sic).
My refusal to look back in sets of tens does not mean that I do not want to see what last year brought, however. It was certainly a full and interesting year for me. I’d like to take you to a sort of new year’s resolution I wrote last year, “More and Less of 2009”. This year’s “More and Less” will consist of all that I did not manage to do during 2009. I’ll give it a go:
More movies, more games, more languages, more activities, more biking, more photography, more people, more travelling, more new experiences, more love, more animals, more beauty, more cooking, more reading, more knowledge, more stars, more planets, more cleaning, more housekeeping, more real working, more specialisation, more subtitles, more cubimension, more music, more peace, more awareness, more spirituality, more science, more history, more dreams, more thoughts, more tea, more vegetables, more cake, more e-mails, more writing, more art, more friendliness, more phone calls, more letters, more enjoying the moment in the right way.
Less procrastinating, less shyness, less lazyness, less internet idleness, less msn, less stupid spending, less sleeping till the afternoon, less caffeine, less absent-mindedness.
These are my personal wishes for 2009.
Alex: You forgot more sex. And more anime. You forgot less facebook too. Less flies too! Yiek!Enloying the moment in a right way eh?..Dunno if you wishing this to yourself ooor you’re trying to tell me something…
More movies: I guess this is kind of a pass. I’m doing the whole kinimatografiki thing together with Garret, I’ve watched my fair share of movies in the past year… There’s definitely a lot more in my”want to see” list on Flixster, but is there anything out there really for which this can’t be said? I mean… not on my “want to see” list on Flixster, generally speaking…
Honourable mentions: Kubrick Month, District 9, Dogtooth, Some Like It Hot, The Shawshank Redemption, Inglourious Basterds
More games: Hmmm… my overall “games played” meter in 2009 is fairly similar to, if not lower than 2008’s. I did sign up for Game 2.0, which is good, but I feel that I haven’t played enough games that I’ve been aching to play. I’m up to the neck in music games, if that’s any development. I even got more of an acquired taste in strategies!
Honourable mentions: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts&Bolts, Victoria, The Longest Journey, Modern Warfare 2, Peggle Nights, Luxor, StarCraft
More languages: My go at learning Japanese crashed and burned and I’ve made little progress with German…next question!! :/
More activities: That’s a check in many different ways.Theatriki, Kinimatografiki, Fotografiki, being out a lot, I have the distinct impression I’ve been pretty active, thank you!
More biking: um… R.I.P.
More photography: That’s a check as well! Just have a look at my Flickr for the results! :}
More people: Yes, met many new people this year but got to know few. This one’s up in the air as is always has and always will be I guess.
More travelling: Turkey, Peloponnese, Kerkyra, Rodos… Good, but I don’t think it can compare to 2008 in any way, many plans died out or haven’t been realised yet. But there’s much hope for 2010, I’ll tell you that.
More new experiences: Always on the lookout! Many experiences I shall cherish forever.
More love: That’s a tough one. I’ll say check, even though I’m not sure if everything I have in mind is aspects of love or something else entirely.
More animals: Does the army of cats on the watch outside my apartment count? 😛
More beauty: Just like new experiences, always looking for more!
More cooking: FAIL UNLIMITED! 🙁
More reading: Hmmm… I give this one a hearty check. In the past 12 months I read many books that I’ll remember for years to come. Coming in contact with Saramago, Gaarder and Mazower are no small matters.
More knowledge: Yes! I I owe this largely to Despina Catapoti for being the best prof ever and leading me to planes of gnosis I always wanted to visit but I wasn’t aware of. Cultural studies, postmodernism, philosophy were all redefined in my head. I feel like my mind has opened even more.
More stars: I don’t have a telescope… yet… but it’s been a fine astronomical year with many a starry sky and gazing alone or in good company.
More planets: If this is astrology (I don’t remember), I’m now feeling a bit mixed on the issue.
More cleaning/housekeeping: This has reached an all time low… For shame.
More real working: I made my first real money in 2009, which is great. Game 2.0 or my EAA Museum and other uni projects also count and I stand proud!
More specialisation: …hm… nah.
More subtitles: Yes indeed, I did some and I was paid for it. Moar plz.
More cubimension: Another healthy check and it’s getting better!
More music: Not many new bands came into my attention this year, but I’ve been listening to music, yay! 😛 Buying The Incident in Special Edition is something I’m not sure I regret yet.
More peace: No, I wasn’t in peace for much of last year. Good or bad? I cannot tell.
More awareness: Not very successsful, many a time did I let my wandering thoughts cloud my perception of the present. Not a good thing.
More spirituality: I’ve been trying to delve into the secrets of eastern philosophy… Tao and Physics is an excellent book on the subject, but Tao is so deep and mistifying I’m confused and left in awe at the same time. Somewhat healthy.
More science: Web Science Conference?! Hehe, well I’ve been reading some pop science books, if that counts…
More history: Yes yes! Playing Victoria, reading Mazower and looking into alternate histories, listening to Despina talk…
More dreams: After “Counting Sheep”, my take on sleep was briefly something completely different and new. Now I’ve somewhat subconsciously returned to my bad old take of “sleep cuts away from your waking time”… I must make it a point to follow some online lucid dreaming classes.
More thoughts: I’ve been thinking…
More tea: I got this huge bag of tea from Ayvalik (which cops mistook for half a kilo of weed…) and I still haven’t made any of it. Maybe I’m still recovering from the tea overload in Turkey. Or maybe my boiler is kaput. No wait, it is.
More vegetables: uh, I don’t think I’ve been eating any more or any less… I shoud make a habit of making salads a la mama though, they’re downright awesome.
More cake: fail. Or is it?
More e-mails: And all to the same handful of special someones as last year. Pah, no good. 😛
More writing: Judging from my surge of cubimension interest, that’s a positive.
More art: I’ve done my part. That collage for Alex and a lot of digital art tidbits… I know I can do better though.
More friendliness: I think I might be going well with this. Might.
More phone calls: and to whom, I wonder… But you know that I dislike phones!
More letters: I don’t think I wrote a signle one.
More enjoying the moment in the right way: I… think I got that one. Or maybe not. Or maybe both. Or maybe it’s too hard to tell as a rule. Or maybe I’m still trying to do it.
Less procrastinating: No one ever entirely gets away from this one… But it is the goal.
Less shyness: I’ve seen myself be very shy and very not shy. Soooo…
Less lazyness: I think I’m less lazy than usual. Yes.
Less internet idleness: Working on that one but I think I’ve made some progress.
Less MSN: Considerably.
Less stupid spending: …yes, but I still turn out with less money than I calculated. Maybe the definition of stupid has simply jumped around.
Less sleeping till the afternoon: …to which I’ll add: less going to sleep after dawn!
Less caffeine: HAH! Good one!
Less absent-mindedness: Hmmm. Yes.
More sex: Quantity-wise or quality-wise? It makes all the difference in the world.
Less Facebook: I managed to deactivate it. TOTAL SUCCESS!
More anime: Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of One Piece. But where’s my Cowboy Bebop?
Less flies: Less flies, I agree. And less cockroaches please!
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