Snow!!!

We 're having a snow storm all aver Greece.

This is what I see when I look out the window of my house.......;)

Reminds me of Saltzburg......

Love.....actually

There is this movie I love called "Love Actually"

Many people would call it a 'chick flick' however to me this is a movie that says so much about love in such an emotional yet funny way...I have it in my top ten list right up there with Visconti's 'Il Gattopardo' and Cubrick's '2001'.

(Not to mention the scene where Hugh Grant dances to the beat of 'Jump'!):)

What I love about it is that it catches (for me) the true (almost) essence of love.

Love is not always the way it is supposed to be, brings you into trouble, hurts you, makes you choose when you do not really want to choose, and true love, when faced with bravery will literally make you move mountains. Because love is actually......all around.

Everyone needs love. Anyone who says he doesn't need love is a crippled fool.

But how easy is it to find love? Well...not so easy.......

We have all been in relationships where we thought we were in love and later on we wonder how on earth we were ever with that person. We have all been in bad relationships, awful and hurtful etc etc.

But what about the good ones?

I have felt that I'm falling in love after only hours of meeting a person. And I'm not talking about wanting to rip the clothes of him and drag him into bed, (which, lets be honest , is not that difficult if you've had a couple of drinks - Kir Royal in my case) I'm talking about feeling this emotional and psychic connection that makes you feel so utterly not alone. The feeling that lifts the barriers of your lonely existence, even for a moment, and takes away the suffering of the loneliness of humanity.

Plato said that love , 'Eros' is the longing of the soul for its eternal ancient other half. Also lets not forget the ancient greek myth where Eros and Psyche are the two eternal lovers.

The truth is, love is the only thing that makes the emptiness bearrable.

And it is also so very difficult to find. Many time you think you re in love only to see in the end that you were mistaken.

For to be in love and to be loved back one has to like you and accept you for what you are. And then to care for you , for your spiritual growth. That is to me very important. To be willing (not necesserily able) to move mountains or at least to try for you. To be the eternal explorer.

I have a thing. I love looking at the sky. The night sky. To me the night sky, full of stars, is a never ending hope. Whenever I look upon it I am filled with awe and hope and happiness. And at those moments I do not feel alone.

If this is a feeling I can share with someone than I am in love truly. Very few times have I experienced this. Do not ask me if those were true.

Of course there is also the aspect of physical attraction. To get back to the ripping the clothes of him part.

Sex is very enjoyable:) But you can have sex without being in love. Enjoy it very much and not be in love. A chemistry! The alchemy of the body, what can I say....

But sex when you are in love, now that's something different . Not only a physical but also an emotional and spiritual experience. Its......heaven realy:) Or as close as you can get to it for a few moments in time.

And again it has to do with the lifting of the barriers of loneliness. We humans are so lonely creatures.

To love you have to first accept and love and appreciate yourself otherwise you are not capable of loving or be loved by anyone else. And then you have to throw out of your life everyone that hurts you, tries to hold you back, make you miserable, make a mockery of what you are, what you believe, what you love. Make a mockery of your life.

Love is NOT ABOUT MAKING COMPROMISES!!!!! (at least not always)

Love is about first of all be loved for who you are and love the other person for who they are. Oh and wanting to rip the clothes of each other is not bad either.

Love is fighting when there is no hope. Overcoming obstacles that you thought were impossible to overcome. Have music in your heart. Love makes you want to evolve and be better. Love is .....well.....its life.

As Anthony Hopkins so eloquently puts it in another of my favorite movies 'Meet Joe Black' :

"I want you to get swept away. I want you to levitate. I want you to sing with rapture, dance like a dervish.

I know it's a cornball thing but love is passion, obsession, someone you can't live without. If you don't start with that, what are you going to end up with? I say fall head over heels. Find someone you can love like crazy and who'll love you the same way back. And how do you find him? Forget your head and listen to your heart.


I'm not hearing any heart. Run the risk, if you get hurt, you'll come back. Because, the truth is there is no sense living your life without this. To make the journey and not fall deeply in love - well, you haven't lived a life at all. You have to try. Because if you haven't tried, you haven't lived. "

As I have said before : "Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind."

Happy Birthday RDA!!!

In the Chinese horoscope RDA is born in the Year of the Metal Tiger!

The Tiger is said to be lucky vivid, lively and engaging. Another attribute of the Tiger is his incredible bravery, evidenced in his willingness to engage in battle or his undying courage. Maybe he’s so brave because he is so lucky. But the Chinese say a Tiger having a Tiger in the house is the very best protection against the evils of fire, burglary.

The Metal element gives the Tiger its sharpness in action and speed of thought. Tigers born in the Metal year like to stand out in a crowd. With an inspiring assertiveness and competitive demeanor, they determine their goals and then do anything necessary to achieve them. This good-looking character sometimes suffers from mood swings and temper tantrums. The Tiger can be known to jump to conclusions or to act too quickly without weighing the options or understanding the consequences. This is a flaw Tigers must learn to curb.


Tigers do not find worth in power or money. They will be completely honest about how they feel and expect the same of you. On the other hand, they seek approval from peers and family.

Generally, because of their charming personalities Tigers are well liked. Often, failing at a given task or being unproductive in his personal or professional life can cause a Tiger to experience a depression. Criticism from loved ones can also generate this type of Tiger reaction. Still, like all felines, Tigers always land on their feet, ready for their next act in life, pursuing it with unyielding energy and hunting it infallibly.

Tigers are also incorrigibly competitive - they simply cannot pass up a challenge, especially when honor is at stake, or they are protecting those they love. Tigers are unpredictable and it would be unwise to underestimate their reactions. They may appear cool, but they have the Big Cat's instincts to pounce at a moment's warning. Natural leaders, they have a strong sense of their own dignity, and if they find themselves in the ranks, they can be stubborn and obstinate. In positions of power they can be difficult though stimulating bosses. Tigers are intelligent, alert, and farsighted. They have their fingers on the pulse. Good strategists and tacticians, they often have a hidden agenda. As long as they do not risk their luck too often, and keep their restless nature under control, their tactics usually pay off in life.

Western counterpart—Aquarius

CHARACTERISTICS

Courage, Vehemence, Self-Reliance, Friendliness, Hopefulness, Resilience, Vanity, Disregard

Bad day bad day bad day!!:PPP

You think I'm laughing? I am.......hysterically.

Yesterday just as I left we had a general network failure.

Think that sounds bad? IT IS!!!

The whole network came down with a big crash, all systems all interfaces everything.

And of course when it resumed hell broke loose......don't you just love it when nothing works?:P

I was on stand by so I returned.....it was funny because as soon as I picked up the phone the operators started telling me about the active alarms, after about 3 min I asked them, guys do we have ANY working system?

They said no. Ok I said thats a pretty descriptive answer.

The systems of course are now fine. I on the other hand and many other engineers and vendors and network and IT people are not............we did have anice time though, bonded (for hours) while spending a big part of the night and then again in the morning on company premises.

A the joy f telecoms.....gotta love them.....

People say I m sick to love this job......they have apoint......I do love it though.....

I don't think you can really say anything about a hard day at work till you've tried telecomms. It a whole new ballgame.

Need sleep......again.....

Passion.......such a simple word. A small word. We use it everyday in insignificant sentences.

And yet......such a large word.

I miss passion. The kind of passion that sweeps you of your feet. The kind that would make one change a life. The kind that breaks barriers, and makes songs, and paintings and music and works or art.

The kind that breaks your heart forever and ever. The kind that you remember when you are old. The kind that transforms the grey curtain of everyday life into the colourful true world.

The kind that inspired Da Vinci and Verdi and Puccini and Keats.

Passion. A small and insignificant word.

I realise now how long it has been since I have felt it in my very soul. And I miss it so very much.

As Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said :

"Nothing great in the world has been achieved without passion"

And Federico Fellini :

"There is no end. There is no beginning. There is only the passion of life"

And for those who say that passion is to be controlled, or feared I answer with the word of D.H Lawrence:

"Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot."

As for those who say are reasonable, who say are governed only by reason Francois de la Rochefoucauld says :

"If we resist our passions, it is more through their weakness than from our strength"

And at last, even though not my favourite when it comes to philosophy, Bertrand Russel describes me :

"Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind."

I'm having a really bad time, since someone smashed my car. I mean literally smashed it in the middle of the night, woke up the next day and found it in pieces. And I know what I might be told its just a car.

Well its not just a car. This car is my dream come true, my companion in traveling, my willing friend in loneliness, my compassionate ear when I need to unwind, my careless buddy when I want to listen to music over the allowed sound limit......my luxury and my weakness. And anyone who knows me knows my fondness for this car.

When I get out of the house in the morning I look at her (its a she) and I speak to her:-) I ask her 'Hi gorgeous, care to go out for a spin?'....She always says yes. She's always in the mood for the road. I love this about this car, it makes you want to travel, see the world, learn some new things. But always in style ;) Yes, yes my weakness.



To see it in such a state really ruined my time.

But......it will be fixed. And just to remind myself of how it looks like......this is it

Yes yes yes!

Today is my last day at work! No I'm not fired, I'm just finally having a few days off, before the new season begins (and being responsible for a few things like.....oh the little thing of our brand new - and our own finally- DSLAMS...I think I deserve 5 days) ;)

So anyway, I can't decide what I want to do....well sleep of course....sleep and sleep and sleep and then sleep some more.

See all the movies, and all the plays, go to all the clubs, get out of Athens, stay in Athens, see all 4 seasons of 24 again, since season 5 is about to begin (I definately have missed Jack Bauer!!!), see all 7 seasons of MacGyver again (at least my 100 top episodes)....

I think I'm not going to have time to do all these things :-)

Well I am going to try.....the last few months (years) have been extremely difficult for me and painful in many ways. So in these few days I think I'm not going to make the mistake people usually make, try to please everyone else besides themselves.

So I'm going to have along-overdue rest, switch off (AT LAST) the freaking phone and have a good night sleep (for the last 10 days that I've been on stand-by I was awaken either at 4 or 6 in the morning...why do all problems have to happen at night????) and do all the things that are pleasant and resting for my mind and soul...

Yes I know it sounds lame to watch 24 and MacGyver to relax and rest but what can I do I'm weird:)

I really do feel very very tired, content for what I've achieved in the last few weeks (work stuff, stand by and etc) and yet tired enough to desperately need silence.

I'm a lonely person most of the time, like to travel alone , go to the movies alone, but good company is always welcome (well...almost always...not during travelling)

Its ridicoulous that all I can plan ahead now is to sleep. Well.....thats what I need I guess.

I'm also tired by constantly trying for human interaction (yes I am a computer person to the end).

Always trying to make conversation, being understanding , supportiveblah blah blah....TIRED! I just want to shut up and read. Listen to music. Sleep.

(sleep seems to be the pattern here)

Hopefully I'll also get to drive around a bit, not just home-work, work-home (and shopping) but maybe go a bit further than Athens. If I 'm awake that is.

So, one hour to go.......:)

The pic is Dusty looking at me talking on the phone, contemplating on what would be better, to bite the phone or me?:P

And this is for a Happy New Year to me :-)






































P.S. This is what I have for breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight snack........(drooooooooooling):) (video file)

Tolkien's Birthday

Today, January 3d, is Tolkien's birthday. So on this occasion, since a real toast is not possible I would like to propose a toast to a man,




»How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?«

The Guardian

a magician in myth and lore, who defined the map of my imagination ever since I was 7 years old.

So ...To Professor Tolkien, Hail!


This picture was the cover of the very first Tolkien book I ever read, The Fellowship of the Ring. And I was hooked from the very first lines, Bilbo's birthday party.

Happy times.......