konstantinos’ blog

Καλοκαιρινές διακοπές τέλος, επιστροφή στο (αρκετά ζεστό και τολμώ να πω ευχάριστο) Λονδίνο και επιστροφή στην ρουτίνα. Αυτά συνοψίζουν την κυρίαρχη επικαιρότητα της καθημερινότητας μου τις τελευταίες δυο εβδομάδες. Στο περίπου… γιατί τις τελευταίες 5-6 μέρες τις πέρασα στο κρεβάτι μακριά από όλα και όλους παρέα με έναν αχρηστευμένο λαιμό, θερμοκρασίες που έφτασαν τα δεύτερα άντα, το θερμόμετρο και τα χάπια μου. Τουλάχιστον όλα αυτά έχουν εξαφανιστεί τώρα …εκτός από τα χάπια, για λίγο ακόμα.

Το μόνο θετικό από την όλη κατάσταση είναι ότι ξανάνοιωσα πόσο ωραίο είναι να έχεις το πρόγραμμα του φοιτητή: να μην πας στη δουλεία, να είσαι όλη μέρα σπίτι, να μην έχεις πρωϊνό ξύπνημα και να ασχολείσαι με πράγματα που αλλιώς δε θα είχες πολύ χρόνο γι’αυτά. Ένα από αυτά είναι και τούτο το βλόγι (δε θυμάμαι που πρωτοδιάβασα αυτή την λέξη… αλλά την υιοθετώ γιατί μου αρέσει!). Αν κάποιος από τους πέντε άντε έξι αναγνώστες μου δεν κατάλαβε ακόμα, αυτό είναι το πρώτο μου πόστι (ένα βλόγι αποτελείται από πολλά ή και λίγα καλή ώρα πόστια) γραμμένο στα ελληνικά! [ήχος από πυροτεχνήματα και από πολλά μπαλόνια που σπάνε στον αέρα]. Και αν αυτό δεν είναι αρκετό για να αποτελέσει μια καλή αναννέωση για αυτό το βλόγι, τότε πιστεύω πως η νέα εμφάνισή του συμβάλει επίσης προς αυτό. Αλλαγή από το “yellow power” στο “bondi blue power” λοιπόν όπως πληροφορεί και το κάτω μέρος!

Η αλήθεια είναι ότι θα ήθελα να γράψω τόσα πολλά για τις διακοπές μου στην Ελλάδα αυτή την φορά αλλά για άλλη μία φορά δεν ξέρω από που να πρωτοξεκινήσω. Τo σίγουρο είναι ότι κάθε χρόνο που πηγαίνω Ελλάδα καλοκαίρι και γυρίζω μετά πίσω νοιώθω όλο και χειρότερα γιατί απλά περνάω τόσο όμορφα κάτω που το πίσω μοιάζει τόσο μίζερο και καταθλιπτικό! Πόσο μάλλον αυτή την φορά που γυρνάω Λονδίνο ενώ όλοι οι (Έλληνες) φίλοι μου ετοιμάζονται να την κάνουν τώρα για πιο ηλιόλουστα μέρη. Τουλάχιστον θα έχω να θυμάμαι ωραίες στιγμές ανάμεσα στις οποίες ένας πολύ όμορφος γάμος με πολύ PR από την πλευρά μου, χεχε (…Να Ζήσετε!), ένα γρήγορο ταξίδι στην “τώρα καταλαβαίνω γιατί τόσο hype” Μύκονο!, βραδιές στο κέντρο της Αθήνας με πολλές παλιές και νέες παρέες που ήδη νοσταλγώ (μπεεεε!) και βραδυνές βόλτες με αγαπημένες μουσικές κατά μήκος της παραλιακής πλευράς της Αθήνας. Είναι τόσο όμορφη αυτή η πόλη! αχχχ…’

Άραγε νοιώθουν κ”αι άλλοι το ίδιο? Και πως είναι να μένεις μόνιμα εκεί και να μη ζεις μόνο τα θετικά στοιχεία του “κάνω διακοπές στην Αθήνα”? Νομίζω πως το “αχχχ” θα ήταν ίδιο για μένα, ίσως με λιγότερα “χ”! Anyway (για να μην ξεχνάμε και τα αγγλικά μας), οπουδήποτε είναι καλά αρκεί να μπορείς να δεις τα θετικά και το Λονδίνο έχει πράγματι πολλά ωραία στοιχεία εκτός από ένα: ΔΕΝ του πάει ο καλοκαιρινός αέρας! χεχε. Στο ξημέρωμα της θερμότερης ίσως ως σήμερα μέρας του καλοκαιριού σε τούτη την πόλη θα κλείσω αυτό το πόστι με καλοκαιρινές εικόνες από τη νήσο Μύκονο. Λίγες, λιτές, χωρίς προσωπα αλλά με πολύ ελληνική καλοκαιρινή διάθεση. Καλές διακοπές και καλή επιστροφή σε όσους μπορεί να αναφέρεται αυτό.

Snapshots. Different snapshots of areas, moods, times, locations that are part of this city. Older or more recent, in or out, under the sun, wet by a boring rain or lit by an artificial light, these snapshots are always keeping happy memories alive…

…to the days to come dear Londoners

Kely, Alkisti, Marios, Antonis, Christos, Christos, Stefanos, Sarah, Nikitas, Mariana, George, Neils, Peter, Panos and Alex

It’s nice to spend a long weekend with people you love and care for. It’s not nice…it’s great! Had a great time with Olga (my sis) and Eleni (her best friend and a good friend of mine too). Looking forward to being your host in London again!

Just a few photos (and actually almost all the photos) we shot together these last three days …and time for some Photoshop play

A beautiful night at Islington Academy in Angel, London watching Delerium on stage… and taking advantage of my brand new camera in difficult shooting conditions! The canadian “band” was great and especially the singer with her theatrical performance and the strong voice. Nice touch, the video projection of images and video related to the (mainly) ambient songs. And not to forget, Christos and Christos… whose company I really enjoy lately.

In general, a nice gig that cannot be compared though to the last one I went (back in October if I remember correct, lol). Then it was LCD Soundsystem, an unknown to me group by that time. Of course, I always enjoy gigs and since I haven’t been to many in the past years, it’s among my first priorities from now and on.

So have a small taste of Delerium live by looking at the following photos. I’ll let you choose on your own the soundtrack…

the opening supporting group… or should I say solo artist!

when the supporting solo is turning to a group! (…nice track by the way)

and still “supporting” with male vocals this time

the intermediate (really good) dj set before Delerium come on stage

and the essential (shitty) artistic photo! hehe

Delerium have just started playing

Delerium’s singer; a voice not as ethereal as Sarah’s McLahan or Leigh’s Nash but still great!

emotional performance combined with inspiring video projection

(almost) the whole group on stage…

…and here’s the soul behind Delerium; Bill Leeb

And a memo photo to remember this night out (hope you don’t mind Christos on the right!)…

P.S. Did I mention how impressed I’m with my new camera? Believe me, it’s hard to get these photos with an inexpensive compact digital camera… Hail Ricoh!

My holidays in Greece are history and I’m back in London since last night. With all my personal belongings this time! (almost all… my new favourite smart jacket is still somewhere in an empty house in central Greece). Undoubtedly, I had a great time in all the places I visited. My only concern is the fact that due to practical difficulties I didn’t meet many of the friends I really wanted to see this time (especially Anda and Kostas… if you read these lines). The new thing in these holidays has a name: Sarah. My friend, course-mate and iColleague who came to visit me in Athens for the last 5 days of my stay there. Showing mainly Athens to a foreigner through the perspective of an Athenian was something I was looking forward to since the moment that Sarah suggested coming to Greece back in February. The whole process turned out to have much more fun than I’d have expected. Along with Sarah, I also had a great time, especially cause I spent many hours close to the beautiful west coastline of Attika. And believe me, what I really miss since I moved to London is not the Greeks or the food, but some wine the sea and the sun. A daily trip to Hydra was also the highlight of Sarah’s visit to my home country. And along with that a sunburn (which I hope it turns to a discrete tan in the next days). Probably Sarah should comment here with her impressions from her journey… but from what I know two things made her good impression; the men and the food… and the order is probably not random cause as she is a vegetarian she didn’t have the chance to eat many of the infamous dishes of the greek cuisine.

I could write many many things as always about the last 10 days but as is usually the case I won’t do it. lol. I’ll just put here a few of the photos I shot with my new present (thanks a lot). Enjoy…

Nice things are soon to follow. And returning home feels always so pleasant even after leaving back all these beautiful places. First day at work tomorrow! Hooray…

A post that was supposed to be published yesterday, but it was eaten by “marmagka”! lol (my non-greek speaking friends ask me and you’ll get your answers!). Anyway, it’s never too late for random thoughts that make no sense…

It’s a quiet Monday night. One of the nights that I have the pleasure to return home a bit earlier than usual and relax in front of the pc screen (weird, pathetic, geeky, miserable and other similar adjectives you can think of fit here) by enjoying the things that I cannot enjoy during the rest of the hours of the day sitting in front of the (office’s) mac. And these things may seem of minimum importance (deleting application requests on facebook, reading comments and journals on deviantArt, comparing the various online savings account that UK banks offer, reading the news in in.gr, watching the latest and increasingly weird videos that Preppy uploads, spreading online “holas” to the few this night msn friends online, listening for 40th time this week to monika’s songs and …phew…. other things) but as part of a combined process called “killing time online” they all contribute to going to bed satisfied having that feeling that a usual working day can be equally positively busy as a weekend day. These one-two last hours of Monday offer me enough time to keep up with my online “setup”… the one established but always maturing in the last 27-15=12 years. Simply put, it’s the illusive or not idea that I still have time to explore and be updated. Time to even update this blog! Obviously, my writing skills are inadequate to fully explain what I want to say but I’m sure that people around my age having a similar daily schedule with me have felt the same.

Please raise yours hands

And the result of this long intro is that after I’ll have finished writing these lines I’ll be on my bed feeling full of today. And that’s good for the next day, and the day after that and the next and the ne x t. Because I can stay till very late at the office tomorrow (very common for a Tuesday) but not worrying enough that I need to catch up with the things inside which my online persona lives. Things that remind me of the old “student” days. Things that along with the present, guide me to do even more interesting things, meet more compatible to myself people and have a better time. Surprisingly, most of my current friends are people I met behind a nickname, a blogspot address, a forum, a ‘marketing-ly called’ social network. Not that many years ago I would consider that strange and probably wouldn’t be supportive of the idea, but one positive thing of me is that I don’t hesitate trying things because I don’t think a lot. And this lack of deeper brainstorming has indeed proved positive. More and more “enjoyable” friends, less time for the rest ones, better times! Am I only touching the surface? Probably, but who cares? Reminder: I don’t think a lot. Maybe that’s the hint to constantly feeling happy. I may not be, but I don’t know it. Hahahahh. How cool is that? At least this post is coming to an end. And that makes me happy too; Time is 12:46am and coincidently Morrissey is singing “In the future when all’s well”. Time for bed. Wish everybody all well (meaning the best).

Model: Canon PowerShot S70
Shutter Speed: 1/1244 second
F Number: F/8.0
Focal Length: 6 mm
Date Picture Taken: May 31, 2006, 7:16:12 PM

Did I tell you that I’ll never (in the near future) have the chance to take photos again… my precious camera is also on their hands…

…was the weekend that has just given its turn to the third Monday of this month. A weekend characterised by one thing; rediscovering how interesting life in London can be. In a few words and in chronological order, a masters course mates reunion and the discussion that took place around a “new kind of subject” untouched until very recently (my mistake!), an amazing new night-life spot which I want to believe that few people in London already know (call me “Shunt”), a retrospective exhibition at Tate which makes me realise that even sculptor is a new art territory of interest for me (call me “Juan Muñoz” exhibition), a visit to a relatively new and promising (g/c)lubbing space in Soho (call me lo-…) and finally a sunny Sunday spent at various districts of this city (Picadilly, Tottenham Ct Rd, Angel and Canary Wharf… ouf) including a nice lunch (call me “Satsuma), a quick “business” meeting, a “pastitsio from Alkisti, Kely and the new couple” dinner and a great movie (call me “There will be blood”).

What else can someone ask from his weekend? … a repetition in 5 days could be a good proposal… although next weekend starts on Saturday evening… so a repetition in 6 days could be the proper proposal.

“Spanish sculptor (b. June 17, 1953, Madrid, Spain—d. Aug. 28, 2001, Ibiza, Spain), created moody and challenging installation artworks, most of which featured monochromatic human figures placed amid unnerving architectural spaces and often incorporating animatronics and sound.”

Friday night and finally decided to stay in(!!!). That’s so not me for whoever knows me in real life. Many phone calls, many plans and many friends that could possibly go out with… but I think I just needed to stay in and relax a bit, after the busy week that has just ended. Besides, Saturday and Sunday is so close and as always I’ve scheduled more things to do than I could possible have the time and physical resources to do so. I was discussing about this issue with a very good friend of mine (and colleague since December) and I was explaining to her my thought that my life is like a constant party. I don’t know how different people understand that and whether they can have the same feeling about their lives but this is exactly how I feel especially after I got my first full time job two months ago.

I had always been a very optimistic person who only sees the bright side of the things. However, I now have this “constant partying” thought because I still try to fit in my days and nights all the things that I enjoyed doing all the previous years when I was a student and fortunately I had pleeeenty of free time. Time that you only appreciate after you start working on a full time basis. Time that you now want to fill with so many activities whereas two months ago you wouldn’t even bother too much. And my job is not the typical kind of a 9-5 office job, at least practically. During a working day I usually cannot treat myself with more than 4-5 hours of free time. But, I am so excited that I am doing this kind of (publishing) job in an office full of the coolest people I can imagine for my colleagues, managers, bosses etc. It’s like these old school days when I never wanted to miss going to the school because I always had a great time there!! (…call me weird, abnormal or a geek… it’s the truth).

Office excitement … and then there are these few hours left to catch up with your friends, your hobbies, your as-it-used-to-be life. And there are two options here; relax, calm down and let tiredness absorb the last trace of willingness to do more things (see “go to bed from 11pm”) OR keep an active pace and try to maintain the social nightlife you used to have before! And by nightlife I don’t (always) mean go for a drink, have a special dinner, go for clubbing or do whatever “living” at night can include, but by definition whatever you do in London on February and after 4pm doesn’t take place under the sun. I am, of course, up for the second option and that explains in a good way what I stated at the beginning of this text… “constant party”. To sum up, five busy days and nights during the week and then comes the weekend!!

Two days in which you want to do all the things you cannot do in every other day that doesn’t start with an “S”. Friends from London or not, people that you want to spend time with because reasonably they are more than friends or unreasonably less than friends but in a strange way you prioritise meetings with them. Many times, I find myself thinking that I am so fortunate to have so many friends in London (and in general) and almost the same number of times I am getting worried that I will never find the time to properly spend a few hours with every and each of them. Prioritisation and concentration is the key here! Surely, I am still not very successful in that but I am trying.

And apart from “people” there are “activities” that I enjoy and need time to dedicate on them; classical old school activities that you don’t want to forget because they had always been part of what gives you joy, like visiting Tate and other relevant sites, reading wallpaper*-like magazines, updating/exploring/recalling my musical library or pushing my camera’s shutter button, and new more social and extremely addicting recently-adopted activities related to deviantART and other online arts communities, related to more of “provato-style” and less of “titanas-style” (why? …i still read that?) blogs and and and …

I wish days had 30 hours or more! Just a few extra hours to reclaim the lost sense of having time for a bit of everything while having the luxury of standing on the right side of the escalators of the underground. Maybe I’ am just too new in these updated settings of my life. Balance will probably be established soon. It has to… but constant partying doesn’t have to end.

(random thoughts of a Friday night… if all these don’t make any sense to you just hit the back button of your browser or even better close the browser and arrange a party!)

Back from California… back to London. Maybe it’s funny to say that but I really missed London. After all it gets a bit tiring living in a hotel (three different hotels particularly) for 24 days! However, I have to admit that my trip to Cupertino and San Francisco was a great experience for me and I am looking forward to the next time I can travel there.

I could probably write thousands of words about the places I visited, the places I ate or had a drink at, the things I did or the people I met. But since I write this post while I am at the office, I will just give you the link to the gallery I have created with some of the photos I took while being at US. And to make it more official: (lol)

In the last few days I have discovered the true meaning of the word busy. 19 hours of continuous work at the office is my new record! …and maybe I’ll have another record by next week! At least there is always the sweat thought of staying at San Francisco after the end of this project. Until then, I can only enjoy my king size bed at Cupertino …another new experience for me

Missing the contact of many of you and the different timezone doesn’t help either in calling you at an appropriate time. Hope to catch up soon though.