I did not forget

Hronia pola, Happy Name day!! I know it was yesterday... :) tt
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El Mirador - La frase

"Nunca des ni todo tu dinero, ni todo tu amor" Luis - a 64 Kms de profundidad en la selva de El Peten, en el sitio arqueologico El Mirador, por la noche, escuchando la jungla de fondo, la unica luz el fuego y las estrellas, hablando del amor, de la vida... y con un porrito de mari en la mano... Sabio este Luis, el guia de la selva... :)
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Si pasa el tiempo

Espero a ver lo que ocurre cuando pase el tiempo, si la verdad de todo lo pasado sigue estando ahi y sigue pareciendome mentira, si de una vez soy capaz de recordarlo todo para poder olvidar.
En estos dias vuelvo a controlar las horas, son mis horas aunque aun me robes algunos minutos.
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Happy belated 4th of July

There is one thing I always forget to write but I found it really nice.

Last 4th of July I saw a hooker in a street in Barcelona dressed with a very sexy dress in the colours of the American flag! Isn't this the best way for international understanding?
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There is nothing (much) better...

than drinking alcohol, since 10 o clock in the morning, for 10 hours straight during Carneval in freezing Germany...

PS and then listening to Björk's New World
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This is an ad-free blog!

Or is this just another way of saying:

We do not have enough hits to make any serious amounts of money from ads!

PS I mean, really, if you had a blog with 1 million hits a day, you would not put a single ad? It would be such a waste...
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Suicidal Poetry

i remembered because of a post in Versutia, some very nice poems of Kostas Karyotakis about suicides and persons who (dont) commit it.

Ιδανικοί Αυτόχειρες (to read listening to Summertime, the original with Billie Holliday/Louis Armstrong) .


Γυρίζουν το κλειδί στην πόρτα, παίρνουντα παλιά, φυλαγμένα γράμματά τους,διαβάζουν ήσυχα, κι έπειτα σέρνουνγια τελευταία φορά τα βήματά τους.

They turn the key, take their old kept letters, read them quietly and drag their footsteps one last time.

Ήταν η ζωή τους, λένε, τραγωδία. Θεέ μου, το φριχτό γέλιο των ανθρώπων, τα δάκρυα, ο ιδρώς, η νοσταλγία των ουρανών, η ερημία των τόπων.

Their life, it was a tragedy. God, the horrible laughter of the people, the tears, sweat, nostalgy for the skies, the emptiness of spaces.

Στέκονται στο παράθυρο, κοιτάνε τα δέντρα, τα παιδιά, πέρα τη φύση, τους μαρμαράδες που σφυροκοπάνε,τον ήλιο που για πάντα θέλει δύσει.

They stand by the window, look at the trees, children, the nature outside, marble workers hammering, the sky setting down for ever.

Όλα τελείωσαν. Το σημείωμα να το, σύντομο, απλό, βαθύ, καθώς ταιριάζει, αδιαφορία, συγχώρηση γεμάτο για κείνον που θα κλαίει και θα διαβάζει.

Its over. The note, here it is, simple short and deep, as is befitting. Full of indifference and forgiveness for him who will read and cry.

Βλέπουν τον καθρέπτη, βλέπουν την ώρα, ρωτούν αν είναι τρέλα τάχα η λάθος, «όλα τελείωσαν» ψιθυρίζουν «τώρα»,πως Θ’ αναβάλουν βέβαιοι κατά βάθος

They look in the mirror, check the time, ask if it's madness maybe or a mistake "it's all over" they whisper "now", being sure they will postpone.


And another, really funny one

εμβατηριο πενθιμο και κατακορυφο (Sad and vertical funeral march)


Στο ταβανι βλεπω τους γυψους μαιανδροι στο χορο τους με τραβανε

In the ceiling I see the plasters, meanders call me to their dance

Η ευτυχια μου, σκεπτομαι, θα ειναι ζητημα υψους

My happiness I think is a matter of height

Συμβολα ζωης υπερτερας,ροδα αναλλοιωτα, μετουσιωμενα,
λευκες ακανθες ολογυρα σε ενα Αμαλθειο κερας

Ταπεινη τεχνη χωρις υφος ποσο αργα δεχομαι το διδαγμα σου!
ονειρο αναγλυφο, θα 'ρθω κοντα σου κατακορυφως

Humble art without style, how late I get your meaning!
Dream in bas-relief, I am coming to you vertically

Οι οριζοντες θα με εχουν πνιξει,σ'ολα τα κλιματα, σ'ολα τα πλατη,
αγωνες για το ψωμι και το αλατι, ερωτες, πληξη

Α! πρεπει τωρα να φορεσω το ωραιο εκεινο γυψινο στεφανι
ετσι, με πλαισιο γυρω το ταβανι,πολυ θα αρεσω.

Ah! now its time to wear that beautiful plaster crown
thus, framed by the ceiling, I will be smashing
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Chronos*

I feel I am fading as time goes by. I know it sounds trivial, but it is a relatively new feeling to me.

I realised something: I am growing as a person, I am getting more creative, funny, interesting, deep, experienced. But all this is only inside. I don't care about the inside! I want my physique to be stable, my body to be young!

Sure my inner world when I am 90 will be radiating. Who cares? I will be a disgusting, disfigured, decayed peace of meat!

Why is everything getting better but not the thing that matters most?
What can I do with a Porsche in 20 years, when I will be least suited to enjoy it? What can I do with my complete freedom to do as I please, liberated of all constraints, financial, philosophical or other, if I am becoming too bored, too lazy, too satiated to enjoy it?

Why dont't we have the things and ideas we need, in the time we can enjoy them most? There really seems to be some imbalance here...


*means time
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CSS and the future of mankind

I recently started playing with CSS. Damn, its a great tool to make webpages, such a great improvement over things that were invented 6 years ago and now look ancient. I was thinking, where are the limits to what we can do? We can always make things faster, better, prettier. The very idea of software, something that can be improved infinitely without adding new resources, is unbounding our powers from the chains of physical reality. The only limit of our capabiblities is the power of our imagination.

I remembered this line from some Pink Floyd lyrics in the Division Bell* something happened that unleashed the power of our imagination and... we learned to talk.


Well I reckon something is happening every day which is unleashing the powers of our imagination and we are learning to talk, think, create, improve our world. 300 years ago we would probably get born in the mud, live a short painful life and die a premature death. Today any person with minimum money can create new things, nice things, wonderful things. A kid with a computer can improve our world. A guy can create a movie in his garage. An old woman with a blog, can discover her writing talent at last. That is nice...


*which I might say is a quite underestimated album.
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So...

what's the point, anyway?

why struggle to achieve anything, when you can make no difference? So many people living their lives quietly... Don't they know, anyway, humanity will eventually disappear, like tears in the rain...


ΥΓ νιωθω μηδενιστης σημερα...
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Some days are (much) better than others

Luck (or the laws of probability if you prefer) is a funny thing. My girlfriend had her birthday on Saturday. I was thinking to buy her

a) a book I really like but which is not easy to find in Barcelona in English* (Junky, William burroughs)
OR
b) a bicycle
OR
c) tickets for the U2 concert in Camp Nou
OR
d) a new home cinema system (I know it sounds stupid, but she really hates what the germans call the cable salad (Kabelsalat) that comes with normal home cinemas such as the one we have, so I wanted to buy her one with wireless speakers)

Well the U2 tickets you can basically forget about. The concert was sold-out in one day (!) and I have been searching in ebay since, there is nothing under 120-150 euros... (I like them but not enough to pay 300 euro... 300 euro is a trip to Ibiza!)

Bicycle, well I like mountian bikes and she likes "Holland" bikes, so that was a problem too... (I can not buy her something I don't like!)

Home cinema, it was a good amount of money and I couldn't decide which one to buy anyway.

And the book, well as I said it was not easy to find. I tried Amazon but it would need a llooong time to deliver to Spain. But my luck was about to change!

Friday afternoon I went again to Fnac** to check the home cinemas. As I was browsing throught the English literature, what do I find? JUNKY, the last piece they had! Of course I bought it immediately. I came home and I found my girlfriend waiting to go get a bike which was her gift from her mother! Ha, thats nice I thought.



Next day she wakes me up early and of course she wants to try her new bike. Normally I am very lazy, but it was her birthday... So I take Alberto's bike and we go to the beach. On the way I recognize that the idea of a bike in Barcelona is great. There are so many nice places you can go quietly and nicely... And because of the bikes we could go far away from the central beaches, which is great, since they are cleaner and less crowded. We enjoyed a nice swim and I was thinking this is a nice day. But it was going to get better!

You see quite close to this beach there is a new shopping center, which we decided to visit. Sure anough upon entering it, I see on of the home cinemas I was contemplating to buy, on offer, for FNAC partners! We go immediately to the "FNAC partner desk" to become partners and what do I see!?! They are selling 2 tickets for U2 which were being kept for the manager of the shop, but were cancelled 5 minutes ago! The price: 62 euro each! Hell, I can not believe my luck. I ask the guy if it is a joke and he says: no, we just put this sign and it is 100% for real!

wham bam I buy the tickets immediately. We become Fnac partners and I go to check the home cinema system. I find out it has every single thing I want (DivX, wireless rear speakers with a very small elegant receiver, good quality sound, even a FM receiver) plus a USB port for using memory sticks to use jpeg and mp3 files! Sweet... Unfortunately they tell me you can not play DivX movies directly from the USB port, but only from CDs and DVDs. (Who knows why?) We buy it, take our U2 tickets and get happily on the way home.

Arriving at home after such a full day, I start playing with the new stuff. I check if the home cinema can display subtitles for the DivX files. It does! (great for my spanish non anglophon friends). I decide to push my luck. I put avi files in my memory stick and rename them with a jpeg extension. With everything going well this will work too I reckon...


And guess what! The DVD player is tricked into believing it is a file it should play, but recognizes correctly that it is a video file. IT WORKS!

Unbelievable, in about 24 hours I got everything I wanted, plus more!

What did I learn?
If your girlfriend wakes you up to go to the beach, DO IT!
If you do not know what present to buy, BUY THEM ALL!
If you feel things are going well, push it all the way!

*and of course this book has to be read in English!
**for the Greek guys: remember the name. It is a nice french chain of bookstores-Cds-electronics coming very soon to Greece too.

PS the similarity of the title with the U2 song is intentional of course. Its lyrics are actually not that bad...
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People say...

I love her for her flaws

that's ridiculous! You love her for her qualities and virtues. You love her, despite her flaws.

pilaf


Unearned love is like unearned fear. If you have fear with no reason people will call a psychiatrist. If you love someone without a cause, they should do the same...

Ayn Rand (paraphrased)
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Μαρεσουν τα ομορφα πραγματα

οι λαμπτηρες,


οι ανθρωποι,


τα εργοστασια,



τα φυτα,


τα ζωα,



οι συναρτησεις μου,



τα κτιρια,




Περισσοτερο μαρεσει νομιζω η ψυχρη ομορφια, τα κρυα χρωματα. Προσεξα οτι μαρεσουν ταινιες που δειχνουν χιονι και παγετωνες ακομα κιαν ειναι κατα τα αλλα μετριες, οπως το the day after tomorrow. Μου αρεσει η θαλασσα. Μαρεσε παρα πολυ το Shipping News. Ο μπλε ουρανος την ωρα που βραδιαζει...

Μαρεσουν γενικα τα ομορφα πραγματα
και αυτο δυστυχως δεν ειναι αυτονοητο για ολους...

ΥΓ ποτε ανταλλαξαν οι Ελληνες την λατρεια του ωραιου με την ανοχη της μιζεριας?

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Μπομπ παιδια, Μπομπ

Οπως και να το κανουμε, καλοκαιρι και Μπομπ Μαρλεϋ ειναι ενας συνδυασμος απο τον οποιο δεν μπορεις να ξεφυγεις!



Ενα περιεργο πραμα, ειναι μουσικη με την οποια μπορεις να χαλαρωνεις, αλλα απο την αλλη σε κανει να θες να κουνιεσαι :-)




ΥΓ Το περιεργο ειναι οταν εβλεπα παιδια να ακουνε στην Γερμανια, καταχειμωνο Μαρλεϋ... Δεν ταιριαζε καθολου ρε γαμωτο...
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SO(S)TOS

Αυτο ειναι ενα τεστ να δω αν μπορω να δημοσιευω μονο κομματια ενος αρθρου στην βασικη σελιδα. Αντι να βγαινει ολο αυτο το κατεβατο που θα δειτε εδω. Ένας τύπος με 6 παιδιά χωνόταν όλο και πιο βαθιά στα χρέη και
δυσκολευόταν τρομερά να ανταπεξέλθει στις οικονομικές του
υποχρεώσεις. Μια μέρα απελπισμένος είπε στην γυναίκα του
-Αν μείνεις πάλι έγκυος, θα αυτοκτονήσω.
Λίγους μήνες αργότερα η γυναίκα του του λέει το μεγάλο νέο, ότι είναι
πάλι έγκυος
Ο φτωχός δεν άντεξε. Τρέχει στο δωμάτιο, αρπάζει ένα πιστόλι ,
το βάζει στον κρόταφο και ετοιμάζεται να τραβήξει την σκανδάλη. Εκείνη
την στιγμή μπαίνει στο δωμάτιο η γυναίκα του τρομαγμένη και με
τρεμάμενη φωνή του λέει:
-Μη!!! Μην το κάνεις αυτό. Σκοτώνεις έναν αθώο!

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