The Day We Stuffed Our Pockets With Stones

When? I can not remember.
How, I don't know, and I do not care, since everything is alright now. And this is what matters, present tense.
I’m sure it started when I was young, not even old enough to smoke or drink, but old enough to work for our survival.
A vague sensation stays in me, hunting me, till those days…of those days.

it was during the days of the Great Winds. When all living things stayed underground, not because of the polar cold, or the extreme heat, or the radioactive pollution, or of alien invasion and overflow of land by sea, but rather of windstorms, hurricanes, fiercely traveling through the empty space of soil, constantly moving a huge amount of dust, among other things, that could reap one’s flesh to the bone. Only grass could survive the winds, and the ecosystem developed to live under those conditions.
They did get one thing straight, those scientists of the old times, environmental changes were imminent, but in unpredictable ways. No one could ever get the small details that would define the true outcome of the changing. And one factor was still there, the sun, shining as ever, heating the equator in temperatures never before reached on the earth’s surface. But the poles, although hotter than before, were still cold enough to create a temperature difference from the equator, and that vast difference in temperature was enough to create hurricanes, speedy winds with devastating results. The ground above was a mess, with only the strongest of human’s creations standing.
A few people had clearance to surface to the ground above, for maintenance of the communication systems, the only machines operating at ground level, necessary for our communication with other remaining colonies. All those colonies spread around the world strived to create the kind of civilization existed before. Those were the ones still remembering the influence they had back then, the power.
The survival of the fitness was number one rule, nowadays. There was no meaning for ownership, since you never had something under your possession for too long. There was always someone, bigger, stronger, smarter to take your items, sooner or later.
That was one of the reasons we always carry stones in our pockets, for protection. Small enough not to restrain us in our flee, but big enough to inflict damage when it was necessary. We always moved in groups. The safety provided by numbers, by people you trusted was one of the factors that catalyzed the formation of groups.
Things were far from good, especially for older people who had known the sensation of the sky above their heads. They were under pressure, of an unknown kind to the ones born in the tunnels, they were alone, lost. The few ones still remaining.
Every day the population of the colony decreased, not by illness, but mostly from suicides and sudden bursts of violence, that ended up in a blood bath. The ones responsible for those actions were the old ones, the fossils of the ground above, the “grounders”.
I was just 15 years old by the time it started. My assignment was to monitor and service the communication center. I was one of the the few people, that had special training and special protected armor that could overcome the hardness of the winds above, an armor weight more than a ton, that could be operated with electric power for its movement. Only small children could operate those machines, since only undersized people could fit into that robotic armor. Once in a week or when malfunction was reported, I was away from the security of the underground. Into the void, that always brought me nausea. Because of the winds the visibility was reduced to no more than a few steps away. The exit point had been designed to be no more than that distance away from the machines.
Days passed by, routine faded the sensation of time. Our time in this superior position was almost at the end, we could no longer be of the ones wearing the budge of maintenance, with the armor engraved on it. Soon we were going to stop being untouchable, our marks would be passed down to younger ones…but we didn’t care. At least we would be away from the void that swarmed above. The horrible twilight of the morning or the deepest darkness of the night. Even in the deepest caves there were some light to lighten the path so that none would get lost

It was that time that I realized the unthinkable, i can remember that much, when my...when our expectation for the future altered.
As I was above, doing the week’s inspection, I spotted, far away, something that seemed to me as a ray of light breaking through the dust. Never again for decades had anyone seen the sun that should be somewhere there. I could never believe what I saw, and certainly I would had ignored it. Next week I had the night shift. And the week after nothing happened out of the ordinary to recall the previous incident. After two months I had forgotten all about that incident. As I was above, doing what I had to do, I looked over from small window in the direction where the sky should be. I was lucky cause I was not looking for it. Once again the manifestation of he improbable was up ahead. It was there a faint passage of pure light through the innumerable particles of dust , but it was there, I was astounded, it was mine, and I would never share it with no one. I counted the days, the nights when I could be above, when one of those rays would illuminate me. It took my a while to ask the question, to wonder what could produce this magnificent effect. I never was a bright one, so I didn't care. But, one day while I was above trying to finish the task before me, looking over for the light, it came to me the answer I was looking for. As I was looking at the stream of light, memories of old teachings filled my thoughts, about the harsh climate of the air above, of the speedy winds carrying tones of dust, and more. And then I knew, I knew what I was seeing. This manifestation, could mean only one thing. The winds were breaking up, wind's velocity was dropping enough, for the dust to settle on the ground after decades.

I had to test it. I had to know if winds were as dangerous as described by the tales of people of the old times.

When my turn came up I grubbed one of the rats swarming the place underground, strapped it to my armor and surfaced. I finished my routine and I descended back to the familiar moist, to see the results of my experiment. I was astounded, the rat had suffered great damage, but was still alive. Not for long anyway, cause a couple of hours latter was dead...

I didn’t know what to do with the information, as I was reviewing the results of the test, the observation of the past months, the tales, the facts, the science, something from deep inside me came to feel me up, and I started to smile, it was a discreet twitch of the lips, it was for the first time in my life the sensation of hope, the one feeling forgotten.

Every time i ascended a guinea pig would face the wind for me. Would let me know...
...would let me know of what? What I was thinking, what was the point of these actions...I could not thing straight. But, I knew that this battle inside me had a reason. I knew that it was time for me to ascend to the surface. And this thought, this belief was far from the teachings of our world. The surface, the air above was forbidden. But, all the tests were successful and a hard layer of protective clothes were enough to diminish the effects of the harsh winds. Animals strapped with thick clothes could survive for more than an hour, without even a scratch. A full helmet and goggles, and filters for my nose, mouth ears to protect them from the vicious dust, those were enough to protect me.
But by the time I felt ready for the task, I had lost my permission to use the armors,. So even if I wanted to get out, the only way would be without the safety of 10 cm metal. There was no other way. I wanted to fell the air.
I studied old maps of the area not that I would ever leave the spot, but to be able to imagine the area around me.

...the time had come. I strapped myself in old clothes, I could get my hands on, fixed a metal helmet, took gloves, boots, goggles, anything I could get my hands on. The docking station was empty as it always was. No one would ever come near the last frontier of the caves, if it was not necessary. Pressed the big red button and the hatch opened with a hiss. The wind was fierce, from the smallest cracks was pouring a significant amount of dust into the station. But I was OK. The hatch was almost half open but I closed it immediately. I felt as light as a feather, the wind almost got me of the ground. I need to be heavier. I grubbed my old coat and filed once more its pockets with stones. This time with large ones, heavy stones, even scrap metal. When I felt heavy enough I pushed the red button and waited for the hatch to reopen. This time was even better. I felt my feet firmly close to the ground. I didn't feel anypain, or dysphoria, as it was expected. I could even breath right, although without the mask I would have choked to death from the dust.
And for the first time I could breath fresh air, dry air. I looked up the twilight was there. I closed the hatch behind me. I could not afford for anyone to find me out here in the open, for as long as it lasted I wanted this only for me.

I was happy and I knew that the time of our resurface had come. We waited long enough in the darkness, suffered from the errors of the past.

Pearl Jam, Athens 2006

Driving on a rainy morning (the sun could be up, but heavy clouds obscure the rays to end their journey) from home to work, I plugged in the car stereo my mp3 player. As always in Athens a rainy day equals to hours inside the vehicle just to go to work. So my mp3 player is my only remedy. I resume listening to Orishas, a good group mixing hip-hop with traditional Cuban music/rhythms, and as "el kilo" was finishing, from the speakers came the sound of clapping from a live show.
"Go" was starting to play and I was transfered once more into the stadium...
The band was on time and as soon as the clock ticked the eighth hour of the evening Eddie with his friends stepped into, through screams of joy and excitement.
Two years and almost two months ago, I was present in one great evening, an evening with Pearl Jam. The first track of the evening felt as a trip through time, years ago, still at high school. "Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town" had me singing and it was just the beginning.
I still had a long way to work and I was happy about it. As soon as it finished we received a surprise call from our friend from Spain, and as soon I got to talk with him Pearl Jam was playing "Given To Fly". One of my favorites, one of Pearl Jam's best songs, and I was remembering how excited I was talking with him and listening to the song (the conversation lasted for a few seconds, but that was enough!).
As soon as I was trying to find a parking space, Eddie was presenting his "wish list". The first part of the concert was over, I closed the stere,o got out of the car and patiently was letting time slip away so that I could hit the road.
Play button and "Insignificance, Jeremy, Better Man", got me to the last traffic lights before show down of evening's traffic jam.
The first Encore started with "Footsteps" and we were still at the middle of the evening, sun was descending, leaving hopeless drivers looking for a small fracture in the continuity of endless metal to fill in. In between Pearl Jam's songs a small tribute to Pink Floyd, "Daughter (Another Brick In The Wall)" and Jimmy Hendrix, " Yellow Ledbetter(Little Wing)" which closed the evening and some greater with the Band to thank Ramones, by performing "I Believe In Miracles" and Neil Young by performing " Rockin' In The Free World".
And then the lights were on, lifting away the anonymity, the crowd was exposed to the Band, but even under the heavy light the crowd was happy, was singing was dancing. The band finishing with " Yellow Ledbetter(Little Wing)" waving to everyone of us...

Memory

It was an ordinary day in the lab, an unpleasant one, since I was In the Lab, and one of the hottest days of July the last days of July. I was sitting on a stool, mixturing some liquids in a small tube. In order to avoid any unforgivable mistake, I had blocked out every distraction, the chattering people, the music from the radio, the boss asking various information needed to be answered. Everything was but a blur, I was just counting every μl and memorizing each ingredient I've used, so that the steps would be imprinted in my memory, long enough to transcribe them to a piece of paper, at the end of the experiment, for future evaluation.
But memory works in mysterious ways. No one knows which memory, information, or whatever, is stored in the brain, patiently waiting for the moment that it will be retrieved. No one knows what is hidden deep into the labyrinth of myriads of synapses between an equal amount of neurons. How all that information is being organized, archived, does any kind of indexing exists, that will facilitate the immediate and specific extraction of long forgotten information? Or, rather, there is no organization, everything is in chaos, so that enormous amount of data could be stored in that gelatinous part of our bodies called brain.
I had blocked out everything, but just the smallest distraction could blow everything in the air. So, when a colleague of mine opened one of those advertising handkerchiefs used for cleaning up our hands after a meal, a soft ,but not so delicate, lemon aroma diffused into the lab. It was not the first time that I had smelled that aroma, as those handkerchiefs are common.
For some reason at that particular moment and within a relative small amount of time every function ceased, I blacked out and my brain filled with all the data that had been unlocked from that aroma. My mind was filled with images, smells, feelings, sounds, of a past time. Every sense was alive but inside my brain. It was as if for just a few seconds there was nothing else. As time was not and past and present was one.
In the center of this experience was the soft delicate lemon aroma derived from those big dark semi-transparent bottles filled with hand-made lemon aroma.
Sunday evening, probably during the winter, cause I was having finishing a hot bath. Wrapped in a big-towel following barefoot my mother, who is carrying into her arms my brother, to the sofa to dry us. My father watching the news. Since it is Sunday and the day after we have to go to school, we need to be shiny to wear fresh clothes, for the first day of the week. I am still attending the first classes of junior. While we are still covered with our towels (my brother covered with the towel he had inherited from me, the one with a small hood with some patching on it, making it look like an animal's head) steaming from the hot watter, she would probably trimming our nails, dry and brush our hair.
Then I know that she will stand up and headed for the kitchen and I will wait there patiently for that big bottle. She would open the cabinet door beneath the kitchen. There are always two big bottles, among other things in that cabinet, but I can never recall the aroma of the second bottle. It is as that second bottle was sealed, never meant to be opened. So, she returns to find us still waiting patiently. As soon as she removes the lid, she sealed the opening of the bottle with her palm and inverting it so that sufficient amount of cologne would soak her hand.
And as she removes her hand from the opening of the bottleneck, the lemon aroma is feeling my lungs and my senses...
and I exhale into the lab those memories from the past.

In The Mood For Love

Busy day...a hot day
an exhausting day, but still when the work was done I returned home waiting for the night, there is a promise for the end of the week, for something different. Not that it was a special night, but still, the promise of a night with friends, the promise of a well organized party changed dramatically my mood.
It was party time and that was all i needed.
I took a shower, wear my favorite t-shirt and a pair of short trousers and rushed for the late bus. In my ears the appropriate music from my mp3 player to warm my mood. Radiohead, The Dandy Wharhols, Mars Volta, and Blue Monk to cool down.

I only needed a few drinks to loosen up so I could work out my dancing moves. There is no greater joy than losen up, cloud a little bit your thoughts with the appropriate amount of alcohol, not to much not to little, just enough to let go of he moral constrictions that tighten up the feet and the tongue, and then ignoring those that stare at you making all kind of comments, good or bad, to dance, sing, talk with all you.
So, I entered the room, dim light enough space for the guests to feel comfortable, but not to spacey so that stranger will have the chance to get accustom with each other. Most of my friends were already on the second round, high on spirit, talking vigorously, mostly about soccer, about the new season, the new coach...
"I'm late as always" I though...but the bar is always close.

It is as if the shortest road to anything is the road to the bar. And when you reach it, usually the amount of time required to reach the bar is always proportional to your sobriety (you get there faster when you are a little bit drunk) you found it crowded, with people doing anything else BUT drinking. So you end up thinking of ways to remove the obstacles that separates you from your goal, a cold big glass of frozen Beer.

After the usual greetings and small talk I headed to the bar.
The music was surprisingly good. The one that will make you feel great, smooth to the ear and to the mind. It was a great evening. Not as great as I could possibly think. As I reached to the bar I grubbed a cold beer, for starters, and turned around to look upon the growing crowd. The music had an amazing effect on all the attendants, as the next song was started I was astound. it was Frank Sinatra's
"I've got you under my skin".

"that is an excellent choice" I though.
I turned around now facing the steady relaxing movement of people having fun. The crowd surrendered to the groove. Some of them were singing the song, others had already found a partner to dance with.

"some songs will always have that amazing effect" I pondered... I let the beer to cool me, and as I took a deep swallow of the liquor, a exhale of relief, relieved from the last traces of the morning tension.

As my mind and my sight was wandering, partially from the big gulp of 1/2 lt Weiss beer, in the far end, under low light, and in the left side of the room, I saw her.

...I may see only fools 'round she...

The air was heavier, my knees could not held my weight, and time stopped, for as long as it was necessary for me to fully grasp the moment. I stepped away from the lights that darkened my vision, far but not too far, so that I would not miss the softness of your movement, the freshness of your smile, just enough to be unnoticed. I was memorizing every gesture, trying to read your lips, not to understand what you were saying, but to just watch, observe, with a faint smile.
For that time of no time, I could only hear my heart

...pounding to the rhythm of the rain..,

just for a second, but it was enough.
Dark black straight long hair shining to the faint light of the room, a gentle calm face, a woman's body, not too thin, not fat, just as I dreaming of it, in a simple black dress that fitted with her pale skin and those black eyes, shining more that anything I could thing of, looking straight at me.....The darkness I was hiding was illuminated, your smile, to give breath to my breath , and to stub once more my heart, crushed my knees under the weight of its glory. My mind was numb, the place was erased, and all that was left was her.
...You know, you must take a look at me, Baby, baby, I know that's the way...
Time, once again, was on the move and the voice of Brian Ferry's interpretation of
"the way you look tonight"
brought fear to my heart, I turned around, seeking for a second drink. stronger one this time. To calm me down.
I stand still staring at the enormous variety of alcohol, try to think of possible knock-down combinations, I poured a big glass of beer, and insert a sot of tequila, a good drink, with a nice aftertaste and with guaranteed results.
"I will have one of that" heard a voice, and turned around in awe.
I was surprised to she her smiling at me
...all I ever wanted, all I ever needed...
I was even more disbelieved and turned to see if she was talking to someone else.
"None around" I though..."not good" I add, "not good at all", "OK, unexpected, but definitely good" I concluded.
"It would be my pleasure" I added with a smile, trying to look as fascinated as I could.
And as a naive knight from the old times I asked for her name:
"Could I have your name", and that time this few words implied that her name WAS important, as important as were the true names in the earthsea, from Ursula's K. Le Guin novels. A name that I will only know and pronounce cause she had gave it me.
I'm @@@@ she said,
@@@@@@@ I replied...
I present her the mixture of beer and tequila, she brought it to her lips and I wished that it were my lips she was drinking from.
She smiled at me, at least she liked it.
"So what are you doing in a place like this?" I asked
"A friend of mine is organizing it." she replied

...Stop me, oh, I said stop me, Stop me if you think that you've heard this one before...

"Who, @@@@? I know him since we were still at high school"
and it was easy for me to direct the conversation from that moment to where I was most comfortable with.

...I rather dance with you, than talk with you...
I can not remember the details of our conversation, what we were talking about, what was her favorite movie, her favorite song, what were her thoughts on religion, economics, the big bang theory, the existence of extraterrestrial beings, ... but all I wanted was to hear her talking

"Thank almighty sfiltros and koxakies the twin gods of alcohol that I'm not that drunk, I couldn't stop talking if I was" a thought crossed my mind...

It was as if I we were alone by the sea, or even better on a boat on the calmly surface of the sea, the sparkling sea under the bright light of a red full moon.

...You whisper secrets in my ear, Slowly dancing cheek to cheek...
All are a blur in my mind, I was only noticing her movements, her hand moved away a strand of hair getting in front of her face, her white skin soft and smooth as a marble statue. Her posture, as she was sitting to this long chair, her legs crossed. I was listening but not listening, I was talking and not talking. The world had disappeared, my friends fell into a black hole aimlessly wondering in the room. The room itself had vanished together with my friends.
And suddenly unexpectedly the black hole suck me through, the universe had collapsed under my feet.
"Actually, I'll be back at @@@@ in two days" I heard her saying.
I stopped talking, I stopped listening, everything stopped once more but this time even her was frozen, was out of the frame, out of my reach.

...Cos I don't wanna lose/What we had last time your leaving this life ain't fair/You don't get something for nothing, turn back/Mmmm gotta try a little harder/It could be sweet...
There was no point on continuing this, no point at all, suddenness filled me, darkness surrounded me, as in one night I had found and lost in a moment what I wished for.
I gave her my telephone number, but never asked for hers, cause I though that it will be meaningless to chase down what appeared to be a loosing case.

...this is the end...

Something that I always regret cause when I see on my cell phone screen, an identified/unknown telephone number, my mind always hopes at the other end to be her. But, it never is...

...and what can you tell to your friends that smile at you with truthful joy, knowing that something good was happening back there...

...κι είναι βάσανο ο φίλος, κι είναι βάσανο ο φίλος, που ζητάει εκδρομή...

Nightmare - Terrifying Bed-Time-Stories

How many of you have seen a frightening nightmare? One that will wake you up in anguish, heavy breathing, rapid beating heart and so on? Do you recall that dream, even if you had experienced it years ago?
I once though that that kind of reaction existed only in movies. I had experienced terrifying dreams and still do, but never managed to wake me up, so much for heavy breathing, and the ones I could remember were practically a remake of past experiences, usually ones that exited me, in the negative way. I had my share of hideous monsters, with claws as big as my fingers, etc, running after me, to end my life by strangling me, but it was the sheets that tangled around my neck that was threatening my well being. Experiences of falling, after the first 50 I got used of them and realized that it is a reaction to the relaxation of the muscles, or falling from the bed, for various reasons!!! And other ones too common also.
But...
It was years ago that I got that weird dream, one that when I describe it to other people they find it quite weird but not at all frightening, that got me full awake, standing on my bed sweating heavy breathing, a dream that the reminding of it kept me awake. For no apparent reasons.
Since it has been more than a decade I cannot recollect if I was drinking that night, had an overwhelming dinner, a rough day or any other experience that could produce such a nightmare. When I was a little boy no nightmare could mess up with my sleep, even when watching those Friday night horror movies.
Also, from what I am reading it's stated that our dreams lack of colors, all we see is shades of gray.
But...
I recall red in my sleep, if that is possible. The only color that dominated the dream.
It started as a journey into a forest, a person (that one should be me) dressed in red holding a messengers-bag, accompanied by my huge-ugly-drooling BUT trusted friend the Bear, he looks more than a vigilant than a good person, but in the story he is a good person, or so I believe!!! We are hight-spirited, singing as we walk and so on. Times goes by, if time exists in dreams at all, when we stumble across the Wolf.
Now that one is familiar, it cries out for Little Red Riding Hood.
So the Wolf character steps in front of me blocking my way. He is one great gentlemen, all suited up, nice talking and so on, but his honey-dripping talk is threatening in some manner. I cannot make out what he is saying, but his chattering implies of danger.
The Bear enters in front of me blocking the wolf from coming closer and gets scary, his foolish attitude is gone and now by looking straight at the eyes of the Wolf he warns him to withdraw and let me be. The warning, although I cannot here it, is starting to develop an atmosphere of anxiety, the forthcoming event seems appalling. The Wolf with all his sweet talk he backs-off and disappears into the bushes.
In a few moments our spirit is restored and we continue to fool around, the Bear has transformed again to that hideous creature but a fool one, more innocent than a infant. But the Wolf never give up. He reappears in front of starting his sweet-talk (you know like those salesmen that get really kind and gentle, not because they truly are, rather cause that it is the only way to approach the customer and "force" him to consume). The Bear transforms once more, blocks his way and for a second time he warns him to stay away. He also warns him of not trying to approach me for a third time cause the Bear will be different and not so soft on the Wolf. And again by the implication of the warning the atmosphere changes.
So for a second time we continue our carefree walk as if nothing has happened.
But...
The Wolf appears for a third time trying once more his sweet-talk on me...
...
...the Wolf was informed but he ignored the warnings of the Bear, as if the Wolf was looking forward for the Bear to do what he was about to do. As if I was insignificant in that play and the only thing that matters was the Bear's reaction.
The Bear transforms once more, but this time in something different, there is no shape, it is peculiar but still not frightening. It seems that the Bear engulfs the Wolf...
...before the Bear with enormous fists start pounding hard the Wolf. The Wolf isn't even trying to defend himself, only stares in apathy those fists hitting him hard...
...there is nothing supernatural about it, is real, it feels as a street fight, but only one part of the contestants fights, it is RAW, bones against meat...
...and then...
...then once more color, red splatters everything... slowly starts to accumulate...I try to stop the Bear from harming the Wolf...the Bear ignores me...
...red...
...and I'm awake, bathing in my own sweat, heavy-speeding-breathing, heart pounding-like-a-sledge-hammer, the taste of the dream still in my mind.
I never could figure out what was about this dream that frightened me so much.
Since then I never had a similar dream. Real life is still more terrifying than any fictional monster...

Darkness

For more than four days the workers from the public electric service (our friends call us ΔΕΗ-"dae") are on strike (if I'm not mistaken they still are and as of Wednesday it was announced that their efforts will keep up in greater magnitude). Everyday at noon, for a duration of three hours the area I live in was experiencing scheduled power outages (blackout). But, on Saturday the 8th, the ones that are in charge of the scheduled electricity losses, changed their minds. They rescheduled the whole schedule (!), for our amusement.

As it was scheduled, at that Saturday noon we experienced electricity loss, but not for long, in fact it lasted a whole minute, or so, nice. Say goodbye to my microwave, may it rest in peace in the micro-appliances heaven (I won't write about that). One of the major points is that in the official site there is a complete lack of information about Saturday. No scheduled blackouts, nothing. We had a good Sunday, but Monday, clean Monday, even if the news report reassured the clients, me for example, that there will be no blackout, it strike at two o' clock P.M. and lasted for about 2 hours (that's not the story I want to tell either, so, I won't get in any further details).

Saturday is the day that "dae", instead of providing us an enjoyable quiet noon (you have no idea how much noise is being produced from electric appliances, constantly working 24 hours a day, inside your own house, I won't mention the noise from outside), spending it in my back yard, staring at my garden (no exotic women next door to spy on), drinking a chilled frappe, reading one of my books (and that's life, since my current state could be described as unemployed, I can relax a little bit longer, well not to long cause I have a thesis to finish), we had one of those ordinary noisy beautiful shiny days.
That was one disappointment, but still I could place my vinyls on the turnable and rock the neighborhoud. Not too loud, do not want to disturb them, only to entertain them, and "who's afraid of the big bad Monk" is an excellent choice, and "Blue Train" lines up.
But, "dae" never meant to hurt my feelings, so to my surprise, we experienced a late afternoon blackout. Unexpectedly, the room filled with shadows, colors disappeared and neutral grey filled everything. By the time I finished unplugging the electric appliances, darkness surrounded me. Not absolute though, since in a city as Athens light is everywhere.
I opened the lid of my laptop and shiny bluish light blinded me. I found a couple of candles light them up and silence filled the room. Static was the only sound I could hear, the hissing from the candles and the bells responding to the wind. Blackouts during the noon when the sun is illuminating this side of the earth might be OK, but after sunset blackouts are almost horrible. My first thought after the realization of the situation was "now what?" what is for me to do without light, without electricity during the night? In an empty house, but for the candles. I sat back and stared the malformed shadows on the wall, dancing to the rhythm of the candles. Stand up, open the dark refrigerator (now this is an odd image, since we are used to the light of the refrigerator as the sole light source in a dark kitchen), find a bottle of wine open it up, pure some in a short glass of wine, resumed my previous state and continued to stare at the dancing shadows.
I tried to think of the time before electricity, what normal people did, every night. Only one thing came to my mind, sleeping. Finishing their dinner under the candle's light, a few hours after the sunset, after the end of their day-jobs, chattering a little bit about the events of the day, cleaning up the left overs from the dinner, taking care of children, if any, and after that straight for theirs beds.
The day will start once more as soon as the first sun-ray break-through the vastness of darkness.
Electricity was restored and I got up, opened my Desktop PC and did what I did.
For the modern human blackouts are nothing more than waiting time, waiting till electricity will be restored so that we continue to do what people were doing hundreds of years ago without the existence of electricity. Trying to spend their free time. Others will sit back in the sofa, changing the channels of TV programs with the remote, others will listen to music, surf the internet, read the newspaper or read a book, talk to their friends and be occupied with other wonderful activities of our everyday life.

P.S. If any mistake, failure to comprehend or misspellings is caused by another blackout, an hour ago, again without notice and by all means out of schedule, actually I'm starting to believe that there is no schedule.
P.S. Lord praise the UPS!!!

From The Rooftops

How are you this excellent, superb, if I may, morning. Today, the 19th January 2008, started as a awful day (OK not so awful). From the next building the sounds of reconstruction, hammers, jackhammers, and other unspeakable tools were disturbing my sleep, also Vassily's sleep, who is kind enough to get along with my existence and my occupation of his house, and mostly his toilet. The weather WAS cloudy, and the mood was not the one suitable for a weekend away from the Navy (mpliax, Greek expression corresponds to great revulsion). The tip of the iceberg (the cherry on the cake, as we say here in Greece), Vasily doesn't have an ADSL connection installed to his house and no TV (no TV you've read correct), and the radio in Crete really suck big time
(in general, I think that the radio stations that worth your attention are the national radio station and the university radio station in Heraclio). So, it is a little bit boring to just preparing the breakfast, waiting for him to wake up. Anyway...
The point is that in a few minutes, sunrays break through, Vasily woke up and most of all I could get an access to fast internet (Broadband). The rapid change in the weather is all about physics, the early arouse of Vasily is thanks to the jackhammer (which in general is no good at all), and the internet-connection thanks to those loving-caring-people who, either because they do not know how, or they just don't care, leave their wireless routers free to public access. BUT, the good weather was actually the main reason for the internet. If the cloudy weather persisted I would have never pulled myself on the rooftop and search around for an open wi-fi network.
Dear LILA, is kind enough (no past tense here) to share her internet access with everyone. So I Seized the day, and wrote down those lines, which have no meaning and will not change the way people thing. But, it could be an important aspect of my life, because the story doesn't end at this point.
The truth is that this story, if you haven't been bored till now keep reading, completed in FO.R.T.H. (the technological institute of Crete), were I had accompanied Vassily to finish a work with fruit-flies. After a long-long time I was inside an institute, deep-freezers on one corner, little glass bottles on the other one, PCR machines, electrophoresis devices, and so on. It occurred to me that I enjoyed working in an institute, able to talk about "science", do science and all that stuff, even when the environment (talking mostly about my supervisors and the way the institute, I am working to (know I consider to be on vacation, long term), is functioning. So I would like to return to a place like that, for many reasons, but under better supervision, and of course with bigger salary:)

P.S. another chaotic note from a disturbed mind...

eArtHQuakE

For your information and only, Sunday's earthquake was strong enough to wake me up, even all the way down here in Crete.
It was one of a horrible Sunday.
I had a really good plan.
It would started with dozing in my bed till 10:00 in the morning and latter on reading the news, spend time listening to music and reading a little bit...and so on.
But the sailor-mates who woke up at about 6:30, they needed to wear the official uniform, the one that also SAILOR MOON characters wear, to participate in the Sunday's ceremony (present arms and so on), and had the bright idea to wake me up by turning on those horrible lights of the dorm had it coming...
...and you know how rude I am when waking up like this...
...well...you know, I think that a was f@$k and As#$%e them for nearly 30min...

maybe this is a new record

and then there was the earthquake. The bed was swinging like a ping-pong ball in the middle of a game, and the old building was threating our peaceful living with collapsing.
I think that it was the first time that I did nothing, I just woke up, wished a "good morning" to the earthquake as I had done with the guys earlier and stood up and went to take a leak(!!!???)...

Short Story Of a Desperate Moment/famous lines

I'm sitting in front of my PC and I'm trying to set up my UBUNTU Feisty (Ver.7.4) drinking my chilled frape (avec axcent agouce? please correct me). The same frape I prepared 10 minutes ago, or so. But with great anxiety I had come across the reality of missing ice-cubes.
My dear brother (probably soon-to-be-dead-by-my-own-hands for his intolerant actions) had visited my freezer (also my sister has a part in this extreme situation), removed and used every single ice-cube I had and left the ice-cube container empty and out of the freezer (not that it would have made any difference if it was empty inside the freezer, he could still have been starting a controversial conversation with radishes).
So, happy in my ignorance, I prepared my world famous frape. A short moment latter my good mood disappeared like a planet under the gravitation effect of a black hole, and in GREAT horror as soon as I was indulging my mind to a chilled frape, I realized the ugly truth, and it was as hard as a meteorite's impact on earth. I was left with a warm substitution of my world famous frape, with no ice-cubes to ease my thirst.

"The battle was lost but not the war"

After I took a few deep breaths, inhale-exhale, breath with me, slow down my heart beats, ate a chocolate bar, rationality come back to me and I postponed my plans for world annihilation, which I regret it now. My thoughts were faster than a speeding bullet, faster than light itself. And without further delay I placed my coffee into the freezer.
After 10 min (present time) I'm writing those lines with a cup of chilled frape happy and content with myself and my everlasting ability to face boldly any challenge and deal successfully with them...So the moral lesson for today is:

"World Annihilation can always wait a few more days"

Le temps de moussons

Bombay, Thursday 14 of July 2007

To my beloved friends

It's been a while since I wrote to you, but the fact is that this is the worst season of all.
Here in Central India, time goes by slowly.
Actually, weather does not allow us for any unnecessary movement so this is why everything seems to slow down. The humidity is above 60% and rain is a common phenomenon. A blessing to be more exact since the atmosphere looses tension allowing us to breath. Ever heard of the expression "soaked to the bone"? It feels every day like this.
Global warming effects seems to apply to our country too and people fear for worst times since the season of moussons is far away, but it feels like it.
Tea do make us feel better and works as a stimulant to let us perform the necessary actions for any trivial task that otherwise would seem impossible. But it is not easy to shake the feeling of dizziness and hypotonia. Only children seems to be unaffected during this season. It seems as children are unaffected by any weather, theirs mothers do not have the strenght to yell at them, they only try to sophronize them by calling them once, by their names. and this allows them to scream louder since there is no particular effort from anyone to restain them
...even the animals act in a easy-going manner, the birds do not chatter, the dogs do not bark, quiet is the world around me, apart from those god damned car horns and the children.
Times like this I do envy you for being under the healthy Mediterranean weather, even if draught is a major problem. But since my work demands from me to stay here I have to bear with it and give every day the best out of me. I want to finish with it as soon as possible to return back to our family. But every time a new obstacle arises from nowhere to stand in my way, as if a force greater than my powers dictates my staying in this country. I do not now if I can take it any longer, but I have to be patient, I have to finish it so that all those years of hard work to let us live a better life. I hope that you are better in Greece, under the glorious sun that I miss so much.

My love to all.