Κουραστικός μήνας

May 13, 2007 Db01 Comment

Ένας μήνας γυμναστικής πέρασε τελικά, η μεγαλύτερη περίοδος γυμναστικής που έχω κάνει στην ζωή μου για να πω την αλήθεια. Όταν ξεκίνησα δεν περίμενα οτι θα τα καταφέρω να κρατήσω το ενδιαφέρον μου αλλά φαίνεται ότι ακόμα συντηρείται.

Ακόμα δεν έχω δει καμία συνταρακτική αλλαγή στη σωματική μου διάπλαση αλλά αυτό είναι κάτι που δεν συμβαίνει άμεσα, τουλάχιστον σύμφωνα με τα διάφορα κείμενα γύρω απο το συγκεκριμένο θέμα που έχω διαβάσει στο internet. Παρ’ολ’αυτά η φωτογραφίες που κρατάω κάθε εβδομάδα δείχνουν μια σχετική πρόοδο (Όχι δεν πρόκειται να τις δείξω ακόμα). Συγκεκριμένα έχουν αρχίσει να φαίνονται κάποιοι κοιλιακοί μυς αλλά τα πατσοκοίλια στα πλάγια παραμένουν σταθερά και δεν εχω ιδές πως να τα κάψω. Επίσης η αντοχή μου στους κοιλιακούς και τα push-ups έχει αυξηθεί κάτι που βρίσκω αρκετά θετικό.

Αυτή την εβδομάδα όμως απέφυγα ήδη 2 φορές την εξάσκηση και δεν μ’αρεσει. Θα γίνει τρεις εάν γίνει και σήμερα. Διαβάζω όμως ότι δέν χρειάζεται καθημερινή γυμναστική. Τρείς φορές την εβδομάδα (λογικά) αρκούν. Ίσως. Τις τελευταίες μέρες νοιώθω κάποιο πόνο να παραμένει στην κοιλιακή μου χώρα και λέω να το πάρω πιο χαλαρα, Θα ακολουθήσω τις οδηγίες απο εδώ για αλλαγή να δω πως πάει. Ήδη παρήγγειλα και την μπάρα ώστε να μπορώ να κάνω σηκώματα.

Ich war lernen…

May 3, 2007 Db06 Comments

I probably killed the above phrase, but I meant to say “I’ve been learning”. Unfortunately I’m not advanced enough to say: “I’ve been studying German for two hours now”, mostly because I have no idea how to use the noun “Studie” in the present (Stude?)

Whatever. As I said I’ve started learning German finally. Yesterday I bought the German for Dummies book as well as the Oxford German-English pocket dictionary. Today I finally sat my lazy butt down to actually use them.

Right now what I’ve discovered is that German is like a mix between English and Greek which is amazingly fortituous since I am fluent in both languages. I can already pronounce some of the German consonants combinations that don’t exist in English (like “ch”) and also am familiar with most of the Enligh vocabulary which is quite similar to German (if you exclude words like “After” of course 🙂 ). Furthermore, the Germans use noun genders that – lucky me – almost always match the Greek relevants, so I already have a basis on when to say Der, Die or Das, although in some cases they differ, as in the “Hand” which is neutral in Greek but male in German (silly Germans, why are your hands male?).

Also, some of the grammar doesn’t make much sense if your translate it in English, but in Greek you can actually recognize how it works because of the similar ways the two languages use the present to signify future or past – as well as other similar grammatical structures.

I’ve also got Arnoc on ICQ being my personal tutor which just means that I’ll end up learning words like Steel and Panzer first of all. The rest won’t matter 😛

Beltane

May 1, 2007 Db0

So [tag]Arnoc [/tag] piqued my interest about the yearly gathering he is having with his friends which he likes to name it after the Gaelic holiday, Beltane. As far as excuses to have a barbecue with your friends go, this is not half bad, although it doesn’t mind to remember that this is also the Labour day as well.

[coolplayer]http://www.dbzer0.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=647&g2_serialNumber=3&.mp4[/coolplayer]

We didn’t have any maypoles or flowers but we did have quite a lot of Mead however, and I even brought a little bottle of Jaegemeister that a friend of Arnoc’s almost drank by himself 🙁

We also had quite a lot of BBQ but unfortunately, due to the fact that the ECB restaurant had an all-you-can-eat day I was pretty stuffed already and I couldn’t enjoy the fine souvlakia that were around, or the horrible cucumber salad 😛
Time passed and people were starting to ask for a fire show. I was itching to test my new [tag]firestaff[/tag] so I gladly obliged them. There was just the perfect place in the back garden for such a thing.

[coolplayer] http://www.dbzer0.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=653&g2_serialNumber=2&.mp4 [/coolplayer]

We continued during the night with drinks and discussion and even some dancing around the fire on the music of Ensiferum if my memory does not fail me. Generally it was a good time and we finished at about 12:30.

It was around that point that I discovered the most ugly bird sitting on the tree and hooting. It was the owner of the place who snuck in and climbed on while no one was looking. Fortunately that ugly bird drove us home so we were spared having to wait for the last train in the cold.

Took five vids (but no pics) that you can find in the gallery now.

Good times

Annoyance

April 28, 2007 Db0

It greatly annoys me that Night Clubs around here won’t allow me to take my Glow Staff with me. It’s just a frigging Glow Staff, what is the problem with it? I’m not going to kill anyone with it, just dance. It’s also light and not suitable for assault (as it would sooner break than hit hard)

Now, the Final Destination doorman allowed me in with it, the last time I was there but I believe it was mostly because he’s learning to play it as well and he recognises me as a regular. Even then, he told me not to dance with it, even if the stage was empty. What the hell? I’m not going to tear the stage down with a glostaff!

It’s amazingly stupid. In London they would allow even metallic staffs inside but not here. Paranoia.

Yesterday I went to U60 where some friends had gathered after Speak Easy. By amazing luck, I decided to take a taxi which brought me to the place as they were getting some cool air. As luck would have it, one of them had reserved a guest list pass for a male friend of his that didn’t come so the option was still open. He let me take it and I ended up saving at least 8€ or 14€ (Damn those places always seem to charge amazingly high). Nice enough place but with such repetitive music I could only truly enjoy it with the staff. I went ouside and asked the doorman

“Hey, can I ask you something. I’m thinking of bringing a glow staff next time, is that allowed?”
“What’s that?”

I point to the blue led he has running on the back

“Oh, a stick for light?”
“Yes, but it’s about *this* big”
“Sorry, not allowed.”
“But it’s just for dancing, why?”
“It’s just not allowed!”

Now, I don’t think there’s an actual rule. “No big sticks allowed” because I do not think there are many people bringing those around. It must be a case of preemptive cancellation. You know, when they stop you doing something because they’re not familiar with it.

In this case, it just stops me from going to the place again since the only reason to do so would be to use the staff. Although there were many beautiful girls around, the music just doesn’t cut it for long exposure.

Very annoying.

Slumber

April 24, 2007 Db07 Comments

Last day, while I was about to leave work I started getting that annoying uncomfortableness you get when you’re starting to get ill. I informed the team leader that I might be getting sick and went home…

…and slumbered

I seriously got on my bed, read a book for about 2 hours and then slept until next morning. Then I got up, went to work, they saw me looking like shit, sent me back and I slumbered again until now.

1 day lost. What could be better…

Underground gigs

April 22, 2007 Db0

I’m starting to like the Metal scene in Frankfurt more and more. Yesterday I met with Maubi to go to a little gig of a few underground bands at Die Halle that was organised by FFM-Rock. Initially we though the price must have been 6-8 €, judging from previous experience. I even though that for 5 bands it might go as high as 10.

I did not expect it to be just 5 FUCKING EUROS! Five!! That is, 1€ per band. And the beers were at 2€ each! Two!! I don’t have enough exclamation marks for this shit!!!
The bastards at the Harley bar in Thessaloni charged us 15€ for 2 bands and the beer was something like 4€ or 5€! Bastards!

Moving on

Initially we met with [tag]Maubi[/tag] at the underground station at 20:15 where he informed me that two others would join us. I do not remember their names now bur needless to say, they were familiar faces from the Final Destination.

We got on the train where they proceeded to speak mostly in German. To pay them back I started filming them 😛 I even managed to finally get a pic of Maubi for my called ID.

[coolplayer width=”352″ height=”288″ autoplay=”1″ loop=”0″ charset=”utf-8″ download=”1″ mediatype=””]
http://www.dbzer0.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=594&g2_serialNumber=2&.mp4[/coolplayer]

We arrived at the concert hall, (die halle heh) at about 2:15 and as I expected, they knew everyone around.

[coolplayer]http://www.dbzer0.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=600&g2_serialNumber=2&.mp4 [/coolplayer]

The place was a regular bar and there must have been about three dozen customers. As you could probably listen in the previous video they were doing the sound check when we entered.

The First band that was playing were Chiabola. I did not think to take a video of the band at that point so you’ll have to be happy with this picture only 🙂

What surpised me about them was that only one member of the band had long hair, something usually common in Nu metal bands. Their music however was quite good, reminding me a bit of Paradise Lost in their newer albums. They only played 3 or 4 songs if I remember correctly.

The next band, Force Trankill, was the one that had Maubi’s two guitarists from his other band, Everfest. They were playing progressive rock, and without wanting to sound biased I must admit that they were the ones I like the most. Of course, this is not to say that the other bands were not good, quite the contrary. I was amazed at the quality of the bands I saw for just 5 euros!

The singer was probably one of the reasons why this band sounded so goo. This is the same singer that I saw in a previous [tag]gig[/tag] I went to. Maubi told me that band was his other project at which point I started wondering if everyone around here two pet bands as a pastime.

I believe I have to also mention that the whole environment was really cool. Although I hand’t really spoken to many people by that point, everybody seemed friendly and a girl regular even promised to help me get a flyer of the gig.

The area in front of the stage was not packet and I had enough space to move around and take photographs and videos. That is not to say that people where not head banging and stuff.

Next on the stage were Crystal Crow, of which the singer I had noticed outside just because he was wearing a bandanna exactly like mine, as well as a leather trench coat, like me. When he went on the stage, I just knew he had stolen my idea (if I ever became the frontman to a band that is 🙂 )

I must say that they were pretty good. The singer could grab both the high and the low notes and used a guttural voice similar to old school Sentenced. Their songs were a bit melancholic and dark-themed as well which was a good change from the rest.

I think this might be a band worth looking into in the future. I’ve been meaning to find another darkware metal band as a replacement for the now disbanded Sentenced.

The next band on the line was Liquid Horizon, a clearly progressive act with quite a melodic undertone. The singer, as you’ll be able to see from the vids, was also the Guitarist which imho is a no-easy fit when you’re playing prog.

I took two videos of these dudes mainly because I run out of space on my mobile phone and had to move some files around.

Fun fact. During one of the songs, due to the beat that sounded similar to native american rythms, the drummer put on a feather headress for the whole song. Nice touch 🙂

[coolplayer]

[/coolplayer]

At this point, our other friends had already left because they were tired, leaving just me an Maubi. Fortunately I had already started talking with various people around the place, including the owner who even bought me a drink. During my conversation with the owner, I asked him directly, how could he manage when he was charging such low prices for entry and drinks. He explained to me that it was quite difficult in the start, where he almost closed down, but now that people have learned the place and more gigs are happening.

You know it actually makes sense. Bands don’t come to play here for the money and as such don’t expect a high income (perhaps 10 euros). This in turn allows the owner to charge low entrance and drinks which brings more people to the scene. These people then promote the bands using word of mouth (like I am doing currently) and even buy the bands’ own merchandise. In the end everyone wins, unlike Greece where everyone was losing.

Anyway, now the next band was on the stage, going by the simple name: Scenes. We had already been told by enthusiastic people around there that they were the best of the lot and as they started doing the soundcheck I could see that the singer would make a good performance.

I was not dissapointed. The singer was quite the frontman and their music was quite enjoyable really. Although it was not not the band I liked that night – and there were a few people headbanging on the front row, which goes to show that I was probably in the minority – I must admit that for an underground band their music was quite impressive. They reminded me quite a lot of Queensrÿche.

Unfortunately at this point it was time for me and Maubi to head out as well in order to catch the least train so we couldn’t really see the whole gig. We said our goodbyes, I received my flyer as promised and I vowed to return for more 🙂

Ahem, just one more time…5 FUCKING EUROS!!!1!one!

New staff goodness

April 21, 2007 Db0

So I’ve finally received my two new Staffs from Firetoys and I’m really really giddy about it :). I ordered them last Friday night, they were posted on Monday morning and they arrived on Thursday morning. Now that is quick! Unfortunately we hit a snag when they didn’t find me at my place and left me a notice. Trying to call them back, to my dismay I discovered that they did not have anyone who could speak english and there was no way to communicate. Fortunately for me, my dear colleague Cyrus did me the favor of calling them for me and after a short discussion they arranged to leave them at the shop next to my place. Next day when I returned from work, they were already there. Oh Joy of Joys!

I ordered two staffs from the shop this time. Initially I didn’t want to shop from firetoys again since the last time I got one of their products, it broke within a month and I’m not really happy with the replacement I received since it has bent and twisted to a bad enough level to make it diffuclt to use.
However the initial choice I had in mind, te POOKaToys, has closed down their shop for some reason and the Home of Poi has a very small selection of staffs and no Glostaffs. The other sites I checked either were more expensive or had a small collection as well.

The first item I ordered was a contact [tag]Firestaff[/tag] with two wicks. Specifically I ordered this model because I wanted something sturdy and good for practicing contact moves.

The staff itself is the heaviest I’ve ever used and it is also amazingly sturdy. I can simple throuw it in the air and see it vibrating as it goes. This makes it a bit difficult for throws but on the other hand, during the training I did today I discovered just how much of a difference having a good staff does.

Where before I had trouble performing a simple Steve roll, just in one hour today I almost performed a perfect Halo-360, which was pretty amazing for me. The extra inertia of the staff, along with the fact that it doesn’t tangle in my hair anymore (as the silicone grip used to do) makes contact moves amazingly easier than before.

[coolplayer]http://www.dbzer0.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=591&g2_serialNumber=3&.mp4[/coolplayer]

I practiced for two hours and I think I have finally began to make progress. I still have to practice with the new weight, balance and longer shaft but that should be the easiest part.

The other staff I ordered was finally thr GloStaff (Glow Staff) that I always wanted. Yes, I’ve got very carnal reasons for wanting such a staff 😉

This one one is the smaller sized one I’ve used (just 140cm) as well as the lightest. The shaft is very thick which makes it difficult to do finger spins and the weight makes it a bit unstable for contact moves. I believe I can counterbalance those with a lot of practice. It still looks absolutely amazing in the dark!

[coolplayer]http://www.dbzer0.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=618&g2_serialNumber=3&.mp4[/coolplayer]

Fireplay in Frankfurt

April 15, 2007 Db0

New video of me playing with fire in Frankfurt

[coolplayer]http://www.dbzer0.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=82&.mp4[/coolplayer]

This is after I went for a PingPong match with Cyrus and Alan (yes I won again 😛 ) and as night fell, I saw some fires close to me, so I went there and found a group of Czechs. They were more than happy to let me play with them since, after all, they were making money out of it.

When Cyrus gives me the pictures from his camera, I’ll upload them as well.

Keep it True VII

April 15, 2007 Db03 Comments

So I’m back from the 7th Keep It True festival where I went with my new friend, Arnoc and two of his friends, Alisa (or is that with a “c”?) and Eugene (I hope that is the correct spelling).

We were supposed to meet in front of a supermarket on Saturday morning, so when I got off the Train, there was a girl in front of me that looked like part-goth, part-metalhead (patched jean shirt and stuff) and I thought it peculiar that she got off at the same stop as me, and going the same direction as me, and going to the same supermarket as me, and shit! she’s waiting for someone as well! So, in order not to make things any more awkward, I went to her and the guy she was talking with and asked them if they were waiting for Arnoc. Not surprisingly, they were.

Arnoc arrived, and after getting some supplies (aka beer, alcohol-free) we were on our way. I must say that his friends were very good. Even though they barely knew me, they were very friendly
Arnoc must feel very unfortunate that even though he was the only one who wanted to drink beer, he was the designated driver, even though the rest of us stayed sober. No one else could drive 😉
We arrived at the festival 2 hours or so later after driving through some very interesting landscapes and taking care not to ride over any frogs (no seriously, we saw a sign). You could easily tell when you’ve reached the festival since there was a full parking lot, where the predominant figure was a black clad, long haired male. For some reason, patched jeans were quite common as well. It seems to be like a metal-cred thing. Your jean overcoat says who and how tough you are 😛

So we parked and soon were on our way to see the inside. And I found an excuse to use my mobile’s video camera as well

[youtube]QTzm6W3vkuA[/youtube]
Yes, that is me talking in the background. Please do not comment on my accent. And yes, that is the soundtrack from Conan the Barbarian playing in the background of the festival. That’s how True they are keeping it. The girl in the end of the vid is Alisa.
The festival was housed in a basketball court and half the field was shops while the rest was reserved for people to watch the bands.

[coolplayer]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXCWzHycPvo [/coolplayer]

There were quite a number of shops selling merchandise but I was a bit disappointed that only a few were selling anything other than albums and t-shirts. I was looking forward to cool stuff. I was also a bit surprised on how many people were still buying vinyls (or buying at all). Some of the prices on the “rare” items were insane.
We did some shopping (I got a hat chain) and on the process I met a Greek (clad in a Greek flag for some reason) that came all the way from Athens for the festival. Talk about having money to throw away…
Half an hour later we went back to the car to leave the stuff and drink some more (warm now) beer and I took the chance to take more pics.
Then we moved back to watch Twisted Tower (I hope I remember the name right).
Arnoc and Alisa were next to me on the front line but according to them, the band’s lineup was inexplicably changed so the band live pretty much sucked.
Of course, I said hello to the camera every time one of the video crew filming the festival turned to the crowd.
Even though, the other’s weren’t impressed by the new lineup, they did find something interesting to headbang to.
[coolplayer]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu4F-soLTSw[/coolplayer]

For me, on the other hand, they reminded too much of Helloween in the Keeper days, although the others say that this is just because the singer was crap and couldn’t reach the high notes.

When the band finished, unfortunately the food queue was huge, so we ended up eating chips and ice creams to hold us until we left. We returned just in time to see Piledriver which was what Eugene was waiting for. My first impression of the band was “Oh, not another band in masks” (Although Arnoc later told me that they were one of the first to do so.) my second impression was “Here’s a band where everyone is fat”. No seriously. It’s like they did it on purpose. The worst part is that the singer was waring leather straps instead of a shirt which just multiplied the effect of “spillage”…ugh

After that, nobody was really interested in seeing other bands, so we agreed to head out. We made a brief stop at McDonalds (the first time I’ve been there in years) where I got an expensive salad. Then I fell asleep in the car and finally reached Frankfurt at about 9pm.

All in all this trip got a bit more expensive than I expected (50 euros) but the experience was great. Next time I’ll be more prepared however (which just means I’ll listen to at least a few of the bands playing so that I can enjoy some part of the festival.)

Arnoc and crew were an excellent company. Even though they could speak in two different languages I could not understand, they were considerate enough to speak in english now and then.

And yes, this is just sweet talk because I know Arnoc is going to be reading this post (to steal my videos) and I want to be able to use…err…join him in the next festival he’s going 😛

Grow a beard you wuss!

Out of the sludge

April 10, 2007 Db0

I have finally taken the first step to fight my chronic procrastination. I’ve already compiled a short list and collected two points. Even this small blogpost will be an extra point (hence the reason I write it).

I really hope I’ll be able to keep it up cause there is already too much time lost in my life.

A Division by Zer0

A bug in the code of the universe

Category: The Life Quotient