Trendy

May 13, 2007 Db02 Comments

Every time I end up in a trendy or “in” place, the experience solidifies my distaste for the whole scene.

On Friday a few colleagues from the [tag]ECB[/tag] had arranged a birthday party at a pizza place on the east side of Frankfurt. As one of them was Greek, I received an invitation as well along with a few others.

I was hoping to meet some people on the way there but everyone went there early and although I happened to enter the same Train as one of the birthday people, Reka, I did not recognise her in order to sit with them. Fortunately finding the place was not difficult.

Most people were having pizza (some with spinach…ugh) while I was busy either annoying them with my new shiny singing monkey balls (more on that soon) or taking videos of them while they were trying to talk. I must say that the aforementioned singing monkey balls were a great success among the participants, especially the two Greeks sitting close to me that were about to strangle me if I didn’t stop.

[coolplayer]http://www.dbzer0.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=674&.mp4[/coolplayer]

I also managed to convince Reka not to kill me for the time being.

After the pizza was finished we visited a night club on the back (I can’t even remember the name). The doorman almost did not let us in since we were not dressed for the occasion. I especially with my leather trenchcoat and long hair must have made him think twice. Fortunately he let us in (although in retrospect I might consider putting an “u” in front of the first word) and we paid 10 euros for that privilege after which I wasn’t in much mood to buy a drink.

The music inside was boring to tears. A monotone beat and some simple melody that changed slightly every 15 minutes or so. No passion, no melody, nothing. Just brain dead music that requires an equally brain-dead person to consider it worth 10 euros. Fortunately the rest of the group were pretty fun to be around and we ended up dancing for a few hours until everybody got sick of the place and decided to leave.

However it still does not fail to amaze me that these places are actually popular. What the hell do people find enjoyable there? The boring music or the look-alike people that inhabit them? Seriously the dress code is completely stupid. They force people to dress like everyone or they will not get in. As if we don’t have enough conformity in our lives that we need some more.

It is depressing to see so many people flock to these places just because the “beautiful girls” go there or whatever other excuse they find for themselves. Why are people so uncritical of this? When did pop music become so absolutely bland? How can people actually enjoy this and even pay dearly for the privilege is beyond me.

A thousand times better to go to a metal or rock place. Even Gothic music is leagues better than the stupid House and the people you meet or see in the former are certainly more interesting. At least now I know much better than to visit another such club in the near future.

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.

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!

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!

PingPong

April 9, 2007 Db06 Comments

Ha! I am the undefeated champion of the small table tennis matches we played today with Cyrus, Scott and Alan. Oh how the wanted me to lose 😛

Here’s a video of the last ownage of Cyrus for everyone interested seeing me play like a monkey.

[coolplayer]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMAH2Sy6OPg[/coolplayer]

I’m obviously the guy in the black.

Vacation over.

April 7, 2007 Db02 Comments

…heads in!

That’s it then, my short [tag]vacation[/tag] in Greece has finally ended. and I must confess that it totally rocked. Initially I was planning to go on week before and one week after Easter so that I might catch everyone on their vacation period and get three weekends at Greece as well. That soon turned sour when I glimpsed on the air ticker prices in store for those dates so in the end I decided to move the whole vacation period back one week and leave on dates where the prices might be lower. In restrospect that was a bad move since I may have gotten a cheap ticket (just 100 euros) but it meant that I strayed just one weekend in Greece and I flew at awkward times. On the plus side, since I left one week earlier, I managed to catch some friends before they left for their home town

I arrived at Athens on the 27th of March at around 1am and immediately went to see my friend Vaggelis (or Baggio as I prefer to call him) who is the only friend I have left from my 15 years of growing up in Athens.

This guy was the only one who stood up to me when I was a little dweeb in High School and kept hanging up with me when everyone else was avoiding me like the plague. He might not be perfect, but he’s one of the best guys out there. Rock on Brother!

I stayed at his place for three nights (monday night to Thursday morning) and we got to hang out together for a while.

During the days I found the chance to finally visit the offices of Fokas in Athens, while vaggelis was meeting with a new friend of his for beers, and finally meet Antonis Stefanidis that I used to work with. He’s older than he sounds. He showed me around the offices and I got to meet some of the people I only talked to on the phone. I knew only three unfortunately since the rest seem to have moved on.

After that, I met up with Tasos (Kensha) from my old days as a gamer. It’s amazing how I ended up a friend with that guy when our last encounter while I was leaving Athens permanently was very hostile.
We went to the Monastiraki for a cofee and talked about old and new times.

After that, I went to the house another old acquittance of mine, Tasos Zachariadis. I used to go to the same school with this guy but we were never friends of any sort. He started hanging out with Vangelis after I left Athens and now they have become close friends. I met him for that reason in the past and now we’re friends. He did me the favor of letting me crash at his place for that night while Baggio was still drinking beers and we ended up having a huge discussion about Politics.

Btw, if anyone’s in Athens and looking to have a tattoo I highly recommend this guy. He has just started but I’ve seen samples of his initial work and have been blown away by the quality. He’s been drawing alternative style for many years and his improvisational tatoos just kick ass. I know who I’m going to see to have mine in the future.

On Wednesday, me Tasos and Baggio went for a coffee at Monastiraki where a huge discussion broke out about drugs and LSD in specific. I won’t go into details but we ended up splittiong up 2 hours later than we intended.
Me and Baggio got ready so that he would take me out and show me on of the classic metal places in Athens. Jasmin. Initially we planning to go there with Tasos and Virgilia, a girl friend of Vaggelis, but unfortunately both bailed out on us and we ended up going alone. I can’t say that it hurt us though since the music was great and for some reason they kept giving us free us beers (maybe to offset that horrible the horrible prices they have on drinks there. 5.5 euro for a Cricket? ugh!). Perhaps it was Vaggelis’ good looks or perhaps it was the fact that I kept dancing like there was no tomorrow. I even had one random girl come and talk to me because I was the only one headbanging to Kamelot and she was supposedly the founder of the Greek Kamelot fan club. Too bad she had a boyfriend with her, oh well.

I didn’t really sleep that night since we left the place at about 5am and my Train was leaving at 8. I just went to Vaggelis’ place, took my things and scrammed. Vaggelis himself would come with me to Thessaloniki on a different train that same day.

I arrived in Salonica in the noon and immediately started calling my old friends to go for a coffee. On the first day I saw Panos and my sister (I didn’t think to take pictures at that point. It must have been the fact that I was tired.). And in the night I went to see my old group of friends sitting in a classic Tavern. It was there where I fist layed eyes on my sisters newish super-Christian boyfriend, George. The next day I met Niki by chance on the street and we arranged to meet her at her place the same day.

We talked and she told us she would meet us the same day at the Dizzy rock but she didn’t really keep her promise. I was later told she has become quite introverted so that might be the reason. I didn’t see her since then either.

Later that day my sister made us Dinner with George and everybody got to cook a dish. I cooked mushrooms of course but my sister and George refused to eat because they were fasting and I used butter…meh.
After that we headed to Dizzy with Baggio where I ended up meeting a few friends by chance. Initially we sat there and enjoyed the music (and my sister had the owner once more hit on her) but later on I made them visit the 8Ball where it was playing the “Whatever music” (Disco-pop-greek-rock etc) and Thrash-Death Metal on the top floor. As expected Baggio decided to hang out upstairs while me and my Sister were dancing like crazy downstairs. I did see a few friends there as well and even kissed a girl that I always wanted (she decided not to pursue it further though 🙁 ) and later on almost did something with another girl when a guy told her something and forced her to leave (I think he must have been her ride home that got disappointed when he saw her dancing with me and forced her to leave. It couldn’t have been her boyfriend because I saw him before trying to “seduce” her and getting rejected)
Quite a good night all-in-all.

On Friday as well, I decided to visit one of my old haunts, the gaming shop KAISSA. Needless to say I was severely dissapointed when two of my once-gaming-friends, could not stop playing the Warlord CCG for 5 minutes to see what I’m up to after almost 1 year. I expected as such of course but hope always dies last. They told me to arrange with my other friends from the group but I didn’t think they would show up in any case.

On Saturday I did meet up with two of those friends and we visited on of the classic Taverns we ate at, Η ωραία Ελλάς where we reminisced the old days and mostly talked about comics and gaming. The guys have stayed mostly the same although Panoramix’s (Kwstas) UHS (Up-Hair-Syndrom) has evolved.

After a short coffee (beer) break with Baggio, we went to Ladadika again to visit the rest of the places. We were initially planning to visit Harley but when we found out that A. It had moved and B. The new place has a entrance fee of 15 euros for a live of two bands, we decided to get a rain check. We went to the Cult instead where I flirted with the Waitress and Baggio started getting drunk. I was also lucky that night because by pure luck I bumped into Fotini, Xristina the old KNE group and even my old girlfriend, Angelique (who promised she’d try to see me in the next days and didn’t follow through…meh)

Sunday was more lazy since Baggio left in the morning and I woke up at 2pm. I went to eat (very salty fish) with my sister and her boyfriend and we sat there until late in the evening. I also took a nice pic that I’m modified as my new wallpaper.

After that, I met with yet more of my friends, Iro who henceforth will be known as Beero and Fotini where later on we went to meet Panos and his girlfriend and the Ekkentron and drink lots of beers.

On Monday after unsuccessfully trying to visit Kosta (Elt) i ended up going to the offices of Fokas where I visited all the people. Things were identical as I expected but I was pleasantly surprised to see that most people in the offices remembered me (or at least seemed) fondly. However seeing my old workplace made me glad I’m not working there any more.

I returned to Salonika center and after grabbing a coffee with my sister (where I made fun of her choice to fast in the Christian fashion) and her boyfriend (where we started a nuclear discussion about Christianity) once more, I managed to meet my sisters old Boyfriend and current friend of mine, Manolis and his brother where we talked about encounter in IT and bad bosses.

and later on I met with a friend I was not counting on seeing, Chrysa.

yes, shy person. Since we both were quite truthful, I decided to tell her that I’m always fancied her, only to be told that I don’t click for her. (I didn’t think to go “click” at that point) It doesn’t really matter since we’ll remain friends but it’s good to get it off my chest. We later met with Mersa with whom I continued my night at a place she had a exhibition of her work. Later in the night, after much talk about her newest relationship, a friend of hers turned up and there was an immediate spark. Nothing serious happened but it did make the night better. Problem is that I forgot her name 🙂

Tuesday went by much more rapidly since I had a few people I hadn’t seen yet. After a brief encounter with my sister’s boyfriend who wanted to talk to me about marriage (!), I went to see my -always busy- godfather. He only had time to say a few brief words to me and buy me a shirt I didn’t really need

After that I went straight (Σούμπητος) to see a two friends I missed, Elena and Eirini (with the later of whom I almost had something solid).

I stayed with them until my tongue got hair from talking (at that point my voice had started getting hoary from saying the same stories again and again) and after admiring the waitress of the cafeteria for a while, I met with a girlfriend-for-a-week I had a while back. It seems she never fully recovered from me (a-tssss) and we ended up hagning out together for a few hours where I continued to give her training on french-kissing (no, seriously).

After that, I visited my sister house once more and stayed until it was time to catch the train to Athens where i would meet my Aunt and cousins before heading back to Frankfurt.
Here’s my sister knitting if you don’t believe me 😉

The trip to Athens was uneventful if you ignore the fact that I almost lost my train stop. My uncle picked my up and took me to the house to see the family and eat with them. I stayed with them most of the day talking about communism and to my surprise Epicurus where they even gave me a very good book on him. I went for a coffee with my cousins and then returned to the house to see Borat (I didn’t really like it)

After a hasty phonecall with [tag]Baggio[/tag], I took a taxi and went over to his place to see him one last time and go to Jasmin together again. This time Virgilia would come but not Tasos.

Unfortunately We got caught in the rain and had a short stupid encounter with a drunken dude that got in the same cab with us and raised a fuss. We reached Jasmin alright however and proceeded to get stupid drunk, or at least Baggio and Virgilia did. I blame it on the staff who kept buying us beers once more! 🙂 I don’t know if it’s my good looks or Intarnational style that made the bartender and waitress to like us so 🙂

In the end, I had to literally carry Virgilia to a cab after she puked her brains out for an hour or so in the toilet. For my troubles she puked on me as a parting gift. Fortunately it was mostly saliva since she had emptied he stomach at Jasmin’s toilets. After we got rid of her, Vaggelis started puking on himself…sigh. I took him home, put him to sleep and then slumbered for four hours until it was time to catch the plane.

Sleeping on the airport like a bum FTW!

Random Picture of me

March 21, 2007 Db0

Hah! I just found a picture that included my ugly face blogged into the livejournal of a guy I met at the [tag]Final Destination[/tag]. I have no idea what he’s talking about since it’s all in German and the translation tools available do a pretty crappy job (Something about Teutons with big smiles? Dunno).

I also liked the way he made those composite pics, It’s a nice way to save space in the blog.

Now I met this guy at the Final D. but only yesterday we started talking to any serious length. He seems pretty cool and he’s actually got a philosophy similar to mine. He’s also has a Last.fm account 🙂

Now that I mentioned the Final…it was great yesterday! It was playing Kingdom for a Heart when I entered which really started the night on the right foot and later on the Power Metal just kept on coming. It’s just great when the DJ is wearing an Edguy T-Shirt 🙂 I heard two Sonata songs in one night which is more than I’ve ever heard in a single night club ever. Good times…

Μιλιταριστής Χριστιανός

March 12, 2007 Db0

Ό,τι νάναι. Αυτή τη Παρασκευή έτυχε να βγω για μερικές μπύρες με ένα γείτονα από το κτίριο μου.Γνωριστήκαμε επεισοδιακά (Πήγε να με δείρει) αλλά τελικά καταντήσαμε να τα πίνουμε μαζί.

Φαίνεται καλό παλίκάρι, λίγο πιο μπεκρής απ’ότι θα ήθελα – αλλά αυτό είναι δικό του πρόβλημα – μεταλλάς, μακρυμάλλης και παρτάκιας. Αρχίσαμε να μιλάμε για διάφορα και σύντομα ανακάλυψα οτι έχει μερικές πολύ περίεργες ιδέες.

Αρχικά η συζήτηση κόλλησε στο εαν θα επέτρεπες σε ένα καλό σου φίλο να κάνει σχέση με την αδελφή σου. Κυρίως μιλούσαμε θεωρητικά, μιας και αυτός δεν έχει αδελφή, αλλά φάνηκε καθαρά οτι διαφωνούσαμε ριζικά. Αυτός πιστεύει οτι η αδελφή είναι κάτι ιερό και οι φίλοι δεν θα πρέπει να την αγγίζουν, κάτι το οποίο δεν συμμερίζομαι. Ο μόνος λόγος για να έχεις μια τέτοια προκατάληψη για τους φίλους σου, είναι εαν αυτοί οι φίλοι είναι ψιλο-χοντρό-καθαρματάκια με της γυναίκες (κοινώς φέρονται γουρουνοειδώς). Εαν το κοινό σημείο συζήτησης με τους φίλους σου είναι το να γελάς με το πόσες πουτάνες γαμήσατε παρέα και το πως απέφυγες την γκομενά σου για να γαμήσεις την φίλη της κλπ, ε είναι λογικό να μην θέλεις ένα ανάλογο άτομο να κάνει τα ίδια στην αδελφή σου – Άσχετα με πόσο υποκριτική είναι η όλη άποψη.
Απο την άλλη, ο τρόπος που το βλέπω εγω είναι οτι εφόσον οι φίλοι σου είναι καλοί χαρακτήρες, δεν υπάρχει λόγος να μην θέλεις να ασχοληθούν με την αδελφή σου. Ακόμα καλύτερα μάλιστα, μιας και θα ξέρεις ότι αξίζουν από πρώτο χέρι. Ακόμα και να μην δουλέψει μια τέτοια σχέση, θα ξέρεις οτι δεν θα φερθούν σαν μαλάκες αλλά αντιθέτως, είναι πολύ πιθανόν να παραμέινουν φίλοι όταν χωρίσουν.

Όχι όμως. Αυτός επέμενε οτί είναι απλά η ηθική που έχει συνηθίσει στην Κροατία. Μια ηθική που, παραδόξως, είναι πολύ όμοια με την Ελληνική και την οποία, επίσης παραδόξως, δεν ασπάζομαι. Το να ακολουθείς μια ηθική του στυλ “Μου γαμάς την αδελφή και σε γαμάω στο ξύλο” χωρίς να έχεις μια βάση είναι απλά κλειστόμυαλο και προέρχεται/δείχνει μεγαλύτερα κολλήματα.

Η όλη συζήτηση μου θύμησε όταν ο καλύτερος μου φίλος έτυχε να κάνει κάνει το “τέρας με τα δύο κεφάλια” με την δικιά μου αδελφή. Ο κακομοίρης, έχοντας έχει συνηθίσει στην Ελληνική νοοτροπία, είχε τρομοκρατηθεί για τις συνέπειες, ακόμα και όταν δεν είχε κάνει τίποτα κακό (Είναι δύσκολο να αντισταθείς στην αδελφή μου) και την είχε βάλει να ορκιστεί να μην μου πει τίποτα.
Άσχετα οτι το ανακάλυψα μόνος μου (Α ρε αδέλφι πότε θα μάθεις να μην αφήνεις ανοιχτά ημερολόγια εδω και εκεί;) αλλά και η ίδια η αδελφή μου δεν μπόρεσε να μου το κρύψει. Προσπάθησε να μου το φέρει πλαγίως πλαγίως (“Αν σου πώ κάτι ορκίσου να μην θυμώσεις” κλπ) γιατι δεν ήξερε πως θα το έπαιρνα. Ξαφνιάστηκε λίγο όταν άρχισα να γελάω και να την συγχαίρω για την καλή επιλογή της 🙂
Ο κολλητός είχε ακόμα πιο κομικοτραγική αντίδραση όταν αποφάσισα να τον ψήσω λιγάκι:

(Απο το τηλέφωνο)

“Έλα ρε κάθαρμα.” του λέω
“Έλα ρε.”
“Τι κάνεις; Καλά;”
“Μια χαρά, εσύ;”
“Καλά. Λοιπόν, μήπως πρέπει να μου πεις κάτι;”
“Τι δηλαδη;”
“Έλα τώρα, μην κάνεις οτι δεν ξέρεις.”
“Τι ρε μαλάκα, δεν καταλαβαίνω.”
“Άσε ρε τα ψώφια. Τα ξέρω όλα!”
“Τι; Τι ξέρεις δηλαδή”
“Τυρί! Ξέρω ρε τι έκανες!”
“…”
“Και τώρα πρέπει να την παντρευτείς!”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Ρε! Είσαι ακόμα εδώ;”
“…”
“Έλα ξεκόλα, πλάκα σου έκανα. Δεν υπάρχει πρόβλημα”
“Ρε μαλακά…συγνώμη ρε συ, δεν το έκανα επίτηδες. Να ανοίξει η γη να με καταπιεί”
“Δεν πειράζει ρε σου λέω…”

κλπ. Μετά απο πολλά παρακάλια και συγνώμες, κατάφερα να του εξηγήσω οτι δεν με πειράζει καθόλου και στην τελική δεν μου πέφτει λόγος για τις επιλογές της αδελφής μου.

Πραγματικά, στην τελική, εαν η αδελφή σου δεν είναι κανένα καθυστερημένο, από που και ως που πρέπει εσυ να βάλεις φρένο. Εαν τώρα ξέρεις οτι οι φίλοι σου είναι γουρουνοειδής καθαρματάκια, γιατί στο διάολο είναι ακόμα φίλοι σου; Μήπως πρέπει να ξαναεξετάσεις τον ίδιο σου τον εαυτό; Η κλασσική παροιμία “Δείξε μου τον φίλο σου, να σου πω ποιός είσαι” δεν είναι τυχαία.

Τέλος πάντων, πίσω στο αρχικό μου θέμα.
Τα κολλήματα της νέας μου γνωριμίας λοιπόν, δεν άργησαν να έρθουν στο προσκήνιο.

Σε μια φάση, πρόσεξα οτι έκανε τον σταυρό του (όταν το δευτερο εστιατόριο που επισκευτήκαμε είχε κλείσει την κουζίνα του στις 11μμ). Μου φάνηκε περίεργο διότι μετά από αυτά που μου είχε πει για τον τρόπο ζωής του, μόνο για Χριστιανό δεν τον έκανα. Με περιέργεια τον ρώτησα εαν είναι.

“Χριστιανός Μιλιταριστής” μου είπε

Τι είναι αυτό; Με λίγα λόγια, Ναζί (ναι, το παραδέχτηκε στο τέλος). Θέλει να εξαφανήσει όλους τους Εβραίους και τους Μουσουλμάνους για εκδίκηση. Επειδή κάποιοι Μουσουλμάνοι σκοτώσαν κάποιους χριστιανούς, πιστεύει οτι πρέπει να κάνει το ίδιο εναντίων τους. Και μάλιστα να το κάνει πρώτος (ίσως για να μείνουν μονο οι επίλεκτοι). Επίσης πρώτο πρώτο θέλει να καθαρίσει τον Πάπα γιατί δεν βοηθάει τα παιδάκια στην Αφρική.

Δεν υπήρχε περίπτωση να το κάνω να ξανασκεφτεί τις απόψεις του. Δεν υπήρχε περίπτωση να σκεφτεί οτι δεν είναι όλα τα άτομα της ίδιας θρησκείας το ίδιο, ή οτι όταν τελειώσουν οι εξωτερικοί εχθροί θα υπάρχουν πάντα δόγματα και αιρέσεις. Αντίθετα, όσο προσπαθουσα να του μιλήσω, τόσο περισσότερο εκνευριζόταν διότι δεν μπορούσε να συντηρήσει τις απόψεις του. Στο τέλος είχε καταντήσει να μου λέει οτι εαν δεν συμφωνώ μαζί του μπορώ να φύγω (θα μου πλήρωνε και το ταξί) και αυτός δεν υπάρχει περίπτωση να αλλάξει άποψη.

“Μα αυτό είναι δογματικό” του λέω “Δεν μπορώ να πιστέψω οτι πραγματικά δεν θα αλλάξεις άποψη ότι αντίθεση και να σου φέρω”
“Ναι” μου απαντάει “Έχω δόγμα. Είμαι Ναζιστής” 😮

Ομολογώ οτι είμουν περισσότερο ξαφνιασμένος παρά οτιδήποτε άλλο. Δεν περίμενα οτί θα γνώριζα στην ζωή μου ναζιστή, αλα η ζωή μου την έφερε μπαμπέσικα. Η μαλακία είναι οτί τον είχα συμπαθήσει ήδη μέχρι εκείνη την στιγμή οπότε μου ήταν πολύ δύσκολο να σηκωθώ και να φύγω. Όταν τον ρώτησα τι θα έκανε εαν του έλεγα οτι είμουν Εβραίος σιώπησε επικύνδυνα…σε σημείο που άρχισα να φοβάμαι μην μου ορμήξει. Τον καθυσήχασα όταν του είπα ότι είμαι αγνωστικιστής αλλά και πάλι…

Τώρα δεν ξέρω εαν πρέπει να τον κάνω παρέα. Πιστεύω οτι είναι περισσότερο μπερδεμένος παρά σοβαρός με αυτά που λέει. Απλά έχει τραβήξει λίγο περισσότερη προπαγάνδα απ’ότι είναι υγιηνό.
Δεν είμαι σίγουρος εαν θα πρέπει να συνεχίσω να τον κάνω παρέα – με την ελπίδα οτί σιγά σιγά μπορεί να πάρει καμία διαφορετική ιδέα από ‘μένα – ή να τον αποφύγω/σνομπάρω για τις καφρο-ιδέες του.
Μιλιταριστής Χριστιανός λοιπόν, μια άλλη έκφραση για το Ναζιστής. Λογικό.

A Division by Zer0

A bug in the code of the universe

Category: Socializing