My favourite album this period

I know that all of you are wondering what I am listening to now that I'm in Japan... ok, I know you don't, but if you did I would inform you that my favourite album is "Άνοιξα μανταρίνι και σε θυμήθηκα / I peeled a mandarin and remembered you" by "Λουδοβίκος των Ανωγείων / Loudovikos of Anoghia". Loudovikos is one of my favourite greek artists and his songs are a blend of Cretan and new greek style music. my favourite song out of this album is the following. it describes a person looming in the docs

"Του λιμανιού ο γιος"
στίχοι: Λουδοβίκος

τον έχουν δει να τριγυρνά στου λιμανιού τα σκοτεινά κάθε χειμώνα
αν ζει ο Αλέξανδρος ρωτά κι αν ταξιδεύει στ' ανοιχτά η έρημη γοργόνα

έχει τα μάτια χαμηλά και ξέρει να σιγομιλά με τα ζουμπούλια
σ' αυτό το βλέμα το βαθύ έχουν πολλές φορές χαθεί θαλασσοπούλια

σκύβει στην άμμο και γροικά της θάλασσας τα μυστικά
κι οι σφουγγαράδες τον ρωτούν να δέσουν ή να ξανοιχτούν
στα μάρμαρα του βασιλιά και στης γοργόνας την ποδιά αποκοιμάται

είναι του λιμανιού ο γιος, δεν έχει σπίτι ούτε βιος
μη τον ξυπνάτε...


I tried to translate it as accurately as possible and --- believe me --- it's not easy. here goes!


"The son of the docs"
lyrics by Loudovikos

they've seen him roam in the doc's darknesses every winter
he asks if Alexander is still alive and if the mermaid still swims in the open seas

he has his eyes lowered and he can speak to the flowers
in this deep glare seabirds were lost many times

he bends on the sand and understands the secrets of the sea
and the sponge divers ask him if they should tie their knots or embark
on the king's marbles and on the mermaid's lap he falls asleep

he is the son of the docs, he has no house nor possessions
don't wake him...

I wanted to do this for a long time ;)

nihongo issues...

it's not fair! why do I not remember my japanese?! 1.5 years of (ok, not tooooo intensive) study and I cannot properly communicate with japanese folk. I can only say elementary thinks. I think my japanese teacher (Takahashi-sensei, excellent person) would be dissapointed in me, even though her japanese politeness would not let her show... but I will change this!

ima kara mo ichido nihongo o benkyo shimasu! kambarimasu!

100 Visitors Yeah!!!!!!

I should start putting advertisments on! well, probably 50 or so are me ;) thx guys for your interest.

oh dear... it's that time of the year again...

I don't really understand why I do this. every year, this happens once or twice. I get the very strong urge to install linux in at least one of my computers... this urge is always triggered by whenever suse released a new edition of their linux. this time, suse went completely free and they provide their opensuse distribution, something similar to what redhat did with their fedora.

suse provides a new distribution every six months. this is their first completely free one. I have always been a suse fan. I always thought that the suse desktop was always better than anything else. also, suse use to be (and probably still is) the strongest (ok, or second strongest) linux distribution in europe.

ok then, this how it (always) goes:

1. I download the dvd
2. I back-up all of my important files
3. I install suse, with it reserving usually 15GB of my precious hard disk space (especially in a laptop)
   
4. I am impressed by suse! champaign on ice!
   
5. I convince myself that I can do anything with suse without the need of paying any money to that blood-sucking software houses. (especially Microsoft, since it is the face of all that is evil to linux enthusiasts...)
6. It takes me days to set-up a completely working system and this happens because I just CANNOT STAND everything in my computer to not work in perfection
7. I start working with linux
8. I start getting the first problems... I again remind myself that both of my supervisors work in ms-office and I always receive this .ppt or .doc file that just won't render correctly in openoffice!
9. and then I have to plot the results... and I cannot but just reminisce the user-friendliness of Origin...
10. I start to think that Windows is better that Linux because I'm more productive in windows... I realise the significance that windows have played in spreading computer usage to a broader audience
    
11. gradually, I loose interest in linux and silently work again in windows...
12. i regret the time I've spent in installing linux and the space I have sacrificed in doing so...
13. after one to two months I just don't logon to linux any more
14. I uninstall suse, saying that I won't do this again...

and now, here I am still thinking of doing the same thing I have done and regretted for so many times... installing the next suse release. is it worth the hassle? being the geek I am... OF COURSE!

Lonely times in Yokohama

everyone has to have some laughs eventually even in the most interesting country in this world... so, after the South Park Sessions at Clayponds (ohh... the joy... the laughs... ohhhhh) the next best thing in ages is Scrubs. i haven't had such a laugh for ages! it is about trainee doctors in a hospital. amazing series, amazing gangs, amazing humour... have a preview in Winamp5.

My second(!) japanese earthquake

happened only 3 days after the first!!! M5 this time. i will probably stop posting about earthquakes in this country... just too trivial!

My first japanese earthquake

happened at exactly 16.14 and was about M5.1 no need to worry everyone ;)

Okonomiyaki at the Hiyoshi Station

i'm back! last night it was okonomiyaki night. some of you might have seen this way of cooking before.

many vegetables and seafood or meat are being put together with one egg. you mix the ingredients (for quite some time...) and put everything on the heated plate. something like an omelette with not many eggs ;) i tried excellent octapus with this. it is amazing.

verdict: AMAZING (healthy?... hmmm maybe not...)

Final Fantasy Advent Children: only the initiated will understand...

Tiananmen stand-off

It has been some time since I was so moved by a picture like this one...

Soba at the Hiyoshi Station

japanese soba (here topped with seaweed) is the answer to italian spaghetti. made from buckwheat, it is black and can be eaten both cold and hot, even though cold is considered to be better by the soba experts. you eat the soba by putting it in the provided sauce which has a great salty taste. also, making a sound while eating soba is a sign of a person who knows a lot of things about soba (soba-chu).

in addition to soba, very taste shrimps fried in tempura style (very very tasty), tofu cheese and, ofcourse, rice.

at the end of the meal, in good soba shops, the residue water from the boiling of the soba is being brought to dilute the salty (but not that salty for greeks) soba sauce. the sauce is then drunk.

verdict: VERY TASTY AND HEALTHY MEAL

What a good towel this is!!!!

as in the Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the most important thing in the universe is a towel. NEVER leave home without one. this is very true for Japan in the summer. have a look at this picture. (excellent towel, excellent moto: what a good towel this is!)

Coffee at the @home cafe

I know it has been slow update but things were not that exciting. so, coffee at the @home cafe! where is that? Akihabara, the place for cheap electronics and all of adult pleasures! have a look at their link. do you know what cosplay is? (http://www.cosplay.com/) it is when people dress up like their favourite anime/manga characters. @home cafe is a cosplay cafeteria with waitresses dressed as maids. yes, maids. one can also wear a cosplay costume for a small fee. unfortunately, when we tried to get a picture with one of the maids, they said that it had to wait for 30 minutes... anyway, enjoy a small taste of cosplay and cute japanese girls dressed as maids...