Get in there and fight maggot

"Look at the moon sergeant, i have never seen it move so fast" I gasped with a fake excitement.

"You are right soldier! That is so strange!" he replies. And then he sat down on a wooden log clutching his face and gazing upwards.

The moon was covered by clouds. It was windy and the clouds moved really fast, creating a fake placebo effect that the moon was moving in great speed. That summed up the intelligence of our commanding officer for the night. A brain straight from a herbivore dinosaur, the looks of a cave troll and the manners of a pig.

To be or not to be? You take no candle?

Moments ago he told me to shave better or he will report me, to clean my boots and all the bird crap from the entrance of the hallway because the next day the General would arrive to inspect, the same thing was said for the past week. He never came.

The breeze was sending chills in my spine through the light fabric and the joke of a shirt they provided to us. My zippers did not work from day one, but the response from them was "i don't care maggot". I will never forget his face, his shape and the way he talked. He was the size of a tanker with 4 layers of fat overlapping his belly. I bet he could not even see his legs or his dick. I will never forget the way he munched on that sandwich when all we had that day was processed dead meat from the 70's, black as the plague and ready to come alive and conjure you like the symbiote from spider-man.

The days were not passing fast. I still had 79 days to be released and i wanted to go in bed and cry in every opportunity. I was heartbroken and alone. The first week i was told that first they will break my spirit and then my body. And so it happened. But i would not give them the satisfaction. I would never buckle to that baboon, or that other goblin faced stuttering gorilla in the telephone center. Not to the captain of the battalion that only knew how to shout, punish and crush us like ants with his well shined boots. And then lick the balls of the higher officers in every attempt, because he was young and he could advance faster up the ranks.

That summed up my day. Drenched in sweat and smell, with sticky hands and clothes not washed in 2 months I sat there looking at him gazing, oblivious and calm. There was no washing machine. Home was supposed to be 30 minutes away, but she chose instead to break my heart and love my dog with someone else. My real home was 1000 km away. I had no friends, only a hundred strangers i barely knew and shrouded them with lies and false identities.

I woke up the next day knowing it would be a tough one. I had nightmares. The screams and laughter of a person you used to love, looking down on  you from above and raining death and sorrow. And the endless snoring of the 3 other soldiers in the room echoed in my ears like a shrieking banshee, draining my endurance with every cry.

"Dress up right now you dirty faggots. You have 3 minutes to shave and 10 minutes to eat".

The insults did not affect me anymore. I was immune years ago from my home. The brutality and the psychological warfare affected most of the people. They say that under extreme stress and conditions you can see who the real person hides between that smokescreen we have. The same happens with alcohol.

My body was broken though. The boots weighted a ton and every step was a painful step towards torture, like dragging a huge concrete ball chained to your ankle.  The broken belt buckle did not help to hold your pants in place as I had lost 8 kilos in the past 3 months from grief and pain. The shirt was 2 sizes bigger and limited my every movement. My legs felt like glass, ready to break up in any minute. I still carry the effects of all these in my life even now. Battle scars that will never heal.

I managed to drag my lifeless body, like a zombie in the breakfast restaurant. Bread and cheese. And then a chocolate milk to quench my thirst for a few hours as i headed in the telephone center. Before even entering i was handed a broom and a machete.

"Do not even consider coming back in if you do not clean every pine needle, leaf or dirt from the entrance and cut the grass and the trees in the back of the house." the cruel taskmaster said.

I harnessed every last drop of strength i could muster and started chopping down trees, hitting them with brute force and the fury and anger of a thousand generations. In every swing i saw my target as the people i hated the most, unleashing years of pain and suffering. I could see their faces and with every swing they laughed at me. They disappeared until the next swing, like a shadowy doppelganger.

I finished and entered the phone center. The goblin faced Gollum shows up and looks me from top to bottom. Sweating and black from the mud and resins.

"2 days in prison for looking like this" he says without the slightest hesitation.

I do not talk. I just look. With a devilish look right in the soul of a man consumed by fear and duty. I saw beyond his mask and saw an afraid little goblin that could not tie his own shoe-lashes let alone give a convincing order to a soldier.

"Yes sir. I will clean the bathroom and your office now and bring your coffee and pie" i replied. That day i spat on his coffee.

When it was time to sleep at 23:00 i lied on my bed with my blanket from 1976 and i looked around. People snoring like the end was coming or possessed by the devil. A guy that his blanket smelled like liquid death. Another lazy sneaky bastard with feet that probably caused ebola. And another one that was living for 2 months with fleas under his bed and washed every month once and played with his dick in the third toilet in the left.

"You will never understand what i am going through" i told her in one of our last meetings.

"I will not" she said.

Goodnight Sweden.

How i miss you..

Avengers Reassemble! - Age of Ultron Review

Avengers - Assemble

I am not sure having mixed feelings after a movie is a good thing. Did i like it? Or did i not?

I am a huge marvel fan since the first Iron Man hit the theaters back in 2008. I watched the series take off, stumble on its feet and really launch with the Avengers (2012). I had a good time with Thor: The Dark World (2013) and that excitement culminated last year with the release of the excellent Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). This has led to Marvel announcing spin offs, a new 5 year plan and even considering bringing Spider-Man and god forbid Howard the Duck back in the big screen.

So how do you take the bar that was already set so high with the Avengers and the Winter Soldier and elevate it even higher? Is it possible? Can the same director do it? Because with sequels, come the pitfalls, where a film tries to surpass its self in a sense.

There will probably be minor spoilers ahead so read at your own risk!!!

First i will start with a quick summary and my feelings. The movie was good at least for my taste. Special effects, frequent action, humor, some character development, a few more moral issues raised. It is the way i like to be entertained. It is not Michael-Bayish ridiculous but still over the top action with my favorite heroes. My issues are not with the way the plot evolves, but more with how the tension is raised and how it was supposed to "explode" in the end scene.

The opening scene of the movie is amazing. It is breathtaking. It is some sort of dancing, a fast paced tango between the interchanging heroes that work as a team and destroy the helpless villains. They are assaulting some place where secrets are kept. The moment the villain's henchmen talk however i felt like they were taken from the casting pool of movies like Birdemic and that is either hilarious or tragic. Good thing they only have a few lines in the first few minutes.

The twins show up and i instantly have a great affection for Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver). He does not speak so much in the movie but his lines are killer. Smooth, like cap's "On your left" lines. The Avengers look like an actual team and they team up pretty well unleashing some interesting combos throughout the movie.

After that the usual stuff goes around. Stark finds out super intelligence, puts it into a machine, the machine goes rogue before you can say "Seoul" and all hell breaks loose. A bit of fighting there, a bit of more fighting in another place and in the end a bigger fight where it all started. Can't escape that type of script from such a franchise that has been cursed by call-of-duty-sm right? This sums up the movie, bad guy shows up, wants to destroy the world, starts by making the Avengers by turning on against each other, then they rally up and defeat him.

I make it sound like a bad movie don't i? It's not a bad movie. I was entertained, i felt that it was worth the 145 Swedish crowns i spent to watch it 10 days before everyone else in the world sitting next to 11 year old kids on a date and giggling on every cheesy line.

It is hard not to give any spoilers and i do not want to. So i will focus more on other parts of this movie. What i liked and what i did not like mostly.

During the first Avengers i felt Hawkeye was useless. He was a pawn for half of the movie, his "powers" seemed kinda pointless and he had limited screen time. After seeing this film he is my favorite right up there with Captain America. I liked Cap because he looked more human and more down to earth thinking about the people and not himself. But in the end i think he has an extreme side about that too, just as all the other characters in the movie. Hawkeye is portrayed differently in a very refreshing way and his inclusion finally feels justified 1/3rd in the movie. He makes up for his shortcomings by being agile, quick thinking and giving some nice speeches. And i think he has some of the best lines in the film.

Hawkeye - Refreshing this time.

What about the rest of the characters? Lets break them apart one by one. Tony Stark is a fool. Engulfed by his own fears and with a little help from the Scarlet Witch he creates Ultron, a robot fueled by AI that thinks that it will bring peace in the world by destroying humanity, just as the meteorites wiped the dinosaurs and life evolved again. But that decision is never justified or given any reason. You can see within the movie that Ultron looks like a darker side of Stark. His lines are as expected cheesy and he wears even more ridiculous t-shirts. And where is all that internal conflict that he has during Iron Man 3? He is back to his usual shitty arrogant self making even more robots. The Hulkbuster and Veronica though are amazing this has to be said.

Hulk vs Iron Man -An interesting fight with some laughs.

Thor. What to say about Thor. I like his character. Nordic mythology is great and i can relate him to our own greek Zeus. He has some conflicts of his own but the only memorable scene for me was the part that everyone tries to lift Mjolnir. No that is not a spoiler since there has been a clip with that. But there is something really interesting happening in the movie with Thor, Vision and the hammer. There is nothing really to elevate him to a new level but there are some cliffhangers that point to Thanos, the infinity stones and maybe Ragnarok. Of course he has the mandatory shirtless scene...

Thor - Is he worthy?

Next one up is Captain America. Nothing really. I think he is a victim to his own amazing Winter Soldier movie and he gets set up to lead the Avengers again in the end of the film. He still makes the strategy for the team and there is increasing tension between him and Stark, which will eventually lead up to the Civil War. Besides his cool fighting moves there is nothing great about him this time.

Captain Disappointing?

Black Widow and the Hulk. I almost forgot about these characters. They share a mutual attraction only to get cockblocked by Ultron. Apart from those scenes and the fight between Iron Man and Hulk they are virtually non existent in the movie, invisible. Especially in the last fight i think that Whedon forgot to add the Hulk in the fight. Disappointed me greatly. Not only that but Banner is depicted in this universe as a very intelligent man that cares about that world and thinks twice before doing anything. Yet he joins Stark in a project to create AI that smells like problems from the beginning. Weird really, but sadly there has to be a way to keep the plot going. There is also some exploration of the Widow's past but it is just a memory flash and something about her genitals. That's it. Oh she also has a shiny new blue lightning armor.

Nice guys finish last?

Did i forget about anyone? I will not talk about the guest characters or cameo's. Stan Lee has a really cool one though! Maybe i should talk a bit more about the newly introduced ones...

The Maximoff twins then. Scarlet Witch is pretty powerful and she plays an important role in the whole movie. However she is nothing more than a kid motivated by childish revenge. Pietro is amazing. From his lines to his powers to the climax and the twist in the end. The problem is that they both despise Stark. He technically killed their family because they died by bombs manufactured by him. But it is amazing how quickly they change sides and forget about everything when they discover Ultron's plans to eradicate mankind.

Funny when you both played couple in Godzilla.

Ultron is an interesting character. Ruthless, intelligent and with a dose of fear instilled in him he is hell bent on recreating a meteorite strike to destroy the dinosau...oh wait the humans. He is a good villain and looks and sounds cool. But.....having researched his character and the comics a bit he really looks like he lacks power in this film. In the first one there was a point in the ending fight where the team was on the brink of defeat before rallying to take the bad guys. Here they just do. There is not a single point where you are afraid they might lose. Gah.

I am free. There are no strings on me.

Last is the Vision. I am unsure about this guy. Except from the Thor-Hammer scene that's just it. Some lines here and there, just a bit of fighting there and there and that's all folks. I guess he will play a role in the future but for me he sort of felt like the Dinobots in that shitty Age of Extinction movie.

I am not sure about you vision. I am not.

What is the conclusion on that movie? It is worth your time. I would give it a 3.5-4 out of 5. If you have seen the previous movies many times you will feel it was ok but not amazing. If you haven't you will really enjoy it. If you are not a fan of the MCU and just went to see it you will still have a good time. The special effects are good and they immerse you into the action, but there is way too much destruction and rubble flying around at all times. The 3d is really laughable and over-hyped, i don't remember a scene where i felt i would not be wowed apart from the intro. I really liked the movie and i would not change my decision to watch it on the premiere but i had toned my expectations down a bit. If you are over hyped about anything it is likely you will get disappointed. It sets up the sequels and future films nicely and i really liked the way Hawkeye evolved.

That's all folks! Go watch the movie and let me know what you think! Goodnight from sunny Sweden!

I'm not a snake...and you are not an ocelot

Good morning. 

Or wait, did i even sleep? No i didn't because i slept during the day. It was a rather peculiar day too. I had a computer lab that went just fine. But i misbehaved and i am very embarrassed by that. Me and Shahar had an assignment from the same course that was due in half a day. It was not really going great as it was hard an a completely unknown topic for both of us. I let my frustration and stress get to me and i almost lashed out completely. Shahar told me to calm down. I wonder how he can keep his calm so well. He is a good guy. I apologized to him multiple times.

I had also a Skype call with Jasper from the Netherlands. He is a newly admitted student in our master program and i have volunteered to greet them all. We had a lengthy chat and i tried to answered all his questions. It is really good to see how people are excited about coming here.

After that i headed to the train station to meet Silvia, a good friend from my economics class to catch up. We sat down and had ice cream, made fun of the lioness, the general public and the creepy guy drinking his milkshake gazing us every few minutes with a strange look on his face. I then had to return back to my cave and sleep because another nocturnal night was approaching. The day was so beautiful. The spring here is absolutely astonishing. How can this country be so beautiful and manage to surprise me pleasantly every single day...

I picked up the worlds biggest-calorie-infused teriyaki sandwich and headed back home. I had another Skype call with a greek girl looking for a place to stay next semester. Dimitra is migrating too and i felt for her. It would also be nice to have someone to speak your own language in the same house. We talked for an hour and i tried once more to answer any possible question. She is also super excited to be heading here. She will not disappointed. I am not sure i would pick any other place right now in the world for my permanent residence. After that i slept like a baby. A heavy docile baby.

Which brings me to the topic at hand once more. I get this question a lot.

"Why did you move to Sweden? Don't you miss home? Isn't it so cold and the weather is shit? Don't they have 5 hours of daylight?"

My god what the media or friends and people that have "heard something" can do to you. Let's try and answer these once and for all.

I have traveled in many many countries. I have had the good fortune of seeing every possible culture and immersing myself in them from a young age. I always said that i was either born in the wrong country or i was born to live in another. Saying that when i looked outside the window during my flight to Sweden for the first time i knew something unique was coming. I saw first hand that the swedish society is something different. Everything is moulded on the image that every person here is the perfect role-model citizen. Justice and living by the rules is important to them, as well as equality and freedom. And this is mostly true.

I frequently see my fellow students or acquaintances travel in the far ends of the earth. I saw a woman i used to like climbing the highest mountains in Uruguay and visiting Brazil. Another just went to California for a month. They work, but not without reward, luxuries and a nice life. A start contrast from my childhood. Freedom of speech is important. Every document of the country are publicly available, a cornerstone of their public life. They grow up to rely in teamwork, promoting recycling and environmental concerns and they work efficiently and effectively.

They will always form a sacred line and will not complain. Privacy is important so i guess that explains how introverted or reserved they are. I don't think you will see anywhere in the world such respect and patience in a line. We grew up in Greece trying to skip the line, being frustrated by the tons of bureaucracy and how to take advantage of situations. Here they do not think that someone will disturb their perfect society. You can see that in places where you have to weight your own fruits or food, nobody would expect you to do it.

What about justice? There is no back alley or windows here. I want to see  you try to complain to that officer that wrote you a ticket for not having lights on your bicycle. I remember once waiting in line of a nightclub and the officers were outside. A guy was drinking beer in the street and that is illegal. The officer grabs his beer and spurs it to the ground. Guy says "why give it back!" and the officer replies: "This is Sweden now. You will comply to the rules". I think this sums it up well. Of course there are incidents, of course there are back doors, of course there is corruption in some places, but it represents the minority. What a contrast.

My friend Holger, who is an ignorant baboon with the attention span and the memory of an Alzheimer guy squared, managed to lose his wallet 3 times in a month. Every single time someone turned it in the police station untouched. Nothing was tampered, nothing was missing. How many of you can put your hand on your heart and say that you would not touch any money at all? I also grew up with the perception that "I" is more powerful than "we". Collective strength is important here.

Time to wrap up this monologue now as i need to get ready for another day in the office.

Good day Sweden, Good day world.

Welcome to my city.

ι η σουηδική κοινωνία είναι διαφορετική από όσες έχω δει και προσπαθήσει να καταλάβω. Η κοινωνία έχει φτιαχτεί πάνω στη στιβαρή παραδοχή ότι κάθε μέλος της είναι και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέλειος πολίτης. Καθένας προσωπικά νιώθει και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέτοιος. Είναι τρομερά σημαντικό γι’ αυτούς να υπάρχει ισότητα και δικαιοσύνη σε όλα.

Πηγή : Andro.gr [ http://www.andro.gr/apopsi/orismos-tou-eimai-politis/ ]

ι η σουηδική κοινωνία είναι διαφορετική από όσες έχω δει και προσπαθήσει να καταλάβω. Η κοινωνία έχει φτιαχτεί πάνω στη στιβαρή παραδοχή ότι κάθε μέλος της είναι και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέλειος πολίτης. Καθένας προσωπικά νιώθει και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέτοιος. Είναι τρομερά σημαντικό γι’ αυτούς να υπάρχει ισότητα και δικαιοσύνη σε όλα.

Πηγή : Andro.gr [ http://www.andro.gr/apopsi/orismos-tou-eimai-politis/ ]

Η κοινωνία έχει φτιαχτεί πάνω στη στιβαρή παραδοχή ότι κάθε μέλος της είναι και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέλειος πολίτης. Καθένας προσωπικά νιώθει και συμπεριφέρεται ως τέτοιος. Είναι τρομερά σημαντικό γι’ αυτούς να υπάρχει ισότητα και δικαιοσύνη σε όλα.

Πηγή : Andro.gr [ http://www.andro.gr/apopsi/orismos-tou-eimai-politis/ ]

Awful gaming memories - Lightning strikes...200 times?

They say lightning strikes once. Maybe twice.

But what about 200 times? And you having to avoid them all in a row without failure?

Final Fantasy X is one of my most favorite games of all time. I have so many amazing memories from playing that game. From the incredible graphics, to the amazing cutscenes, the great script, the memorable characters and that emotional connection with the world and everything. My best saved game had over 100 hours played. I don't remember having dedicated so much time in any game but Football Manager or Pokemon back then when i was young, ugly and antisocial. Quite the contrast now that i am a handsome man, playboy and philanthropist right? Oh wait...

I remember being so obsessed with that game that we were for vacations in a hotel in Petalidi called Hotel Sunrise. If you find yourselves in Messinia in Greece please check it out. It is amazing. I actually carried my PS2 with me so i could play this game. I ended up playing a hard boss over some disappearing platforms over and over again. I could not find my glasses but i kept playing. People that know me know very well that i am as blind as a bat without my glasses. But i kept going. And going. In the end i found out that my glasses were lost in the swimming pool and some kind soul brought them to the reception desk for me.

So what is this lightning talk about? Well i was also obsessed with maxing out my character stats. All of them. So that meant endless grinding and uncovering all their secrets. That also included their secret ultimate weapons. I got most of them quite easily but there was one that made me want to gouge my eyes out with a pitchfork. There was a dark valley with cliffs and cracks and a very dark evil tone. It was called the Thunder Plains. Guess what, there was lightning dropping every few seconds. In order to get a piece of Lulu's ultimate weapon, which was a creepy old ventriloquist doll, you had to dodge 200 of them by pressing X just as the screen flashed. It was not so hard to do it a few times, but after a while you lost count and it was rather hard to keep focus and concentration. So there was little Kostas at home repeating over and over the same dodging pattern, losing count every few minutes.

Once I was almost there I could taste it. When I finally counted 200 I tossed his controller in relief.

"I did it!" I screamed almost with tears of joy.

But where was the chest? In the midst of my joy I forgot that the lightning kept going. And then the character got struck by one. He miscounted by one. That meant that I had to start all over again.

Fuming with flames of hell, with steam coming out of his ears and ready to summon the hounds of Balthazar and the spawns of Lucifer I tried to recover and not smash the controller. I decided to start again and not stop at 200 but count to 220 to make sure.

So i started again. It took me hours to do it again. Resetting time and again, again and again. I was reaching boiling point. Then it was THAT try. That try where i could feel everything was clicking and i would do it. 1, 20, 50,100, 150, 170 lightnings dodged. I made sure i counted correctly. I was at 197.

I could taste victory. I was playing for at least 5 hours straight. And then while i was ready to gloat and boast and drink a ...pepsi twist i guess because i was just 12 the unthinkable happened. A power outage. A FREAKING power outage. My screen went black, my PS2 stopped working. What could i do but explode. I started freaking out and swearing in any possible way with all those creative Greek swear words that we have. And believe me we have many. I went completely berserk walking around furiously in the house from one side to another cursing uncontrollably.

..........

It was horrific. For a kid that his mother used to cut his hair like he has a bowl on his head straight out of the dumb and dumber movie and his best friend was another nerd that played Pokemon it meant a lot to me.

It took me days to relax and even more to play the game again.

Eventually i did it and i got everything i wanted. Sucks being a completionist and perfectionist some times.

So what are the morals and conclusions after this? Lets make a recap.

A) My childhood was shallow

B) I was a nerd

C) I was not well known for style. Not in hair, not in clothes

D) Women? Is that an alien breed?

E) If you are obsessed with something you will maybe eventually get it. But you will lose your sanity and the reward ends up being less exciting than you expected.

F) It also marks the beginning of this new series that will hopefully relate to some fellow nerds there.

G) I am a vampire and i only wake up during the night.

The source of all evil - Thunder Plains

 Well, have a good week Sweden. Goodnight!

By fire be purged

What another strange day. I could not sleep. I spent hours playing pvp in Guild Wars 2 with Qita mou. It was 09:21 and i felt like i was about to melt in my chair. I gathered all the strength i could muster and headed towards the bus stop.

Life has been hard lately. Searching pockets hopeful of finding some hidden coins and then reveling in excitement when you can finally afford a cinnamon bun is priceless and deeply saddening in the same time.

I sat along Shahar again and tried to pay attention for the next 2 hours talking about dispersion, diffusion and advection in water. We had a computer lab later at 13:00 so that meant 1 hour break from 12:00. Gah. I thought i would go up to the sofa and sleep but it was impossible. At least something happened that made my day.

I received a text file from someone. It was a short story and thoughts that were based on my post from yesterday. I rose up from my pile of ashes and had such a great smile for the rest of the day. She liked what i wrote but more importantly she liked who i am. And what makes it even more important is that she was a friend of my first love, the woman that dominates my memoirs here in this blog. That means i did something right all these years. I am not bad or rotten after all.

I will paste her text on the bottom here but not before i write something else too. While waiting for people to contact me regarding the blog advertisement i tried to think how to motivate myself and write new refreshing things since i do not get out much.

I was thinking about a post on separate topics. Since i was a video game nerd when i was a kid and knew nothing about love and James Bond kissing women on film would make me want to hide i was thinking of adding a category called Awful Gaming Memories. I have a lot of them it should be interesting. So maybe my next post will be tossed straight into that world. Another one based on the fact that Avengers 2: Age of Ultron is premiering next week has got me pumped up on film reviews. Maybe i will look into that as well.

These were some ideas, what do you think about them? Here follows the text as sent from Claire Newton.

Dear Kostas,

Firstly, before I start writing what I have in mind, let me apologize for my mediocre use of English (despite the fact that I’m half British).

And secondly, you’re free to publish this letter as an actual blog post with what you might think as an answer, if you feel like doing so. If you do, please correct any mistakes.

Now, to the point. I’ll try to keep it short. I’ve been following your blog almost from its day #1. I found it accidentally via facebook, and since then I’ve been a constant reader. Some of your posts made me cry and some others made me laugh. But what I liked most, was the fact that you wrote about your life, your everyday struggles, what you saw and experienced. And that I thought was the most sincere and interesting thing someone could write about. I’ve been a “blogger” user for a few years and there was not a single blog I enjoyed as much as I enjoyed yours.

As I said, I’ve been a blogger myself, not only a reader, and I know that sometimes it’s pretty difficult to keep writing. You don’t have the motivation, like you stated. It’s a struggle to maintain a positive attitude towards your blog and your followers. I’ve deleted more than a dozen blogs because of my lack of motivation (and the lack of feedback, my only existing blog counts 87 posts and 14519 views in 5 years). I’ve been there and I honestly and strongly advise you to keep trying. Make a schedule, a plan, anything that could help you write. Keep it short, it’s not mandatory, not even necessary to write long posts. Write for things that might be useful for someone who’d like to visit Sweden or move there permanently (me for example, I’m searching for possible opportunities in both USA and Europe, and I’m more than willing to consider moving to Sweden), like jobs, rents, transportation, anything. I know, some people might Google directly those things, but it’s good to have an opinion from someone who went through the same situation.

I, and I guess many other readers, enjoy your personal posts because they share a somewhat private part of you, a piece of your heart, not only your mind. That’s the best way to know someone. And what’s the point in reading your blog, if not to know you? They are not always happy and positive. Your memoirs made me cry. They really touched me. Not only because the person that inflicted such pain upon you, was a friend of mine (or so I thought for quite some time) but mostly because since I met you, I’ve considered you not just an average nice guy, but a person I respect and with whom I’d like to talk and get to know him. And anyway, no one should have to experience what you did, it’s unfair and so unkind. You don’t have to write about sensitive topics but it’s nice to share more with your readers.
I know, you sometimes write about  how you feel but it’s almost always “soaked” in humor and fun and everyday stuff. Go for something deeper next time. Your blog is mainly a personal/lifestyle one, you can write anything along those lines.

Write about experiences like army for example, there are many young men out there who would appreciate some info from someone around their age that went through the madness and chaos of the Greek Army. Write stuff that could be some kind of help for someone in the vast internet.
Make a post solely to compare Greece to Sweden, or Greek universities to the Swedish, or compare people and habits, anything. Make a post for a specific topic at a time.

I don’t know if I’m helping or not, but I felt like writing and sharing my thought with you was a good idea. It might not be, who cares? 

Don’t give up. Keep it up. Good luck.

Best wishes from Greece

Claire

Thank you Claire. Goodmorning Sweden. It is beautiful to be here these days.

From left to right: Cawa, Vicky and Ippu.

End of an era - Dawn of a new one?

Keeping it short. I do not have a lot of things to write about anymore. Maybe I do, but i find it hard to motivate myself to do more or write more. The financial limitations of my stay in Sweden have started to hold me back severely. I spend my time mostly at home and whenever i leave the house it has to be the supermarket, a lecture or lurking at Jaime's house for more weird stories with his dad, Poortugal (pun intended) and stalking a poor guy called Gannon Fodder in Guild Wars 2 and being a shitty manager for Malmo FF in Football Manager 2015. I also tend to watch full Metal Gear marathons on Twitch whenever they are up, because they keep me company and wash my loneliness away.

By no means i have given up, but i do work with what i am given. I had a rather refreshing break in Finland where i went to a traditional summer cottage, i slept endlessly, consumed massive amounts of Pepsi and ate half the Tutti Frutti from a shop called Candy Land. Yay!...

I was back and got thrust straight into classes. I had an unpleasant exam on Saturday where i didn't sleep and i had to endure painful statistics questions. One of them had a diagram but apparently the professor forgot to print it so the question was rendered invalid. And i knew the answer to it....

So here's what i want to do. I will put it in bold and underlined so hopefully it can reach someone. I have stopped begging for shares and likes as it is clearly not working. But i will do it for the last time for the sake of it. Please help me maintain my blog by sharing this. I am looking for a few individuals, preferably 2-3 but even 1 is a good start. They can live in Uppsala, Sweden, or any part of the world. The task is the same as mine. To write an article from time to time and describe their life, student life, experiences, past, stories, character or their troubles. Please assist me into maintaining this blog, i have actually put quite some effort into it for the past year. A simple share in facebook, a forum or through word of mouth for you creative people that want to write a piece of text every now and then and express themselves freely is much appreciated.

Lastly, i have been getting some ridiculous large numbers of traffic from Russia. I checked what people searched to find my blog and i saw that some people googled stuff like rape and sex stories. What is wrong with you people???

Leaving you with the last fragment of post i wrote. How ironic it was during the one year anniversary and the 100th post of this blog. Any comment  or support is appreciated. Thanks for now!

***Below is the last thing i wrote before this post***
Another week, another landmark approaching.

In the 27th of March i am having 3 things. One year has passed since i learned that i got accepted in Uppsala Universitet. It also marks one year from the birth of this story blog. I am not sure what it is anymore though. I also visit Finland for the third time to see someone i care about.

Regarding the blog i am not so sure. It sure has grown to unthinkable levels for me with 21.000 views in its short lifespan and with a very debatable topic to boot like my daily struggles and challenges. It has also culminated into something more than that as you can find recollections of my memories, my dreams, my experiences, interviews, reviews and bad humor.

The last week was a weird one. My sister visited me. I notified my landlord 2 weeks earlier that she is coming and also a few days before she arrived as well. And then all the weird stuff started. She said there is no problem so i let my sister sleep in Davide's room who she let me know that he left 2 months earlier. Good timing thanks for letting me know soon...

And then she started asking my sister when she is leaving. And then 2 days later the same she barged into her room while she was sleeping. I explained again. She seemed irritated and she said its because of her bad memory. And  then she said she will shut up and not bother us again. Guess what, the day after she entered my room while i was sleeping saying that she wants her ID and that i should inform her if i bring guests. Fucking shit i tell you. And yesterday after my sister left she had the nerve to casually ask me to borrow my phone to call her daughter. I will avoid her as much as possible for the rest of my stay here.