Law Abiding Citizen

Live by the rules. Be polite. Be socially acceptable. BMW's are driven by idiots. Remove your shoes when you get in the house. Go to school. Go to university. Buy expensive clothes even if you don't have the funds to socially "fit in". Don't be judgmental. Do not fight. Pick up painting, writing. Become a doctor or a lawyer, that will get you higher social status.

Define success. Define polite. Define socially acceptable. Define democracy or monarchy.

There are so many things to consider. I have been thinking a lot today. What is acceptable in this society? Is it ok for someone to make fun of someone's god through satire and humor even if it ends up in terrorist? Is it not ok for someone to make fun of situations to make himself feel better and make some people around him laugh?

Do people even bother reading the important things in someone's post, book, article or do they skip the context and they focus on the things they subconsciously don't like or they want to comment on? Or things that they just look abnormal and abusive or offensive to others?

I have experienced all kinds of society. I have experienced those high class wannabes that are fueled by their sugar daddy and will never ever have to drop any sweat. I have seen those who work 3 jobs night and day 24/7 to provide just the basics for their family and ask nothing in return. What is socially acceptable? Does having more money make you a better person? Does being a teen or a university student give you the right or a free hall pass to party relentlessly because "that's normal" or "that's what people of my age do"?

What about those people with manners, that you look upon them and gaze them with respect and then in the flick of a switch become vampires or a completely different person? I have seen what alcohol does to people. I have seen what it does to Swedish youth. Let's not mix it up with older people here, for i have not witnessed it.

Contrary to some recent comment and beliefs i have the utmost respect to the swedish society. It has given me a beautiful country to live in, good education, potential future life and polite people that will help me on my way to "success". I am always polite, i help them whenever i can myself, i never judge them nor talk bad behind their back. We do it sometimes in the context of fun. I will not deny this. But we never ever mean it. In my post "groundhog day" i made a mistake and use a colleague's name as a fictional character in a stupid post. I deleted it and even he had not read my post i apologized to him.

I grew up in very hard circumstances and i am proud that i have made it so far. Crying 2-3 times a week from domestic violence or fear or anxiety was the normal. I learned that i must not take everything seriously and try to make fun of myself. I lived in a country where it was normal to tune into a tv channel were everyone called someone else an asshole or stupid or a gorilla or a monkey. That was called satire there. And everyone laughed at it even if sometimes it was over the top. I guess because they knew that it was not really serious. And we live in times where we need that laughter to forget for that 1.5 hour our problems and smile.

So what do you mean by seeing that i developed no social behavior and manners while in Sweden? Have you got any idea of the things i have seen here? I have seen things that you can only see in Greek Islands by mostly foreigners, of Swedish and English descent that come to party relentlessly and do not care about anything. People taking a shit in plain view, in places where couples walk their children. I have seen men and women turn into mindless beasts because that is what people do. People that you would respect so much during the daytime but show up their true (?) self during intoxication. Welcome to a student city.

Is that normal? Maybe. Lets not put all the eggs in one basket. Not everyone is like this. And definitely not everyone is Swedish of course. This is not an attack or anything. I am just trying to understand. I could simply do the easy thing, delete that post and get on with my life.

But is this the correct way? People were attacked by terrorists for expressing their beliefs or doing satire and making fun. Did they back down? No they kept going. So why should i change the way i feel or express myself? To comply with what is normal? To show i learned how to behave here? Did any of you that felt offended look at the warnings? Did any of you read the underlined parts that said that it was fake?

The post was over the edge. I admit it. Deal with it. But you should maybe as well look at your own reflection in the mirror. Take a pause and think. Is my social behavior correct?

Goodnight Sweden.

What is acceptable?

Lights, camera, action!

I have been thinking today. Our lives is like a live scripted play. Or a tv series. Full of changes, twists, expansion and it keeps you on your toes for what will follow.

But have you ever felt that you are an extra or a body double in your own script? That the script is just linear and you  simply follow it around and play no real role? That is so interesting.

I certainly felt like this until i moved to Sweden. My life was scripted and linear. Go to school, stay with that boring girl from Thessaloniki, go to the dog park, back home, eat, finish university for no reason, go to the army, help in the family business without having any say in all this.

When i finally realized how stagnant and boring my life had been i decided it is time for a change. But how do you do that when you are just an extra? You know what? You are the writer, you are the main focus of your own script, or you should be at least. And this is an ongoing process so what should you do?

It's fairly simple, even though harder to execute. I wrote myself into a new storyline. This time it was different, this time it was mine. I am done chasing my tail. Embrace change.

Today i went to the International Students Office here in Olofsgatan 10A. If you live in Uppsala and you need information about Erasmus or scholarships pay them a visit Monday-Friday 09:30-12:00 and 16:00-18:00. They were essentially the same people from the swedish seminar yesterday and they were pretty helpful. They answered all my questions in detail and now i am sitting happy with a 99% complete application to finally move to Turku in September. Yay! See, its like a spin off of my script! I want to write a new chapter!

On the way back the bus was full and there was a cute young lady with her baby on a carrier and she smiled and made space for an incoming man with his baby. Or so we both thought. As it turns out the man had filled his carriage with supermarket products and bags and during one turn it slipped to the door and everything crashed down. There was also a very old man that looked at me with a strange look i guess because of my loud music, but then i caught him staring at the butts of young girls.

I also feel a little of an outcast in one of my new classes. I don't know why again. I just don't feel like i want to get to know people and they don't want to know more about me. I tried to talk to some of the people from my group but after a few phrases its like they want to run away or i run out of topics and i can't/don't want to think of any.

Regarding to the events of friendship, i am pretty happy and i sleep well at night. Riding the bus home though i was thinking that i should have known the storm was coming when the clouds are big and black. And you know what? In the end i may as well let the rain come down and enjoy the circus of people.

You can sense sometimes when something is changing or you know when people can help you but they just don't fucking want to. I am sick of chasing, as i said, this is my time to shine and i will make the most out of it. I will set myself ablaze and i will take off like a shinning star, writing my own spectacular script, the way i want to, with the people i want to. And i have enough of them.

I like this one very much.

Along that bombshell, have a good day Sweden!

Update: Have you ever got so angry that you started saying things you don't mean? Or you made that racist joke just because your friend laughs at them? Do you always ignore warnings and take everything 100% seriously? Do you consider social skills a woman shitting in the forest in front of everyone in Sweden? Deal with it and take everything with a grain of salt.

I am not hurting people, they just make me do it

Why do people hurt each other? Is it in our genes? A desire to say and do things that make others lose their temper and say extraordinary words they would not say in any parallel universe?

Maybe it is like a virus, like an alien, hidden dormant within us and waits for the moment to crawl its way out of your mouth and poison your thoughts, your imagination, your judgement and turn you into a savage beast that hungers for revenge.

Or maybe it is purpose. Cause and effect. Purpose defines us, binds us, guides us. Cause and effect is everywhere as well. You say something that you didn't give much thought, or phrased it wrong, or maybe someone transferred your words wrongly and paraphrased them and now the angry pack of wolves is out to hunt you down, make you cower in a hellish corner and wait for the impending doom.

Choice. Talk about that. What is democracy? A way for some others to enforce their opinion in the end? Or is it the choice of many? It is always about choice. Someone will always be dissatisfied. As i looked outside my frozen window today i saw choice. The choice to be where i want to be, struggling for existence but under my own rules. And nobody will ever take that away from me.

It is my choice to make whom i trust and where i share my secrets. Until Saturday that was around 5 people. Today it is only 3. When i do something wrong i realize it and accept it. However there are times when you know that trying to present your arguments even if they are valid will not make a difference. Watch out who you share your thoughts with. It is like a broken telephone and in the end, you will be fixing both the line and the device.

This reminded me of a story i was involved with back when i was around 10 years old. As a little child i had to conjure a lot of lies in order to keep secrets or fool my father. That however followed me in my life outside our house, as i tended not to keep secrets, fabricate stories and spread rumors in order to hide my own insecurities and have a false hope of at least appearing popular to the rest in class.

I had that really good friend Stavros with whom i seldom talk once every year now during his birthday. We lost each other after i went to university. His father's passing affected him greatly and he was caught in a spiral of self conflict for years. I am glad to see that now he is a straight A scholarship student in Athens and is very passionate about public speaking and his political beliefs.

So our moms were very close too. I overheard something on the phone and i thought i heard the words Kalashnikov and chase. I presumed that his dad had chased his mom with a gun like this.

I told many people in class and school. And you know that especially in these ages and those environments rumors spread quite easily. It was a Friday night when we were all outside in the center playing. I miss those days. I learned that he was looking for me and then i realized what i had done. I was so afraid to face him and so ashamed as well. So i went to another friend's printing press building and he hid me there. Stavros arrived and i was hidden right behind him under a desk. My friend did not rat me out.

The outcome? A memory and shame that i will carry with me for the rest of my life. It took him years to talk to me again. And you know how we talked again? In a computer class outside school. Through Pokemon. He said "No matter what you did i could never hold a grudge against you". I will remember that day until i die.

Since then i tried not to hurt other people and tried to be overcautious with things i say. But thinking too much sometimes makes things worse. Sometimes you just care for someone and you ask them what are their plans for the future and it sounds so bad like you are judging them. I am not judgmental. I am not a sinner nor a saint.

This is simply some food for thought. And i am fairly sure that if this is read by the wrong people it will sound equally bad. But that is not my intention. I just want to get this out of my system. For i have clear conscience and i explained my points, even though apparently they never reached the target.

And remember, people will fail you. They will always do. Even the ones that you consider closest to you. But when you find that person that sticks by you in the hard times and instead of bashing you relentlessly when you do a mistake he holds your hand, criticizes you with justified arguments and then picks you up and gives you a pat on the back, keep him/her. It is funny how i wrote that article about friendship a few days ago and now i have to write this. I will still give my left arm and leg for some people. That number just got lower that's all.

I will leave you with a beautiful picture a friend of mine took from the Canaries.

Goodnight Sweden. I would like to hear your thoughts or stories down below in the comment section.

I wish i was there right now.

Sex, Sex, Sex - Raping the planet, one step at a time

Disclaimer. If you came here for sex and boobs, go back to your caves, get your eyes checked on a doctor or simply reread the title.

Back in 2009 there was an advertisement.

A job offer to "The Best Job In The World". An opportunity to become a caretaker for the islands in the Great Reef Barrier in Australia. Around 35.000 applications flocked from all over the world. I was one of them. The salary was huge, the chance to experience such beauty and exotic locations and being responsible for them even greater.

But what is the Great Barrier Reef (GBR)? Here are some brief facts.

It is the largest coral reef system in the world. It is considered one of the most beautiful places on earth as well as it's biggest living organism. It was declared a Natural Wonder of the Earth in 1981 and a world-heritage site. It is massive, around the size of Italy, comprising of around 3000 reefs and 900 islands that stretch over 2300 kilometers off the coast of Queensland, Australia. No wonder it can be seen with a naked eye from space.

I wish one day i visit that place.

So what is the problem? There are three mainly. One is that climate change is slowly eating the reef. The global warming effect causes the ocean temperature to rise, which causes coral bleaching and makes the fish and organisms migrate elsewhere since their preferred temperature and environment is disturbed. That leads to loss of biodiversity and chain deaths that greatly affect predatory carnivores from fish to birds.

The other one is pollution. Simply put the coastal area close to the GBR is used for farming. Tons of fertilizers pollute the soil and decline the water quality due to runoff and cause eutrophication, an effect that ends up killing the fish due to depletion of oxygen.

Pesticides, ship wreckages, mining and over-fishing are the other reasons and they are pretty self-explanatory.

Do you see any link between all these? They are all linked to human activity. We are effectively raping the planet. We are destroying our own heritage in the name of money and power. Oil spills, coal mining, fake reports that try to divide and mislead the public.

Tony Abbott of the Australian government announced in 2013 that the reef was not in such a poor condition so they intended to construct a massive coal factory nearby for a massive 16 billion dollars. It sounds like death by a thousand cuts to the reef. Some might say that i am talking bullshit but i am writing a scientific paper based on these assessments and strategic management of the reef. I am not going to supply all the information because that would be impossible, but i would be happy to answer any of your questions or concerns. I also found out that the main driving force of Australia's income is tourism and that it is more important and bigger than the coal industry. The Cost-Benefit analysis might show an advantage to the coal factory initially but when the reef is destroyed in the long run it will lead to devastating effects not only in the country's physical beauty but also in its economic power and income.

These statements were sort of pulled back during 2014 and there was a new assessment going on about the management and the plan to sustain the reef until 2050. If you want to read more and try to sign petitions or make a difference, head up to GetUp!

I am pretty sure you can find Nemo here!

I got so angry reading about all this. Do not let them rape our planet one step at a time. Do something about it. It is time to make a difference.

Good Weekend Sweden!

Sex, sulfur and a fishy business

The more i go to these new lectures, the more i understand that power, business and economics are the influence behind everything. From the earthquake decisions in L'Aquila, to the ridiculous reductions in emissions in cars, to the ban of Tesla Motors in the USA, to the so called environmental assessments.

My Flicka... :(

It's been a very interesting week as always. Lectures with the yoga-man, a professor named Troll, another person called From and my favorite, Justin Time. No wonder i came up with the fantastic phrase: "A Troll came From Stockholm and arrived Justin Time and Yu Niu about this". Magnificent. Maybe the reasons i do not have friends, or friends like Jaime :D

In Entrepreneurship we were handed a case about a film making company in Sweden called Mookie. What a ridiculous name, when i heard of it i thought of bankruptcy. It was a real story from 1998. We read a small paper and we were asked to put from a scale of 1-10 how we thought they were going to perform one year later. I immediately turned left and told Silvia: "Bankruptcy". 

Oh boy they did end up bankrupt! I love this class even more by the day! And today's ridiculous class with the yoga man and his red underwear for 4 hours straight was exhausting. I failed hydrochemistry along with many others because we sucked in the last question. Way to go fantastic grading way!

Also, if you clicked on this page because you saw sex in the title, go back to your caves, to pornmd.com or click in one of the ads on the left that offer you dating with Russian women.

Sex, sulfur and a fishy business is a video we watched in class about the extinction of fish in Norway and it was pretty fun, i definitely recommend it. There is also another baboon called Hans Rosling that apparently says that the Earth's population will stabilize in 10 billion people based on statistics, babies and religion. I guess he thinks that a magical snap of fingers will give our planet limitless resources. There are lies, damned lies and statistics.

I wish i had more pictures to show to you. The only new one comes from class today, where everyone was "so" thrilled and interested.

Swedish tabloids at their finest.

My posts are getting more frequent again, but also shorter. I did find out that i have around 3 weeks free at the end of March though! Wee for Finland! Other than that i am alive and kicking, just ask Holger and Jaime what i would do if i got 1000 crowns every month for free! Other than that i was in such a good and asshole mood today that i drew a very mature dialogue on a poster that said "I like to suck cock". Shallow, like the Greek economy i know.

Well i hope i can cook up something interesting during the weekend and hopefully after i am done drafting my projects i can write something substantial. Which reminds me it would be great to see some comments hitting the comment section!

Until we meet again, Goodnight Sweden!

The King is happy - All hail the King!

I have a great sense of excitement for the past few days.

The weather is still great, i love the snow, the day is becoming bigger and i am starting to come out of hibernation. 

Was i complaining about the lack of friends before? You know what? I have all the friends and important people i need. I have Katerina, my dearest friend of all in Kalamata. We have few discussions due to the distance, but i know and she knows that we are here for everything the other one needs. The same applies to our mutual friend Aggeliki. She is always so happy when i am there and so sad when i leave and she has nobody to make those horrible sexist jokes i do. Afroditi has her own struggles with her new life and i miss the fun we had in those ridiculous greek night clubs. And here i have that Portuguese baboon Jaime. He has helped me so much and i would give my left arm and right leg for him (could i give just a kidney mate? I am too handsome for 1 leg and 1 arm! :D). And i have the best friends in Thessaloniki as well, were Xaris is my savior during New Year's and Mary and Viktoria are the best friends, travel partners and sisters a man could ask for.

Tack sa mycket then friends! Thanks for getting me through these tough times here.

What about the boring classes i had last semester? Oh these are gone too. Yesterday for the first time in my life i approached the professor of Entrepreneurship, Katarina Lundqvist and told her that i have not been excited for a class for over 10 years. I felt like i was the jury or a lawyer in an important case or a soap opera called "Just or Unjust" learning valuable and interesting things, historic facts about business that i love and i was handed the freedom to choose a project to write about, a project that excites me and stimulates me. It was very interesting how most people there were dressed so formally or like going to a fashion show coupled with ties and suits and an apple computer.

The semester started yesterday and i got in touch with my other 2 classes and especially the one today was so interesting, the professors so cool and the historical facts great. I learned the story behind the L'Aquila earthquakes of 2009 and the ongoing trials, or how i successfully researched the storage of nuclear waste in the crystalline bedrock under Sweden and Finland. I am also one step closer to moving to Turku with my beloved Fox. My life could not be more exciting right now.

A new beginning, a new hope.

Well there is one thing! I love your comments, i want them! I want your suggestions and your criticism! So drop a nice little comment below, leave a like, follow, subscribe, it is all in the panel on your right!

Since i am all feeling pumped up and happy right now i will provide some info that someone that lives in Uppsala or in Stockholm might find it useful. I had to go to Stockholm the other day and i needed to know what is the cheapest way for me.

I have a monthly student yellow card that is valid for the whole of Uppsala up to Arlanda airport. That is 550 crowns per month, or around 60 euros. I would stay in Stockholm a day or so, so a 24 hour pass would suit me well. Therefore, a 130 crown SL card lasts 24 hours and is valid for every transport in Stockholm until Arlanda. So if you have one of those monthly cards, a 24 hour, 3 day or weekly card in the respective city will be enough and will help you save some costs!

I am gunning up for my project in entrepreneurship, which will most likely be the way important people managed to secure capital for their economic ventures when they were actually broke. What else to expect? I am trying not to read the news anymore because all i see is things like how rich women party in Iran, or how a radio show can help you sleep with 3 pornstars and one of them looks like a combination of the Golum and the Bigfoot and the woman with addiction to breast implants. Or how innocent women are shot in the head in the name of Islam, or the orgies that happened in the Vatican or Monasteries. The last thing i read was that a man went on stage with his girlfriend and performed oral sex on her on stage during a Dead Kennedys concert. That was on the Huffington Post. Entertainment and news coverage on its finest. Good grief.

Is there something else to say? Nah i was just so excited i wanted to share my thoughts with you all! Help me grow more!

Goodnight Sweden!

Traits of successful people

A new semester is about to start on Monday. I have too much free time in my hands now that my exams ended. And i could not be more excited. I took a class from the Ekonomikum regarding Entrepreneurship and it looks so interesting that it makes me wonder why didn't i pick up a business master's degree instead. It is probably because my bachelor had nothing to do with it i guess!

I already finished the first assignment that will be discussed in the first lecture and it was great. It had a collection of famous people's biographies like Richard Branson of Virgin or Stelios Haji-Ioannou of EasyJet. The idea was that these successful people are products of their own environment, with strong stimuli from their parents and their social circle, leading them to develop important traits and perks that helped them in their careers.

That could not be more true. What you see in these people can help you in your own conquest of your dreams. There is a fierce drive inside them, a passion and a vision that stems from their titanic confidence and their belief in their ability. What is also important is that each of those people know who they are, they accept themselves and they know their position in the world.

Another interesting fact is that most of them have had a rough childhood. Most people learn to give up and think negatively. A man that is born poor has the mindset that he has to die poor too. They learned to adapt, to take matters in their own hands and see every obstacle as a solution to an older problem or a springboard to greater heights.

Richard Branson, for the womanizer he is, is the definition of success. His mother left him at the age of 4 half a mile away from home to find his own way back to toughen up. Boy he did. He is one of the most successful people and entrepreneurs on the planet now running a multibillionaire company with branches in aviation, the music industry, space travel etc.

People like these are always more excited about the journey and not the goal. Maybe because  they already know that they will achieve it if they put effort, thought and resources. What is also interesting is that they are self-reliant, however they surround themselves by the best minds. They create a "master-mind", a group of extraordinary people with minds and thoughts that vibrate in the same frequencies and their collective work brings success and power, unlimited power.

Lastly, one thing that i noticed is the influence their parents had on them. They almost always picked up a trait or two from each one of them. Mike Lynch of Autonomy is quoted saying that he got his vision from his mother and his work rate from his father, a nurse and a fireman respectively.

Some random thoughts to kick-start the day.

Good morning Sweden!

I love Finland.