Weekend…

My brother left on Saturday. Generally we had a really nice time, especially when the two of us went shopping last Friday. We went to Westfields, the big shopping centre in west London, and we spent there our evening shopping, checking things out and having dinner. We visited shops with sports stuff, clothes, electronics and the ‘Lego’ store! We used to play a lot with Lego when we were growing up and it was fun to check the multicolour, full of bricks store. I bought for ‘JJ’ a key chain from there which I thought was really cute. My brother bought some clothes and gifts.

We did talk a bit as well. He told me that he’s happy for me since I found what I was looking for and that I did very well in setting up my life here. He added that he liked JJ a lot and that he’s expecting a visit from us in Athens. We also talked about future plans, his relationship and unfinished business with his ex wife and his current relationship. We finished our evening devouring massive burgers at ‘Byron’.

I really can’t wait to see him again… Maybe I should arrange a visit to Athens…

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The next morning, I resumed my training for my half marathon which will take place in Edinburgh, Scotland, in less than 6 weeks time. The organisers are sending us emails with the countdown to the event which to be honest is a bit irritating:

‘Yes, I know when I’m running!

No, I don’t want to be reminded every second day.

Yes, I know I’m not running as often as I should.

Please, leave me alone’!

I successfully managed to run three times last week but it took a toll on my leg muscles. However, ignoring the sore legs, I managed yesterday to run from ‘Temple’ station in central London to ‘Hammersmith’ station in west London following Thames. Ok, the run was a bit (very) slow and I had to stop a few times, but overall it was 9.8 miles which I finished in almost two hours. The funny bit was that it started brilliantly with a lovely sunny weather to end up with a cold rain when I was already sweaty! It’s a wonder how I am not ill today!

View Larger Map
That's my route, although there are bits of the Thames' path missing from Google Maps. I did try to follow the river as much as I could till Putney Bridge.

For my race, I need to increase my long run by 4 miles trying to keep the time more or less the same. I’m also thinking of using some recovery energy bars or powder to decrease the soreness of my legs. Do you know if it’s worth it? Do you have any advice on products? I’ve tried googling it and I have something on my mind (Lucozade Sport Recovery Powder Stick) but I’m not sure it I should go for it or not. The problem is that I need protein and some carbs, but since I’m looking to lose weight, I want to keep the calories intake to minimum…

Same Sex Couples…

I was thinking about differences between same sex to different sex couples and I came up with only a few! I can’t really find many differences even if I wanted. I don’t agree that in a gay couple someone has to take the ‘husband’ role and another the ‘wife’ role. I don’t even understand what that means, although I came across people thinking in these stereotypes. Is the ‘bottom’ one the wife and the other the husband? Is the one doing most of the errands the wife?

Please bear in mind that I am not being serious and I don’t want to offend any one. I am just playing with stereotypes…

Same sex couples:

I found it VERY worrying when I realised that in same sex couples, your exs can become an item! Think about the horror seeing your ex A being a couple with your ex B and talk / gossip / bitch about you! If only there was a hole I could hide in.

For the time being I only have a good friend of mine being a fuck buddy with a guy I dated a couple of times. At least we didn’t ‘drown the rabbit’ (Greek expression) so they can’t gossip about what I do/don’t in bed or grade me in any case… I’m not (very) insecure when it comes to that, but I would find it a bit weird.

Female same sex couple:

It’s funny (at least to me) how lesbians’ monthly circle change and becomes synchronized. However, I fear that a couple of two hormone driven women will be difficult to manoeuvre. How do they keep calm and not have fights every single month?

It’s also a good thing that in female couples, both parties can understand ‘women’ issues equally.

Male same sex couple:

When a man and a woman date, it is accustomed (at least it used to be) about the male courtesies regarding taking a coat, pulling a chair, opening a door, maybe paying the bill. What happens when a gay couple dates? Who takes this role? (Am I the only one who thought of that?) Who is supposed to take the initiative and call the next day?

Also, snoring can be an issue…

Family matters…

My brother’s here.

The day he arrived I was teasing JJ all day long. He was of course stressed about it and I tried to calm him down by teasing him. The poor guy was studying subjects that he though might interest my brother. So, when I met him before my brother arrived, I heard the story of the ‘Wembley’ stadium, about the Greek independence war against the Turks and about sailing… These of course are not topics covered over a pint in a pub, so they didn’t come up. They were funny to listen to though.

stress

Anyway, the first night my brother arrived the five of us went to a local pub for food. We had a really nice time and as expected he liked JJ. He was very impressed by his paintings in my house as well. Yesterday we met again in Putney where we walked around, had coffee and a nice dinner. Unfortunately because of JJ’s work, he couldn’t stay late and his lack of sleep made him a bit silent during the evening. So, they didn’t really chat for long, but it was fine. We generally had a nice time. Today, he’s going to the football match and he will be back to London tomorrow.

For tomorrow, I’ve decided a night out just the two of us. I’ll take him shopping for his girlfriend and then to a nice place for dinner, maybe Mexican or Japanese (cuisines not easily found in Greece). I’ll also make him buy me something since he still owes me a long awaited and promised Christmas present. He’s the big brother after all…

That’s a picture of us (I’m on the left). I’m not going to keep it online for long. We don’t look too much alike but everybody’s saying that we have the same gestures and body language as most siblings do. I have my father’s round face and believe it or not darker complexion. He has my mother’s lighter hair and eye colour and oval face. Since I’ve been living in the Sun forgotten country called UK, I have become so pale when he still possesses a healthy looking tan all year long.

News and various other stories (2)

I have explained how I love reading bizarre world news. There are so many intriguing, utterly weird stories that happen around the globe that can be tragic, funny or between…

There are some things wrong with the world.

I have been laughing so much at that: ‘The Catholic Church gives blessing to iphone App’!

Honestly????

Apparently with $1.99 you can buy the iphone Confession App! The user will be able to enter his sins / wrongdoings and receive guidance, advice and ways to understand the consequences of their actions!

"Our goal with this project is to offer a digital application that is truly 'new media at the service of the word'," said the company.

Anyone reminded of the ‘certificate of forgiveness’ sold by the Catholic Church apart from me?

Everybody living in the UK knows about the County or Borough Councils around the country trying to cut their expenses by either firing staff or doing general cuts (on everything). It’s been an ongoing battle about whether council taxes should be increased or not. That is why, when I read this article, I was amazed at what’s going on: Council cuts: Just what is a 'non-job'?

Around the country there are people being well paid for doing absolutely nothing! I am not exactly sure who they are sleeping with but I am totally jealous! For example there is someone in Manchester, (earning much more than I do I must add) whose only responsibility is to ‘Identify nuclear hazards and promote alternatives to nuclear’! Unfortunately the ‘walking co-ordinator’ for ‘leading walks to tackle obesity and ill-health’ has been axed last year… However, there is the ‘Roller disco coach’ position funded by the government, if anyone’s interested!

In another part of the world, in Australia, a small town called ‘Speed’ changed its name to promote road safety! It is now called ‘speedkills’! OK, that will happen for only a month, but a local resident called ‘Phil Down’, will change his name to ‘Phil Slow Down’!!!!!

Finally, in Israel, a new striking force against terrorism will be consisted only by mice! Scientists trained mice to work in 4 hour shifts and apparently they are better than dogs or x-ray machines in spotting drug or bomb carriers.

My question is: who really thought of trying this thing out? Are there going to be mice freely running around in airports in the future?

Family visiting…

My brother’s coming tomorrow to London. He’s older by three years, straight, divorced without any children. We’ve been maintaining a really nice relationship after our teens. We really hated each over back then as most boys do. He’s going to see a football match between his team (Aris) and Manchester City on Thursday. On the way to and back from Manchester, he’ll be staying at my place. I’m so looking forward to it.

Every time I visit Greece because of all the things I have to do, people to meet and please, I am hardly left any time to see him. I hope now we’ll have a chance to sit down and talk. I haven’t seen him since Christmas, which was quite a busy period anyway and we didn’t actually talk.

What’s more important is that while visiting, he’ll get a chance and meet ‘JJ’. Of course he’s heard of him and he’s seen the facebook pictures but he’s never actually met him before. For me, it’s a first, since he will be meeting for the first time a guy I’m seeing. Previously, he had only seen briefly, once the ‘Brazilian’ but that didn’t really count. I wasn’t in love with the ‘Brazilian’ and I didn’t really care. That wasn’t a proper relationship in any case.

I’m not worried though. I believe that my brother will like him. Unfortunately JJ is not having this week a very convenient work schedule and he will not be able to be staying with us long. At least we will be able to go for dinner for a couple of hours tomorrow in a nice local pub.

JJ is the one who’s worried. He is generally the worrying type anyway. He thinks that because he will be nervous, he will appear foolish or silly and he will not be able to stop giggling all the time. He also believes that my brother will have an issue because he is much older than me. So, for tomorrow, I’ve invited reinforcements. My housemate and her sister will be joining us for dinner. It’s going to be five of us, which is a good number. We’re not going to be too many to get lost in the crowd or too few to be overwhelmed.

We’re simply going to the pub, have nice food and a couple of pints to wash it all down. It’s going to be fine and we will have a nice time…

Party with celebrities…

This time of the year is JJ’s agent birthday. JJ knows him for more than 15 years and used to be his flatmate. That period of time for JJ is the ‘dark years’. I don’t know exact details but I know that JJ was a bit promiscuous back then. I’ve heard of crazy parties with substances and alcohol, naked dancers etc. JJ is totally domesticated now and much calmer. His agent though still lives in that ‘area’ and uses the world ‘fabulous’ a lot. I like that JJ has a past in a way since he has an ‘I’ve tried it, I know what it looks like, it’s not for me’ kind of approach to things.

Anyway, this week was the ‘Agent’s birthday. It’s the second time I’m attending this event. The first time I’ve tried it, last year, I was very curious to meet him and amazed at the type of people I met. Since he is an ‘art dealer’ for the rich and famous, he knows people that I don’t usually associate with. His friends/potential clients/circle mostly includes the rich, the snob, the eccentric, the artists and every possible variation between. The Agent comes from an old and well known English family (I was told).

This year was more or less the same. When we arrived to the event, hosted at an exclusive gentlemen’s club in Westminster, we were greeted by the Agent with a loud ‘Darlings’ that made everybody in the room turn to stare at us. After the very brief ‘happy birthdays’ and ‘how are yous’ the Agent moved to the next group of people after introducing us to a lady called ‘Veronica’! With the Agent you can only get a very short period of time that you can speak before he moves to something he finds more interesting or ‘fabulous’. If you miss your chance…

Anyway, we talked a bit to ‘Veronica’. She was a bit old, with white hair, very large black glasses and heavy makeup. It was easy to see (even to me) that her fashion sense was a bit from the 60’s or 70’s. She seemed like she was a really beautiful woman once. We made small talk and she informed us how she hates going out in bad weather (she definitely picked the wrong country) and that is why she missed last year’s Agent’s birthday. We had a picture taken, me her and JJ and we moved to the next crowd.

Later that night it was very obvious that there was something that JJ wanted to share with me but couldn’t. I could see it in his eyes that got this sparkle when like a child he really wants to blurt something out. I later found out that the ‘Veronica’ we met was actually ‘The Lady Lucan’! Ok, that name might not mean anything to you the way it didn’t to me. However, I did my research and I found some really interesting stuff about her.

Lord and Lady Lucan were part of London’s aristocracy back in the days. They were very well respected, famous and wealthy. One night of 1974 however completely changed all that. According to what she claims Lord Lucan attacked and killed the nanny of their children and also tried to murder her. She managed to escape the last minute and he vanished. His traces disappear the day after these events when he took a boat to cross the Channel.

Lord and Lady Lucan and their daughter Frances

There are lots of speculations about what really happened that night. There is the Lord Lucan’s story as narrated to his mother on the phone before he disappeared, the Lady Lucan’s version and the slight variations of the daughter, Frances, who was watching television and the time of the attacks. The story however made huge headlines, at the time, and various ‘sightings’ of the missing Lord Lucan were made during the years. As JJ tried to explain to me, think about what would have happened if Beckham killed the nanny, attempted to murder Victoria and fled the country!

Funnily enough there are a couple of websites regarding this story with his version, her version or neutral. It’s like reading an Agatha Christie novel. According to what JJ told me however she can’t be totally innocent since the children are no longer talking to her (she actually admitted that to him) and she lives in recluse.

If only I knew all these things where we were talking about the weather, I would have totally asked her: “So, did you plan to kill the nanny and Lord Lucan for their secret affair and buried his body in the back garden?” That’s always a nice conversation topic...

Nights Out

I didn’t mention it before but last week I went to see the play called ‘A flea in her ear’ at the Old Vic Theatre, directed by Richard Eyre. I generally love London for its theatres and I try not to miss productions or actors I generally like. Sometimes I get disappointed (Dame Judi Dench in last year’s Madame De Sade was a bit of a let down) or pleasantly surprised (Daniel Radcliffe in Equus I feared would be simply abysmal). I try not to watch only West End Productions and I visit regional theatres. I generally love ‘National Theatre’ productions as well as plays I’ve seen in the ‘Barbican’, the ‘Lyric’ or the ‘Soho Theatre’. OK, the Old Vic is a generally renowned theatre, especially since Kevin Spacey took the reins, but you get my point.

Anyway, back to the ‘Flea’. It received raving reviews and I expected to like it but I was generally disappointed. It’s a loud sex comedy of misunderstandings, miscommunication and stereotypes (boulevard theatre). Have you seen the ‘Moulin Rouge’? Do you remember the scene where Nicole Kidman and the producer are trying to hide McGregor from the Duke in the elephant? I might be wrong about the plot since I’ve only seen the movie once (which I didn’t really like for the same reasons). But I remember that being a really loud and fast scene of visual comedy which unfortunately is not my cup of tea. I found the ‘Flea’ for the same reasons tiring and predictable. Some of my friends loved it and I believe most of the audience liked it as well, but not me. I laughed only in a couple of occasions and I smile a couple other but that was it. I wasn’t holding my belly laughing like other people of the audience. It wasn’t a bad production but I didn’t find it that entertaining…

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On a very different subject I had a really nice time with JJ yesterday. The Chinese restaurant we went to, called the ‘Chinese Cricket Club’ (don’t ask me why), was nice. I really loved the starters (dumplings, spring rolls, and squid) but I wasn’t very impressed by the main. The food was very spicy and we had even trouble distinguishing the pork from the chicken because of the spices and sauces. We did laugh a lot though and at some point we gathered the eyes of the surrounding tables when JJ called me ‘honey’. Of course we were the only same sex couple in the place.

JJ told me the story of a friend of his we’ll call ‘Anne’. Anne is Finish and used to be JJ’s housemate. Last January she arranged online to meet a guy called George. George cancelled the last minute because something serious had happened so Anne arranged and met another guy we’ll call Sam. Sam and Anne fell in love. Anne had to move back to Finland and she took Sam with him. They’ve been happily living together for more than a year there and decided to get married! Before getting married this summer, they’ve decided to visit London in March. What’s really interesting in the story is that Anne kept contact with George and while she’ll be in London, they will go out to actually meet each other! Sam knows about the whole thing and according to Anne, he’s fine with it!

Am I prudent to think the story funny and slightly weird? Anne and Sam are supposed to be getting married this summer and are planning to spend the rest of their lives in Finland. Does Anne really require a new ‘friend’ who was supposed to be a potential boyfriend? If you were Sam would you be happy with this ‘arrangement’? I don’t think he is happy, but is he in a position to forbid her of going?

Anyway, the chocolate cake I made was greatly appreciated. We took some pictures of JJ trying to devour it, but we didn’t manage to finish it.

Interview update

So, I went for my interview on Friday or let’s say my evaluation day as they call it! It was supposed to last from 9 in the morning till 5 in the afternoon (oh yes, 7 hours with an hour lunch break)!!! I had taken a day off work for that. I lied to them about taking the day off to enjoy the day by doing something different. That wasn’t totally untrue since I did something different but I didn’t really enjoy it.

Before going for the interview, I knew what the company would propose. They offer 10 - 12 weeks professional training and then a placement as an ‘IT Consultant’. The training is offered for free but for two years you would be an employee of that company which would ‘sell’ you as a contractor to clients. They sell you in much higher price than the money you are given but I hoped to be patient for two years to build my CV to the level I wanted. The deal seemed appealing, although I didn’t know the exact terms.

Anyway, I spent Thursday night feeling restless and I did wake up way earlier than I should to get dressed, shave and have plenty of time to arrive there in time. Upon arrival I met the three other candidates / opponents I would have to win / beat / kill over the next couple of hours. I didn’t know how many places were available so I had to be prepared for the worse.

What I wasn’t really prepared was what followed, the presentation of the ‘deal’ between us and the company! The latter wanted its candidates to be 100% flexible, meaning you couldn’t say ‘no’ to a job offering. That meant that you might end up anywhere in the UK (including Northern Ireland of course) working for any possible company. OK, the subject of the actual project would be relevant to the training stream you had chosen but I thought that this would include a huge leap of faith from my part and I was reluctant to say ‘yes’.

In addition to that, the money offered was a joke. They explained that the cost of the training offered is around £20k, which is ridiculous since any Msc in IT in the best universities costs much less. To give you an idea, my MSc in a very good university in London was priced £3.5k in 2007! I can’t believe that the same MSc would cost more than £10k today! Since that training money would at least have to be returned, every candidate would be given a fixed monthly salary which I believed was at least offensive.

At the end of the presentation I decided that the offer was not for me (but for younger totally inexperienced graduates) and I had my doubts of staying for the whole day. However, I couldn’t go back to work to reclaim at least half a day off and I thought that playing along would be a very good practice in being interviewed, so I stayed. I did the group exercise, I stayed for the actual interview, I passed the logic and grammar exams. My younger co candidates were very eager at being accepted although two of them failed and were sent home before the lunch break.

At some point in the afternoon, I started getting tired and I did really badly at the last part of the evaluation day (the technical evaluation). The evaluator was a total ass trying to be very difficult and I kind of lost it not replying to questions that I would normally know. While I’m typing this post an email arrived thanking me for taking part in the process but I didn’t pass to the next level. I’m not bothered at all to be honest. I had already decided not to accept an offer anyway, although it is a nice confidence boost to reject offers instead of being rejected but anyway I do have some other things in mind of what to do next.

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Anyway, that’s what happened on Friday! I’m going to leave you now wishing you a ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’. We decided with JJ not to buy each other any cards, flowers or gifts although I did make desert. We have booked a table in a nice dim sum place and then we'll head back to my place for 'desert'.

I hope it tastes nice. That was my first ever attempt at baking a cake…

Geeky stuff and marble cakes.

I’ve been very busy during and after work lately which explains a bit the lack of blogging. I have a big interview tomorrow. When I say ‘big’, I mean it. It is for a position that I am very interested in which will open lots of doors for me, but it also lasts way too long. I have to be there before 9am and I’m planned to leave after 4:30pm. They call it ‘evaluation day’ and I fear it will be a nightmare.

I’ve been working non stop every evening on a presentation I’ll have to do for them regarding a small applet I’ve programmed myself. I decided to do a simple image viewer. There’s a login screen where the user enters user name and password which is compared to the data stored in a file and a series of images displayed in a separate screen with ‘back’, ‘next’ button etc. It’s not something major, but I believe it to be correct in ‘theory’ which matters. I’ve tried to follow all the rules and regulations of object oriented programming. What worry me most about tomorrow though are silly things like ‘group exercise’! I don’t have any experience in them. Anyway, I hope it’ll be OK.

Staying on the same subject, I’ve ordered my new phone yesterday, renewing my mobile phone contract. OK, it’s not entirely the same subject, although I believe that the programming / geekiness subject might include tech gadgets. Anyway, it only took 3 phone calls, waiting for half an hour for someone to talk to and threatening I’m quitting them. They finally gave me the contract terms I wanted and knew they’d give me. I went for the Nokia N8, which is admittedly not the easiest phone out there with the best operating system but it has an amazing camera (12MP Carl Zeiss optics) and good hardware. I had my eyes on that gadget since September. I’m not that interested about silly billion applications as long as it plays my music.

OK, now I’m changing the subject, Monday’s Valentine’s Day. I’m not a great fan of the day. Last year I didn’t even mention it on my blog. I don’t believe in all the corny gift giving red shaped rituals one has to follow. I don’t like the fact that in a way you’re forced to show your love for someone. I totally prefer unexpected small gestures of someone’s affection than actually being forced to do so. I like receiving and giving flowers and small presents when not expected.

However, I don’t want to sound that obnoxious. I know ‘JJ’ will get me a card, so I’ll get him one too. He has already booked a table for us to go and have dim sum that evening. Just the though of the possible banal decoration of the restaurant is giving me shivers but I promise to keep my mouth shut so that I will not ruin the atmosphere. I’ve done the same for us and I’ve booked Korean bbq the following Saturday. I’m also checking if we’ll manage to go to an exclusive gym to enjoy an indoor heated swimming pool and Jacuzzi.

What I finally think of doing is baking him a cake. I’ve never ever in my life made desert before. I like baking and cooking but I do not generally have a ‘sweet tooth’. When people bring me chocolates, they might stay there unopened for days. I’m still trying to finish a box of really nice milk and almond chocolates I received before Christmas. So, the plan is to actually make something chocolaty from scratch, either a chocolate marble cake or chocolate brownie. I’m checking the ‘BBC good food’ with the label ‘Easy’ next to it. I hope it will look decent and taste nice. I also hope I’ll have fun making it.

Busy like a bee and other microwave stories…

I’ve been amazingly busy the last few days. It’s been really hectic here at work. Lot’s of orders coming and lots of pressure by the directors to bring more income to the company. It’s the same old story where sales people promise anything to the client to make a sale and the technical team has to find a way to deliver. I have to admit I was feeling really low and stressed at the end of last week but I am feeling a lot better now.

I also received some negative replies to job applications which also didn’t help me feel better and that issue last mentioned with ‘JJ’ didn’t help either. We are in a much better place now. We’ve talked about it. He complains that I don’t talk much about how I feel, which is true. I have a way of sulking. I tend to withdraw to myself and keep quiet than actually express my emotions in fear of making the situation worse or hurting someone.

Anyway, I’m feeling much better now. I’ve decided not to let work stuff affect me or my personally life. There is no need to feel so stressed. I can still be poor and happy. At least I still got my current position and even if there is no future in it, it does provide me with what I need. There are so many people in worse place than I am, so I shouldn’t be ungrateful or greedy…

Changing the subject completely, this totally made me laugh yesterday. While doing my normal shopping in my local supermarket, I visited the ‘personal’ section. I was in need of lube and condoms. Don’t ask me why but I go for the ’extra safe’ Durex ones. When I went home, I took my shopping out of my bag and tried to remove the cellophane of the condom box. It’s so much better not to leave that for the last minute. That’s when I saw the super market’s label on it:

‘Security Protected – Please remove before microwave’

At first I was puzzled! Do I have to microwave them? Was I been doing wrong all these years? No one told me that! What’s even worse is the fact that I don’t even have a microwave!!!! Am I not to have sex?

But the almighty Google helped me yet again. After some really weird youtube videos where people blow condoms with hot water and wiki pages on how to use them, I figured out that my supermarket is simply being weird…

If I am completely missing something, please let me know. I've heard of using for example ice cubes in your mouth to give a better 'chilled' bj, but not about cooking / warming up your condoms.

By the way, I had ‘Sainsbury’s’, ‘Durex’ and ‘Google’ grey advertised on my post. Do I get any vouchers?

Cracks on the wall…

Life is not easy. It has its ups and downs. Relationships are also like that. They are not always ‘dear diary’ happy moments to remember. Yesterday morning I received a ‘we have to talk’ type of message from ‘JJ’. I really hate this type of messages with no real meaning but at the same time imply so much. We had a really nice time the last few times we met, so I thought there was nothing to worry about. I hoped that I had a clean record so I tried not to worry too much.

After work I went to his place as planned. He was cooking dinner when we started the ‘conversation’. Apparently what’s been troubling him is my current work situation. I am trying to make a change in my career. I want to do something different in my life which means I’ll have to do some sacrifices, especially at the beginning. No one is easily going to give me an opportunity to work in a field that I have no commercial experience on. Also, I plan to start something where contract work can be part of it. Being a contractor means that there is a possibility that I might work somewhere a bit faraway for a while, especially at the beginning. I was planning to get into a company that sends developers around companies for various projects. That would fix my CV and give me the experience I highly need. In most cases, being sent for the duration of the project to places outside London is highly possible, especially for newbies. That’s where the problem lies.

‘JJ’ simply told me that he can’t have a long distance relationship. Period. He mentioned that his last long term relationship went really bad when his boyfriend, after they had been living together for 4 years, decided to simple leave and go back to his country for some time. OK, his ex is a total bastard who deeply hurt him but that’s another long story which is not mine to share. Now, he fears that the same thing might happen again. He stated that he simply can’t go through it again, all the arguments, the drunken mistakes, the fights over a telephone etc…

I can understand where he’s coming from but I can’t help but feel disappointed / frustrated. I’m in a tight spot. I really need to do something about my career. I can’t stay where I am now since it’s starting to drive me crazy. The process of going to interviews, negotiating with possible employers, receiving rejections and the fact that I plan to lose the safety of my current job is already giving me a tough time. I need his 100% support and patience. I’m losing my sleep over this anyway…

We talked about it. We didn’t fight at all. I believe that going away for 6 months (possibly) is not the end of the world. I believe that we can get through this. I’m not his ex and I’ll be only a few hours away by train, not by plane and not in a different country for 3.5 years (that they stayed apart before finally splitting up). He’s worried about a possible scenario that might not even happen, but he can’t help it. He is generally little 'MR. Worry' about everything, sometimes to the extremes. He really is trying to support me and my decisions. He understands how this is the current situation that we'll have to deal with. He simply wanted to tell me how he feels and his worries. I appreciate that, but I can't stop feeling disappointed…

I might simply need some proper rest and I’ll feel better…

News and various other stories…

I like reading the bizarre news of the world. Sometimes I don’t pay that much attention to what’s happening and make headlines but I will scoop into stories that I find different and far more interesting. For example I don’t know what exactly sexist comments the ‘Sky’ football sportscasters said that got him fired, although I do know of course that it happened.

Indonesia:

Anyway, for example I was reading yesterday about the sex scandal of Nazril "Ariel" Irham, the Indonesian mega pop star. The guy had the habit of creating homemade sex tapes with his girlfriends, well known models and actresses of the country. According to what he claims, thieves broke into his house and stole these tapes that were later released on the web. Because of the very strict anti-pornography Islamic laws of the country, ‘Ariel’ was sentenced to 3.5 years of imprisonment!!! Poor guy, he’s going from stardom to prison

London:

TfL (Transport for London) has daily 28 million people taking the tube. We’re talking about half the population of France, in a daily basis. However, according to TfL all these people are not enough to conduct surveys, so they had to hire ‘mystery shoppers’ to evaluate the service provided. They spent £933,000 ($1.49m) during 2009/2010 to hire people to report on train service, station ‘ambience’ and knowledge or helpfulness of staff! This is crazy! We’re talking about a company that is doing staff cuts, leaving stations unmanned and raising the ticket prices without actually providing any better service!

China:

CCTV (China Central Television) wanted to do a story on China’s air force. They wanted to show the world, most likely just the Chinese people, how dominant, reliable and respected their air force is. The footage they had wasn’t what they wanted, so they’ve decided to get some help. What did they do? They used footage from Hollywood movies! The footage showed interviews with senior military figures, fighter jets and nice explosions. Although these scenes were from ‘Top Gun’ and not real…

London history:

Earls Court, an area in West London, used to be the gay area of London before ‘Soho’. There were lots of nightclubs and number of businesses targeting mostly gay people. There, the very first public nightclub aimed at a gay clientele, The Copacabana, opened in the late 1970's. Among the available places there was a pub called ‘Coleherne’ public house, a leather bar. The likes of Freddy Mercury, Anthony Perkins or Nureyev had been spotted there. One of the regulars there was Colin Ireland. He is well known as one of the few serial killers targeting only gay men. He pretended to be into only masochistic games, so he managed to tie his victims, which he later killed. 5 men died at his hands. What’s funny (in a very dark way) is the fact that his killings were his ‘New Year’s Resolution’ for 1993! Imagine that…

USA:

The Brooklyn comedian Craig Rowin made a video asking for a million dollars. He uploaded that video in youtube and he received it.

That’s it. As simple as that…

Why couldn’t I think of that first!!!