January

January is not a very good month, in general:

• Holiday season is over
• Next bank holiday is in April
• Your bank balance is down
• You’ve been paid before Christmas and spent everything before New Year
• You credit card debt has skyrocketed
• Energy bills / taxes / transportation expenses / VAT went up
• You’ve gained weight
• Almost everybody’s grumpy (and complaining to you)
• It’s ‘sales’ season (and the only thing you can do is window shop)
• Etc

Mostly it’s about the “Money” (and the lack of it, at the moment)

However, when I turn my head and watch the snow falling outside I cannot but smile.
It’s so beautiful outside…

Growing up…

For New Year’s Eve in 2000 I was in Zurich, Switzerland, with my parents celebrating the millennium extravaganza. In general, I was

• 19 years old
• In my second year in Polytechnic School trying to become a topographer / land surveyor / cartographer
• I had a girlfriend called ‘Maria’ of already 3 months (we lasted 6 – don’t ask me how)
• A frightened closeted gay (I couldn’t even speak to my closest and dearest friends)
• Between partying and school, I remember worrying about my professional future and how I’d cope with my military service (the stories that were being repeated from the army were dreadful)
• Quite insecure, not feeling good in my own skin and worried about what others thought of me
• Not very close to my brother

OK, not everything was bad. I had a great time studying. It was the first time not living with my parents since I was studying in a different city and I liked the subjects I picked. That included staying up late watching the sunrise chatting with mates, partying until morning hours, going to gigs etc.

For New Years Eve in 2010 I was in my parent’s house (not that impressive) with friends and family.
I am

• 29 years old
• Having started a career in traffic engineering / software development
• I (think I) have a boyfriend of (slightly over) a month
• I am out to my parents, brother, colleagues and most of my friends. The rest that do not know, are people I don’t really care about
• I am not that worried about the future and I know I survived the experience of being in the army
• More secure and stable. I still care about what people think of me as long as these people are close friends or my brother
• After my brother’s divorce and me coming out to him, we have a very good relationship that I know will last

I have some very nice things planned for 2010. After having successfully finished two 10k runs this autumn, I’ve already registered for a half marathon for charity in March. I am not training for it as much as I’d like (its freezing cold outside) but I hope that I’ll successfully finish it. I hope to be able to register this autumn for a whole marathon in London for spring 2011.

I also want to acquire an extra certificate to improve my software development skills before the end of summer and start looking for a job if things stay the same where I am now. I was promised in a way, some serious training and some improvement to my job title but I do not know if these will be delivered. We’ll see… The last training organized by my company was about ‘time management’. Yes, it was as ridiculous as it sounds…

Anyway, I’ve also recently done a review of the people I’ve slept with, cried for (not always literally) and spent many hours with in 2009. I don’t know if you are / were single that year, but it is quite fun doing a list like that. I am going to be amazingly honest with you and admit that I’ve ‘known’ eleven men this year including all one night stands I’ve had. I’m not really the type of person that will regularly go to a club / bar to hook up with men and I don’t sleep with people on a first date (that doesn’t always happen). I don’t know if that number is too big or too small (and I don’t care that much to be honest – it’s just a fact). On average is a little less than one guy per month which doesn’t sound that many, especially according to some gay standards. Some of these men are actually the same as 2008 (I always end up things in a civil way leaving a door of communication open). Thankfully, I remember all of their names and some background information on them. So, what’s your magic number? (please don’t make me sound like a slut)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I’ve started writing this post on Saturday when I had a pile of clothes on my bed, waiting to be packed. I was still thinking of how I’d pack, since more than half my clothes stink of nicotine! Greeks do smoke a lot and I’m not used to it anymore (fortunately). I’ll probably wash everything when I get back (including the clean probably now smelly clothes) and leave my luguage open outside.

My Christmas holiday has been really nice. I was away for 10 days and tried to keep clear from all things related to technology. OK, not all things, but it was an honest effort. I didn’t log in to facebook, msn or twitter to contact people and I kept my accessing to the blogs I follow to minimum. Now, I have a lot of catching up to do…

I spent Christmas with family. My brother visited us for that weekend with his new girlfriend. It was kind of fun when my father called her with my brother’s ex wife’s name, during the massive meal, in front of everybody! I don’t know how funny she found it, but I did. Suddenly, all went quiet, not knowing what to do or react (hilarious)!

I spent New Year’s Eve with friends and family. I don’t know what the rest of the world does on that eve, but in Greece we have some traditions to follow. In theory, what you do at the change of the year is what you will be doing for the whole year. That is why you should be well fed, well clothed, happy with family and friends! We exchange presents right after the change of the year, for that same reason. You see, we don’t have Santa Claus coming in Christmas, but a variation of him on New Year’s Eve. He looks exactly the same (influences from the western civilisation aka Coca Cola) but he’s called differently (Saint Vassilys). We also traditionally cut a cake in his name that was made with a lucky charm inside. Whoever gets the piece with that charm will be lucky for the whole year (I didn’t get it this year)…

Another tradition is that after the change of the year you either go out (clubbing, to bars etc) or stay in with friends and family. You are also supposed to gamble a bit and challenge your luck by playing blackjack or similar games. Around 12:30am to 2am there’s the worst traffic jam in most Greek cities. I wasn’t an exception and I did the same. After the change of the year, around 1:30am I went to a friend’s place in the city. She had around 20 guests and it was very fun. One of the guests had a bouzouki (Greek musical instrument) with him and we sang and danced until around 4:00 when we started playing cards. I went home around 8:30 in the morning. Needless to say I spent the rest of January the 1st sleeping…

On a very different tone, I didn’t get my ‘revenge’ on ‘A’. He called me at some point saying that he was free for a coffee at that exact moment (he lives some kilometers away from the city but he didn’t tell me that he was coming to town beforehand) but it happened that I wasn’t free at that moment . He used to do that a lot in the past. Without any prior notice, he used to call me saying that he was in the city. Back then, though, I used to get very upset trying to modify my schedule according to his to see him. That is not happening any more. I couldn’t be bothered and cancel seeing some of my real friends to rush and see him. So, my revenge will have to wait…

I was in constant contact with JJ. He spent his Christmas holidays mostly working and we chatted during these days and exchanged many (many) text messages. I was very happy to see him yesterday. Coming back to a very cold (freezing actually compared to the sunny much warmer Greek climate) London was nothing since I had JJ to warm me up…

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

May 2010 bring you everything you wish for!