It is Friday night. In a few days I’m leaving for Oslo, my first visit there. I’m at home, and a Greek TV channel is playing an old episode of Top Gear. Actor Sir Michael Gambon appears, I understand this is his second appearance in the show. But who cares, anyway. Didn’t even know his name but still remember vividly his appearance (and accent, may I additionally say) in Michael Mann’s ‘The Insider’ as the insensitive head of that tobacco giant. What a movie that was, what a brilliant performance by Al Pacino...
Week was so-so, fortunately not that busy, but for some odd reason I still find it hard to get up every morning. While leaving from the office, I meet one of our neighbors in the building. He’s Danish and married to a local girl, he seems smart and is actually a very nice chap. For all purposes here we’ll call him Matt. Matt is in the software/programming business, heading the local branch of his multinational company. He told me the other day that there’s an invisible barrier here with the locals. This is hard to break, according to his experiences. But once you do, then there’s no limit to what these people can give you. I was happy to hear that, but admittedly still am in the early stages of breaking that barrier even with just a couple of people I already know.
I first met Matt during the Christmas holiday period. Our office building landlords threw a party at 3pm one day, so most of the companies housed here can get to know each other. The building is new and most of us have moved here during the second quarter of last year. I could see Matt almost every day outside the building, smoking his pipe as usual. He is thin, shorter than me and usually lightly unshaved. You don’t see young people smoking pipe often so I thought ‘this guy is kind of different.’ Anyway, long story short, he did promise to connect me with the expatriate community here. I appreciated that, and on the last day of 2009, an hour before the year said to us goodbye, Matt gave me a call inviting me to join him and friends who had booked a nice privet table at a bar in the city center. Nice night out.
It was a white Christmas this year.
Hard to believe this was my New Year’s Eve here in ‘expat-land’ now that I come to think about it but hey, what do you expect? Not everyone in this world has found his/her other half. Of course I could easily have had gorgeous ‘Santa’ coming on New Year’s Day but I have promised myself to stop this and avoid women who are essentially ‘predators’.
Anyway, I start to digress again and therefore should better get back to this TR.
The ‘few days’ go by and I am supposed to leave the office around half an hour before five pm today. Flight leaves at seven but I want to take it easy, arrive at the airport and not worry about any long lines for check-in and security, have ample time to take pictures, etc. All in order at work just before I leave. All that while a friend who knows I am flying out today is kind to ask where I am off to. I tell her I'm off to Oslo.
The woman (I mean, any woman)… What is actually more important for a man in this world (and the opposite of course)? I had heard or read once that all done in this world is for sex; pretty simplistic view of course, but on the other hand we may recall Sigmund Freud who said “All that matters is love and work.” There you have it, then. Was watching the movie “Scent of a woman” the previous night. Another brilliant performance by Al Pacino. At one point he says to that kid who was supposed to look after him:
True words, and sometimes you really need to miss that in order to realize its importance and appreciate the feelings it evokes within a man’s existence.
Packing was pretty light this time as I do not care much anymore about carrying anything that I will not possibly use; unnecessary actions are a waste of time and energy. Was navigating through a frequently visited photography website the other day and stepped on the issue of not carrying more gear than you have to. How many different pairs of shoes or trousers will you possibly wear at your destination? How many different lenses will you have to change in your camera for shooting interesting subjects? (ok, perhaps some ladies here could certainly answer “six pairs, six pairs, four lenses” for the above, which is fine actually – if you like take as much as you desire, you know well that the rule should be that there are NO rules…)
When I was a student I used to come back home for Christmas or Easter carrying books and notes with me, every time, every single year. By today’s standards, the weight I used to take as carry-on with me back then was unbelievable. Did I ever open those books during my Christmas or Easter holidays break? Not even once. And every year the same old story, carrying the ‘reading material’ back home for few weeks, as exams were always scheduled shortly after returning back to campus. I consistently performed well in the exams, but still never managed to realize I was giving myself such a hard time with carrying unnecessarily so much weight. Never take with you more than you will ever use, basic rule, and a fundamental one that serious frequent fliers adhere to (not that they have any other choice with the hundreds of thousands of miles they put on every year).
And off we go for another journey.
Week was so-so, fortunately not that busy, but for some odd reason I still find it hard to get up every morning. While leaving from the office, I meet one of our neighbors in the building. He’s Danish and married to a local girl, he seems smart and is actually a very nice chap. For all purposes here we’ll call him Matt. Matt is in the software/programming business, heading the local branch of his multinational company. He told me the other day that there’s an invisible barrier here with the locals. This is hard to break, according to his experiences. But once you do, then there’s no limit to what these people can give you. I was happy to hear that, but admittedly still am in the early stages of breaking that barrier even with just a couple of people I already know.
I first met Matt during the Christmas holiday period. Our office building landlords threw a party at 3pm one day, so most of the companies housed here can get to know each other. The building is new and most of us have moved here during the second quarter of last year. I could see Matt almost every day outside the building, smoking his pipe as usual. He is thin, shorter than me and usually lightly unshaved. You don’t see young people smoking pipe often so I thought ‘this guy is kind of different.’ Anyway, long story short, he did promise to connect me with the expatriate community here. I appreciated that, and on the last day of 2009, an hour before the year said to us goodbye, Matt gave me a call inviting me to join him and friends who had booked a nice privet table at a bar in the city center. Nice night out.
It was a white Christmas this year.
Hard to believe this was my New Year’s Eve here in ‘expat-land’ now that I come to think about it but hey, what do you expect? Not everyone in this world has found his/her other half. Of course I could easily have had gorgeous ‘Santa’ coming on New Year’s Day but I have promised myself to stop this and avoid women who are essentially ‘predators’.
Anyway, I start to digress again and therefore should better get back to this TR.
The ‘few days’ go by and I am supposed to leave the office around half an hour before five pm today. Flight leaves at seven but I want to take it easy, arrive at the airport and not worry about any long lines for check-in and security, have ample time to take pictures, etc. All in order at work just before I leave. All that while a friend who knows I am flying out today is kind to ask where I am off to. I tell her I'm off to Oslo.
The woman (I mean, any woman)… What is actually more important for a man in this world (and the opposite of course)? I had heard or read once that all done in this world is for sex; pretty simplistic view of course, but on the other hand we may recall Sigmund Freud who said “All that matters is love and work.” There you have it, then. Was watching the movie “Scent of a woman” the previous night. Another brilliant performance by Al Pacino. At one point he says to that kid who was supposed to look after him:
God must have been
a ****in' genius.
The hair --
They say the hair
is everything, you know.
Have you ever buried your nose
in a mountain of curls...
and just wanted
to go to sleep forever ?
Or lips --
and when they touched,
yours were like...
that first swallow
of wine...
after you just crossed
the desert.
a ****in' genius.
The hair --
They say the hair
is everything, you know.
Have you ever buried your nose
in a mountain of curls...
and just wanted
to go to sleep forever ?
Or lips --
and when they touched,
yours were like...
that first swallow
of wine...
after you just crossed
the desert.
True words, and sometimes you really need to miss that in order to realize its importance and appreciate the feelings it evokes within a man’s existence.
Packing was pretty light this time as I do not care much anymore about carrying anything that I will not possibly use; unnecessary actions are a waste of time and energy. Was navigating through a frequently visited photography website the other day and stepped on the issue of not carrying more gear than you have to. How many different pairs of shoes or trousers will you possibly wear at your destination? How many different lenses will you have to change in your camera for shooting interesting subjects? (ok, perhaps some ladies here could certainly answer “six pairs, six pairs, four lenses” for the above, which is fine actually – if you like take as much as you desire, you know well that the rule should be that there are NO rules…)
When I was a student I used to come back home for Christmas or Easter carrying books and notes with me, every time, every single year. By today’s standards, the weight I used to take as carry-on with me back then was unbelievable. Did I ever open those books during my Christmas or Easter holidays break? Not even once. And every year the same old story, carrying the ‘reading material’ back home for few weeks, as exams were always scheduled shortly after returning back to campus. I consistently performed well in the exams, but still never managed to realize I was giving myself such a hard time with carrying unnecessarily so much weight. Never take with you more than you will ever use, basic rule, and a fundamental one that serious frequent fliers adhere to (not that they have any other choice with the hundreds of thousands of miles they put on every year).
And off we go for another journey.
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