Escaping the G-word

Casimir: If I send a message, someone will hear it.
Oleg: No one is listening.
Casimir: How can they listen if we're not communicating?
Oleg: What if it's the Americans?
Casimir: I love America. I want to drink Pepsi Cola. I want to see sex shows. I want to go to New York and open a restaurant...I want to talk to somebody.

Oleg: This is the last entry in the log. The mission is now over. The results of the experiment are as follows. The limit is this. I am at it. I can go no further through time alone. I don't know what else to say. If anyone finds this log..I am over Europe. It is night. Moving east. I have set explosive charges throughout the craft. In a few moments the ship will consume itself. Somewhere on earth is a woman I once loved. Who has most probably forgotten me. If she looks at the sky. Or takes notice of the stars. She may notice the disappearance of Harmony module. Or maybe not.

David Greig. The Cosmonaut's Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union (1999)


I have been struggling with the G-word for more than four years.Today, while walking, I thought that I should write about it and start the debate: is the G-word good or bad? Do we want it or not? Can we develop either positive or negative views about it? Or do we have to?

But then, looking at clouds chasing each other in the sky, colours changing from deep blue, to silvery grey and then white, I remembered one night in theatre that gave me at least for two hours a new experience of the G-word- a true theatrical experience.
So, today I am escaping politics and debates on globalisation, I do not give explanations or views, I remain silent. More on the play, and the G-word perhaps, tomorrow.

Freudian Slips 1

Here is the running joke of these days:
the other day, talking to my friend I made one of my many Freudian slips, by saying 'homeopathetic drugs'!

But I wonder: what is the difference between homeopathic and homeo-pathetic?
Take for example, cigarettes..are you smoking a lot and sometimes have this terrible feeling that your voice is changing or even that you are about to lose your voice? Well, you can always go on smoking as much or even more, and get used to or get rid of the feeling or sound of your voice-homeopathic or homeopathetic?

Other cases of -pathic versus -pathetic can also be introduced: telepathic or tele-pathetic?
psychopathic or psycho-pathetic? I will expand and elaborate these terms in the future. (any additions to this first list of words is more than welcome.)
This Freudian slip has really broaden my horizons and enriched my vocabulary, but, I wonder: what uncle Zigmund would say about my condition: pathic or pathetic??

Ladybugs and the End of Summertime

The thing that I love most about my flat is the four windows of my living room. Thanks to these four windows the room is always full with light and I can always find ways to distract myself from work: looking at the neighbours on the left always doing gardening, or hearing the two girls that live in the house on the right shouting while leaving for school every morning-making stories about these people that I see or others that I can just hear passing by.

Today, all of sudden, two of the four windows were invaded by ladybugs- more than 10 ladybugs were walking on the windows staring at me for more than an hour. Of course, this is not the first time that ladybugs visit me (or other insects as well-especially, bees really fancy this place whereas I dont like them!) But today it was as if they had a purpose coming here. Perhaps, as they say, ladybugs bring good luck and I can always think that I will be extremely lucky in the future.

But then again, thinking twice, I think they just came to say goodbye. After all, summertime is over since last night and the light in my room will not be as strong anymore. I guess that from now on, my excuses to get distracted from work will have to come only from people and not ladybugs or other strange visitors on my windows.

I want to live in paradise

Antarctica: The coldest place on earth, where the winter lasts for nine months.

No inhabitants, only these penguins (or, in French, 'manchots') who not only survive but give birth before the winter begins,the male (!) protect the eggs throughout the winter, while the female return to the ocean to bring food (or, alternatively, have a blast, despite some dangerous fish being around!) And then, they go back, the little ones are already born, waiting for them, and the male leave to find food...and so,this weird story goes. This story is that of 'le manchot empereur' and last night I found out about it, watching the brilliant documentary La marche de l'empereur (2005) by Luc Jacquet. A story of devotion, beauty, unbelievable abilities to survive in the cold and recognise their loved ones through voice. Above all,this is a story about constantly walking, marching in groups- the solitary won't be able to survive. Since les manchots cannot fly, they have to walk constantly- still, they can dive under the water, and the moment when they come out, it's so much like flying or trying to fly and failing.

And I wonder: what do we,humans, can learn from these animals living in the coldest but so beautiful place in the planet? The only thing I know today is that I am jealous of them, because apparently they are able to keep their inside always warm, even if outside they have the temperature of a freezing animal, whereas I found myself freezing at some point while watching the film, and stayed with this cold feeling until I went to bed. And I wonder: is really Antarctica the coldest place on earth?

For Starters..

The title of this blog was initially conceived in Greek from a phrase that came to me one morning many years ago and has been stuck in my mind ever since. Drifting Planets, as the 'analogue' of the phrase in English, came to me only today that I decided to start this blog.

Planets endlessly wandering in the solar system.
In the initial Greek title of the blog, there is an element of deception that goes together with the wandering planets. Planets constantly moving, always escaping, you never quite manage to see them as a whole- beauty and deception.

Having exhausted myself with too much thinking and a very strong Permanent Head Damage in the last three years, I am embarking on this journey- a journey with many stops, I hope, but never ending. Wandering or wondering, looking at the planets on earth, human beings endlessly drifting, always beautiful but always deceiving you.
This is only the beginning- from now on, we go with the flow..