Kleidarotrypa

Aufwiedersehen, adios and goodbye

2006-05-12T17:07:00.000Z

This is an emotional post, as it is the last one of this blog.

I have decided to suspend my, already infrequent, writing in kleidarotrypa. Contrary to what I hoped, I didn't manage to create a clear identity of this blog. Perhaps that particularly period of my life (trying to finish a PhD) has affected it in a rather negative way.

However, kleidarotrypa has been my first blog and I will always remember it nostalgically. Deep down I haven't lost hope about it, therefore I am not deleting it from the blogosphere. I just stop writing; as in a mode of suspension. Perhaps one day it will resume its life, or not; but it would't be any time soon.

My last piece of (very exciting) news: From September onwards I will be in Manchester, lecturing and researching at the Centre for Museology. My dreams are coming true...

So, that's it then. Many kisses and warm hugs to my very few readers.

Stay cool; stay brave.

Aufwiedersehen, adios and goodbye,

Kostas.

Writing Up

2006-05-08T23:26:00.000Z

I am only a few weeks away from falling from the sky...that is from submitting my thesis. I still have bits to write, other to edit, some to drop, some others to add. Surprisingly, I am not too stressed about it; in fact, I could even say I am now enjoying writing more than before...yes, I know I should go to see a doctor...But, it's so refreshing to see words finally formulating your abstract ideas, paragraphs getting together to build up an argument and pages making sections of your thesis...

What I need though to keep in my mind is that this is a 'thesis': that is, in the end of the day, I need to make my standpoint or my big or small idea clear to the reader...not to mention also to me...

The final countdown then...

Monument To Now

2006-04-14T23:21:00.000Z

Monument to Now, an exhibition of current trends in contemporary art will showcase the works of the most influential international artists of the past decade and will attempt to articulate the most important recent artistic innovations. The works in the exhibition will be drawn from the Dakis Joannou Collection, one of the leading collections of new international art...Art is now strongly engaged with contemporary life after many years of withdrawal into self-referential Conceptualism.

Perfect example to put in my thesis...By the way, the exhibition is from 2004.

Pasta Bellissima

2006-04-05T22:13:00.000Z

Get the pasta...

Boil it...

Add the red sauce...

e quarda, pasta bellissima!

Simple food, happy life. Highly recommended...

Yawning picture

2006-04-04T23:19:00.000Z

Now, how in earth did I manage to take this photo of myself?! I really can't remember...but it probably has to do with me playing with my new mobile phone, a Nokia 6630, a free upgrade from Orange.

It's half an hour after midnight and I have yawned 5 times just by seeing this picture...6 now...

So, here is a test. Try to look at this photo for a minute without yawning. Do you think you can make it? I can't...7 and counting...

Here is some stuff on why we yawn; not that you care, but since you are still yawning watching me here, you may want to go to another page...8.....

9, a long one...

How can the use of mobile phones increase our understanding of our surrounding environment? This is one of the questions I ask in my research. An instant photo capture of a yawning man raises a dull action into an extraordinary moment: this is how some theorists of everyday life would perceive it. For me and my companion, Michel de Certeau, the acknowledgment of an everyday action brings me closer to understanding the everyday itself. By confronting an everyday reality, I grasp its value and alter, to an extent, the way I perceive it...

I am consciously going through my 16th yawning in the last 10 minutes, both thinking about it and doing it, and this process brings me closer in making meaning of this repetitive action...the same way, the more we confront constructively our everyday environment, the more we understand its logic and inherent qualities.

Thank God, Michel de Certeau is not any more around to see how people use his ideas...but I bet he would have yawned as well...

New beginning

2006-04-03T20:23:00.000Z

A new beginning needs a new outfit. Hence the new template...not exactly what I was looking for, but the best I could find.

I understand I've left a question unanswered; that is, where I have been all this time. Locationwise, I've been in the same place...in front of my laptop. Mindwise, I've been repeating Sisypfus' task. And Sisyphus' rock in my case has been my writing...

The fact that I am now writing here does not mean that I have managed to reach the hill with my rock. It means that I have decided that I should be doing other things as well in the meantime...

But enough with the fake psychoanalysis.

I am close to submit my thesis. I am also close to other things, but I won't say anything yet; I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise...New things and people have entered my life and I will be writing more about them in the next posts.

Until then, a question: is there a secret plan of all women called 'Anna' to take over the galaxy any soon? It seems to me that suddenly the world is flooded by Annas...

I am back (sort of)

2006-04-02T19:21:00.000Z

Hi everyone,

yes, I am alive and well, many thanks for the thousands e-mails and letters that you all have sent me...

Steady now, this doesn't mean that I will resume writing...but it was very kind of you to ask Tony (you know, our prime minister) to try to convince me to do so...Tony knows that I am upset with him and his friend (George Jr. I mean) for the global mess and also for making me paying so high city council fees...so, there is no way that I will start writing in my blog just because he wants to gain a couple of thousand more votes from my dedicated readers...

However, I have so many things to tell you...you can't imagine what I have been watching from my kleidarotrypa!!! But, I need to get some things sorted out first, so bare with me as I will pop in and out...

And 'NO', I haven't submitted yet my thesis...and please let's change the subject...

Here is a poem by Ian McMillan that I have read today; a poem related to the Tale of Three Cities, a project that comes close to things that I am looking in my research.

Going out for a quick drink with Ann, Anna and Katerina...

Catch with you later...

S(h)ort of words

2005-11-21T23:23:00.000Z

I was playing with my camera and by mistake I photographed part of my desk. And the camera captured this. I liked it and now it is my laptop's background.

I am reorganising the space in my room, a mirrored effort of reorganising my life. Too much dust...

I have missed the chance to speak about the national day of 17th November (students' uprise against dictatorship in 1973).

I am too absent-minded now to write; note to myself: 'next time you look through kleidarotrypa make some espresso, switch on the desk lamp, switch off the lights, open the curtains to the frosty and foggy night and switch on the radio; it helps the vision'.

Tomorrow

2005-11-14T23:53:00.000Z

Tomorrow it's going to be a great day!

I am getting up early to go at work, where I will be researching fascinating things about museums and new media, part of the preparation of a new 'digital heritage' course in our department. Around 11am I will make a phone call to an art gallery in Greece to discuss about a possible collaboration in reviewing their collections management system. During lunch break I will be meeting a master student from Greece who is interested in doing a PhD in our department and she would like some inside info.

I will probably stay at work until 7.30pm and then go for chinese in an excellent buffet restaurant in the city centre. Nikos is coming over from Loughborough for that, Katerina and Thalia will be there, myself with Anna of course, and perhaps Konstantina, our new friend in Leicester (lecturer of ancient history). But there is more! Thalia, who just came back from Greece, where she was referreing a football match (yes, no joking, she is a football referree), has brought me a Sunday newspaper (one that I do not read online) and I am looking forward to that!!!...And guess what! Ann, another good friend, is going to Greece tomorrow and will come back on Sunday bringing me next Sunday's newspaper! Aren't I this week's luckiest guy in the whole of Leicestershire or not?

Tomorrow I will be also looking more closely on Anna's present for Christmas. I know that Anna is regularly checking this blog, so I won't go into details. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise; and it's definitely going to be a surprise.

My greetings to my french-german-writing reader. Thanks for the comments! I have, also, enjoyed exercising my non-existent french and remembering my old time favourite german.

Bis morgen denn.

Thinking and Doing

2005-11-08T00:01:00.000Z

Over with the flu a week now; I generously passed it over to Pei-Yin, my housemate from Taiwan. Sorry Pei!

The last couple of days I am struggling with a diagram I am trying to draw in order to visualise better (for me and my examiners) the theoretical basis of my thesis. It's a pain! At the moment it looks like a clock; it draws on the idea that everyday life is a time-space concept that always moves and never stays still, yet it is repetitive, routinized and boring as the minutes that go by. Drawing circles and lines reminds me of geometry classes at secondary school; using the ruler and the other instrument that the english word slips my mind right now, to make perfect circles and triangles. I quite liked geometry, although I was not particularly good; but I was enjoying the thinking behind it.

I suppose this is the problem: the 'thinking'. Too much thinking nowadays, that much that the last chunk has lasted four years and some months: thinking of a single thing, my research. I think that doing a PhD makes one addicted to thinking, (over)analysing, critiquing, and so on. I find myself always thinking about anything and everything. If you ask me to mown the lawn (or lawn the mown? I am always confused about the right order in this phrase), I would probably start thinking first about the strategy I would follow: from which side to start, what movement I should be doing; then about how the mownlawner (or the lawnmowner?) works and what is the purpose of working in this way. Then I would probably start thinking about planting tomatoes and onions in the garden and it is high possible that I would start googling about where I can find the right seeds. Eventually, I will do the job, after having considered everything that I needed not to.

Not much a man of action or an 'actionman' you would say. Sometimes, though, when I daydream, I do not think about thinking, but I remember times of my childhood action: collecting figs from random fig-trees in random small roads in the countryside of my home town. Or, climbing on the trees with my brothers and cousins to get wild plums, eat as much as we can and then start running, either because the landowner would go after us shouting that he would tell our parents or simply because we needed the loo...Or go secretly and pour must (the juice of grapes before it becomes wine) in large glasses and drink it to the last drop; and then being shouted at by our uncles and aunts.

You will say, well times change and as a child we were doing things without much thinking, while now we need to think before we act. Perhaps this is the price of being adults...

However, what worries me is that if you put me now in a vineyard, instead of storming to try the fruits, I would probably consider doing unobtrusive observation of the grapes' maturing process, possibly some in-depth interviews with the foxes and rabbits of the area and perhaps some nice focus groups with the donkeys and mules that stroll down the fields.

I worry that things do not taste the same anymore...

Being ill

2005-10-23T23:28:00.000Z

I am ill! My eyes are red and painful, my throat aches, I have a constant headache and I feel weak. Basically I got the flu. Hopefully not the bird one.

I am drinking mountain tea, fresh orange juice, plenty of water, and a couple of espressos (secretly).

I think I am exaggerating a bit with this flu, but being ill grants me with extra treatment...

Strangely, though, I managed to get some important decisions regarding the structure of one of my chapters. I am wondering whether the illness works as an unconscious stimulus to write faster. Perhaps being ill makes time more countable, more worth of productivity.

Anyway, tomorrow I need to go to the library, so it would be more useful if I felt better.

I have already planned some of the things I would like to do when I will be in Greece: one is to watch a couple of new greek movies that are coming out soon. It's going to be great! Looking forward to this Christmas.

Nothing much

2005-10-22T17:51:00.000Z

Maria sent me a howler me: 'if you want to have a blog, you need to update it more often'. So, here I am...

The last month or so has been very hectic, trying to pull the last bits of my thesis together. I keep postponing my submission date, but there is a date I wouldn't want to pass: Christmas. I wait for this Christmas so badly! I have booked my ticket to Greece for the 21st of December, so there you go: by 21st of December the blody thing needs to go.

I got a job! I am Research Associate at my Department (Museum Studies). That's brilliant news in many ways, especially the financial one. My work is to contribute to the research and design of the new MA course (by Distance Learning) in Digital Heritage. It's great fun.

Check out my updated website. I was bored of the old design and did some experimentation, some of which didn't go down well with a couple of friends-reviewers (hi Maria!); not without good reason though. So, I went for a more conservative style, which I hope has still some sparkling elements.

I am not sure I have already mentioned that we (the phd students of the department) are organising a conference in February 2006. Check it here.

Well, that's all for now. Going back to my writing...

Random thoughts

2005-08-11T23:23:00.000Z

Thursday 11 August 2005. 2005!!! Can you believe it? It is already 2005!

Today I was thinking how painful the moment will be when I will finish my studies in Leicester...I've been here since September 1999 (with a 9 month interruption). I've been here more time than in Thessaloniki when I did my first degree. But I don't know why, it seems much less time...Perhaps because I was always feeling that I am in transition, that my staying in Leicester had an expire date...

What I definitely need though is a long holiday. A very long one. On a remote village on the mountains or on an island. And I also need the time to stop. I need a break, a break from time passing. Time has to stop for a while, because it passes so fast that I don't have the time to count it. I need a 'time stopper'; where can I find one?

I also need to go offline as soon as possible. In 1999 I did not know what an e-mail or a website was. In 2005 everything is about, from and through e-mails and websites. I spend more time online than offline. My laptop has become the extension of my mind (Marshall McLuhan, I wish that machines were only extensions of body as you said, but it is worse!).

But first I need to finish that thesis. I just hate it right now. I will never again mention the phrases 'everyday life' or 'archaeological monuments'.

That's for now. I am not in the mood for more. What pisses me off is that when everyone else is on holidays, I have to stay put and continue working...More is less after all...

Harry Potter and the 'death of the author'

2005-08-09T01:03:00.000Z

It's been a week since I finished reading 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince', the 6th Harry Potter book of J.K. Rowling. It's been also a week since I registered in the Leaky Lounge, the forums of the Leaky Cauldron website of Potter fans.

Those of you, who follow the books and the story and have read the last book, have seen how much J.K. leaves open in this book. Is DD (Dumbledore) dead? Is Snape evil? What does the prophecy mean? Who will die in the 7th and last book? What happened in the cave? What happened in the tower? Is there a DD-Snape plan?

I do not consider myself an authority in Harry Potter literature, but nevertheless I have developed two pretty strong theories on the meaning of the prophecy and the 'cave-tower plan' of DD. Now, I won't go into details, because it would be a looooong post...I have been sharing my thoughts on the 'Unfogging the Future' forum of the Leaky Lounge, where I admit I met the most brilliant people in story plotting...Absolutely amazing!!! I have pretty much forgotten details of the first five books, but some of the users are able to bring the smallest details on the table .

And I don't want to hear again that naive comment that Harry Potter books are for children. Since when children's literature is just for children? The mythology, philosophy, metaphysics, symbolism, and discourse analysis that go in those books could stimulate tens of master dissertations and phd theses. You have to see some of the posts there. There is more deep and informed thinking than some academic papers.

What has been clear to me is that having to think about holes and gaps in my thesis helped me to think about the plot in the Harry Potter's book. And thinking about the possible plot in the book has helped me to see how the gaps and the holes of my thesis can be filled.

Pottermania has, also, made scandalously evident how dead the the 'death of the author' is. Harry Potter is being written in thousands of ways every day. Nevertheless, in this case, the thousands of authors look up at the details and canons of the J.K. Rowling's original story, to find credit or trash their own storyline. J.K. Rowling still has the 'truth' of Harry Potter: her truth is not the only one out there, but it is the only 'real' and 'authentic' one, that everyone respects. The rest of the 'truths' get credit only if they support the intentionally missing parts of Rowling's story; and their credit will be further confirmed or disposed, when the next book will come out. The author is dead, but this death is the only 'real' one, because the author of the original story was the only who 'really' lived. The rest of the authoring, the fans' authoring, neither lives or dies; it just exists and stops existing. And it gets value when it crosses the original author's thinking. Millions of interpretations exist, but every one of them exists to become the 'real', the one, the only one.

The author is dead, but at least he has lived and died.

Super-Ego

2005-07-18T22:30:00.000Z

Mid of July already! It's so hard to believe how fast days come and go without being noticed. I promise you, a while ago was summer 2004, and november 2004 was just yesterday. If time moves so fast, why not also my writing? Well, ok, let's not be too pessimistic. Writing has been gone well, since I decided to stop writing for others (conferences) and start writing for me (thesis). Having said that, I was accepted in ICHIM 2005 Selection sessions. This means that by 7th of August I need to send my full paper. Having to write 19 thousand words for my chapters 4 and 5 until 1st of August, the 3 thousand of ICHIM seem suddenly so few, yet equally demanding...

I have noticed that I have been blogging most about conferences, papers and chapters. I suppose because this is what my life is currently. Pretty boring you would say and I won't challenge that. Why does everyone else seem always to have a better life? A better Phd, a better work, a better house, a better vacation, and so on? Vaso was telling me the other day about Freud and the super-ego, that always tell us that we do not do enough, that there is always someone else that does better than us.

Watching yesterday 'Hide and Seek' on the computer, I realised better the small and large games that the mind plays. Sometimes then, the game is so powerful that the mind cannot distinguish between reality and game and the two are blurred into a different reality. Although doing a PhD is not a so intense transcendence into an imaginary world, nevertheless, it projects sometimes very vivid sensations.

From this point of view, I cannot blaim my super-ego that complains all the time: Some swim in a sea of untamed thoughts and ideas trying not to sink, and others just swim in beautiful blue water at a beach of a Greek island. It'd better be a good thesis, with minor changes, otherwise I will never forgive myself for not having proper holidays so many years...

Timing

2005-07-11T22:14:00.000Z

Yes, I managed to submit Chapter 2 on time and, also, last Friday Chapter 3.

This gave me the privilege to take the weekend off. Valeria, a very good friend of Anna's and mine from Italy, visited us from Rome. We had a very nice time and today she left to go back to the eternal city.

Last week was probably the year's longer week: G8 concerts, G8 meeting in Gleneagles, Olympics 2012 award, the London attacks: everything packed in one week. London's attack created so many feelings and thoughts, but right now I feel drained from writing anything about it. There has been so much talking about it all these days, that there is nothing left to be said actually. Only sorrow.

Timing is everything. I wanted to write about two friends' vivas, but now they seem so old news. It is now more clear to me that blogging is more about the present tense than the past tense. It is about expressing feelings and thoughts while they are still on the surface. When they start to sink into the memory, they lose their spontaneity and they are no good for blogging.

I am amazed how Anne Galloway manages to produce all this writing almost every day, not to mention all the reading she does. I really enjoy reading her blog.

Tomorrow I am starting Chapter 4 and 5. This is going to be a tough one...

Displacement activities

2005-06-18T00:48:00.000Z

25 degrees the weather forecast for the weekend. I went out on our front yard this evening and I thought I smelled jasmine, but I may be wrong. Whatever the flower, it smelled of relaxed, happy and complete summer evenings...

I know why I haven't finished yet writing the thesis. It's because I could not figure out where I would go after that, what it is that I will be doing the next day. I still don't know 'where my future lies'. What I know though is that I want to start enjoying again those wonderfully smelling, summer evenings...preferrably combined with the sea breeze:-)

I have completed fieldwork and writing the report for the National Space Centre, and I am really happy with the result. It is called 'Report. Family Use of Pocket Computers at the 'Space Now' Gallery of the National Space Centre' and as Magnus said, 'this is a long and descriptive title'. So, another displacement activity is completed...hopefully the last one for this summer. Since last November I have gone through numerous displacement activities, to avoid opening the folder in my laptop called 'Chapters'. Reading Google's top result of 'displacement activity',

'an action that is performed out of its normal context, while the animal is in a state of stress, frustration, or uncertainty. Birds, for example, often peck at grass when uncertain whether to attack or flee from an opponent; similarly, humans scratch their heads when nervous'

I wish sometimes I'd only scratch my head, when I am 'in a state of stress, frustration, or uncertainty'...It would definitely be less stressful than writing reports...

Ross is expecting a 6K chapter on 'Everyday Life' theories by next Friday. Is it feasible? Having written that chapter at least twice until now, it should be all right, but I will let you know after Friday. Those theoretical parts, although I love them, I am never sure about them...They are just too theoretical...

Tomorrow we are going to Nottingham. Areti and Richard are holding a BBQ, celebrating Areti's viva pass...The last few months the only news seem to be friends having their vivas, other friends getting married and some other having babies...Sometimes I think that I realize that I am 32 years old only because of these news...

No, I won't go through the age issue here. The night is just too beautiful to spoil it in this way.

Speaking of marriages, Aggelos and Asteroh (two friends of mine) got married last Saturday in Thessaloniki. I wish I was there. All the best guys!!!

80,000 words. This is my viva, partner and baby for the next 4 months. The final countdown starts tomorrow. Wish me luck.

The Bin Returns

2005-05-23T19:35:00.000Z

I've been busy invigilating, writing and preparing dinners. Maria and Giannis left two weeks ago. Maria passed her viva with minor changes (a couple of typos basically), so another Dr. has been released in the open...

As I said, I am invigilating exams, which is excellent because during invigilations I get lots of work done. People say, one needs to have options, so that one decides by oneself...Fair enough; but what happens when you have too many options and you are really undecisive person? Being in a room for 3 hours and not been able to leave it is perhaps not the definition of free option and decision. However, it works for my thesis all right.

My room is a mess again, but at that period of time that mess gives me a feeling of productive everydayness.

What DHRG stands for? Anyone willing to take a guess? I will be talking about it more in the coming posts. For the moment, let's see who reads that blog...

Our two Japanese housemates are moving out in the end of June. Mayra and Huso are moving in. More about this (and for a housewarming party) in the future.

And let me get down to the main issue of this post: The Bin.
Last Monday, after the bin collectors emptied our weekly waste, our bin disappeared. Every one of the neighbours went and collected their bins, happy and pleased. Only we found ourselves standing in the frontyard sad and concerned with the surprising absence of our bin. Where had the number 17 bin gone? And what were we going to do now, without our bin?

We felt at loss in the non-view of our bin-friend. I went around looking for it; I went in our neighbours backyards, I snicked into their semi-private outdoor areas but nothing. Every other bin seemed to have resumed their weekday location, ready for re-filling.

All week passed with the bin gone missing and, although we started losing hope that we would see it again, we were waiting for today's gathering of all the bins of the neighbourhood in the particular collecting area to see whether our beloved and so-needed bin would reappear. And, indeed, as miracously and unexplained it had disappeared in the first place, in the same way it appeared again, few yards away from our front door. It has to be said, that the return of the missing bin brought a lot of joy and excitement in our household, not to mention the pleasure of finally placing the black bags into the bin. Mimicking CSI Miami techniques, I forensicely examined our returned bin for clues that would lead to an explanation of the disappearance, but I couldn't find anything. Nevertheless, seeing the square meter on the left of the door been again occupied by our black bin with the white 17 number on it, put things right again.

However, the mystery of the disappearance remains, as perhaps also the reasons for it. I am wondering whether we should arrange some shifts tonight to ensure the bin's safety and perhaps solve the mystery, but such suggestion won't probably go down well with my housemates.

The bin has returned. But will it stay?

Production and Consumption

2005-05-09T18:30:00.000Z

Who has said that 'I have been broke, but not poor?' or something like this? It supposes to make you feel better and optimistic when your bank account is minus...Mmm, it doesn't do me any good anyhow though...

Having not been able to secure the necessary funds for Zagreb's CIDOC, I am not going anymore. That's a pity though, because I have seen the schedule and there are some really interesting papers; not to mention friends and colleagues that I would have had the chance to meet..So, Sofia, I won't be there; please say hi to Aleka and the others.

Today, Maria and Giannis are arriving from Greece. Maria has her PhD viva at De Montfort Uni (in conservation) tomorrow. Fingers crossed everybody! Which means that it was a very good opportunity to tide up my room. Anna was impressed and suprisignly stated that it is the tidest it has ever been. Coming from Anna, I consider this as a compliment to my tiding skills. This does not mean that I am a messy person; I just sometimes bare messy environments...

This morning I spent all my energy and time trying to recover a document; the first draft of a paper I am planning to submit on Friday at MobileHCI05. Having discussed it on the phone the previous night with Areti, I have added some more things yesterday, but today the document wouldn't open. In the end I managed to open it with Notepad and recover most of the text. But it was enough to spoil my day. I may do some reading later in the evening. There are some papers I need to go through in order to get a better idea of what and why I am writing that paper.

Some days I think that my whole life the past two months has been sending conference papers. Ross will be mad at me, if he knew that I am going for another one. Well, he will be when I tell him this Wednesday. Perhaps it is a way to avoid finishing my phd, because I am scared of what will come next, as Anna has psychoanalysed me. At least, now I am confident that I can finish it, while before I was feeling completely useless in writing the dissertation.

Michel de Certeau, my faithful companion in this thesis, says that consumption is production; it's the user's appropriation of the product, and so another type of production, based on use and practice. In my case, I have gone beyond producing and then consuming the thesis. The product has consumed me, I do not control it anymore; it controls me, it owns me.

If this is not worrying, I wonder what is...

Huge bills

2005-05-04T23:53:00.000Z

That's it! I had enough with those huge bills on my mobile. It's not possible that I have to pay so much. So, I decided to either switch provider or get a pay as you go. Have you ever seen their websites? It's literally impossible to find your way around them. They are the worse sites in terms of navigation. Absolutely dreadful! And when you think you finally found your way, there is no proper information in them. There is always something missing. I have my (conspiracy) theory why this happens. They basically don't want people get the whole picture and in particular do that online. Because then, people get bored or frustrated and call; and when people call, it is for sure that they (the companies) will find a way to manipulate them and sell them what they do not need more expensively. I may be getting paranoic, but it has been a long day and the bills are still huge.

So, I will go the shop and talk f2f. I don't expect much though. I am absolutely intimated by the way customers are treated in those phone shops. You get the minimum service and they make you feel stupid and quilty because ou haven't called the appropriate number to sort things out. Anyway, I will go and see what happens. Does anyone recommend any mobile phone company that charges less? Orange is sooooo expensive!

Tomorrow, I am looking at my fieldwork data again. I need to move faster if I want to finish by the end of summer. Anna has only a couple of chapters more to write and she is finished. And Areti had her viva and passed it! Well done Areti! I feel the pressure...

Today, Anna and I started our second course of ballroom dancing. We did very well, considering that we haven't had a class for 3 weeks. And we learnt a couple of more movements.

Tomorrow, I'll start writing about my writing. This may help me write faster.

Tuesday's Image

2005-04-26T22:11:00.000Z

Things

2005-04-26T21:44:00.000Z

Yes, I am still here! It's been a while since the last post on kleidarotrypa. I've been busy with things, you know, things...(another way to say 'I've been lazy')

Μεγάλη Τρίτη (Good Tuesday) today for the Orthodox Christians. I am getting ready for Easter, which as you know, I am going to spend in Leicester. I received the powder to dye the eggs on Thusday. It's the fourth (I think) time I am doing it, so I am particularly confident for the result (but, please, do keep your fingers crossed). I am looking forward, also, to check the weather forecast for Sunday. BBC has a five day forecast, so I need to wait until tomorrow. This will define whether I am doing a big barbecue with a lot of friends, or just a nice indoor lunch. Hopefully the weather will be just right for outdoors. Although we are not going to have a whole barbecued lamb, I have planned various goodies for the day. Cheesepie, pasta al forno, cakes, salads and of course barbecued meat. Looking forward!!!

I did the corrections to the Malta's paper, sent it to Ross to review it and I am sending it off on Friday...and I did not manage to resist to the opportunity to go to Paris; so I submitted an abstract to the ICHIM as well. Oh, by the way, I changed my website. Do have a look.

Next week we start our advanced dance lessons (10 lessons in this class). Another thing to look forward to. Speaking of things, we need to find two new housemates for the summer (at least) if we want to stay in this place. I like this house very much; I would hate to leave it, just for things like this.

Tuesday's Image

2005-04-19T18:19:00.000Z

July 1993. Me and Nektarios in our first ever trench in the Agora of Pella. At last, your dream comes true, my old friend.

Tuesday's News

2005-04-19T17:40:00.000Z

So, Cardinal Ratzinger is the new Pope, who will be known as Pope Benedict XVI. No surprise here; the bookmakers were having him and Cardinal Ruini as the favourites. If Jean Paul II was the first Pope with a globalised funeral, Benedict XVI is the first with a globalised election. It is amazing, though, how important moments like this seem so cheap, when seen from the globalised mass media (the same way that media gives away importance to cheap things).

I got the feedback from the Mobile Learning conference. They accepted the paper, which is excellent news...Well, then I calculated the cost of registering, flying, staying and attending the conference in Malta and my smile faded...Anyone willing to sponsor me?

Speaking of good news, today I had some excellent news: Nektarios and Michalis passed the exams for archaeologists and they were accepted in the Archaeological Service of Greece!!! I am very happy for you guys, many congratulations!

Now, I am supposed to be writing my thesis, aren't I? Why, then, am I flirting with more conference contributions? ICHIM or MobileHCI05? Or both? More importantly, do I have anything more to say?

Anna is in Durham for some AHRB training. Pia (the sister) is visiting us for the weekend, so this will be fun. Apart from that I am looking forward to watch tonight the next episode of Hustle; brilliant series. Don't miss it if you receive BBC One; at 9pm.

Tuesday's Image

2005-04-12T22:09:00.000Z

The beauty behind glass

Cities & Signs 5

2005-04-12T01:01:00.000Z

At last I finished the CIDOC paper. Anna reviewed it, I put the bibliography, formatted it, ready to be sent tomorrow, at the last dot of the deadline.

I was reading the other day the Invisible Cities of Italo Calvino. Here is one of my favourite extracts (nicked from http://www.documentedlife.com/quoted.htm)

Cities and Signs 5
'No one, wise Kublai, knows better than you that the city must never be confused with the words that describe it. And yet between the one and the other there is a connection. If I describe to you Olivia, a city rich in products and in profits, I can indicate its prosperity only by speaking of filigree palaces with fringed cushions on the seats by the mullioned windows. Beyond the screen of a patio, spinning jets water a lawn where a white peacock spreads its tail. But from these words you realize at once how Olivia is shrouded in a cloud of soot and grease that sticks to the houses, that in the brawling streets, the shifting trailers crush pedestrians against the walls. If I must speak to you of the inhabitants' industry, I speak of the saddlers' shops smelling of leather, of the women chattering as they weave raffia rugs, of the hanging canals whose cascades move the paddles of the mills; but the image these words evoke in your enlightened mind is of the mandrel set against the teeth of the lathe, an action repeated by thousands of hands thousands of times at the pace established for each shift. If I must explain to you how Olivia's spirit tends towards a free life and a refined civilization, I will tell you of ladies who glide at night in illuminated canoes between the banks of a green estuary; but it is only to remind you that on the outskirts where men and women land every evening like lines of sleepwalkers, there is always someone who bursts out laughing in the darkness, releasing the flow of jokes and sarcasm.

This perhaps you do not know: that to talk of Olivia, I could not use different words. If there really were an Olivia of mullioned windows and peacocks, of saddler and rug-weavers and canoes and estuaries, it would be a wretched, black, fly-ridden hole, and to describe it, I would have to fall back on the metaphors of soot, the creaking of wheels, repeated actions, sarcasm. Falsehood is never in words; it is in things'.

Fresh Connection

2005-04-08T01:21:00.000Z

Another long day. I finished the review of Collection Management Systems for Museums and sent it. Maybe I should have kept it to see it with a 'fresh eye' tomorrow morning, but did I want to that? No, I didn't. One thing less for Friday.

I am into fish this period. I never bought fresh fish before, but now whenever I go to the supermarket I make sure I pay a visit to the fishery. For the moment I have tried salmon and sardines, but I am planning to expand my taste variety.

Was it today in any country/galaxy/universe a day related to maternity? I met on the street one of our department's lecturer who is pregnant; then one fellow student came in the office with fresh news that has recently become an aunty; and finally, one colleague from a museum e-mailed me that she is going on maternity leave soon. What was the universe trying to tell me? I wonder...

There is a rumour among new phd students that I hold the secrets of (the phd) life. This is the price of the phd getting older along with me. I wish I was again a fresher.

Cold, fresh, air sneeks from the (closed) windows encouraging me to take coverage for the night...

Fresh start tomorrow then...

Early coffees, Late thoughts

2005-04-05T23:58:00.000Z

Today, I had a morning espresso at Piazza Cafe in the campus. Long time since I have heard the morning sounds of the campus. Mornings at the campus remind me the year of the Master. The then sense of exploration and discovery I smell in the moisture of the morning air. I may go back tomorrow as well...

The Leicester Spring School in New Media and the following UK Museums and the Web Conference are on their preparation, but this year I am not involved. It's good fun, but no fun time left these thesis' days...

The CIDOC paper is not yet ready; its introduction is though. I've just finished it and I like it (that's a change)...well I'd better like it anyway, it took me days to write it! Two days more...that's my current time estimation.

But, tomorrow is not one of the two. Tomorrow I am doing 'other' things...these other things that build my future, but delay my present. Tomorrow I am looking at documentation systems...

And let's not forget, tomorrow is our 5th (and last) dancing lesson. Last time we did well. We are really confident now in Foxtrot, we enjoy it very much; Merengue is ok, we still need to work on the rhythm. Walse, we have it, but synchronisation needs improvement. And Rock&Roll, well, that's another story...

I got an e-mail from Roy (old flatmate) from Trinidad. We used to make fun of the 'monumental' phrase 'They will all die', of the then Iraqui Minister of Information during the first days of the Iraq Wars II. Long time now, it does not bring me laugh anymore, but long face and sad thoughts.

Joyce has just signed in the MSN Messenger, which means that it is quite late here and quite early in Taiwan. Wednesday has just started for her, Tuesday hasn't yet finished for me.

So, let's call it a day.

Ithaca

2005-03-29T20:28:00.000Z

Some Greek poetry for my overseas friends...

Ithaca
When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
pray that the road is long,
full of adventure,
full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them:
You will never find such as these on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine
emotion touches your spirit and your body.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops,
the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter,
if you do not carry them within your soul,
if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long.
That the summer mornings are many, when,
with such pleasure, with such joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time;
stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase fine merchandise,
mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensual perfumes of all kinds,
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
visit many Egyptian cities,to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your ultimate goal.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better to let it last for many years;
and to anchor at the island when you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage.
Without her you would have never set out on the road.
She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.

http://users.hol.gr/~barbanis/cavafy/cavafy.jpg">.
Konstantinos P. Kavafis (1911)

A day, what a day!

2005-03-25T10:56:00.000Z

How many things can a day be for someone?

Today it is Good Friday for the Catholic Church. It is also the second Friday of the Greetings to Holy Mary, for the Orthodox Cristians. It is also the celebration of Holy Mary's Annunciation and so the nameday of my grandmother and my cousin. It is, also, the 184th anniversary of the War of Greek Independence (25 March 1821) and a day of parade, joy, pride and remembrance in Greece. It is, furthermore, the day that Anna goes back to Italy to spend Easter. It is, moreover, the day I asked for an extension for the CIDOC paper (late as usual) and a full moon.

...and it's not even noon...

Dreams and Realities

2005-03-24T00:08:00.000Z

I am not sure what is better: to live in a dream, or to wake up in a better reality. I thought that I was really good in squash. I thought that (more or less) I was playing it right. I thought that I was sweating a lot playing. Well, this was just a dream. Today I played with Ross and I realized how deep I was sleeping. I woke up and I was not good at squash; I woke up and I was not playing it right; I woke up and I was sweating more than before. However, weaking up to this reality is far better than keep dreaming. Why? Because, in this way my dreams can become true: I will get really good at squash, I will play it right and I will sweat a lot...Eventually, I will beat Ross.

Coming back from squash and after managing to pull myself together, I watched the video recordings of the Wireless Cultures seminar at Tate Modern, back in 2003. Pete Gomes work is very interesting, quite close to subjects I am looking at as well: mobile devices and the urban space. I kept some notes listening to his presentation, but I need to find out more about his work (especially on his 'terraportals' and 'psychic interface').

Tonight was a dancing class night. Neither I nor Anna were focused this time. I stepped on her numerous times and my posture was miserable. Merenge was a disaster and Walsh had no rhythm. We did well though on Foxtrot, this was a survivor. But Rock & Roll was a shipwreck. I hope we do better next time, otherwise how can we go to the competition in Blackpool and win?

...Another dream to sleep on.

Squashing balls, study and food

2005-03-21T22:18:00.000Z

It's been a while since last I looked through the kleidarotrypa. So, let's have a look...

Squash today was good. I and Magnus get better every time we play, although I am not sure whether we play squash right. I mean, we are not really familiar with the rules, so we kind of developed a shared and agreed way of playing suited to us. For example, we don't run up and down like we are on fire...as we should be doing. Both of us squash the ball twice on the row, if it is difficult for the other person to reach the ball on time. Magnus, also, never gives up: even if the ball hits the floor more than once...twice, three times (etc) he makes the most to bring the ball back in life, up and flying again. Knowing that something was wrong in the way we are playing I downloaded a short extract from a championship match. Well, not very helpful, since the players were hitting the ball so hard, that I could not follow their moves.

I have four full days and tonight to squash the paper for CIDOC. This will be really really tight...Still no news from the Mobile Learning conference. I read again the paper I sent them, and I don't like it...Well, 'too late for tears'. I am not sure whether going for conferences at that stage is the wisest thing to do. Nevertheless, it has given me back the hectic days that are usually the most productive ones.

I am still squasing (in my head and on the paper) the structure of the thesis. It's coming back to me slowly, but good enough to hit it again.

Lent is one week in. I am squashing it alright and for the moment I haven't had any huge crisis looking for chocolates...Well, I've never been a food lover anyway. Sadly, this Easter I will be spending it in the UK...again. A small sacrifice it is...

I am...

2005-02-18T01:52:00.000Z

I am worried. Every day I discover things that interest me more than writing my thesis. Things that I haven't thought or read about since my childhood, in some cases. I catch myself reading the science pages of the online TO BHMA, watching tv documentaries on subjects such as atoms' fusion, or dreaming in the daylight about setting buisinesses. Is it just a way to escape from what I really should be doing, or is there something more in this self-de/distraction?

I am hungry. For the first time in my life I am on diet. It's hard to believe, but, there you go, I am on diet. I, who used to be 65 kilos throughout my university years, I am now 80 kilos every time I step on a weighting scale. However, being on diet is kind of fun. I keep telling people that I am on diet, and suddenly I have found a new topic for discussion. It seems that diet is a hop topic among many, it brings people together. Everyone is so sympathetic and supportive. What was I missing all these years!

I am byted. It's 2.24am and I am on bed with my laptop typing these words and listening to online greek radio. I find it increasingly difficult to spend time away from this machine. It's been a while now that I go to bed with it. Does sleeping with the computer count as cheeting on your partner?

I am sleepy. Byted, hungry or worried, I switch off now.

Shopping

2005-02-03T23:54:00.000Z

Today, it was a supermarket day! Trying to forget about my slow progressing writing and focus on my empty fridge I visited our nearby supermarket. Well, it was not that nearby, when I was walking back covered with bags...

Shopping in supermarkets is a game, just like visiting a museum or gallery. A game, whose title changes every time. Sometimes, it is called 'find me if you can', other times 'please, don't push each other', or 'choose the best', or even 'pretend you know'. This time's title was 'get as much as you can'.

Often, when I visit museums, I ignore the text. I pretend I do not see it; I do not read it, apart from some words that I think I need to read. Sometimes, though, not sure why, I get maniac and read and read and read; from the first to the last word, ignoring often the objects. I just jump from panel to panel and from label to label. I stretch, I lean forward, I lean left and I lean right, I come close and closer to the text, in order to consume it. Sometimes, I read it again. I go back and forth, make circles and triangles, bouncing like a squash ball against the text that surrounds me. I do not stop until I read absolutely everything, until I get as much as I can, so that I can learn as much as I can and forget as little as possible...

But, can I really eat as much I have collected in the trolley? Various types of cheese, yellow, blue and orange; yoghurt from Greece and Greek-style yoghurt; Bread in slices medium-cut; organic eggs, nutella and oregano; off-season pears, mandarines and bananas...Of course not. Some will be appreciated, but more will eventually end up in the bin. Got but left, read but forgotten.

However, the game was played and I won! Today, it was, indeed, a supermarket day!

About blogs

2005-01-21T16:10:00.000Z

I am thinking, I must be very self-centred to have a blog. In some way, to have a blog means that I think that what I say people find interesting or at least they find a reason to read. And definitely, it means that I like reading my own words. Judging from the number of blogs that exist 'out there', there must be a hell of a lot like me. So, not much of being unique, anyway, as Anna often tells me.

I suppose, what I write is unique; but, again, it's not really unique, is it? It cannot be identical with somebody else's writing, fair enough, but is it really unique? I mean, will you say after reading this, 'oh, Gosh, this is unique'? I don't think so. But, still in a way, to me it is. It is unique, because it is mine, I own it, I create it every time I press the keys on the keyboard. It is unique because it comes from me, it shows me and the way my thinking is expressed with words. But, the moment I click on 'Publish Post', it is like opening the courtins of my room. And then, all my uniqueness disappears in the outside light. Then, I, myself, my blog becomes one more particle of this light, one more and not unique.

Anna would probably insist that still my blog is unique. I think she means to say that this blog is mine, and so it is unique. Then, maybe, I found an answer to this issue of uniqueness. To me, this blog is unique, because it is mine; to Anna, this blog is unique because it comes from me; to you, this blog would be unique, only if you find a way to identify with these words, to make my words yours. So, to be unique is not really to be unique, to be different from others , or to be extraordinary; it is rather to be familiar and close, yours as much as mine.

A beginning

2005-01-19T19:47:00.000Z

I feel the forgotten feeling of orientating myself around a new thing for me...blogs...What they are, what is my blog, why I am doing it, how to do it...Which name to choose, which template to pick, how to describe the blog, what fonts and sizes to use...what to write...

It is beginning, but it catches me towards an end...after 4 years of doing a phd, I am now seeing an end to it, although I am still months from it...It is a beginning, but beginnings don't have anymore the excitement they used to have. It used to be everything about the beginning; the starting moment was everything: the beginning and the end. The moments of the start, the first days of it used to be a genesis and a growth. What was following was just a glimpse. Now, beginnings point to an end, exist to show the end. The end has become the reason. I suppose that's why we have invented managers: to help us keep our minds in their places until we reach that end.

But, I am bubbling here (something that will probably happen a lot); I suppose, I mean, this beginning post of kleidarotrypa does not promise next ones, far more an end, because there is no manager or managing virtues around this computer.

So, this is good news then. I found something I can do without thinking of an end; I found something that does not have an end. That's a good start.