Still Alive!
Wow! I can't even believe how long it's been since I wrote a real entry! We've missed Flag Day on the 27th of October, Oxi Day on the 28th, the annoying aniversary of the Polytechnic on 17 November, my birthday on 1 December, Giftmas on the 25th, NewYear's on the 1st of January, the aniversary of the death of General Metaxas on the 29th, the aniversary of the death of Markos Vamvakaris on 8 February, and now, Valentine's Day on the 14th! Plus, some very important things in my life, though I'll get to those in the next two entries. For now, I'll catch you up on the mundane, except the last thing, which is amazing and has me jumping for joy.
Flag Day and Oxi Day were quiet and reflective. I wanted to learn a wonderful song about our flag, but couldn't find the lyrics and the video I found of it on Youtube was of children singing at some concert and wasn't very clear. Still, I did enjoy it and learned the melody enough to play it on my keyboard. For Oxi Day, I read up on General Metaxas and the 4th of August Regime, and the war with the Italians, and listened to songs from World War II. The 17th of November is not a good day for ethnikofrones, particularly those of us who love Colonel Papadopoulos, as it's a reminder of all that we lost after the events of that day in 1973. For me, it was a day of annoying things, and while they weren't truly serious, I was beyond glad when the day was over.
My birthday was a quiet affair, but quite funny in that I received two cakes. Mom and Joanie got me the usual iced cream cake from Carvelle and Spiros got me a chocolate cream cake. Both were delicious. I got some money and a few dudads, as Mom calls them, little things to make me smile or that I would need to buy for myself anyway. I appreciated all. Even more, I loved all the holiday films from ABC Family. Every year, from 1 December until the 25th, they have 25 Days of Christmas. I didn't get to see their new one this year. It was something about dating. But I saw the old ones and really enjoyed them, especially the ones about Santa Claus! Christmas, or Giftmas, as I call it, was very family-oriented this year. I stayed downstairs, watched things with Grandma, and Mom and even Joanie cooked a few things! It was warm and cozy and the house was filled with love and happiness. I gave and received gifts, but the best thing this year was just being with the ones I love. There were a lot of laughs and several glasses of hot apple cider. As I probably mentioned, ages ago, Mom has a Keurig coffee machine, and aside from the usual coffee, it can make things like tea, hot cocoa and this cider. All are in these little cartridges called K Kups. Anyway, I thought that I loved coffee, but the cider was almost like a new addiction or something! Mom and I couldn't stop drinking it. lol
Ordinarily, Spiros has gigs on NewYear's, playing for one club or another. But this time around, he decided to stay at home, or to put it more precisely, he stayed with me! So, for the first time in several years, I didn't have to spend NewYear's alone. I have no idea what Mr. Clark was doing, or anyone else for that matter, since I was too busy wrapped in the arms of my man when the big moment came... or was that us? lol I don't think I'll ever forget this one, not even with my horrible memory. I'm smiling now just thinking about it! In retrospect, it was truly a blessing, because soon afterword, the sicknesses started. First, Mom got sick. It was a horrible flew/virus/something that refused to go away. Then, Spiros got it, though I'm not sure from where. He recovered and was able to visit one more time, before he had a relappse. It got so bad that he didn't even go to work for a week, which is like me not using the internet at all! So yeah. I was scared half to death. He must have known, because he called me practically every night, once the worst of it passed. I think I would have gone insane otherwise. Thank The Gods, after three weeks, including that one, he recovered completely, and this passed weekend, I was finally able to see him! Let me tell you right now that all I wanted to do was to hold and touch him. I don't even mean sexually either, though we definitely caught up there as well. I was just so glad to be with him that I kept smiling at him and turning my face to his whenever he sat across from me. We even got to go to Astoria for a time, while he completed an errand, though I sat in the car, since the weather was bad. But the souvlaki, and especially the French fries, all from the truck, were excellent! It was the one that I usually enjoy, but it was the first time he had fries. We've also had a few cooking adventures of our own. I bought this organic, low-sodium chicken stock from
http://www.iherb.com
from a brand called Better than Bullion and it makes the most incredible soup I've ever tasted! It's in a little jar and is almost like a pasty substance. You hadd one teaspoon for each cup of water. We also added chicken, diced tomatoes, carrots, cellery and Greek Seasoning. I've never seen Mom love food so much! She actually used the word "excellent" and she's a very harsh food critic. So needless to say, when Spiros was here last weekend, we made it again, to everyone's delight.
If you read the list of days that I missed, at the top of this post, you're probably wondering about 29 January. That takes a story, and a very good one at that! For over a year now, I've been finished with the lessons at
http://www.kypros.org
I've wanted to take the free course from the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), but it's in pdf. For a sighted person, while the scan is very poor quality, it's still readable. But when I converted it to rtf, there were so many errors in it that I could barely read it! I've been searching around for a better course, but I can't find one which teaches Demotiki and Katharevousa, and I desperately want to learn the latter. Even if I just stuck with the former, in order to gain fluency, most online courses are just basics for travel, and I'm well beyond that. Books pose another problem, as I would have to scan two languages on one page, which no software can do adequately. I might be able to scan each page as a jpg image and have robobraille extract the text to rtf but that will be very time-consuming, as I would need to send one file/page at a time! So my next best thing was to find a teacher who could help me. I posted to Craigslist, joined three sites for learning Greek with a partner, contacted ethnikofrones on Youtube as well as the leaders of one or two groups on Facebook, and finally, wrote to an acquaintence of mine from one of those groups, who's a journalist studying 21 April. He wrote back and found me someone so amazing that only Colonel Papadopoulos himself could have topped him in language expertese! This man knows ancient, Demotiki, Katharevousa, Mangiko (Koutsavakika) and Hermes knows what else! He's in the priesthood, though doesn't use the word Father in his name. He's very down-to-Earth, and when he heard my story and how I love Ellada and our national saviours, he actually agreed to teach me for free! Mind you, I didn't ask. He told me. But I must be very patient with him, as he's working on several things at the moment. Still, he's the one who told me about the 29th of January, even though I promised myself that I'd remember! We wound up talking for several hours that night, so after our conversation, I just went to bed. But I posted about it the next day. ISadly, I also forgot to post on 8 February, the aniversary of the death of Markos Vamvakaris. By the time I realised, it was after that day. I used to post to the Rebetika group on Google every year, but haven't for the last two or so. Still, I will forever remember Markos and what he did for me with his music and crazy language that still makes me smile. Considering that I want to take his last name, I'd better remember him! haha
Next up, my adventures in chair caning and my horrible computer problems! I've already written on the caning, but will write up the entry on computers to give you guys a breather between entries. Oh, and before I forget. I have a really nice profile picture on Facebook and would like to upload it here, but it's too big. Would any of my longtime friends be able to help me fix it so LJ will accept it? If you'd like to add me on Facebook, look for magkisa 83 at g mail dot com, which is also my e-mail address. Of course, you should write it out normally. I wrote it like that to prevent spam.
Flag Day and Oxi Day were quiet and reflective. I wanted to learn a wonderful song about our flag, but couldn't find the lyrics and the video I found of it on Youtube was of children singing at some concert and wasn't very clear. Still, I did enjoy it and learned the melody enough to play it on my keyboard. For Oxi Day, I read up on General Metaxas and the 4th of August Regime, and the war with the Italians, and listened to songs from World War II. The 17th of November is not a good day for ethnikofrones, particularly those of us who love Colonel Papadopoulos, as it's a reminder of all that we lost after the events of that day in 1973. For me, it was a day of annoying things, and while they weren't truly serious, I was beyond glad when the day was over.
My birthday was a quiet affair, but quite funny in that I received two cakes. Mom and Joanie got me the usual iced cream cake from Carvelle and Spiros got me a chocolate cream cake. Both were delicious. I got some money and a few dudads, as Mom calls them, little things to make me smile or that I would need to buy for myself anyway. I appreciated all. Even more, I loved all the holiday films from ABC Family. Every year, from 1 December until the 25th, they have 25 Days of Christmas. I didn't get to see their new one this year. It was something about dating. But I saw the old ones and really enjoyed them, especially the ones about Santa Claus! Christmas, or Giftmas, as I call it, was very family-oriented this year. I stayed downstairs, watched things with Grandma, and Mom and even Joanie cooked a few things! It was warm and cozy and the house was filled with love and happiness. I gave and received gifts, but the best thing this year was just being with the ones I love. There were a lot of laughs and several glasses of hot apple cider. As I probably mentioned, ages ago, Mom has a Keurig coffee machine, and aside from the usual coffee, it can make things like tea, hot cocoa and this cider. All are in these little cartridges called K Kups. Anyway, I thought that I loved coffee, but the cider was almost like a new addiction or something! Mom and I couldn't stop drinking it. lol
Ordinarily, Spiros has gigs on NewYear's, playing for one club or another. But this time around, he decided to stay at home, or to put it more precisely, he stayed with me! So, for the first time in several years, I didn't have to spend NewYear's alone. I have no idea what Mr. Clark was doing, or anyone else for that matter, since I was too busy wrapped in the arms of my man when the big moment came... or was that us? lol I don't think I'll ever forget this one, not even with my horrible memory. I'm smiling now just thinking about it! In retrospect, it was truly a blessing, because soon afterword, the sicknesses started. First, Mom got sick. It was a horrible flew/virus/something that refused to go away. Then, Spiros got it, though I'm not sure from where. He recovered and was able to visit one more time, before he had a relappse. It got so bad that he didn't even go to work for a week, which is like me not using the internet at all! So yeah. I was scared half to death. He must have known, because he called me practically every night, once the worst of it passed. I think I would have gone insane otherwise. Thank The Gods, after three weeks, including that one, he recovered completely, and this passed weekend, I was finally able to see him! Let me tell you right now that all I wanted to do was to hold and touch him. I don't even mean sexually either, though we definitely caught up there as well. I was just so glad to be with him that I kept smiling at him and turning my face to his whenever he sat across from me. We even got to go to Astoria for a time, while he completed an errand, though I sat in the car, since the weather was bad. But the souvlaki, and especially the French fries, all from the truck, were excellent! It was the one that I usually enjoy, but it was the first time he had fries. We've also had a few cooking adventures of our own. I bought this organic, low-sodium chicken stock from
http://www.iherb.com
from a brand called Better than Bullion and it makes the most incredible soup I've ever tasted! It's in a little jar and is almost like a pasty substance. You hadd one teaspoon for each cup of water. We also added chicken, diced tomatoes, carrots, cellery and Greek Seasoning. I've never seen Mom love food so much! She actually used the word "excellent" and she's a very harsh food critic. So needless to say, when Spiros was here last weekend, we made it again, to everyone's delight.
If you read the list of days that I missed, at the top of this post, you're probably wondering about 29 January. That takes a story, and a very good one at that! For over a year now, I've been finished with the lessons at
http://www.kypros.org
I've wanted to take the free course from the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), but it's in pdf. For a sighted person, while the scan is very poor quality, it's still readable. But when I converted it to rtf, there were so many errors in it that I could barely read it! I've been searching around for a better course, but I can't find one which teaches Demotiki and Katharevousa, and I desperately want to learn the latter. Even if I just stuck with the former, in order to gain fluency, most online courses are just basics for travel, and I'm well beyond that. Books pose another problem, as I would have to scan two languages on one page, which no software can do adequately. I might be able to scan each page as a jpg image and have robobraille extract the text to rtf but that will be very time-consuming, as I would need to send one file/page at a time! So my next best thing was to find a teacher who could help me. I posted to Craigslist, joined three sites for learning Greek with a partner, contacted ethnikofrones on Youtube as well as the leaders of one or two groups on Facebook, and finally, wrote to an acquaintence of mine from one of those groups, who's a journalist studying 21 April. He wrote back and found me someone so amazing that only Colonel Papadopoulos himself could have topped him in language expertese! This man knows ancient, Demotiki, Katharevousa, Mangiko (Koutsavakika) and Hermes knows what else! He's in the priesthood, though doesn't use the word Father in his name. He's very down-to-Earth, and when he heard my story and how I love Ellada and our national saviours, he actually agreed to teach me for free! Mind you, I didn't ask. He told me. But I must be very patient with him, as he's working on several things at the moment. Still, he's the one who told me about the 29th of January, even though I promised myself that I'd remember! We wound up talking for several hours that night, so after our conversation, I just went to bed. But I posted about it the next day. ISadly, I also forgot to post on 8 February, the aniversary of the death of Markos Vamvakaris. By the time I realised, it was after that day. I used to post to the Rebetika group on Google every year, but haven't for the last two or so. Still, I will forever remember Markos and what he did for me with his music and crazy language that still makes me smile. Considering that I want to take his last name, I'd better remember him! haha
Next up, my adventures in chair caning and my horrible computer problems! I've already written on the caning, but will write up the entry on computers to give you guys a breather between entries. Oh, and before I forget. I have a really nice profile picture on Facebook and would like to upload it here, but it's too big. Would any of my longtime friends be able to help me fix it so LJ will accept it? If you'd like to add me on Facebook, look for magkisa 83 at g mail dot com, which is also my e-mail address. Of course, you should write it out normally. I wrote it like that to prevent spam.