I slept relatively well last night, and I felt much better today. I woke up feeling much better at 10am. I wonder if my hair somehow grew a centimeter long while I was in la-la-land and I am starting to regain my lost powers. Just the same, my hair is still shorter than usual. As you can see at the picture on this posting, I did get a buzz. These pictures are "before (taken almost 2 weeks ago) and after (this morning) " shots. Could you tell the difference though? I can. I actually like it. I ended up going to the same guy I went to see in 2005, his name is Panagiotis. It took him a while to remember me, but he finally did, and after the cut, I asked him to not forget the blade numbers and the cut he gave me because I would be seeing him in less than a month. The haircut costs €8 euros (roughly $12 dollars). He did such a good job that I tried to give him €2 euros tip, but he politely handed me back the coin. Well, he essentially refused. (Touche'). Well, he owns, manages and works in his own barber shop, and I think he was trying to win my patronage by refusing the tip which I found seemingly and unusually strange, and offensively rude. "Who refuses a tip"? I had to wait for 10 minutes inside his shop for my ride. He even offered me coffee, which I politely turned down (not because I thought he was a bitch for refusing my courtesy tip and I was doing a payback. No, it wasn't like that, it was because I don't drink coffee). He also offered me his landline/phone to call my ride. I think I am going back to see him but I will also try my Greek friend's (Rat) barber/hairstylist and then make my final decision on who to go to regularly when its time for my monthly haircut. My next mission in this relatively sorry ass life is to find a good enough dentist to do my semi-annual OP (oral prophylaxis) or, cleaning. I am few weeks overdue.Back to my haircut. The 
pictures were taken this morning at Starbucks. Now you guys see the concrete evidence of what I did with my dilemma few days back. Now, what do you think? Your verdict? Yay or Nay?
pictures were taken this morning at Starbucks. Now you guys see the concrete evidence of what I did with my dilemma few days back. Now, what do you think? Your verdict? Yay or Nay? I got a call for the customary Sunday coffee break so I headed to the city with my school bag and stopped by Starbucks for a "to go" venti mocha, and met friends in their favorite watering hole, a local shit hole they call "Swedco" (I'll write and dedicate a separate posting on places I hate to go to and why later this month) . I did a lot of transcribing while chatting, avoiding second hand-smoke and pretending I was having a hell of a good time. If they only freaking knew! We had our morning coffee until almost 2pm. Yes, we were at the coffee house for three hours. Three long hours. Three looooooong freaking dull hours. I got back home around 3ish and had lunch which consisted of stuffed grape leaves, stuffed cabbage, and stuffed green peppers. The food was courtesy of my friend's mother, Kuria Vaso (that's "Kiria" as in Mrs. Vaso). The dishes are called dolmadakia, and gemista. The stuffing was made from rice, minced meat, oregano, salt and lemon. It was awesome! I think am a fart away from being back to normal again because my appetite is back. That IS a scary thought. After lunch, I was energized to prepare my lunch for tomorrow. I am going to have grilled Mediterranean perch (locally known as tsipoura) seasoned with salt, garlic, and ground pepper, stuffed with onions, bay and parsley leaves, and smothered with Greek oregano and slightly greased with extra virgin olive oil. It's one of my own inventions/recipes and one of my personal favorite dishes. Even my friends love it since its prepared differently from what they're used to eating. If you've noticed how frequent or common they use the same ingredients in cooking (i.e, oregano, lemon and olive oil), you are absolutely right. I will make an exclusive posting on and about Greek Cuisine.
I'm back in bed blogging and took two more tabs of Motrin. I'm going to take a power nap just in case somebody calls in later for an early evening, or pre-bedtime coffee break.
WORTHLESS RAMBLING OF THE DAY: Sunday is also the one day of the week when I read, (actually browse through) the local papers and check the inserts for sales and flip through the pages of the free magazines that came with it. Sunday papers in Greece cost about €5 and with that you get a couple magazines, a music CD and a movie DVD. Our topic of conversation was
Michael Phelps' 3 month suspension for smoking pot, all documented through a photo of him holding and sniffing from a bong, and was exposed and printed by a British tabloid. I think he had it easy. They should have punished him harsher especially with his status as a role model to young people, Americans especially. I don't dislike him but I am not a big fan either, but the triumphant feat he accomplished during the Olympics was something to be proud of, and rightfully so, bragged about. He is not very well-liked here. Well, I don't think he was well liked by the Olympic watching world except by his fellow Americans during the Olympics. The general feeling of the world population towards America and the Americans have miserably gone down the drain and through the shit sewage. Believe me, I've seen and experienced that personally in my travels halfway around the world. Case in point: When a journalist, a profession that holds some kind of impartiality, integrity and credibility, throws his shoes at your President, that IS telling! Americans, nowadays, are not viewed and regarded the very same way they were 20 or 25 years ago. So, whether Phelps was winning medals or not during the Beijing Olympics, the odds were against him simply because he was a "proud, talented and gifted red-white- and-blue Yankee". Here, they saw and see him as an arrogant, cocky American. I would not say the same thing about him, but rather, he was confident, disciplined, and determined to win the unprecedented 8 golds. You know how sometimes the not so smart people mistake confidence with arrogance? To continue, like I said, I thought he had it easy. And not that I am defending Michael's actions, but: "Who has not smoked pot, or has not tried smoking or thought about smoking pot in their lifetime?" Even few US presidents did, the last one was a pothead in college and the one before him just didn't, according to him, inhale! Anyway, back to the human fish. What Michael got, I think, wasn't even a slap on a wrist, or a slap behind the back of his head. It was like telling a 5 year old kid: "You're grounded, no TV for one week!" then gave him a glass of milk and Oreo cookies, sent to his room so he could play video games on his personal computer. Had there been no photo evidence, I would bet my left good nut that Phelps would deny it to heavens. Thank goodness for digital cameras and paparazzi and too bad it came out in the open. Am certain that had Phelps' manager, coach or publicists were informed about the photo and its publication, they would've tried to buy the paparazzi out and sweep the whole mess under the rug. My friends thought "he got what he got because he was American", meaning if he was somebody else, the punishment would've been more severe, meaning Americans always get it easy every time, every where, anytime, anywhere. Though I didn't feel like I was being ganged up on, their unanimous conclusion warmed up my blood a bit to near boiling point, and I felt a slight donkey kick in the ass. Whoa! Maintaining my composure and camouflaging it with a fake friendly condescending smile, I asked: "What would've you done to him, if you had the power or the authority to slap him with a punishment (Motherfucker)?"...ok, I didn't say "motherfucker" but believe me, I was thinking it. What followed after my questioning was a complete silence, it was as if a dog passed by and farted and they're trying to figure out who amongst us, humans, did it. There were exchanged looks. Short forced grins. I think they realized I was somewhat and somehow offended with their comment and they chose to be polite and not to open their mouths with a single word . Good call, I thought. Then, a lady friend, from out of nowhere said: "I'd still fuck him!" Now, that would have been a very severe punishment. Something that I myself wouldn't even wish on anyone, even to the worst among the worst of criminals!
WORTHLESS RAMBLING OF THE DAY: Sunday is also the one day of the week when I read, (actually browse through) the local papers and check the inserts for sales and flip through the pages of the free magazines that came with it. Sunday papers in Greece cost about €5 and with that you get a couple magazines, a music CD and a movie DVD. Our topic of conversation was
Michael Phelps' 3 month suspension for smoking pot, all documented through a photo of him holding and sniffing from a bong, and was exposed and printed by a British tabloid. I think he had it easy. They should have punished him harsher especially with his status as a role model to young people, Americans especially. I don't dislike him but I am not a big fan either, but the triumphant feat he accomplished during the Olympics was something to be proud of, and rightfully so, bragged about. He is not very well-liked here. Well, I don't think he was well liked by the Olympic watching world except by his fellow Americans during the Olympics. The general feeling of the world population towards America and the Americans have miserably gone down the drain and through the shit sewage. Believe me, I've seen and experienced that personally in my travels halfway around the world. Case in point: When a journalist, a profession that holds some kind of impartiality, integrity and credibility, throws his shoes at your President, that IS telling! Americans, nowadays, are not viewed and regarded the very same way they were 20 or 25 years ago. So, whether Phelps was winning medals or not during the Beijing Olympics, the odds were against him simply because he was a "proud, talented and gifted red-white- and-blue Yankee". Here, they saw and see him as an arrogant, cocky American. I would not say the same thing about him, but rather, he was confident, disciplined, and determined to win the unprecedented 8 golds. You know how sometimes the not so smart people mistake confidence with arrogance? To continue, like I said, I thought he had it easy. And not that I am defending Michael's actions, but: "Who has not smoked pot, or has not tried smoking or thought about smoking pot in their lifetime?" Even few US presidents did, the last one was a pothead in college and the one before him just didn't, according to him, inhale! Anyway, back to the human fish. What Michael got, I think, wasn't even a slap on a wrist, or a slap behind the back of his head. It was like telling a 5 year old kid: "You're grounded, no TV for one week!" then gave him a glass of milk and Oreo cookies, sent to his room so he could play video games on his personal computer. Had there been no photo evidence, I would bet my left good nut that Phelps would deny it to heavens. Thank goodness for digital cameras and paparazzi and too bad it came out in the open. Am certain that had Phelps' manager, coach or publicists were informed about the photo and its publication, they would've tried to buy the paparazzi out and sweep the whole mess under the rug. My friends thought "he got what he got because he was American", meaning if he was somebody else, the punishment would've been more severe, meaning Americans always get it easy every time, every where, anytime, anywhere. Though I didn't feel like I was being ganged up on, their unanimous conclusion warmed up my blood a bit to near boiling point, and I felt a slight donkey kick in the ass. Whoa! Maintaining my composure and camouflaging it with a fake friendly condescending smile, I asked: "What would've you done to him, if you had the power or the authority to slap him with a punishment (Motherfucker)?"...ok, I didn't say "motherfucker" but believe me, I was thinking it. What followed after my questioning was a complete silence, it was as if a dog passed by and farted and they're trying to figure out who amongst us, humans, did it. There were exchanged looks. Short forced grins. I think they realized I was somewhat and somehow offended with their comment and they chose to be polite and not to open their mouths with a single word . Good call, I thought. Then, a lady friend, from out of nowhere said: "I'd still fuck him!" Now, that would have been a very severe punishment. Something that I myself wouldn't even wish on anyone, even to the worst among the worst of criminals!
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