Τετάρτη 17 Απριλίου 2013

Blog no.2: All we need is music.

Dear fellow humans,

I have to say that I've struggled to draw inspiration to write my second blog. I'm so sorry that I kept you waiting (talking to the few guys who stumbled upon my first blog after running out of stuff to do online). Anyways, as I said I couldn't find inspiration to write this. I know it's 3 o' clock after midnight and I'm probably going to regret staying up late tomorrow but I have things to say and I'm listening to John Murphy's "The surface of the sun". Can't stop now, can I?

The above combination of sleepiness and an epic soundtrack has lead me to today's topic: music. To clear it out, with music I mean good, inspirational music. Even though everyone's perception of what's good and what's not is different, we can all relate to this topic. I believe we all experience similar feelings related to the music we listen to, doesn't matter if that comes from listening to Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Eminem, the Black Eyed Peas or a surprisingly good street artist. Music can make you feel things you otherwise wouldn't. That's why it's so heavily integrated into movies. Imagine watching Inception's last scene twithout listening to Hans Zimmer's "Time". Or the Ocean's 11 fountain scene without Debussy's "Claire de Lune" playing in the background. How about Pokemon: The power of one, without the beautiful ocarina melody? Music reaches deep inside your heart and triggers your emotions. It can make you smile. It can make you cry. It can make you think about things beyond your everyday concerns. It can inspire you to do things you otherwise wouldn't. And it will exist as long as humanity does.

Music is as important to me as water. All right, that might be a bit of an exaggeration but it is pretty damn important. If you asked me what I'd rather be blind or deaf, I would say blind. I can live without being able to see, but you are able to feel much more with your ears rather than your eyes. I'm self-taught at playing the guitar and I enjoy singing as well, mostly practicing behind the shower curtain, using a shampoo bottle for a microphone. You would think everybody does that but just the other day my sister said to me "What the hell are you still doing in there? You have short hair for crying out loud". Ah sister, if you can't enjoy some quality bath-singing, I don't know what's wrong with you. Other than that, I listen to music everyday. Every second I'm on my computer (which is a lot) and some times in class to calm my tired mind after several hours of physics and maths. The kind of music I listen to depends on my mood. For example, I listen to some Franz Ferdinand on my way to school just for a smooth transition between sleep and an early class, I listen to InFlames when I'm exercising to get pumped and some rock n' roll when I'm on my computer gaming or working. Now I'm listening to some smooth Jet songs, to not interrupt my writing process.

The magic in music is that it's associated to each and everyone of us in different ways. I associate songs to my memories. I keep these songs in my playlists and when I randomly stumble upon them, these memories come back to me. Through music, I travel in my past, remembering all the good times and leaving all the negative ones behind. And there goes "Stairway to heaven", one of my favourite songs playing in the background, the timing couldn't have been more perfect. So, listening to music makes me think. Think about what really matters in life. It takes away all my concerns and it travels me somewhere with no obligations, in my own world, just me and my thoughts. And it's awesome.

I could go on and on about this subject but I have to sleep sometime soon, unfortunately I'm also expendable. Next time you are worried about something, pick up your headphones, plug them in and get lost in your own world. Until next time, I 'll leave you with these lines from the movie August Rush:

"Listen. Can you hear it? The music. I can hear it everywhere. In the wind...in the air...in the light. It's all around us. All you have to do is open yourself up. All you have to do...is listen".

Goodnight people of the internet.

My regards,
Stelios Zesiades.



Δευτέρα 8 Απριλίου 2013

Blog no.1: Introduction to a big journey.

Dear curious(probably bored) reader,

this is my first of, hopefully, one of many blogs to come. A reason why I'm doing this blog is to give my concerns and my comedic approach to certain situations that occur during my life. This is a bit introductory but since you're reading this, you could spare some time to finish it. If you won't have a nice day sir! If you will, welcome and enjoy!

First things first, my name is Stelios and I'm greek-cypriot in case you're wondering what kind of alien name that is. It doesn't translate into English, although in the movie 300, Leonidas did call his soldier Stelios(the one who threw the spear towards Xerxes) with a slightely different accent than the greek equivalent. Anyways, if you know any Greeks or Cyrpiots they are probably named something like Andreas or Maria so that wouldn't matter (creativity at its finest). My parents are in Cyprus and I study computer engineering in Athens at the moment, living in an appartment with my 3 siblings. It's like I'm revisiting my childhood again, though now being mature enough not to cut a hole through my sisters' bedroom door after an intense childish argument. It's still rather difficult though. I started to realise how much I owe my parents for taking care of me for so long. Of course they still do, but in not in a traditional sense.

To continue, I'm 18 and a few months old but I try to distance myself from the general behaviour of my age group, not sure why. By general behaviour meaning the #SWAG #YOLO part of our modern society which I find particurarly offensive to humankind and our generation. Maybe I just don't want to go with the flow, or maybe I'm just a dumb hipster. Sure thing I'm not a tool of the modern trends for the most part, still listening to the music I grew up with, but discovering more and more great songs as I get deeper into it. Personally, I want to look back to myself when I grow older and be confident that I made the right choices. But hey, only time can tell, right?

If I would define myself, I would say I'm a lazy, romantic dreamer. One of my greater strenghts, however, is the fact that I try being nice to everybody. Whatever actions they take I don't judge, unless I have all the sides of their stories covered. I try reasoning with the ones that are worth discussing and ingoring any insults thrown at my face (being a gamer that happens quite a lot, actually). It's rather funny how many arguments could be solved if one of those arguing was reasonable. And that's why my closest group of friends are actually friends I've had since I was 6 years old, not counting my best friend whom I met at the age of 2. My biggest flaw? I would say the combination of ambitiousness and laziness, combined with my need to appeal to everybody. In other words, I have very high goals for my life, but being as lazy as I am, I will not achieve them unless I take action as soon as possible. And the other flaw I mentioned, is that I try too hard make a good impression to everyone, sometimes losing my true identity to do so. All these can be fixed though, and I'm positive they will. Hey! The blog is a big step forward, I've been meaning to start writing since a few years ago.

So that's the basic information about myself, hopefully you found some of it interesting enough to reach this point of my blog! No worries, you will definetely hear from me soon.

My regards,
Stelios Zesiades.