Holden's father is dead

What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse. ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 1



Anyone who knows me, knows that I adore 'the catcher in the rye'. I read it when I was 15ish and Holden has been my friend ever since. For some time, obsessively he was my best friend, I kept reading the book again and again, thinking that i would find something new each time i read it. The funny thing is that I did, I found new things all the time: a sentence that i had missed, a detail that made the story better, a line by Holden that was better, more intense than the previous one. I never read another book by JD Salinger, i am not sure why. Probably I was scared i wasn't going to like it as much and i would feel bad about catcher in the rye as well. Or because I thought that what on earth can ever be better than Holden Caulfield?

I remember being intrigued at the mystery of JD Salinger, his self-imposed seclusion, his aversion to the press, his life outside the limelight. And now that he died, all I can think of is that he will not have to hide anymore.

I don't even know what I was running for - I guess I just felt like it. ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 1

Bored of the previous post

I have no time to write - I am too busy letting my life pass me by - but I couldn't stand seeing my pathetic new year post for so long.

When i return from hibernation I will write about all the things i am thinking about: the new movies i saw (nine and the road - each of them imperfect in a different way), the books i am (not reading), the gigs i missed (bonobo) and the ones i am looking forward to (go gaga for gaga), the weather that is changing, my white hair that is multiplying, my diet that is not working, the beneficial results of spa (galgorm rocks) and other tales from the new year. Ah yes, and the lists of 'bests of 2009' that I never wrote. Perhaps because the only thing i wanted to put in is the film 'Let the right one in' and the old, reread and beloved book by Σώτη Τριανταφύλλου, 'Σάββατο βράδυ στην άκρη της πόλης' that makes my insides warm just by thinking about it. Perhaps not because it's so perfect but because it is familiar. Familiarity though, and other deep and thoughtful topics are not for now, not for a Monday morning at work with a long list of things to do, the longest in a long time.

A bientôt!

Happy new year - for the lazy!!!

What is that we want from the new year, any new year?

Change, I guess, and something better than the last one...

Sometimes I think of the years passed and I confuse one with the other: my last birthday with the one 5 years ago, last christmas with the one of 2005 and so on and so forth. So, if there is one wish I have for the new year is to remember it more. I want to do things that are interesting and distinctive enough to remember. And possibly worthy enough to write in this poor blog, that I have neglected so much over the last few months.

In any case, happy new year people, whatever 'happy' means...

P.s. I hope to write a 'best of 2009' post soon... But this means i have to stop being lazy. Oh well....