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Today I shaved my head in order to realize that I am leaving for Athens tomorrow. I have to do my military service. I will be away for two months and this means that I have so many things to take care of before. Nevertheless I keep wasting my time on-line like nothing is going to change.
So, after I shaved my head, I finally started working. A few minutes later an annoying sound didn't let me to concentrate. Usually I can work no matter what noise is around (I grew up just beside a park and I have learned to filter the most annoying sounds -even those generated by hundred kids shouting at the same time :-)). But that sound was really annoying and forced me to stand up, like when a mosquito is flying just above your head exactly the moment that you are ready to fall asleep.
I realized that it was a man, calling his runaway bird while holding up in the sky its cage. The bird was singing free and the man kept calling it to get back. With a loud voice, in non-periodic intervals ... "renard, renard, ..., renard, ..., ..., ..., renard" (or something like this). I was really annoyed! I was ready to shout at him to stop.
But when I looked at him more carefully, I saw a desperate look in his eyes. He was raising its cage as far as he could, with the numbness of a lover that has hurt his partner without realising it while asking for forgiveness. He loved this bird. I was ready to get emotional, when I realized that I could take a video photo of him. He was just in front of my window. Here it is:
(the quality is not very good, but together with the text I hope it makes sense :-))
I didn't think more about it the rest of the day. But while I was trying to sleep, this moment was turning around my head ... and suddenly I thought that I could interpret it as a sign for me to help me realize my situation (as I was trying to do today) ... mother nation (greece) is calling me to go to my cage! :-) This was it. I couldn't sleep anymore and this is why I am writing now (at 7am) this post.
OK, maybe it is an exaggerated thought, but you must admit that it could be classified as a funny coincidence. I love coincidences! :-)
See you in two months! Take care!
ftaneipiapro says:
ftaneipia edited this comment 18 months ago.
peri22bpro says:
don't worry too much. I also walked through that iron door one day and thought 'what the hell is going to happen here?'
I must say that I really enjoyed it like one of the best times in my life. Believe it or not, it felt like a safari on costs of the mother and a really enriching experience.
Imagine that I was an 'anypotaktos' with my own ideas about how to serve the mother and had to do it for one reason or another (also my own choice).
One advice (or two):
grow a moustache, walk fast and look down (like you are going to fulfil an important order they gave you and cannot lose time), be eager and shout loud when they ask you to, but keep a low profile and watch the ppor guys getting irritated and trying to figure out what the f... is happening
;-)
Have fun my friend!
Panayotispro says:
This is how I see it, as vacations. And especially since I have the chance to do only 2 months, I wouldn't want to avoid it completely -my (real) mother would be very sad: "what will the relatives say?" :-). But maybe the combination of the huge amount of work that I leave behind and all these army stories that we accumulate since we are young has created a tension in me. But anyway ... I am very adaptive in general and I think that everything will be fine.
(ftaneipia, since I do a post-doc abroad my service is cut from 12 to 6 months, which I can do in three 2-months periods. But for the rest two 2-months slots they give you 3 years to do them. But after 3 years I will be 35 and I can buy the rest of the service. But if you ask in the army they don't reveal this information very easily ... so if you know people that might fall in this category let them know :-))
Panayotis edited this comment 18 months ago.
Roberto Ballerini - travelingpro says:
--
Seen in robertoballerini home page (?)
ftaneipiapro says:
Vassilis says:
Vassilis says:
Theresa says:
Panayotispro replies: