Stolen Car

Posted on 31 October 2016 by Andrew V

Highway and lights at night

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and…

Haha, no I’m not quite there yet. I like a little added pressure for getting things done but on a more serious note, it’s all been catching up with me lately. Writer’s block plagued me for weeks it seemed. So the other evening I put on some music instead and before I knew it, hours had passed. After getting lost in the rock ‘n’ roll I remembered wanting to check out a song featured in the movie, Drive. Well, nothing hits the spot like good music.
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Existentialisms

Posted on 8 September 2016 by Andrew V

small beacon on sea horizon at last light

A little inspiration does help with the writing and the other night stirred things up nicely. As it happened:

I’m looking at a silver slither of a moon against the dying light; darkest orange, green and blue. It’s hanging real low over rooftops with the Evening Star its nearby beacon on this particular night. They soon leave quietly together, the last spectators of the twilight. And this just by chance—if God isn’t there to notice the beauty we miss, what becomes of it? Someone’s tears, perhaps…
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It ain’t me: Author’s update #1

Posted on 31 August 2016 by Andrew V

suavely dressed man at his laptop

The best thing for me about the top-floor apartment I’m staying in is the view of the neighbourhood and, well, just the open sky, which is actually quite a rare sight back home. This also means that the sunset never goes unnoticed, and yeah, I do love that time of day. Everything just seems to get a whole lot clearer as the dust settles, so to speak. I took the photo below from my window near the start of my stay. I was testing to see whether the camera on the dinosaur of a phone I have with me here would help with this blog at all. Turned out to be pretty useless as you can see but at least you get an idea of the openness. I kept the image as sort of a keepsake as these open skies might become a rarity again when I leave Cyprus in a few months’ time.
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Nope, I still don’t do politics

Posted on 31 July 2016 by Andrew V

Front page of 'Sun' newspaper, first issue, 1964 UK election race

Donald Trump’s political vision is bad enough but the media hoo-ha surrounding his presidential candidacy (and any other) is all down to the many millions of people engrossed in the sham that they call the ‘democratic’ process. That’s the real bad news right there—the masses willingly going along for the ride is the cherry on top of all the heart-wrenching injustices. I’ve previously mentioned Big Brother’s tactics but in this post I want to express my view of how the little people have a much bigger part to play than casting their ballots. After all, voter participation has long been anything but an exercise of an important civil right—it’s what keeps the fat cats laughing all the way to the bank.
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Right to the Source

Posted on 30 June 2016 by Andrew V

One way sign in car park

I was waiting for a bus home the other evening on a busy dual carriageway. I was the only pedestrian around for miles it seemed (Cypriots aren’t much for walking). The sun, also on its last stretch, kind of put the dampers on all the cars zipping by. Funny, that rush hour brought back holiday memories of being by the sea! Palm trees lined the centre of the road like a long seafront promenade, and a set of lights further up caused regular pauses in the traffic, creating an ebb and flow like waves on a tide. Even the cool of the evening stood in for a sea breeze at the end of another sun-drenched day, now that the summer is in full swing over here. As I contently waited I watched the sun slide behind just enough cloud on the horizon to make the light interesting. Photographers have a name for that time of day—‘magic hour’, and I can’t think of a better one.
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A’changin’ times: A virtual commentary

Posted on 31 May 2016 by Andrew V

Irreverent graffiti on a bus

I’m now half-way through my stay abroad and I can honestly say that I hardly miss a thing from back home, which is great actually. But there is one thing I crave—and this is going to sound silly—video games! It’s no big deal of course but the small stuff can help with the monotony. My generation is perhaps the first to consider gaming as something of an art form that transcends an age cap. My parents laugh about it, like I want to play with marbles or something like that, but age (and gender) are quickly becoming non-issues for gamers nowadays. Anyway, this got me thinking about how technology has blown up the virtual world, in ways that are beyond anything Nintendo could’ve envisaged back in the eighties when gaming took root in the household.
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Nothing but the truth

Posted on 30 April 2016 by Andrew V

happy old market stall seller

The moralizing on this blog may lead some readers to ask about any religious beliefs and after the previous post I feel that there’s an early opportunity here to get some things straight on the topic of faith and also truth, or rather, truth with a capital T… First of all, I’m not religious in the ordinary sense. However, I wouldn’t call myself an atheist either. None of the labels on that spectrum work for me for that matter, which include ‘agnostic’ and ‘spiritual’. How about ‘confused’ then? Actually, my position rests on a philosophical outlook that’s central to my academic interests, but there’s plenty to say before I get to writing a dissertation; (anyway, aren’t we all part-time philosophers?)
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The space in between

Posted on 29 March 2016 by Andrew V

Overhead power line underneath starry night sky

The Mediterranean sun sure livens things up and you’ll often hear a domestic squabble, schoolkids running riot or a fit of road rage through a car window. The locals roll their eyes, chuckle or make the most of it in some other familiar way. But me, I’m barely a spectator. Nothing really registers. Self-awareness awakens only at the sound of the evening traffic as it sputters and slowly fades into the silence of the night. As I sit here, there’s a dog on the other side of the street barking and whimpering incessantly in the dark. I wonder if neglect has left it trying in vain to claw back some meaning from its fate.
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Heartache and half-truths

Posted on 28 February 2016 by Andrew V

Red moon during lunar eclipse

The sky out my window has just turned black with storm clouds and there goes the first rumble of thunder, right this minute as I begin to draft this post; (it’s been some winter over here). I don’t know if it’s the weather or where I left off from previously but some dark thoughts have been bubbling on my mind lately. Things started when I awoke in a state of panic from an unusually vivid nightmare the other night. I can still recount every gruesome detail but the long and short of it is that it served as a grim reality check.
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R-E-S-P-E-C-T—Sock it to me

Posted on 17 February 2016 by Andrew V

Intelligentsia Coffee shopfront

In case you’re wondering about that stamped badge on the sidebar, no I haven’t actually declined an invitation to the limelight (notwithstanding my current WordPress blog post count of three). Rather, it’s an open symbol of my dissent in some important respects from the likes of WordPress’s PR team and its fandom. In fact, my beef is really with a pandemic sociological trend that makes most blogs (and all the trappings of popular culture) look like, well, a piss-take.
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