California Dreaming, in Bobby Womack's bluesly rendition

Crisp under the sun

Inspiration misplaced, yet I feel obligated to talk to you about sunbathing and tanning. Most have started exercising our favorite summer sport with the hope that it will make us look -and perhaps feel- sexier. As I have already written in a previous entry, there was a time in my life (L.A. dreaming!) when I had turned this into a fulltime job. My friend Maryanne, a Marilyn Monroe lookalike with the same last name as the Playboy publisher, and I would spend a full 8hour-job frying in Laguna Beach. This was done with little or no protection and although we are both quite fair we managed to escape melanoma but not sunburn. I have had my share of those and I am sure some friends/readers who have seen me in my all-red look will never forget the spectacle (I can still recall the sheer horror in my friend Susie’s face when she saw me after falling asleep under the hot Greek sun in Patmos about 10 years ago-and every time she sees the color red she recalls the same sight and feeling!). I have tortured my skin thoroughly and I am the perfect test subject to discuss tanning oils. And as you noticed I did not say lotion, cream, etc. but oil. If you want to change color fast and pretty then you choose oil. I’ve tried it all and nothing beats Coppertone! The outcome is guaranteed, but there is one more reason I choose it: the fragrance. There is no better scent than Coppertone that still lingers on your salty skin after a long day in the sun, a light shower-just to remove the sand from your body-, and a fresh set of crisp, white bed linen for an afternoon siesta! The perfect summer feeling. And if you share the bed, even more delicious. If you ask me to depict the sexiest moments, this one definitely tops the list. O.K. snap out! And back to the oil: just make sure you apply and reapply and cover all the bases, which for me should include the parts that burn the most (every single year): the cleft and the exposed parts of my tushy. This year I’m also testing another oil from that Monoi oil series, and will report asap. Just bought it and I trust the brand. For the time being I remain in a light shade of beige despite Vasiliki’s efforts to lure me to a nearby beach. Overwhelmed with work as my right-hand took a short vacation (I don’t understand why-she is a brunette!) and with another phd deadline to meet, I don’t even know how I manage to think about this blog! But Vasiliki, quit nagging me because I should tell you that the fastest way to an exotic look is by doing summer sports such as windsurfing!!! (private joke!)

P.S. I see no activity regarding the previous entry. So many avid reader friends out there, can’t you decide on a literary muse for heaven’s sake? And if you choose the one I consider the ultimate, I’m buying drinks.

Important Sylvia reading fabulous 'Ariel'

Literary sexyness-the ultimate list

Let's do something different. I was reading a book on the je ne sais quoi of French women, their style and effortless glamour. Titled "Two lipsticks and a lover" it is written by an English lady who tries to unlock the mysteries surrounding French elegance and traces the root of sexyness in the intellectual rigor shared by French women which is even more important than their beauty regime. A good part of her book revolves around women of substance; mainly literary figures. And this is what gave me the idea to seek your contribution into making a list of sexy literary women, whether writers or fictional figures. And when we say sexy, we should refer to the ancient Greek meaning of the concept "muse"(=the one who could inspire both sexually and intellectually). I realized that I've been doing it subconsciously because I really feel ready to draft an initial list. And let's see: Colette (for sure), Simone de Beauvoir (yes!), Sylvia Plath (love her), Zelda Fitzgerald (crazy about her), Anna Karenina (I could kill myself!), Mary Shelley (goddess), George Sand (to love and be loved), Francoise Sagan (the other side of Proust). Long list, but wouldn't that be nice. Maybe, after drafting such a list we could reassess our own sexyness.

Missed rdv with my miracle in the bottle

I was completely let down...a torturous trip, and what kept me going was a stop at a favorite little airport shop to get my miracle in a bottle: Dermalogica multi-active toner. And they were fresh out! Big disappointment, the kind that sends you to another 'miracle in a bottle': whiskey.

It was this past February when in a similar same-day trip to England I was looking for my preferred upper: Prestat Choxi dark chocolate from Harrods. After devouring 2 bars (it's ok, they are small, 20 grams each) I needed hydration. As I have already shared with you, I always travel with my Aesop immediate moisture facial hydrosol which comes in a convenient, liquid-bomb-free 50ml bottle. It is excellent, I spray it on my face all the time with some of it going to travelers sitting close to me (and they love it!). But that particular day I had an accident, my Aesop bottle had a crack and magic was spilled everywhere (thank God it was already running low). So, right after the choco boost, I walked to a very interesting, exclusive cosmetics shop to find alternative hydration; and I was introduced to multi active toner. It's a mystery, I do not know how to explain it but when I spayed it on my face it felt as if I had just been given 20 bottles of water along with watermelon and all things that include the word 'water'. It was love at first sight, it was familiar and comfortable, and I knew we were meant to be together. It does good to me; even after a demanding day my face looked youthful and exciting, exactly the way we feel when in love. No signs of stress, dehydration, sleep deprivation and malnutrition that accompany trips like this. Only excitement along with tranquility, shimmer, vigor and fulfillment. It makes me wonder how I lived all my life believing that what I had already experienced was agreeable. But perhaps this is not correct; perhaps I always knew that I would eventually meet it when I would least expect it, in an unpredictable place like an airport.

You recognize my disappointment now. As I cannot find it where I live, first thing I did when I got home was to order it over the internet...thank God for cyber-connections! I hope our next rdv is around the corner.

Trusting another's vision

Your perception is needed

On my way to argue the important shift in the concept of space in the 60s and the shift towards individual view points and perspectives, I was trapped in a predetermined, track route that involved planes and trains. Even my driving back and forth the airport was on automatic pilot - little time and no room for individual routes here, with the exception of my forgetfulness regarding my parking spot which took me around the lot a couple of times at 04h00-. That predesigned route, with all its restrictions, gave me the luxury of leisure. Among the many things that I processed, was this blog. Directly or indirectly I have been giving you information about me. My friends regard me an open-book case, but you see they are my friends; we have chosen each other for this purpose: to be open to each other. So they cannot judge. Am I open with you?


Any initial attempt to write involves autobiographical references. It is the appropriate genre to site-specify ourselves in the context of our readers. What is shared with them, what differentiates us, how we interact. All these are necessary to find our location and point of perspective, and provides with a safety net against arbitrary reader responses and any synchronistic reading. It reflects a need to denote ourselves before any connotation attempt. And if we adhere to the basic Saussurean idea, language actually creates our reality than simply describing it. Is the materiality of language or its ideational values? And if we continue with the semioticians, meaning is produced by the decoding of signs by the reader. Am I forming a reality in this blog, or am I describing? Is what you read me, or my attempt to describe my thoughts? Is my reality what I believe I am and give you, or the sum of your reactions to my writing? Do you form my reality? Am I your perception of me? How many interpretations of me are out there, and am I secure enough to allow openess to readers' responses? It's a good thing that blogs have room for comments, maybe I will meet you there.

Preparing for my one-day trip to England...will report from Heathrow and that nice little store where I get magic in a bottle