Flight is tomorrow!

Hi everyone!

I'm leaving for Greece tomorrow, and what a journey it has been getting ready.

My contract with Xbox ended 31 December 2015, so I figured now would be a good time to flee the country, so to speak. I've been practicing my Greek using Pimsleur, and hope to fare better this time at picking up the language.

This is a time of major transition for me, and I'm really excited!

• My time at Xbox Mastering Lab has drawn to a close. It is time to move on; I've been doing this for over 5 years now!
• Also, I moving out of my current living situation sharing a house with my good friends Mark & Karin. They have been, and continue to be, an inspiration to me. So it is with some sadness that I take my leave, but it is time to move on. I still don't know where I will be living when I return from Greece, but I can figure that out later.
• I will be spending the next 3-5 months in Greece, trying to learn as much Greek as possible, and to connect with my family there (near Chania) and the people.
• When I return to the U.S., I will begin the Master's program in Computational Linguists at the U.W., which I've been thinking about ever since I graduated back in 2004.

It was quite stressful getting everything in my room boxed up--moving is always so stressful--and I realise that although I'm not quite a hoarder, I do have quite a tendency to accumulate crap. This will bear watching.

Okay, for those of you curious about the details: I leave for the airport by Uber at 4 am tomorrow. I hope it all works out ok, as I've never used Uber before. I would have used Lyft, but they don't have an app for Windows Phone. :-(

I fly to Las Vegas and spend ... what? SEVEN HOURS? *sigh* Oh well I was just looking for the cheapest flight. Then from Las Vegas to Frankfurt. Only a three-hour layover there. I'll hit up the ATM for some euros there. Then from Frankfurt to Athens, where I will arrive at around 10:00 PM Athens time. I'm going to stay in a hostel there in the Monastiraki area for three days, then take a boat to Chania.

It's unlikely that I'll post anything more until Thursday, from Monastiraki. I hope to meet with my cousins who live in the Athens area on one of these days. Also, I hope to buy some begleris (μπεγλέια) there; the rugged kind that are good for doing tricks. I lost mine long ago, and I will be rusty. Here's a video of someone showing how to do some basic tricks:

https://youtu.be/EwrUMqC2h_I

Some begleri tricks

Well that is all for now. I need to get everything buttoned up and drop my car off at my very generous friend's house who is letting me keep it in her driveway while I'm away.

Here's a photo of Dash; first photo I've taken with my laptop.

Now I need to figure out how to change the subtitle of this blog; it's no longer accurate!

En agape,

Jason