A birthday boy's day...

So, how did I celebrate my birthday today?

a) I woke up very early and went to church to attend the Liturgy. Now I had brought a nice chocolate cake which was really enjoyed by the people there (especially the children!) Caroline, Leo, Philippe and Deniz, sorry you missed that!

b) Talking on the phone to my friend Dimitra who called me from Greece to wish me a Happy Birthday or a "χρόνια πολλά" ['xroña po'la]. Ευχαριστώ και να σε έχει πάντα ο Θεός καλά.

c) Spending an awesome evening with most of my friends here in Montreal at Le Cabane Grecque. The food was great, but the company was everything that made this evening wonderful. What else can I say?

It was the first time I had so many people (friends and NOT relatives) for my birthday.


SO, FOR ALL OF YOU THAT CAME:


Andrea, Caroline, Deniz, Émile, Gus, Jen, Josh, Leo, Luke, Masaki, Moti, Philippe, Raph,Tobin (names in the only order ever possible) THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!"


Memories I will keep from this day.

• The two most valuable presents you ALL gave me: a) Your presence and b) your smile.
• Singing "Happy Birthday" which was confusing with respect to my name (Thanos, Thanasis and of course, Athanasios!). Sorry, all! That was totally my fault...
• The sparkling birthday cake piece
• The coffee-cup fortune telling thingy that gave an oriental touch to the evening. Two points: a) Someone is going to show up in my life. (I wish!) b) There are two things I have to complete but I do not want to... (Now, we are not talking about my evaluation papers!) BTW, for the rest of the people who realized what was going on (Andrea, Émile, Gus and Moti) and kind of freaked out, I really do not believe in these things...

Here are some of the pictures that will help me keep my memories from this day (Selection was arbitrary): For the full set of the pictures please click here ( I had to use a cheap red eye reduction program, otherwise this would be a Halloween post!) Unfortunately, due to technical reasons I do not have a picture of me blowing that "sparkling thing" so, I have to rely on Émile for that...

Émile and Andrea. I am so happy you both could make it tonight....

Caroline and Leo, thanks for everything...

Tobin and Josh. Thank you for coming and sharing a smile....

Philippe and Deniz smiling. I am so happy you both came.

Jen and Luke, I am glad you finally made it.(Jen, I really know how tight your schedule is and that is why I am so grateful you managed to come!)

Gus, Masaki, Moti and Raph, I did NOT forget you. Thank you so much for coming. Pictures in the set....

Many thanks to the people that wished me "Happy Birthday" but could not come: Panayoti, Nora, Andoni, John, Eva and Deena, thanks for thinking of me. Finally, a great "thank you "to Erin who sent me a beautiful birthday e-card and some lovely things from Korea.

I could go on for ages... (and I guess I already did).

To conclude (kind of a replay of my small speech), I always believed that a man's wealth is measured by the quality of his friends. I am so happy that in my case it is both quality and quantity.

My love and appreciation to all of you and God bless you!