Who is Tomazo, and what the Hell Am I Even Doing Here?

Tomazo Pagonis was born in Piraeus in the early 1960s. He studied shipping in London and has since hired himself as a negotiator of maritime contracts (also known as a “shipbroker”), occasionally as a small-scale shipowner, and often as a ship manager. He has a fondness for anything or anyone that manages to “float”… carrying the weight of some kind of “cargo,” often called  “the goods.”

He claims his hobbies include travelling and studying what he calls “the scrapyards of the mind and nature.” Or so he says…

Every morning, he spends two or three hours writing and studying, then works to make a living. In the evenings, he usually destroys canvases and oil paints, even though he knows perfectly well that he doesn’t know how to paint.

Despite all this, a few of his short stories—written, I suppose, to avoid taking Lexotanil—have been published over the years. In 2010, his play titled “Tomorrow Again” was performed at the Alma Theatre.

In January 2017, I handed him the first handwritten journal of my experiences as I travelled through myths and explored the behind-the-scenes of mythology. By early 2024, he told me that the mythology I continue to travel through—and wish to share with him through my handwritten manuscripts—was endless.
Still, he “decided” to set me free, allowing me to continue my journeys and tell him my stories forever. That’s what he said...
As if I needed his permission.

Of course, I put him in his place.
“Forget this ‘forever’ nonsense! Your time is limited. One day, you’ll meet a thief called Hermes, who will lead you to a ferryman named Charon. And Charon will ask you for an obol to cross the river… I hope you’ve got an obol, … and for the record it is just a coin.” That’s exactly what I told him.

P.S.

Once, I asked him what he meant by “the scrapyards of the mind and nature.” I thought he had something profound in mind, but he took the chance to deliver an entire lecture.
He explained that the mind creates ideas and builds theories, but eventually, they end up in scrapyards where they are dismantled and reassembled into new, possibly more advanced, theories. Something like that...

Written by "the Traveler of Myths"

(An Imaginary Character in  Tomazo’s books about Greek Mythology)

find more @

https://amazon.com/author/tomazo

or

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/tomazop

PassaTempo—Italian for "passing the time"—is my personal attempt to dodge trouble by creating things (hopefully) worth your attention. Instead of staring at the clock, doom-scrolling through the news (we’ve all been there), annihilating pixels in video games, or engaging in some good old-fashioned nosy gossip, I pick up a brush or a pen and gleefully commit my own crimes against the art world.

Here, you’ll find my books—where words are overworked and underpaid—and my paintings—where colors attempt (and hilariously fail) to stay in line. It’s all part of my mission to make the hours count, one gloriously creative mess at a time.

This website was born out of sheer rebellion—against the idea that art is an exclusive club or that literature should be confined to tweed-clad scholars reciting it in hushed tones. Art belongs to everyone. Literature belongs to the living. And here, they’re all yours—for better or worse.

So, whether you’re here to browse, giggle, or simply procrastinate more effectively, welcome! I can promise it’s at least marginally more entertaining than watching paint dry (though, ironically, some of my paintings feature drying paint).

zeus@passatempo.art

Every good-looking image on this website owes its existence to AI, but only after bowing to my wise and oh-so-specific demands. In that sense, I’m as guilty as a midwife assisting Rozmary in delivering her demonic child into the world. While I plead innocent to any sinister intent, I happily admit to aiding and abetting these visual creations—mainly because it was fun, it was free, and, let’s face it, my artistic skills rival my quantum physics expertise: nonexistent but brimming with questionable enthusiasm.

As for the books on the ‘bookshelf,’ the paintings in the ‘Pasatempo Gallery,’ and the freebies in the ‘Sneak Peeks,’ I stand guilty as charged. I fully confess to these cultural crimes, committed without AI as my partner in crime and without consulting even a single academic—or anyone else who commits similar, yet far more sinister, crimes professionally and with far better credentials

For PassaTempo.art

Thomas (aka Tomazo) Pagonis

imagine@thomaspagonis.com