Secondhand Lions

So today was my day off. It was a nice chance to just relax and not do much. I've been tired a lot lately, so I took it kinda slow today.

I did have to reset my C drive on my computer. It's getting old, and I was having some problems with it. So I reformatted the C Drive. We'll see if that helps. But it'll take me a little while to get things back to the way I like them.

Then I decided to watch a movie that my parents just sent me. It's called Secondhand Lions. It's a good movie, and I recommend it to you. I actually watched it twice. I watched it once, then I watched the directors commentary.

I'm actually becoming a big fan of watching the commentaries. Usually I don't have enough time to watch both the movie and the commentary in one sitting, but I did today. It really puts everything into a new perspective when you can understand the thought that goes behind it.

I guess that explains a lot about me. I had someone ask me why I ask "why" so much. But to me, the reasons why you think something, or why you do something changes the meaning of what I see.

Watching this movie the first time, I never noticed that it was filmed in Texas, and set in Texas. It's just normal for me. Then listening to the commentary, I could see how much of that I take for granted. I appreciated it so much more then.

Also, living in Japan, and watching a movie from Texas about themes like becoming a man and courage and believing in things, really put some light on some of the cultural clashes I have sometimes without even knowing it.

I'm sure I'll forget all these profound thoughts by tomorrow, and I'll probably never be able to really articulate them well. But, I was definitely very impressed by this movie.

It also helps me to remember, that no longer how long I stay in Japan, there will always be Texan in me. It's always where I came from and learned how to view life. Just like no matter how well Japanese people speak English, they will always have Japan in them. I want to learn more about Japan and understand how they look at the world. Right now, I just know that it's different than the way I look at it. I want to see what they see, and understand why they do that. The more I learn about Japan, the more I learn about myself and my own culture.

It's fascinating how these things work.

Anyway, sorry this is really random, but I really wanted to write them down.