it was the week of thanksgiving here in the states. i have been having a few days off from school, and have spent them sleeping!!! i went out a couple of times (hallelujah for some free time finally!!), and basically spent my entire week sleeping my ass off!!!
love it.
a childhood friend of mine, gerry, came down from new haven twice for day trips. we were great friends when we were in primary (elementary) school, but we lost touch after graduating and going our separate days. i guess when you're 12, you don't know the importance of keeping in touch.
so we haven't seen each other in like 12 years!!! crazy huh? we got in touch with each other again through the wonders of the internet, but she was in london and i was in tokyo. we finally had the chance to meet up when she moved to new haven, and i, to new york! it was crazy. she looked exactly the same! ahahahaha!! we went shopping and to have some japanese food. i think i've changed quite a bit since i was 12. i was such a tomboy. i think i still am, in many ways, but yeah i really looked like a little boy back then.
thanksgiving day rolled along and i wanted to go see the macy's thanksgiving day parade. it starts around 75th street and central park west, goes around columbus circle, then down broadway, towards the macy's departmental store. i thought i wanted to go have a look since i loved parades, and plus, it was really near my house.
but when i woke up, looked out of the balcony, and saw the crowd, i kinda changed my mind. toooo many people. but i stayed on the freezing balcony for a while to watch some of the ginormous balloons go by.
unfortunately they moved so slowly... like s o... s l o w l y ...
i watched ronald mcdonald go past. which i guess we all have to give thanks for, because c'mon, we all owe a lot to mr mcdonald's.
then i spotted snoopy behind ronald and wanted pictures... and somehow i timed it so nicely that i went to lie down for 20 minutes and when i went out to the balcony again, my timing was perfect!
(so my conclusion is, it was kinda cool to watch part of the parade while in my robe and pajamas, but it was freezing and i was glad to be home!!!)
on a more serious note, i have been watching fresh prince of bel-air reruns that have been airing on tv. i used to love fresh prince and watched just about every episode when i was a kid. watching it again, i still laugh at the same jokes and it still cracks me up, but there was one episode that i watched yesterday that i had never seen before.
it was the episode when will's father on the show, lou smith, appears for the first time, 14 years after abandoning him and his mom. lou explains to will that he left because he felt trapped. they go out and have a good time, and lou promises to take will on his truck with him.
for once, will thinks he'll get to spend the summer with his dad. will's uncle phillip gets really angry and tells will that he can't go with lou, because he doesn't trust that lou really does care for will. they get into a huge argument when phillip says "no", but will said he doesn't care because "you're not my father!!!"
phillip gets really hurt and upset because he's always treated will as his own son, but he apologises and tells will he loves him, and wishes him all the best.
will packs his whole bag and gets really excited, and even buys his dad a present. vivian and phil wait for lou to turn up, and when he shows up late, he says he just got a huge new job, and won't have any more space on his truck for will. vivian tells lou, "if you walk out of will's life now, don't you ever come back."
lou is a coward and wants vivian and phillip to tell will that he's leaving, but when phillip says he won't do his dirty work, lou decides to leave without saying anything. but will walks in at that moment, and lou tells him, "you know how it is", and promises to call.
will pretends he's ok, but phillip tells him "it's alright to be angry". will says he's alright, "at least he said goodbye this time. it ain't like i'm still 5 years old, sitting up every night asking my mom when's daddy coming home." he learnt to play basketball without his dad, went on his first date without his dad, learnt how to drive without his dad, went through 14 birthdays without his dad, and he doesn't need him. "i didn't need him then and i don't need him now." he's gonna graduate from college without his dad, meet some honey and have kids and take care of them like a good father, nothing like his dad ever was, because there's nothing his dad could ever teach him about how to be a good father.
but then will finally breaks down and says, "how come he don't want me?"
the show ends with the camera zooming in on the present that will had bought for his father, which was a small figurine of a father embracing a child.
it broke my heart.
today, i'm giving thanks for all my friends and family. because when it boils down to what's important, it's love.
oh... love and chocolate. hee hee.
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