Swings

Frankie Goes Deep - Texas (FGD Inner Space Dub)

Ups and Downs. Today was another good day of just being. I started to watch a Japanese film today for study called Daiteitennoyouni (Until The Lights Return) which is an ensemble movie about the intersecting lives of a bunch of people during a black out before Christmas. It's similar to Love, Actually, Magnolia, Short Cuts, etc. It's quite depressing as it's about a Chinese door man about to go home to Shanghai who gets stuck in a lift with a hotel guest who has just been rejected by her lover who has a wife he wants to go back to, a yakuza member who is going to take his ex-girlfriend to the hospital for her second baby from her new boyfriend, an old couple who are unlocking secrets from the past, and a boy who was watching the skies on top of a building for Santa Claus and witnesses his crashing to which caused the blackout in Tokyo. Yes, that's the story, rather convoluted to say the least but it's interesting. What made me stop was a call from my friend but also the fact that the film is about 10+ years old and I was reminiscing about the past and what I was doing 10 years ago. I was in England, living the student life and travelling through parts of Europe for my long weekends.

I've always wondered what was happening all over the world and what I was missing out on. I know that at every moment someone is meeting the love of their life for the first time or experiencing something so extraordinary that their lives make crucial turning points. I remember 18 years ago when I was in love for the first time in Malaysia. It was a huge thing that changed the course of my thinking; I was looking forward to every holiday the following years where I would go back to Malaysia to meet my friends from England who inspired me to eventually go to England to live. It's amazing.

Living in Japan now for about 4.5 years I've met the most amazing people and have been in love with the experiences that have transpired. I would never have imagined that life would come around again and I can't imagine not having been here. Making more mistakes along the way, I have been learning to grow stronger and better. It's unimaginable from the little boy I was in Melbourne growing up.

I remember when my father used to take my sister and I to the parks and push us on the swings. We had nothing to expect from life but the future was more overwhelming as each day passed. And here I am again at the foot of swings, knowing that I feel joy again as have the many people who have taken to the seats of this simple apparatus.