15. The Best of Thanksgiving Times Two

Many people on the holidays find time to get together with family and eat a large turkey dinner that generally makes them want to fall asleep. It is the magic of the holiday. It is a singular event that doesn't repeat itself until a year later. Being that I live half way across the globe from my family I get to crash other people's big meals. I love big festivities and sensational dinners. They always make you feel like you belong to a group of something bigger than yourself. That is probably what I like most about the holidays. I remember that there is more to life than me and my own little world I create through books and movies. There are people out there in the world that actually care about me enough to spend time and ignore my obvious character flaws.

I have to admit though I try to keep it a secret, I am a horrible conversationalist. I tend to talk about the most boring subjects in the world and the things I find funny aren't really all that funny in any sense of the word. I kid you not I could be watching a movie and see a very sad part where someone dies and it is supposed to be very tragic, but I laugh. I'll see the lead actress fake tears and it seems like she's laughing or something. I then imagine in my head that she is really thinking "OK, just five more tears and I win 5 million dollars." I for some reason find that hilarious.

I will admit there are times when I am capable of crying at the movies. It just so happens that the last time I cried while watching a movie I was watching the Green Mile. I think I had just turned thirteen. Sometimes I lie about crying at movies just so people don't think I'm some kind of heartless monster. The thing is I just can't translate the movie into reality. I see it for what it is "Fiction." What I see generally is a group of entertainers taking to the stage to please people and make off with millions of dollars. Even when it ends up being a violent movie. I don't see real people dying I see a group of revolutionary filmmakers finding ways to simulate blood flow with a life sized doll. The times when I am most moved by film are the times when it can relate directly to my life.

Maybe that is why I love chick flicks so much. They all have something I can relate to in my life. Romance. Not to burst the bubble on all the guys who like action movies but when was the last time you found yourself surrounded by an armada of mercenary soldiers bent on world destruction but trying to kill you first? I love action flicks but they just don't hit me in any way as real. The only exception is when I read a book that gets turned into a movie. That is when my emotions get all worked up. I absolutely hate it when people take a wonderful idea and simply ruin it.

One of my all time favorite books to read is "The Last of the Breed" by Louis La'mour. It is one of two novels he wrote that doesn't fit in with his normal genre. It is an action classic. The characters are vivid and they make you want to keep reading. Unfortunately this book was made into a horribly done film. "Behind Enemy Lines" takes the basic elements of this story and does a horrible job of piecing them together. I watched it with my friend when it came out to theaters and we both instantly recognized it for what it was. We both agreed that it did not do justice to the story at all. However the thing that annoyed me the most was the lack of Credit given to Louis La'mour for his story. I don't care if he died years ago. It is still his story and he should get the credit for it.

That is a really random tangent which goes to show that people really must love me a lot of they can even follow a conversation like that without telling me how disturbingly weird I am. This year I went to two different dinners and had an absolute blast. I love the holidays and getting to spend it with others.