After the plane landed in Suvarnapum Airport, my only desire was to get home as quickly as possible. I had been away from home for 10 days, and it was the longest I've been away from my family.

Usually, I would have bought some souvenirs for my wife and kids from the country I was travelling, but Nigeria didn't offer any interesting artifacts, so I had to stop by at the duty free shop upon my return.

It took me some time to decide what I should get for my son, SEY, and after standing in front of two shining toys, I decided to go with 'Mach-5', the white number 5 car from the recent movie 'Speed Racer'. It was pretty darn expensive, at 2,000 + Baht, but considering I'd been away for so long, I had to invest heavily on my son.

When I got home, SEY and SEIN were both sleeping. I took the quiet moment to look at their sleeping faces without touching, and I looked around the familiar room, which looked exactly like the way I left it, only 10 days older.

The bed sheet had been changed, and my PlayStaion had been moved, but besides that, everything remained in their position. The baskets which hold SEY's toys were occupying sizable portion of the room, and most of the toys in the baskets were automobiles: Cars, trucks, motorcycles, vans, trains... But of all the cars he had, the red Ferrari F-1 race car was SEY's favorite, although the wheels had come off and front and rear wings had been missing.

I took out the Mach-5, shiny white with red lines on the hood, with red interior, complete with steering wheels and gear stick, and placed it beside my sleeping SEY. Then I gently kissed him on the cheek, and whispered into his ears,

"Daddy's home."

Since that day, Mach-5 had become SEY's favorite toy. It made different sounds, which thankfully weren't too annoying, and it was pretty well made, so even with my son banging the car against his old toys, the car didn't break into pieces. He would play with it and wherever he went he took that car with him. Seeing that he really liked that car, I told SEY,

"This is the car from the movie SPEED RACER. I'll take you to see that movie once it shows in theaters."

And yesterday, I finally got the chance to take him to see the movie Speed Racer. And here's how it went.

The movie is largely divided into 2 parts. The loud ,colourful racing part, and quiet, boring talking part. Everytime there was race going on, SEY's eyes would be fixed on the screen, but when the race was over, he would jump down from my laps and run towards the exit, shouting,

"Appar~ Boong Boong!" (Daddy, I want to go play racing game on the arcade!)

As it is with most movie theaters, there are game boxes, strategically positioned in front of the theater to lure the kids and some adults... The popular game of today is a racing game called 'Burnout'. It's acutally a lot like the movie 'Speed Racer', where you drive your car to the finish line, and along the way, destroy as many cars as possible.

So I never got the story of the movie, such as what had happed to REX, or what was going on with the mobs, the police, and the Japanese Family. All I saw was cool graphic of the racing, where cars made incredible moves and dashed with dazzling lights.

But the last part of the final Gran Prix was the part I liked the most... After Speed restarts his engine and starts all the way from the back of the pack, and make his way through the traffic, and against all odds, win the race...

It wasn't about the car... the engine... the skills... It's about what drives you... And racing is what drives Speed!

Or something like that... I wasn't paying much attention to the dialogue...

Anyway, as I watched Speed come to a full stop after crossing the finish line in first place, I got to thinking...

I wish I knew what drove me... Sometimes 'golf' drives me... Despite the fact that I don't have the experience or the training to play good golf, I sometimes play really good golf because I'm so driven to play... I can make that ONE perfect shot because I'm so focused and driven to make that shot happen.

And sometimes 'writing' drives me... Despite the limited words and experience, I think I can come up with that ONE perfect piece that has a soul of its own, if I really put myself into writing it...  

Anyway... the movie is EXCELLENT. Men... Women... Children or elderly... ALL should watch this movie. I would rate it 5/5 in my rating, as I think it's a movie you should all go to watch.

:-)