Eternity = 15 years?

Story Time!

In 1997 I was a missionary. There was this guy who was not all together there upstairs, but he was a good kid. He loved the Church and the gospel. He read the Bible daily, prayed, and did everything he could.

Then came the movie Titanic. The pictures of Jesus came off his wall to be replaced with pictures of Leonardo di Caprio. He said he wanted to bear his testimony of di Caprio one Sunday -- we convinced him to bear witness of the reality of the spirit world and that the real people on the Titanic were now there awaiting the resurrection instead. It was an uphill battle.

It was a really bad time. I came to loathe that movie and everything associated with it. I swore to be annoyed for a very long time at Celine Dion and Kate Winslet, and that lasted about 2/3 years for Celine (when I heard a bunch of drunken Russians singing My Heart Will Go On) and 6/7 years for Kate (forgiven thanks to performing in Shakespeare). More important to me, I swore "eternal hatred" for Leonardo di Caprio. I would never see a di Caprio film. Not going to do it. While I recognized that the day might come that I could forgive him, it was a point of pride that I had not, even when he started showing up in movies that looked vaguely interesting.

Then Inception came out. It sounded really good. The more I heard about the story, the more interested I was. Learning it was totally ripped off from Donald Duck didn't hurt. Too bad it stars di Caprio. Oh well.

Soooo there I was on the airplane today... and there was Inception... Yeah, and dang it ... di Caprio does an excellent job. Granted, he only has about one expression on his face the entire movie, but it is a more appropriate expression to the role than Keanu Reeves would be able to give it. The movie was great like everyone said. Very well done.

So the longest I can manage "eternal hatred" is 15 years. I am uncertain whether to be proud of this or ashamed, and if ashamed, in which direction. [Dude, there is no way this should have lasted that long; Dude, there was no way I should have given in and watched the movie today, breaking such a great record.]

Such are the things I ponder after 40 sleepless hours. G'night from Des Moines, everyone.
 -- Derrill