Jeff's BIG Accomplishment

Becca has challenged me to write about my life every week. Seeing as how I am HORRIBLE at keeping a journal (I haven't written in one since my mission), I thought this would be a great way to feel like I'm keeping up with journal-writing!

About a week ago Becca and I were shopping at Target. We were there to purchase some necessities for our dog, Henry. Necessities for Henry include things like a new collar with matching leash, a big bed with an embroidered dog bone on it, and the occasional new outfit that is just "too cute to pass up."

After rounding up the essentials in the pet section, we made our way to one of the lanes to check out. At these stations there are a number of impulse buy items. Becca isn't tempted by cheap gum, chocolate bars, or weekly publications of "People" magazine (unless they're taking a cheap shot at Lindsey Lohan), but this particular bargain buy hit Becca's Achilles heel. . . A $5 DVD of the hit motion picture Black Beauty!

I have never seen this movie, so my protests to purchasing it were unfounded. "How do you know you don't like it. You've never even seen it. It's a classic and I'm sure you'll love it." We bought it. When we got home that night, I strapped myself in for what was sure to be a cinematic extravaganza unmatched by any previous extravaganza I had ever experienced.

Becca and I have a little travel-size DVD player that we keep in our bedroom. This is our substitute for an actual TV and DVD player. It works just fine though, and it gets a lot of use. It's a funny thing to have a passion for something. In my opinion, "Bagger Vance", "The Greatest Game Ever Played", and "Happy Gilmore" are all quality flicks! To Becca they are OK, her passion is horses, and not golf. Well my passion is golf, and not horses. So, as we started the movie I encountered 3 obstacles that required some overcoming:

Obstacle #1. I knew immediately that I was in for a sweet ride. The opening scene is a really graphic shot of Black Beauty being born, complete with that weird bag-thing that baby horses are born inside.

Obstacle #2. The movie is told completely from Black Beauty's point of view, which I found odd because I'm SURE that if you could find out what a horse was really thinking about being riden and worked all the time, that horse wouldn't be nearly as optimistic. After being convinced that it was NOT odd, but rather very accurate, we continued watching.

Obstacle #3. I was really tired.

As badly as I wanted to give Black Beauty my full and undivided attention, the primal need for sleep was stronger, and, despite continual checkups to see if I was still awake, I didn't make it through the whole movie. To be perfectly honest I made it through about 20 minutes. The next night we picked up from where I fell asleep and continued watching. I made what I thought was a noteworthy achievement by watching another 20 minutes, but Becca thought differently. This pattern continued for 5 days, until last night I finally made it through to the end of the movie! I was hoping for a deep sense of pride and accomplishment, but then I recalled the fact that it took me a solid week to watch a 90 minute movie. That's not really an accomplishment to be proud of.