Not

I’m not awake yet. I don’t think I’ll be fully awake at any time today. Two hours of sleep just doesn’t do it for me.

We all know the reason I’m short on sleep, Revenge of the Sith. Is my deprived state justified? Yes. George did not let me down. The three-hour queue to get into the movie was not spent in vain. Here is my list of reasons why I am not at all disappointed in my late night/early morning Star Wars experience:

1. We—meaning the office crew plus the ten-year-old—were able to snag some decent seats together.
2. No one in my immediate vicinity got up during the movie to pee— a plus at any movie.
3. I did not sit in a state of utter discomfort the last hour because I had to pee.
4. I bought the large tub of popcorn, and actually got the free refill.
5. ClonedHotdog smuggled in candy and kept my child in constant supply of sugar.
6. The opening scene was awesome.
7. Hayden Christensen did not blow. I actually thought of him as Anakin in this one and not as the guy who replaced Jake Lloyd.
8. Ewan McGregor is Obi-Wan Kenobi.
9. All the questions I needed George to answer, were answered. I didn’t like one of the answers, but at least I know now.
10. Hayden Christensen did not blow. The Anakin/Padme scenes worked this time for me.
11. The final scenes weren’t cheesy.

Nap time starts now.

At Last

Well, today is the day. Actually, tomorrow is the day. But it feels like today. After years of waiting, finally it comes to an end. At midnight I will see Revenge of the Sith. But it isn’t only about the movie.

I was nine when my Dad took me to see Star Wars. I know, I know, we’re supposed to refer to it as A New Hope now. But back in the day, when you said Star Wars, everyone knew exactly what you meant.

Attending that one movie transformed me. I remember the excitement surrounding it. I remember being completely overwhelmed by the opening scene. The monstrous ships, battling in outer space. I recal thinking, “But we’ve only put a man on the moon. How did they does this!? It was completely awe inspiring. I remember the fear I felt at the first site of Darth Vader…not completely understanding if he was man or machine, but knowing he meant death. I remember thinking Princess Leia was the most beautiful, most brave woman I’d ever seen. I knew I wanted to be like her when I grew up. The geek was born. The love of science fiction and fantasy blossomed in my heart.

I’ve been told by some that I’m a late bloomer. That the sci-fi geek-gene usually surfaces at a much earlier age. I don’t know. I don’t really care. What I do care about is finding other geek souls of this world. I care about gathering with my brethern to revere and line the pocketbooks of our geek gods. But what I care most about is knowing that I am not the last of my line of geeks.

So, tonight, tomorrow is more than just the final Star Wars movie for me. It is a rite of passage. The official confirmation of geek-dom from one generation to the next. I was nine when the torch was handed to me by my father. Tonight, tomorrow, sometime after midnight, the flame will pass to my ten-year-old son.

There was a time, not too long ago when I would not have believed this night would happen. You see, my child fought the transformation at first. He refused to play with his Star Wars action figures. His first passion was dinosaurs. Yeah, occassionally he would take out a light saber and attack something of value, usually the dog. I think his Jurassic Park T-Rex with a working digestive track ate Yoda or C-3PO on several occassions…but we can’t really call this playing Star Wars.

But something happened. About a year ago, a transformation began to occur. He started asking questions. The sort of questions only hard-core, fanactics like my self would care to ask. The sort of questions only George can answer. And so, as THE day grew nearer, I found myself toying with the notion of taking my son to see the movie on opening day. And then on a whim, I decided, no, my boy needs more. This will be his one real opportunity to really see it. Because, lets be honest, its not only about the movie. It’s about the movie and its people. My boy needed the opportunity to watch THE movie with ITS people.

The wait is over, the circle is complete…

Dream Fest

It’s been months since I’ve actually remembered a dream. Now, two nights in a row, I remember.

Last night, my subconscious tried to make-up to me for the terrible dream I had Monday night. Oh, it was still a bad dream, but at least this time it had some star power in it.

In the dream, I’m at some huge, high-class party. If you know me well, you know this in itself is totally preposterous and nightmarish. I shun social gatherings.

Anyway, it occurs to me that I’m not here because I’m a socialite, I’m here because I’m Jamesetta Bond. I’m supposed to be protecting some one. I have no idea who this person is.
I’m talking to some lady whose telling me she absolutely loves the dress I’m wearing because it’s so ’80s. Only it isn’t, because in the waking world it’s some dress I saw in a catalog a couple weeks ago. Anyway, I finally realize who I am supposed to be protecting. It’s some tall, blonde guy standing near me. He’s wearing a white suit…a la John Travolta…with a black cord tied around his waist…think Jethro Bodine.

I’m still talking to the lady when John Cusack walks up to me. Only he’s not an actor in my dream. He’s an old friend I haven’t seen for years. He and some other guy are also protecting Mr. White Suit. Oh yeah, Cusack hits on me. But I’m playin it cool.

Suddenly, Mr. White Suit screams out. He’s been shot in the arm. Cusack starts clearing an exit way for us. I grab Mr. White Suit under his left arm and The Other Guy takes him by his right arm. Mr. White Suit is a total weeny. He’s only been shot in the arm, but for some reason his legs no longer work. We have to drag him to safety.

We make it to some private room thinking we can escape to the alley through it. But the room is full of bad guys and we’re trapped. The Other Guy stops holding Mr. White Suit and starts laying down some cover fire for us. The bad guys are poorly prepared, only one of them has a gun, but it’s a machine gun. The Other Guy is shot down by the machine gun. It’s now my job to take out the bad guys. Cusack takes Mr. White Suit to try to find and exit. I take a run at the bad guy with the machine gun and try to take him out with a flying side kick. The kick misses him. However, since this is a dream I get a do-over. It takes me two more tries before I eliminate him.

At this point, Cusack and Mr. White Suit are no longer in the room. Neither the bad guys nor I know how they were able to get out. The bad guys are no longer interested in me, they’re trying to figure out how to find Mr. White Suit.

A big goon is guarding the back door, at first he doesn’t want to let me leave, but I’m able to smooth-talk my way past him. So, I’m in the alley way. I decide I need to walk the perimeter of the building to find Cusack and Mr. White Suit. I think they may be up on the roof, so as I’m walking I’m calling out for them.

Two bums holding whiskey bottles approach me. They tell me I need to come with them. I ignore them and keep walking. One of the bums follows me and demands that I come with him. He pulls out a knife. So, I have to perform another flying side kick to get rid of this nuisance. This time the kick works on the first try.

I make it to the far side of the building, only to discover a garbage man convention is taking place. Unbeknownst to me, the garbage men know who I’m looking for. One of the garbage men tells me to hang around and then he walks over to an orange AMC Gremlin to talk to whomever is sitting in the car. I don’t think this has anything to do with me, so I start walking again. At this point, I’m very worried, I have the feeling that if I don’t find Cusack and Mr. White Suit soon then they will die.

I hear someone running up behind me. So I turn quickly, I’m thinking I’m going to have to unleash another deadly sidekick on one more poor bastard. But wait! It can’t be, yes, it’s Cusack. He reaches me and for some reason he spins me around until I fall on the ground. Then he asks me to run away with him and Mr. White Suit in his orange Gremlin.

I wake up.