Hi gang - this amounts to what is basically my first ever blog entry! I'm recalling a quote, something about just having taken my first steps into a larger world....So here it is, my first blog!

Unlike many (most?) of you, I did not make a mad dash to buy tickets to the midnight showing of ROTS. Call me crazy, insane, delusional, or worse, the anti-fan. But I was satisfied with nabbing tickets for Friday's 10: 30 pm show. Believe me, there were many a raised eyebrow when I admitted I wouldn't be standing in line for the premiere here in Chicago. Aw heck, bottom line - part of me wanted the anticipation of seeing it for the first time to linger a little while longer. I was happy to wait a couple extra days to see ROTS, especially after doing all I could to avoid hearing or reading reviews, dodging spoilers on TheForce.net, and in general begging friends to keep their theories about the few remaining hidden details of this movie a secret. After all, you only get to see it for the first time once and I was determined to drag out my excitement til Friday! But then something unexpected and magical happened...

Sitting beneath my drawing table are a few remaining artist proofs of my C3 print. I had already given several away to friends & family and exchanged about half of them with fellow artists in the Art Show. So I had a few left over, which I wanted to give away. What a perfect way to do it, I thought, to give them away to fans waiting in line for the midnight show. I contacted Chicago Force, asking if I could drop by their line on Wednesday night and donate a couple prints to the raffles they had planned for fellow fans in line. They were like, no way! Kidding! They were excited and so was I! I do admit that the excitement and buzz over the movie, seeing everyone in line on the news all day long, was just more than I can handle and I REALLY started to regret not getting tickets! So around 10pm last night, I drove with my ever-supportive boyfriend to the massive new AMC theater in downtown Chicago, found the guys at Chicago Force and handed them 3 artist proofs for them to raffle away. They were so grateful and I was happy to contribute my artwork to this Star Wars moment. And just then, a beautiful thing happened. One of the guys from Chicago Force asked if I had tickets, to which I admitted I didn't (again with the shame. He reached into his pocket (I swear it was like slow motion), pulled out 2 tickets and handed them to me. So there I was, kinda stunned, looking at the 2 tickets in my hand, completely not expecting to see the movie until Friday night. Suddenly, I'm finding myself darting up the ginormous escalator through the excited crowd to theater 4, sans popcorn (the line was too long), to take my place among the first to see Revenge of the Sith! I admit to getting teary-eyed as the movie started, overcome with excitement and a feeling of being a little kid again.

Life is funny - it works in strange ways like that. I'm sure my C3 artists proofs were raffled into the hands of some happy fans, and maybe, hopefully, it added to their experience of the movie last night. The beautiful part was that Chicago Force unexpectedly gave me something in return, an incredible memory of being at the midnight showing of Episode 3! Thank you, CF! I'm so grateful to have been a part of it last night! By the way, I still have my Friday night tickets and will definitely be there! And I just have to say, this is an INCREDIBLE first-rate Star Wars movie. You guys that have not yet seen it will NOT be disappointed!!

Peace & keep doodling -
C