A shimmerring Lucasfilm...
The 20th Century Fox fanfare...

and, for the last time...

"A long time ago in a galaxy far away..."

The theater erupted with cheers and whoops and applause. The movie was on. All our sacrifices of the past few days had paid off and it was ON!

Two hours and 20 minutes later... the circle was complete. Most fans I spoke with on the way to our cars were speechless. In a good way.

I think there's something about doing this... this waiting in line for the premiere thing. It makes the viewing of a movie so much more than just passing the time in a seat in a theater. These actions are very similar to how I view the Star Wars saga. It's not about the individual occurrances... it's what the sum of everything involved does for you. For me, it makes the magic real. Really experiencing what you're doing, rather than letting it just... happen to you.

It's a "Full Life Moment" (thanks, Jenn) where everything you love about well, everything you love is happening right then, and there's no place you'd rather be, because you're "in it."

We were doing something crazy... skipping our "real life" for a while and basking in the nerddom and geekdom and fandom, where everyone else is connect by the love of a common thing. Sure, we're all different, and some of us (myself included) may have harshly judged others for the extremes of their nerddom and geekdom and fandom. But really, there was a little bit of the MEGA-fan in all of us... that's why we were there. I know that now.

I appreciated being able to share the time and experiences with all of them, and all of you, more than I can adequately describe.

If you stuck with this... thanks. I'll be seeing you again, real soon.


Troy