It's been far too long since my last blog, especially since I adore blogging here.

March 24th was the date of my last blog, which for me was pretty important, as it was the day I met the woman I'm marrying in just 9 days in Las Vegas on the 11th of this month.
Crazy, when you think about it (and stick with me, there is a point), when you think of all the things that can happen to people in just six months. For example, I met Bex, she moved in, we were involved in a bad car smash and were lucky to walk away with bumps and bruises, we got engaged, I changed jobs after 18 years working with my Dad, we booked Vegas, decided to get married and I had my first article published in the Insider (#90, page 11).
My friend from the site Jonathan Hicks has had just as eventful a year. And, I'm sure, there are folks here who have had even more colourful six months.

So, onto Star Wars.

Six months in the Star Wars universe can be deceptive. We watch the six films and see characters we love change and grow. Who had a more defined character transformation than Anakin Skywalker, who we watched transform from a nine year old idealist into a regretful old man.
But that happened over 36 years of history, who doesn't change in 35 years? And as the films are spanned 10, three, 19, three and one year apart it's difficult to assess . They are seen as natural changes, caused by events and necessity.
Take Han Solo. In the time Luke changes form callow youth to burgeoning saviour of the Jedi Order, Solo changes too. In four years he flowed from self-centered mercenary to a man prepared to give his beloved Falcon to the man partially (and Lando deserves plenty of leeway here - who in the galaxy would deny Vader and Fett?) responsible for his encasement in carbonite. Now thats a pretty quick change.
But life throws curveballs at you. A near death experience changes your perspective on life. Who knows, without the death of Owen and Beru, Luke may have never left the homestead. Ben, being the wily and ruthless operator he was knew this and (in my opinion) allowed their deaths to serve this purpose.
Life clings on turns of fate, every second of every day, and the entire Star Wars saga could be run in reverse from the end of Return of the Jedi to the first frame of The Phantom Menace and such key moments could be easily picked out.
For example, what if Padme had accepted Anakins offer to overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy? What if, 22 years later their son had accepted the same offer?
What if Qui-Gon had been unable to communicate with Yoda from the other side? Would the Jedi Master still have gone to Dagobah, to bide his time? Would Ben have had the knowledge to sacrifice himself to push Luke's progression onwards?
And so on it goes.

The header mentions a quote from the song Beautiful Boy (thanks guys) by John Lennon - "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans". This is true even in relation to Star Wars. While planning the rescue of Han Solo Luke's world changed, and the broken but defiant man who fell from the ganrty in silence at the end of Empire Strikes Back was now a Jedi, and it was no mere delusion of grandeur that made him so.
During the Galactic Civil War Vader went from the Emperors deadly weapon to a man torn by indecision, just like his predecessor Darth Tyrannus was during Attack of the Clones.
Ben Kenobi even changed in the afterlife, from an encouraging spirit in A New Hope into a man forced to admit a terrible truth, and lay bare his deceptions, couching them as "Certain points of view."

Every one of those characters was striving towards a greater purpose - the rescue of a loved one, the subjugation of a galaxy, the concealment of a hidden truth - but the experiences brought about by attaining the goal, or life itself, changed them.

See, told you there was a point.