Ten Years Ago Today...

2007 not only marks the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars, but January 31, marks the 10th anniversary of the release of the Star Wars Special Edition. For me personally, that day marks another milestone.

On the morning of Jan. 29, 1997, I interviewed at LucasArts for a game tester position. Anxious about the prospects of working for the Lucas Companies, and being the biggest Star Wars fan I personally knew of since age 6, I stopped to visit the guys in line at the Coronet Theater in San Francisco. The Coronet was where I first saw the original theatrical release of Star Wars. I was extremely tempted to join them, a tiny bit ashamed that I had at long last found Star Wars fans more dedicated than I was.

The day of the premiere, my girlfriend and I got up at 4am to get in line to catch the first Special Edition screening. By now the small group of fans had swelled to a line that ran around the block. Local news crews were onhand to catch the event. I remember a guy dressed vaguely as Chewbacca walking around riling up everyone with his very authentic-sounding Wookiee yell. The excitement reached a fever pitch as the front the line slowly began to enter the theater. The inside of the theater was aglow with lightsabers. As the opening crawl began to scroll, tears of sheer joy began to roll down my eyes. Everyone stayed through the credits not wanting the moment end.

Riding high on the morning's activities, I got home and saw a message on my answering machine. It was the recruiter from LucasArts letting me know that I had gotten the tester job.

Now, here I am. So many incredible dreams fulfilled. And it all began on that fateful day. Ten years ago today.