You've followed my adventure from jeering Phantom to Jedi fandom. Now, you will hear more about my training of a "Padawan", my going to RotS at midnight, and more.

Yeah, I say I trained a Padawan. My friend's parents had moved to Maryland, but he wanted to finish the last three months of our 7th grade year. My parents actually took temporary custody of him and we took him in. Now, his parents are from India, and he's of a different religion that us (we're Christian, he's Hindu), so the cultural differences were...interesting, but we managed, and that's another story.

Anyway, lightsaber sparring became a daily ritual. We'd go out in the large backyard and sometimes duel for twenty-five minutes before anyone made contact. He taught me a bit about dueling and SW video games, and I made sure that he saw the films (he had only seen AotC!). He's seen all but RotJ, and his training is not complete until he views the completion of Luke's.

We went to see RotS at midnight, yeah. My friend grabbed two lightsabers, and I threw on my trusty Jedi garb, and grabbed my Force FX saber. My brother wanted a costume, so with my Deluxe Jango helm, sweatpants with a spacer-looking stripe, a somewhat-tight gray shirt, and a poncho and bandolier made of spare vinyl and fabric from my Jedi costume made him Col Stringar, bounty hunter. He bore a blue Hasbro saber (non-light-up, Qui-Gon style hilt) and an orange Solo blaster pistol.

That night, another person had a Force FX Vader (small town, I know...only two Force FX's) and a Dark Jedi costume, so we had a "duel" (light hits; you cannot fight with them), which the audience loved. The movie...well, you've all seen it, I hope.

We walked out to various comments, such as, "From now on, when I see Vader, I'm gonna call him Stumpy!" and, "Yoda got SERVED." I was once again surrounded by geeks.

That summer, my friends and I attempted to start a FanForce, Tamaqua Raider Squadron. It was going strong, but then school (and bullies) set in, and all but I and very few loyal member abandoned their geekdom in search of instant popularity, a big mistake. We never had an adult in the group, so that was part of the downfall. If anyone in the Tamaqua Area wants to bring it back...you know who to talk to!

Yes, that is the life of the geek, and the saga continues. Perhaps, as I hope Lucas will, I will add another three or so, but for now, May the Force be with you, and stay geeky! C U @ C4!