Having been a long time visitor to these parts, I took the plunge last year to get Hyperspace and begin blogging. Oh the wonder! The excitement! You see, I had all these thoughts, thoughts that had been pressing on my brain with all the enthusiasm of a Hutt at an all you can eat amphibian buffet! Now, at last they could be given their free expression! At last, they would have their, revenge??? Or something.

Now, no offense to anyone, but I simply didn't have time for the formalities. My first blog just couldn't be spent with the hello, let me tell you a bit about myself, why I'm here, what SW means to me kind of thing. Oh, no. (Here's where the reader may insert his/her fully appropriate sarcastic comment or perhaps derisive snort. I'll wait...)

So I launched three entries, only a week between each one. And in them, I went straight to the heart of what interested me. A kind of cut to the chase, moving on, can't stop now, type-A personality approach was what I used. And it was great! I loved blogging even more than I thought I would! The interaction, the conversation, great!!!

And since then...the shroud of the dark side has fallen. Well, not really. Life just became, well, busy- a kind of cut to the chase, moving on, can't stop now, type-A kind of busy. But let me tell you, Jabba still wants to belly up to the bar, if you hear what I'm saying. And I'm gonna feed that Hutt, eventually.

But for now I'm still reading and commenting when I can. And sometimes that's even better than fresh frogs in your fishbowl, 'cause there's lots of talented, creative, and sometimes downright hilarious people on this site. And then there's the rest of you, too.


But enough of that. I wrote this blog because introductions are in order. Ral Kleest is my screename, because I just made it up. It's not my real name, my uncle's name, or a condition you get from eating shellfish; it's just a name I created.

Why? I remember being impressed by something George Lucas said one time about wanting the names in the GFFA to not have all kinds of X's and Z's like most sci-fi has. Instead, he wanted familiar, but at the same time, different sounding names. Ral Kleest is my attempt at creating a GFFA persona faithful to that tradition.

Now I'll confess, when I'm in a more geekish mood, I like to imagine who and what Ral is. Is he Jedi, or Sith? Rebel, or Imperial? Or like most of us, is he all, or even none of the above? Hey, any kid will tell you an imaginary friend can be fun, right? So I haven't quite outgrown that, so what?

Bottom line, it's fun to have him around. Like Ben said about his Obi Wan alter ego, "Of course I know him- he's me."

How 'bout you guys? Anybody else want to tell why they chose their screenname? Would you change it if you could? (You can't, but anyway...)

Your comments are always welcome. Right now, I've got to get out there and refill the buffet. You just can't ever seem to satisfy a Hutt...