It's amazing how the little things in Star Wars can make an impact on your life. Today I was sitting in my early class when I began to doodle on my notes, bored and too tired to try to pay attention. Slowly my doodles began to look more and more like TIE Fighters. They have always been one of my favorite things to scribble on any page only because they are so easy to draw. While doodling a whole TIE and X-Wing battle on my margins, I thought about this dearly beloved blog which I have long neglected. And, just like that, my inspiration came back! It was amazing. All of a sudden I had so many entries inside of my head that I wanted to write, a fountain no longer blocked by some unknown contraption.

So I went on wookieepedia.com (a great database for Star Wars info. It's the equivalent of wikipedia for Star Wars) and looked up the TIE Fighter. I realized that I know nothing about this vehicle. NOTHING. Only its name. I have never been that interested in the vehicles in the Star Wars universe, besides what they are called: landspeeder, Star Destroyers, X-Wings, etc. I found out so much interesting information that I thought I'd share some interesting points.

TIE stands for Twin Ion Engine.
They lacked life-support systems which is why the pilots had to have a fully-sealed life suit.
It lacks deflector shields and pilots had to rely on maneuverability to avoid getting hit.
The ship's appearance in the movies was inspired by bow ties (ha!).
The sound for TIE Fighters was created by combining an elephant's scream with the noise of a car driving on wet pavement.

Isn't that interesting? It's amazing what you can learn online these days.

Now, why wasn't I learning this information in class? Which leads me to my next point of interest...I have an opportunity here at school to teach one class during the month of January on any subject I wish. What if I taught a class on Star Wars? Of course, I would have to narrow it down to a specific topic in the Star Wars universe, but wouldn't that be interesting? I don't know how many people would sign up for it though. Some of my friends tell me to do it and that they'd sign up just to take a class on Star Wars. But I've been contemplating this for a while and if I got my act together, I could possibly do it.

So if I did it, does anyone have suggestions on what I could specifically teach? There's so much and I would obviously have to be very up-to-date. I wouldn't do Expanded Universe only because I have not kept up with the books for a good while. I would stick primarily with the movies. I guess I could do the standard combining myth and history into the movies. Please, hit me with suggestions if anyone has any. It's just something I've been mulling around in my head.

And, as a side note, "That's no moon. It's a spacestation." It's a moon of Saturn (named Mimas) and ironically, A New Hope was released before these pictures were taken by a spacecraft. Star Wars is everywhere.