ONE YEAR!!!

-You've never seen Star Wars!?

-Nope.

-Why, you poor, deprived child! We're gonna have to fix that...

So went that fateful conversation last fall when I was minding my own business-or not-and overheard my friends talking about "Star Wars." Having never seen it, I ventured closer, curious, and asked them about it. My life has never been the same since.

    Just days after, I was invited to watch them, and I eagerly accepted, but I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't really a big sci-fi fan, and the only thing I knew about Star Wars was what my dad had told me for bed-time stories-the tale of Luke Skywalker traveling the galaxy with a Jedi to find Princess Leia.

   I can still remember what I wore that day-even my socks (yeah, I'm weird like that). I remember who was there, what was in the room, and who I sat next to. I even remember that the pumpkin by the front door had a spider carved into it...

    My friends argued over whether we should see "number one or number four" first. I was like, "isn't it more logical to watch number one first?" So that's what we did. And may I say that no one told me to be prepared for the epicness of The Phantom Menace!

    OK, maybe I didn't think it was that epic at first. Actually, I didn't really understand it at all. The only thing I understood was that some evil group was holding a planet hostage and the queen left to get help with the Jedi. On some other planet, they met a little boy who helped them. And that boy was Anakin Skywalker.

Anakin Skywalker. That was just about the only thing that made sense-terrible sense. When he walked onto the screen, I turned to my friend and asked, "who's that cute little boy?" "Anakin," she replied. I was horrified! That cute little boy was going to grow up to be Darth Vader, the evil villain that everyone in the whole world knows?

    Once the movie ended, I just sat there, trying to process all the confusing things that I had just seen. I had no idea what had just happened. Good thing my friends decided not to watch Episode II right after that!

    The next time I went to the library, I casually walked by the Star Wars books, glancing at them, but hoping no one would notice. I didn't know if I wanted to be a Star Wars fan. What would my family say? The next time, I gave in and picked up the Episode I Visual Dictionary and took it home. After I had finished looking through it, I understood. But I still didn't want to become a big fan-I just wanted to understand. Lucky me. That journey to understanding made me a BIG fan!

    Oops! So much for not becoming one :) I'm sure that sometimes my friends regret showing me Star Wars, because I'm just a little obsessed. (Actually, they have no idea. I'm much more obsessed when I'm at home.) And I don't think this is just a temporary fandom.

So, now, whenever someone says that they've never seen Star Wars, I'm like, "WHAT? You poor thing! It's amazing and you need to go watch it right now!"

And I'm also in the middle of a "war" with my dad, fighting for Star Wars and against Star Trek.

And if anyone insults Star Wars, beware! I just might react a bit like this:

Hope you like the picture, Solace! And Voranda. Have fun fighting over it. :)

(Sorry if the first picture confused you. Star Wars isn't one year old today, but it is my one year anniversary of seeing it.)