Jedi for Hire

I am more than a month late in posting this (said event took place in late July), but here goes.

Sometimes—as in, this was the first time this has happened—my friends hire me to dress up like a Jedi and to come to their children's Disney-themed birthday party to teach these kids and their many friends about the ways of the Force and to lead them in a simulated Jedi light saber battle. It's really fun (sarcasm; it's not) to get dressed in those warm Jedi robes on a hot summer night.

Yes, this really happened. And I have pictures to prove it.

Whom better to ask, right? Plus, they sealed the deal by feeding me barbecued hot dogs and topped it off with pineapple whip (sp?) treats to end the evening.

The idea was that I would talk briefly about the ways of the Force, so I spent at least a half-hour on Wookieepedia boning up on Jedi knowledge. I got about 10 seconds into my summary of this topic before I had lost all of the kids' collective attention spans.

Then, we put the kids on a plank and had them face off with foam "light sabers," this idea being that they "winner" would be the one who knocked the other kid off of the "board." This quickly devolved into the kids attacking especially me with the foam sabers, then using some of the very large cucumbers in this backyard to also pelt me for several minutes.

Do I sound in any way like this was a negative experience for me? Though it was chaotic at times, it wasn't negative in the least. I got to catch up with some old friends, the Lee clan, and meet their kids. Though I left with a few bruises, both from the cucumbers and to my ego, I enjoyed myself immensely when all was said and done.

Next time I'm hired out like this, though, I better get 15,000 credits when we get to Alderaan.