When I went to pick up Kenobi yesterday, he said he wasn't feeling well, that he had started feeling ill the night before and couldn't go.
I was not happy, but I decided I could try to sell my extra ticket at the Speedway. I tried to get there early. Everyone else got the same idea, unfortunately, including a large security delegation from the Empire. It took me some time to find a place to park and get to the entrance.
With all the security around (the like of which I had never seen at the Speedway before), I was afraid I would be arrested for scalping tickets, so I went to the box office to see if they would refund one ticket. Judging by the number of apparently ticketless people milling around, I thought it would be okay.
It was okay. In fact, it was surprisingly easy, except I had to wait in line. The attendant took my ticket and handed me the cash as if she'd been expecting me. Then she apologized for the inconvenience!
I thought that was odd, since refunds are usually difficult, especially for single tickets. Then I noticed that the line behind me had gotten a lot longer during the short time that I had been there. And there were a lot of kids crying. It seemed a little early in the day for that. Usually, the crying doesn't start until the kids see how bad the view is from their seats.
I knew my seat wasn't going to be so great either, but I was eager to get to it, especially now that I had extra cash in hand for drinks and snacks. I headed towards the gate, where a bunch of white-armored Empire whatchamacallems were patting people down. I'd never seen that before. I wondered if this was a new thing, or if it was just something they were doing this one time because of a high-ranking visitor or something. I mean, there's no shortage of people who would like to kill the Hutts at their favorite sporting event, but there's never been an attempt, nor security like this, especially galactic security.
I gave my ticket to the kid at the gate, bracing myself to be frisked by one of those clone people. I didn't really like it, but I knew the nonsense was almost finished and I would soon me sitting in my crummy seat. I didn't expect any problem.
But of course there was a problem. It wouldn't be a day in the life of J. Sandstormer if there wasn't a problem. The kid at the gate squinted at my ticket, turned it over and squinted some more, rotated it, creased the corner with a grubby thumbnail, and showed it to his supervisor, who gave it back to me and said I needed to get a refund. He looked at me suspiciously, since I had obviously just come over from the box office and still had the receipt in my hand. He pointed at a sign, but it was hand-lettered and in Huttese.
I went back to the box office, where the line was now pretty long, and there were more kids crying, and there were vendors selling souvenirs and snacks and drinks to the people waiting in line. Again, I'd never seen that before.
And that's when it dawned on me, finally coming out of my self-absorbed euphoria and listening to some of the conversations going on around me, that these people were not waiting in line to buy their tickets. They were waiting to sell their tickets. There was indeed a high-ranking visitor from the Empire, some lord fancypants or something, and they were clearing out a large section of the stands to make room for this person and his retinue and guards and security and seating comfort.
I couldn't decide whether I felt sorry for this person who was too paranoid to enjoy a simple pod race even on this backwards planet without being surrounded by security, or if I was insulted that this person thought we were all a bunch of assassins, or if I was miffed that this person thought he was so important when in fact no one here had even heard of him before.
Or jealous that he had enough money and clout to pull it off. Not to mention that he was getting to see the pod race and I wasn't.
I got my other ticket refunded and went home. (Got half my parking fee back too. That was more than I had expected.)
I went to Darklighter's this morning, and they had t-shirts, sunburns, and lots of stories. A tall figure in black, probably not human because it was wearing a helmet and a mask with ventilator. Also a cape. (Biggs seemed quite impressed with the cape and wanted one for himself.) Rumor was that his name was Karth Fader and was a special friend of the Emperor's. Kane then corrected himself, saying that the Emperor doesn't have friends as such, but that he thought Fader was a behind-the-scenes leader on a big secret military project and that the big secret military project was the reason that all other technology seemed to have stopped in its tracks after the Republic fell. It was gobbling up all the major engineering and industrial resources.
I assumed Kane got this information from his Hutt friends, and took it with a grain of salt. I mentioned it to Kenobi later, just visiting to see if he felt any better, and Kenobi said, "oh, Darth Vader. That explains a lot. I assume he's gone by now?"
It was phrased like a question, but it sounded more like he was telling me. I said Vader was gone as far as I knew (not that I would know, but I couldn't think of any reason he would have stayed around). Kenobi nodded. Up until then, I had thought Kenobi was feeling better, but now he looked agitated again, and he sent me home with another overpriced can of tea, which Beru assures me can be used to fertilize potting soil.
20050718
A day at the races
I don't get out much. That's partly by choice, because I'm not a big traveler, but it's also because there's seldom much to get out to. In my book, anyway. One of the few exceptions for me has been the Boonta Eve Pod Race at Mos Espa.
(Boonta Eve, incidentally, is not a Tatooine holiday. It's a Boonta holiday. I don't know what it commemorates. I assume it has something to do with the Hutts, since they are the ones who started the yearly pod-racing tradition on this planet. Boonta is the pod-racing capital of the galaxy, I realize that, but I don't know what the holiday is for.)
I don't go every year. I used to, but it got to be too expensive and time-consuming, especially after 1) I started taking my farming more seriously and 2) I lost a bundle on a certain pod race over 20 years ago, the first and only (so far) to be won by a human. (You can see me in some of the crowd footage - I'm standing behind a Rodian and I'm wearing brown.)
That was Luke's father, of course. I had put my money on Sebulba. I didn't like the cheating Dug, but I thought for sure he would win. When Skywalker Sr. won instead, I decided that I hated the kid. I mean, it was a great human interest story, but at the time, I was not in the mood for an inspiring story. I was broke.
I was surprised as anything a few years later when my neighbor Cliegg told me that he was seeing the kid's mother. Even more surprised when he bought her and brought her home. But that's another story.
Anyway, I haven't been in a few years, and the farming has been going well lately, so I decided to treat myself. I thought I should also treat Luke, since his mechanical ingenuity has been such a big help. I've already compensated Ben for the software help (I bought more of that lousy tea and agreed not to tell anyone about the man with the speeder bike), Kane for the disreputable business contacts (he's doing a koi pond - no I'm not kidding - and I'm filling it), One-Onegee for the steady hands (oil bath), and Owen for Luke's time (cash). But I wasn't sure if Owen was going to let Luke have any of the money, and I just figured the kid would get a big kick out of seeing what his father used to do.
I had to go over there anyway, to buy vegetables and ask Beru's advice on what went wrong with my chives (besides melting the pot and burning the soil). I also wanted to crow about how well the vaporators were working. I had not been able to convince Lars to try the modification, because it uses Jedix, and he just wasn't going to touch it. His loss. So, when I got there, they thought they already knew my agenda, and after a few minutes of boring grownup small talk, Luke went into the garage to, I'm not sure what exactly, slam a hammer against the hull of his T-16 for a little while is what it sounded like.
Here are the outcomes of those conversations:
1) All Beru has for veggies right now is leafy greens and fungus. No legumes. That means no fresh peas. It also means I need to buy some meat, because if I'm going to eat leafy greens and mushrooms, they'll have to be saturated with gravy. She says she's going to try root vegetables again. Ooh, that's good.
2) Smoking is bad for the plants and I shouldn't do it. Also, I shouldn't boil the water before I water the plants. I shouldn't even filter or shock it. I should just use the nasty stinky stuff right out of the recycler. Especially for Devaronian chives. I must say that was a shock. I think of plants as clean food and therefore I thought I was supposed to use clean water. Beru says no, they need nutrients and enzymes and such. I was worried about bacteria and she said that's what the slugs are for. Slugs? She said sure, and you can even train some of them to do little tricks. Uh. Thus concludes another attempt at gardening. I'll stick with hydroculture, thank you.
3) There's just no talking to Owen Lars about technology.
4) It's a good thing I waited for Luke to leave the room before I mentioned the races, and in retrospect I suppose I should have left the room first too, or better yet stayed home. All I said was, "is Luke interested in pod racing? I was thinking he might like to go to the speedway in Mos Espa with me." You would have thought I'd offered to take him to an orgy at Jabba's palace. The last thing that boy needs, I was told, is to have more big ideas in his head about traveling and fast living and questions about his father.
Owen was resolute. (In fairness, he's always resolute, about everything.) Beru looked doubtful and wanted to argue, and I suddenly realized that I had just stumbled onto a 12-year-old debate, a debate that had been going on ever since Luke was delivered to them, a debate that probably concerned Kenobi as well and that's why Owen could not share air with Kenobi and Kenobi would not discuss Luke and I couldn't talk to anybody about anything.
Awkward! A simple "no" would have sufficed.
Unfortunately, I'd already bought the tickets. I was going, at any rate. I thought of Biggs, but I didn't want to ask him and not his cousin, even though I knew she would probably say no, because I only had the one extra ticket. It turned out Darklighter was going anyway, and bringing the whole family.
There aren't any other neighborhood kids that I'm on friendly terms with, so I asked Kenobi if he wanted to go. I thought it was a simple question, but he changed his mind several times, I don't know why, and then eventually said yes. Knowing that my tickets were for terrible seats (high above some really great seats) seemed to reassure him. I think he's afraid of the cameras. I mean, he's still technically in hiding. Hardly anyone even knows about his Jedi past. But the point is, I won't have to go there alone looking like a loser with no friends.
The race is tomorrow. I'm charging up the landspeeder right now.
(Boonta Eve, incidentally, is not a Tatooine holiday. It's a Boonta holiday. I don't know what it commemorates. I assume it has something to do with the Hutts, since they are the ones who started the yearly pod-racing tradition on this planet. Boonta is the pod-racing capital of the galaxy, I realize that, but I don't know what the holiday is for.)
I don't go every year. I used to, but it got to be too expensive and time-consuming, especially after 1) I started taking my farming more seriously and 2) I lost a bundle on a certain pod race over 20 years ago, the first and only (so far) to be won by a human. (You can see me in some of the crowd footage - I'm standing behind a Rodian and I'm wearing brown.)
That was Luke's father, of course. I had put my money on Sebulba. I didn't like the cheating Dug, but I thought for sure he would win. When Skywalker Sr. won instead, I decided that I hated the kid. I mean, it was a great human interest story, but at the time, I was not in the mood for an inspiring story. I was broke.
I was surprised as anything a few years later when my neighbor Cliegg told me that he was seeing the kid's mother. Even more surprised when he bought her and brought her home. But that's another story.
Anyway, I haven't been in a few years, and the farming has been going well lately, so I decided to treat myself. I thought I should also treat Luke, since his mechanical ingenuity has been such a big help. I've already compensated Ben for the software help (I bought more of that lousy tea and agreed not to tell anyone about the man with the speeder bike), Kane for the disreputable business contacts (he's doing a koi pond - no I'm not kidding - and I'm filling it), One-Onegee for the steady hands (oil bath), and Owen for Luke's time (cash). But I wasn't sure if Owen was going to let Luke have any of the money, and I just figured the kid would get a big kick out of seeing what his father used to do.
I had to go over there anyway, to buy vegetables and ask Beru's advice on what went wrong with my chives (besides melting the pot and burning the soil). I also wanted to crow about how well the vaporators were working. I had not been able to convince Lars to try the modification, because it uses Jedix, and he just wasn't going to touch it. His loss. So, when I got there, they thought they already knew my agenda, and after a few minutes of boring grownup small talk, Luke went into the garage to, I'm not sure what exactly, slam a hammer against the hull of his T-16 for a little while is what it sounded like.
Here are the outcomes of those conversations:
1) All Beru has for veggies right now is leafy greens and fungus. No legumes. That means no fresh peas. It also means I need to buy some meat, because if I'm going to eat leafy greens and mushrooms, they'll have to be saturated with gravy. She says she's going to try root vegetables again. Ooh, that's good.
2) Smoking is bad for the plants and I shouldn't do it. Also, I shouldn't boil the water before I water the plants. I shouldn't even filter or shock it. I should just use the nasty stinky stuff right out of the recycler. Especially for Devaronian chives. I must say that was a shock. I think of plants as clean food and therefore I thought I was supposed to use clean water. Beru says no, they need nutrients and enzymes and such. I was worried about bacteria and she said that's what the slugs are for. Slugs? She said sure, and you can even train some of them to do little tricks. Uh. Thus concludes another attempt at gardening. I'll stick with hydroculture, thank you.
3) There's just no talking to Owen Lars about technology.
4) It's a good thing I waited for Luke to leave the room before I mentioned the races, and in retrospect I suppose I should have left the room first too, or better yet stayed home. All I said was, "is Luke interested in pod racing? I was thinking he might like to go to the speedway in Mos Espa with me." You would have thought I'd offered to take him to an orgy at Jabba's palace. The last thing that boy needs, I was told, is to have more big ideas in his head about traveling and fast living and questions about his father.
Owen was resolute. (In fairness, he's always resolute, about everything.) Beru looked doubtful and wanted to argue, and I suddenly realized that I had just stumbled onto a 12-year-old debate, a debate that had been going on ever since Luke was delivered to them, a debate that probably concerned Kenobi as well and that's why Owen could not share air with Kenobi and Kenobi would not discuss Luke and I couldn't talk to anybody about anything.
Awkward! A simple "no" would have sufficed.
Unfortunately, I'd already bought the tickets. I was going, at any rate. I thought of Biggs, but I didn't want to ask him and not his cousin, even though I knew she would probably say no, because I only had the one extra ticket. It turned out Darklighter was going anyway, and bringing the whole family.
There aren't any other neighborhood kids that I'm on friendly terms with, so I asked Kenobi if he wanted to go. I thought it was a simple question, but he changed his mind several times, I don't know why, and then eventually said yes. Knowing that my tickets were for terrible seats (high above some really great seats) seemed to reassure him. I think he's afraid of the cameras. I mean, he's still technically in hiding. Hardly anyone even knows about his Jedi past. But the point is, I won't have to go there alone looking like a loser with no friends.
The race is tomorrow. I'm charging up the landspeeder right now.
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