When I was in college in 1977, the original Star Wars movie came out. I was so entranced by it, I started buying the toy figures and vehicles, I bought an AT-AT Walker from Empire Strikes Back that sold for $44, that was expensive for a toy at the time. I bought the Darth Vader and Yoda masks. And yes, this was when I was in college.

I bought all the books about Star Wars, I read all the movie magazines, and found out that Star Wars creator George Lucas was from Modesto, California. Modesto is a small town in the San Joaquin Valley. It is near Lodi, another small town, where I grew up. When I found out that George Lucas was from Modesto, I began to think, “Well, if he’s from Modesto, (a small town like Lodi), and he made Star Wars, maybe I can do something too”.

I’ve also heard that George Lucas is very quiet. He was the director of ‘American Graffiti’, his first successful movie. American Graffiti was based on Lucas’ experiences as a teenager in the early 1960s in Modesto, with it’s cruising, drag racing, etc. I heard that during the filming, one of the stars, Richard Dreyfus, made a comment, “I didn’t even know the director (Lucas) could talk”. In filming Star Wars, actor Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) said “George’s direction was mainly, ‘Do it again, but just do it better this time”.

I used to think that only outgoing people or people who could talk could be successful. When I heard that George Lucas, creator of Star Wars, was a quiet person and was from a small town like Lodi, I thought that even though I was quiet and was from a small town, I could do something too. Of course my work isn’t as big as Star Wars, but the inspiration helped me to realize that I can get my dream job too.