I saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens at 2AM on Friday the 18th, apparently the morning of its release. Because I live under a rock, I didn’t know it was in theaters until my roomie offered me an extra ticket.

We promptly went to Target where I bought an old-school Star Wars T-shirt, and my roomie bought a full-on Chewy Onesie. We expressed much disgruntlement when the men’s section had all the cool Star Wars stuff. Sometimes feminists drive me nuts, then sometimes, when standing in the women’s section faced with 3 Star Wars shirts, none of which reference the Dark Side, I get a little mad. Officially, boys get all the cool stuff. Boys get Star Wars, The Avengers, Batman and Zelda. Girls? We get Bohemian elephant t-shirts. Boo!

That night, we downed espressos like whisky shots and went to the 2AM showing. Gone are the days of hummingbird energy. At 27, we now get tired after midnight.

Needless to say, the theater was packed. Our specific theater smelled like a giant fart bomb had exploded over the seats (is “fart bomb” a thing?). If you can imagine 100+ teenage boys all sitting in unwashed pajamas, stinking of BO, sweating and farting and mouth-breathing for hours, that’s how the theater smelled.

Despite the stinky theater and Target’s blatantly one-sided T-shirt campaign, I saw The Force Awakens. When it was over, I wanted to see it again. I fell in love with Star Wars all over again.

Thank you J. J. Abrams for making a Star Wars movie that recaptured my love for the series. Without giving too much away, the main character was a strong female who, unlike Jessica Jones or Xena or that blond chick from Hero, never shoved the “strong female warrior” persona down our throats. The rest of the cast played well off one another, with a lot of fresh faces adding newness to the screen.

I give Star Wars: The Force Awakens 5 stars for awesomeness! What did you think of the movie? What do you hope to see in the sequel?

Here’s a picture of my roomie in her Wookie costume, and some very tiny storm troopers in front of the theater.