Yes, I have a book deadline. Yes I know, I shouldn't be out playing on the holodeck when I'm running behind schedule on my timeline. Maybe I can figure out a way to do a slingshot around the sun and warp back in time to get more words done.
Nah.. figuring out the math would take too long.
I'd promised our youngest that we would do the Star Trek convention this weekend and we did! We had hoped to take a photo with Leonard Nimoy but he was a no-show. Unfortunately he had to have some minor surgery and couldn't make it to the con. Bummer!
Highlights:
Number one: My daughter and I meeting Armin Shimerman and Max Grodenchik (Quark and Rom from Deep Space Nine). I had no idea what to expect but these guys were great. Charming, generous, fun. And so cute!
Who knew you could love a Ferengi?
LOL
Number two: Winning the Star Trek Trivia contest. Yes, seriously! I won a certificate for $200 worth of ST merchandise. I won on the second question. Can you believe it? They were yes/no questions for 30 of us up on stage. They started with an easy one about Mark Lenard (Sarek). We lost a participant or two on that one. The second question was about Archer's beagle. The question was worded to sound as though it was asking if Archer had a beagle (yes) but in the question, the emcee threw in the dog's name - Athos.
Everybody knows the beagle's name Porthos. I held up my "No" sign. Everybody else held up "Yes."
And I won.
The emcee almost decided on a do-over because the "Yes" folks complained. But the audience voted that down and my win stood. Woo-hoo!!!
My daughter got to take a picture with Christopher Lloyd. He seems like a very nice man. Not terribly comfortable on stage, but nice.
The biggest surprise was how much I liked Casey Biggs (Damar). I never really gave him a lot of thought. Mind you, we're currently Netflixing the entire DS9 series and we're only in season 5. I think Damar starts playing bigger roles soon. Although Curt and I watched the show ages ago, when it was originally on, there is so much we forgot...
Anyway, Casey Biggs turned out to be an interesting surprise. I knew I would like Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat), Chase Masterson (Leeta), and Jeff Combs (how can you not like the guy who played Brunt, Weyoun, Weyoun, Weyoun, etc., and Shran?). But I had no idea I'd be so impressed by Casey Biggs. He, Jeff, and Marc did about an hour or so of Shakespeare. Yes, I said Shakespeare. Most of these actors are classically trained. Really wonderful performances. By the way, great quote of the weekend: Armin Shimerman said "...technobabble and Shakespeare... are not all that different." Before all you English majors go nuts, let me provide context. He was talking about how, as an actor, you have to make the words understandable for the audience. Shakespeare can be difficult to understand. So can technobabble. He was explaining how his training helped make him a stronger actor in all circumstances.
The only downside was that so much was shared about Deep Space Nine (spoilers) that my daughter now knows a lot that is coming in future episodes. Oh well... it was still worth it for the weekend we had.
Fun story:
Armin Shimerman, Casey Biggs, and Jeffrey Combs stood in for Leonard Nimoy on Friday afternoon. My daughter and I really enjoyed listening to them. Immediately afterward, we went to grab food because she was starving. We went to the on-site restaurant and had a nice big booth to ourselves in the back of the place. I faced the door.
Minutes later who should walk in but Jeffrey Combs and Casey Biggs. I whispered to my daughter that they were headed our way. The hostess put them in the booth directly behind my daughter... She kept mouthing "No way! No way!"
A few minutes after that, two Trekkie (I like "Trekkie" and "Trekker" and I use them interchangeably, okay?) came in and took the booth behind me. The two men were wearing Kirk outfits and were talking fairly loudly about who they wanted to see and meet. They had walked right by the two stars behind my daughter... and we were getting the giggles listening to them. When the younger Trekkie said, "I want to meet Jeff Combs," I thought we would fall over laughing. My daughter barely held it in.
Too fun.
We got our check a couple of seconds before the stars did. So, what did we fan girls do? We waited outside the restaurant pretending to take pictures of each other so that we could maybe get one of them in the background. We came close. The one below should have had Casey Biggs in it too, but he moved out of the way (to reach for a mint?) just as I took the shot. We didn't want to invade their privacy so we pretended to not even notice them as they exited. Yeah, we're cool...
If you look really closely in the doorway you'll see a man wearing short sleeves. That's Jeff Combs.
Yeah, we may not always show it, but we're Trekkies at heart.
Can you say geek girls?
Had a blast this weekend. Thoroughly enjoyed the videos. Too fun. Our favorite was "Pressure," which won the top prize, so I guess it was everyone else's favorite too. I hope it comes up on YouTube.
A woman in the audience took a picture of me during the trivia contest - where everyone voted Yes while I voted No. If she sends it to me, I'll post it here.
Live Long and Prosper!
Julie
