Yesterday's convention

I suppose everything went as well as could be expected. At least it was for me. I think other people might have had different feelings on the subject.

G picked me up at my place, on time, and drove me to a restaurant where he liked to have breakfast. I had never been there before. I liked the place, though what I ordered was not the best for a person trying to lose weight. Even after having breakfast, we were still a bit early, as I had been told that the general admission people would not be allowed in til 11:00, and they wouldn't even be sold tickets til 10:15. So we had time for G to run an errand, and we still arrived around 10:30. Not in any hurry, we spoke to a few people in the parking lot, and then a friend came to tell us that they were letting people in a bit early. So I told G that I would see him later, and I went off with my friend. By the time we found where to buy a ticket, there was no line at all.

At least, there was no line for buying a ticket. There was a long line for getting autographs. I wasn't sure that I wanted any because a.) getting an autograph costs a lot more than it used to, and b.) I wasn't sure if I wanted to stand in this line. So I went off in search of something else to do, thinking that the line would go down some and I might do it later.

My club had a table, somewhere. I looked around, but I didn't see it. I went in the dealer's room, not so much looking at the dealers, but looking around for my friends in case they had been moved to this room. I didn't see them. I ran into a few more friends and talked for a bit, then walked around looking again for the club table. I had walked back and forth the entire length of the place twice without seeing it. I found another friend, who pointed out the table for me. I hadn't seen it before because of all the people in the autograph line in front of it. Okay, mystery solved.

So after figuring out where most everything was, I went back to the dealer's room. I didn't see much that I wanted, which was good, cause I didn't want to spend much money. The main thing that I wanted was Nichelle Nichols' autograph. Getting Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura) to autograph a picture would cost $30, and I wasn't even sure that included the picture.

There were other people there besides Nichelle Nichols. I had met Anne Lockhart (original Battlestar Galactica) before. Erin Gray from Buck Rogers was there. The girl who had played Batgirl in the 60s was there. The medtech from the now cancelled Stargate Universe was there. But I think most of us wanted to see Nichelle Nichols, Morena Baccarin (Firefly and the new V), and Trisha Helfer and Katee Sackhoff of the Battlestar Galactica remake.

Now, at about $30 each, getting all the autographs would have cost me over two hundred dollars. I already have autographed pictures of Anne and Erin, so that would bring it down to $180. Not much of a Batman fan, so I didn't really need that autograph either. And as much as everyone else loved the new Battlestar Galactica, by the end of it I was mainly still watching cause everyone else loved it so much I just wanted to keep up so I'd know what everyone else was talking about. So the remaining three autographs would have cost me $90. And even if I'd had $90, that's just too much. And really, while I'm still a fan of Stargate Universe, I don't really feel that I need that autograph either. If I spent all the money I had I could get two autographs, and it would have been really nice to have Morena Baccarin sign something, but no.

It did not used to be this way. When I first started going to conventions, the actors who did autographs did them for free (or at least, we did not pay them directly, it was included in the price of the ticket). So either the actors would autograph stuff for everybody, or they would autograph stuff for a limited amount of time they had been paid to do that, or they didn't autograph anything for anybody (I was shocked the first time I paid to see Leonard Nimoy and he didn't do autographs, and DeForest Kelley didn't do autographs at public appearances because he had arthritis), depending on how much the convention had paid them and how long they were scheduled, etc.... So if the actor was doing autographs, the only additional money you had to spend to get an autograph was maybe five dollars for a photo for them to sign, but if you didn't have that they might still sign your convention program.

Then came the VIP tickets and the Gold tickets and the preferred seating tickets, etc.... You had to pay to get autographs, and they probably weren't going to do autographs for everyone, so if you really wanted an autograph you should buy a special ticket that put you at the front of the line and such. I have never done that, but some of my friends always do that. The price of getting an autograph went from free to five dollars to ten dollars to twenty dollars.

I pretty much stopped getting autographs then, though I did still purchase a few, and I got five free for volunteering at a Stargate convention. But it's been about ten years since I've done much of this sort of thing. I miss it sometimes. (But I don't miss it enough to spend a lot of money and/or drive to the other side of Dallas.)

Someone from my club stood in that long line and spent $120 getting three autographs. He wanted two more autographs, but Trisha and Katee were late and he'd have to get them later. He ate lunch and then got back in line.

I talked to a few more people and then had another look at the autograph line. It was about half the size it had been, but it was still a line. And that was just the line to get into the room. You had to stand in line again for each autograph.

And the people with VIP tickets got to go to the front of the line, whenever they happened to arrive. So you could stand in line for a long time, nearly get to the front of the line, and then have dozens of people just walk in front of you. And the preferred seating group was also supposed to go before the general admission people, but there seemed to be some confusion about that. Anyway, I thought that maybe most of the VIP group had already gone through the line and there wouldn't be that many of them walking up to the front. But I still had to seriously think about standing in this line and spending $30.

While I was standing there thinking about it, one of the volunteers was trying to explain how the line was now being split into two separate lines, because Trisha and Katee still were not there. If you were waiting for either of them you stayed where you were, but if you just wanted one of the other autographs, you got to move forward quite a bit. You still had to stand in line again once you got into the autograph room, but still, if I got in line right then that cut the wait time by more than half. So I got in line.

Once I got inside the room and found out which line I was supposed to be in, it was okay. There were people waiting for Trisha and Katee. Nichelle and Morena both had long lines, but not near as long as the line outside. There was a very small line of people waiting to get Batgirl's autograph, and a few people talking to Anne and Erin. There was no one waiting for the Stargate Universe medtech. I felt sorry for her. If I wasn't so short on money I think I might have gotten out of line and gone to her table for a bit. It didn't stay that way forever, but she never quite had the line the the actors around her had.

When I was halfway through the line to get Nichelle's autograph, I saw Katee come in. Stuff happens. Planes are delayed, and there are accidents on the freeway, and people are late. It is annoying for them, and it is annoying for us.

I got Nichelle's autograph. I couldn't think of anything interesting to say. I had seen all of the other original cast members in person; she was the last.

Now that I had my signed photo, I went back to the dealer's room to buy a photo protector. I probably had several at home, but I forgot to bring any. It's been a long time since I've gone to a convention. I'm just not organized.

A bit later I see the guy from our group still in line in the hallway, waiting to get autographs from Trisha and Katee. That surprised me, as I had seen one of them come in and I thought the other one was just behind her. But just before he could get into the room, one of them was called away to do a photo op, and not only are photo ops scheduled for a very short time, they cost more than autographs, so the photo ops were not delayed anymore than necessary. He was still waiting in line when I went off to get a seat to hear Morena speak.

The schedule had been changed. There should have been someone else speaking in the main room when I arrived, but the room was nearly empty. There had been an announcement, but I had missed hearing it in the autograph room. But it was not important.

I went to look for G, and did not find him. This worried me a bit, that I would not find him before the other stuff started, and maybe he would want to leave as soon as Nichelle finished speaking but couldn't find me. I spent about twenty minutes looking for him, gave up, and went back to the main stage room. There were a few more people there now, so I did not have the perfect seat that I gave up, but I still had a good one. K came to join me, and I saved G a seat just in case.

Now there was confusion as to where the preferred seating people were supposed to sit. The VIP sections were clearly roped off, but I didn't see anything that said preferred seating. Someone sitting behind me had paid the extra ten dollars for the preferred seating, and she thought that she the general admission people would be asked to wait outside until all the VIP and preferred seating ticket holders were seated, and that this would be repeated again between speakers. I expected that since no one had asked me to wait that other than roped off areas it was first come first served, and I had a good seat and I would be there for the next three hours or so.

Morena spoke for almost an hour, and then Nichelle spoke. At that point I found G, who was not concerned one way or another when we left. We stayed to hear the last panel, which was Trisha and Katee. The other actresses did not speak that day, and most of them were not scheduled to speak on Sunday.

G and I left. I do not know when or if the other guy from our group (who paid a bit extra for the preferred seating ticket) got his autographs from Trisha and or Katee. Except for lunch the only time I saw the poor guy he was standing in line for something.

I was tired by then, and mostly glad that G was ready to leave. Others were going hang around for a bit and then head to a restaurant. It would have been nice, but I didn't need it, and I'm eating quite enough non-diet type food as it is.

I got home and thought how this wasn't my life anymore. I kind of miss it, but on the other hand I kind of don't. I wish I had something else entirely, but I haven't a clue what or how to get it.

But I am very glad that after all this time I have finally seen all of the original Star Trek actors.

New plans for today

At rather the last minute, I decided I might want to go to a convention today. I've known about it for several months but didn't think that I'd really want to go. It's in Plano, which is not the other side of the world, but it is the other side of Dallas and way north of my comfort zone. So I thought I'd just see if I could get a ride. I was pretty sure that I could get a ride with K, but I'd heard earlier that he was driving S, and S has become a ranting atheist and I wasn't sure that I wanted to be in the car with her for that long.

As expected, when I asked the question K offered, and the offer was repeated my someone else going with him, but I decided against it, not because of the ranting atheist, but because it just sounded really inconventient for K in addition to having to run an errand before the convention in addition to already having to pick up S before meeting the other guy. And S lives nowhere near me, and arranging to meet up with the other guy (which the other guy did suggest) would have had the other guy driving in the wrong direction.

But at the same time as the guys offered, G also offered, and he isn't driving anyone else, he just wants someone willing to go to the thing early enough to get breakfast at a certain place near the convention. G and I are not friends, so it was very nice that he offered at all. I accepted his invitation. So far no one else is meeting us at the restaurant.

The diet is pretty much shot for the month now. For breakfast I will probably order something that is more calories than I normally have for both breakfast and lunch. And then tomorrow there is pizza at the meeting, and then the next two weekends there's other things going on which also involve eating stuff that one shouldn't eat while trying to lose weight. So I guess for now I'll just try not to gain anything back rather than stick to the diet and not participate.

Back to the convention.

It isn't much of a convention. It sounds like the Creation Cons I used to go to, with the only point of being there is to see Nichelle Nichols (and debate if I should spend that much money to get her autograph). Nichelle Nichols is the only one of the original group that I haven't seen in person. There will be other actors there, and it will be nice to see them, but I just can't seem to get that excited about seeing actors, or at least not the way I used to. And that's all there will be at this convention, or at least that's all that has been scheduled, so there's no contest or fan-run panels, and there's only the dealers room and the main stage.

Got to go now. Must get ready early today because of the breakfast plans.

Billy Mummy will NOT be in Dallas this weekend

Okay, he wasn't going to be in Dallas anyway, he was going to be in Richardson. Close enough. Anyway, I just read that he isn't going to be at the Sci Fi Expo this weekend because of some family emergency. So I hope that whatever it is isn't too bad.

As for the fans who wanted to meet him, try again in August.

Me, I had already decided that I wasn't going anyway. I hate Dallas. And I hate going to a lot of near Dallas because it pretty much means driving through Dallas. So after a month or so of thinking about it, I decided not to go, even to meet Billy Mummy. And for me that would have been the main reason to go. Sure meeting all those other people would have been nice, but the main thing for me would have been seeing Billy Mummy.

Hey, look, Tony Todd. How did I miss that the first time?

No, still not going. Not for Billy Mummy and Tony Todd. So definitely not going now that Billy Mummy isn't going to be there.

So, why am I posting this?

For some reason, this was where some people first heard about the whole Fedcon disaster, so I thought that I should post Billy Mummy's cancellation, and the fact that some of the other guests might be late (Michael Hogan's flight was delayed), etc.... But these little things happen, so it's not really like Fedcon at all.

General Hammond of Texas is dead

Or at least, actor Don S. Davis is dead. I'm just now hearing this, but it happened Friday. Also Friday was the release of the DVD Stargate: Continuum, which I didn't know about either.

Don S. Davis was at the last convention I volunteered at three or four years ago. He was a very nice guy, and he signed autographs, and he read us a poem about smoking with Willie. Most of my regular readers won't probably won't understand, but that's Willie Nelson. A general hanging out with Willie is an interesting image.

Anyway, in my little group we are glad that we got to meet him and we're sorry that he's gone.

Since my last post is getting so much attention...

I have a few more words to say about Fedconusa.

I have already mentioned how Aaron Douglas tried to warn fans that he might not actually be at the convention, since he was still waiting on plane tickets and such. The fans who actually got word of this appreciate his efforts, but unfortunately most people showed up at the convention without having any clue that anything was wrong.

The organizers of our local Fencon are really hoping that people do not get them confused with Fedconusa, since when most of us were talking about Fedconusa we shortened it to Fedcon. These are all separate groups. Fedconusa was a one time thing, Fedcon is a respected group in Germany that has been in business for sixteen years, and Fencon is our local Dallas group that has put on an annual convention for about five years. If I remember correctly, past guests of Fencon include David Gerrold, Larry Niven, and S.M.Stirling.

So far, my friends do not have refunds, and are not holding their breaths.

When the stars arrived at the convention and found out that they weren't going to get paid, they stayed anyway.

Anne Lockhart (Sheba from the original Battlestar Galactica) saw the Fedconusa website and saw that she was scheduled to appear. Not having heard how Aaron Douglas and other actors had not been paid or sent plane tickets, etc...she made her own travel plans, thinking that there had been an error and all would be straightened out once she got here. That's right. She paid for her own plane tickets and hotel rooms. Once she got here she found out that she wasn't getting paid and she wasn't getting reimbursed for her travel expenses, but she stayed and signed autographs and such.

A dealer I know didn't arrive at the convention until Saturday morning. About ten minutes after he finished setting up his table, he's told that the convention is canceled and he has to take it all down and leave.

While someone in the main room made the announcement that the convention was being canceled, some of the volunteers hadn't been told, and they were still selling tickets to the convention.

The hotel allowed one convention room to stay in use on Saturday, and most of the stars went there to sign autographs. John Billingsley even continued to honor the Gold Pass and did not charge those people any additional money for autographs, though some of the fans went ahead and paid him anyway. Actors JG Hertzler and Robert O'Reiley found out that the convention was canceled while they were halfway through having their Klingon makeup put on. They finished having the makeup put on and went on with the autograph and photo session. Garrett Wang (Ensign Kim) "stole" a photo, and the Klingons chased him around the room.

Anyway, the actors tried to save the show and see that the fans had a bit of fun. Still, the people who were there are calling it Frak-con or Dead-con.

I'm not going to Roswell, again

About sixty years ago, a flying saucer was reported to have crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. The event was reported in newspapers across the country, only the be followed the next day by a story claiming that the "flying saucer" had turned out to be a weather balloon.

Years later, different groups of witnesses came forth to tell what really happened at the Roswell flying saucer crash, or the crash at Corona as it is sometimes called. In the eighties, several people wrote books on the subject, decades after most people had forgotten all about it. In the late eighties and early nineties, the public demanded to know what really happened. Then we all learned about something called Project Mogul.

Tourists started visiting Roswell. A few people started museums about flying saucers. Visitors went out to see the crash-site.

And then came the Roswell UFO Festival. There were serious lectures and such, as well as some not so serious stuff. Bike races, movies, a dance, and a costume contest.

It was a bit of fun. Some friends of mine at some of the local clubs went. The next year a bunch more went. By the fiftieth anniversary, this was going to be a big deal.

Harlan Ellison went on television to tell us how stupid we were for having a big party. I've always wondered if he paid for the TV time himself, or if the Sci Fi Channel used to like him so much that they just gave him free air time to say whatever he wanted. The first possibility seems unlikely, but the second possibility seems unlikely as well. Only a dozen or so people like Harlan Ellison, and I only know that because I've met about half of them.

So there was the big party planned, and some people were guessing that half a million people would go. I wanted to go, but I didn't have any money. But I really did want to go.

At the time my husband worked as a traveling photographer at a company that was cheating him. I have signed legal papers that prevent me from talking about it, so I won't say the name of the company. Anyway, my husband's boss at the time was Ms. Big Eyelashes, and she kept promising him that things would get better. And to keep him from quitting, she told him that she could arrange for him to travel to other districts whenever he wanted.

I decided to put this to the test and told her that we wanted to be in Roswell for the 4th of July weekend. I told her that it would not be possible to actually work in Roswell that week, since even if there happened to be a job there at the time that we wouldn't be able to get a room there. But maybe she could get something in the general area, say something that would be a half hour drive, or maybe even an hour.

Sure, no problem.

My friends kept asking me if I wanted to share a room and travel expenses with them on the trip to New Mexico. No, I said. I don't have that much money. Supposedly I'll still get to go, but I can't spare the money to share a room in Roswell with anyone.

I kept asking about it, and Ms. Big Eyelashes kept telling me that everything was fine. She just had to get permission to trade photographers with someone in that district that week. The other district manager was okay with the idea, but she didn't have the schedule yet.

Anyway, the date got closer and closer, and I kept getting offers to go to this thing with other people. A couple of people had to cancel, and the rest of them would rather that someone went who could pay some of the expenses rather than just be short a person and have to make up all of the money themselves.

Thanks anyway, but I really can't afford even that.

I asked Ms. Big Eyelashes again, and again she said everything was fine.

A friend of mine offered to take me along, and he didn't ask for any money. But he'd just remarried, and I didn't know his new wife that well. I thought she might not like another woman tagging along. She might have different ideas about the trip. Having to take two kids on the trip was one thing, but having an extra woman on the trip is different.

Thanks anyway.

I asked Ms. Big Eyelashes again, and again she doesn't say anything useful. I'm starting to get very annoyed with her. Not that I wasn't annoyed with her already, but I was started to get really annoyed about this trip to New Mexico in particular. If she couldn't do it, she should just admit it and get it over with. If the trip is going to happen we need to know where specifically so that we would know where to reserve a room. That sort of thing isn't normally a problem, and we rarely make reservations, but this was different. I figured we would probably be working in Artesia or something, but if we didn't hurry we wouldn't be able to get a room there either. Roswell didn't have enough motel rooms for all the people going to the UFO Festival, and maybe all the rooms in Artesia would be taken too.

At one point Ms. Big Eyelashes said something really stupid. She said that she had the guy on the phone and he was making up the schedule, but she didn't know which week I wanted to be in New Mexico. It wasn't like this year, with the 4th being on a Wednesday. Not sure if the weekend before or the weekend after gets to be the 4th of July weekend when the 4th is on a Wednesday. But this was not the case that year, and the 4th was either on Saturday or maybe Sunday. The work week for us at the time was Thursday through Monday, so there was no doubt which week I was asking about when I told her I wanted to be in Roswell for the 4th of July weekend.

A week later she tells my husband she's arranged for him to work in Brownfield, Texas on the week in question.

Not even in the right state. I don't know if it was even the right district, but it's not close to Roswell. It's like a two or two and a half hour drive between Brownfield and Roswell. There's no way that I could get to the UFO Festival if I was staying in Brownfield. And Brownfield is a bit of a drive from here. It just wasn't worth going there at all.

Then she tells me that if my husband doesn't work in Brownfield that week he'll have no work at all. The schedule is already made up, and there's nothing for him in his regular district.

Fine.

The Festival was Thursday through Sunday, with most of the good stuff being on Saturday. My husband worked Thursday through Monday. We had put a camper shell and such on the truck for carrying the photo equipment, so I was unable to drive the truck myself. My husband couldn't drive two hours, drop me off at Roswell, drive back to Brownfield, go to work, drive back to Roswell, get me, and then drive back to Brownfield. That would have taken between seventeen and nineteen hours. I could have gotten a ride from Artesia, or maybe even from Carlsbad, but not from Brownfield. It just wasn't even worth thinking about it.

We decided since we were stuck with the schedule that we might as well go a day early and drive to Roswell anyway.

So we go to Roswell on that Wednesday before the Festival and there is really nothing to do except for the stuff that's always there. So that isn't very much. And there was someone selling hot sauce, but we didn't buy any. We went to Roswell's regular museum (with art and regular science stuff, not flying saucer stuff), and we went to a couple of the flying saucer museums and stores. And it was crowded everywhere we went, cause about half of the half million people who wanted to go to the Festival were already in town looking for something to do, so we all ended up being at the same places. But I didn't see any of my friends from the clubs.

I did see Stanton Friedman. I didn't hear him speak or talk to him or anything, I just saw him. In fact, I think I stepped in front of a camera when someone was trying to interview him. Sorry about that. Did I mention that the place was crowded?

You know what happens when half a million people go out to New Mexico in July?

They sweat. They sweat a lot. We went to the planetarium show. It was a sold out show. And it did not smell good.

It was too crowded to see a movie at the UFO museum, and there was no reason to stay in town to watch a regular movie that we could see just as well in Brownfield. So, we headed back. I think that was the opening day of the first Men In Black movie. We were surprised that the little failing down theater in Brownfield had it already. On the way out you get to vote on what movie the theater shows next week, even if you're not going to be in town next week.

So my friends went the next day and the day after that and Saturday and Sunday and just had all kinds of fun. I heard that Will Smith hung out for a while. A bunch of my friends were in the costume contest. Some of them got their pictures in magazines, and one of them was paid five hundred dollars to be on the book cover of a book about Area 51.

I spent the rest of the week stuck in a motel room in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing to do except go to Walmarts and maybe go to the movie theater, but we'd already done that on Wednesday.

So this year I was vaguely aware that it was the 60th anniversary of the Roswell crash, and they were having the UFO Festival. I even looked at the schedule of events and such. I decided that it probably wasn't worth it. It didn't look like the serious UFO people were going to be there, and if any of my friends from the clubs are going they didn't mention it.

Turns out that the serious UFO people are going to be there, but they just didn't get top billing on the ad that I saw. The costume contest and such as that were more important. And there's a special screening of the 50s version War Of The Worlds followed by a talk with the actress who starred in it.

So maybe it would have been fun, but by the time I thought that it might be fun it was too late for me to plan a trip. Besides, we've spent all of our money on cameras and trips to Arkansas and such.

The Invasion

Well, I guess I will write about Monday Morons a bit later. I am still trying to decide if I should write more about the divorce, or if I should write about my mom (and that also has to do with the divorce), or if I should write about my husband, or if I should write about being in bed this morning. That last thing wouldn't be anything really bad, but I am a lady, and I do not want to write any pornographic posts. I'd have to write it in a way that would be funny, without much in the way of naughty bits.

Anyway, we are having bacon for breakfast. Bacon isn't on the diet, so we have to eat all of it before the diet, see? Also, last night I went on one more all we can stuff ourselves Chinese buffet. The other time was with my husband, and last night was with the club. See?

Yesterday I found out about The Invasion. I don't know how that one got past me before. It's out in August, and I'm only finding out about it now? My husband was all like, so what? You saw how bad she (Nicole Kidman) messed up The Stepford Wives, so I don't know why you would get excited now. Well, the Stepford remake was not so great, but I don't think that any of the actors could be blamed for that. Moving on.

Anyway, I'm just about the biggest Invasion of the Body Snatchers fan there is. I've read the book and seen the three movies. This movie is said to have started out being a fourth version of the Body Snatchers story and then was changed to something else. Not sure how much has changed. If you watch the preview you'll hear mostly the same lines from the 70s version just being said by someone else. I'm wondering if maybe they got rid of the seed pods. If you know, don't tell me. I hate spoilers. Once I've heard enough to decide that I'm definitely going to watch a movie, I don't want to hear anything more about it.

Let me say it again. I HATE SPOILERS. If you tell me more about this movie than I want to know, you are taking your life in your hands. And if you are a certain suicidal hairy nurse, and you tell me something about this movie that I'd rather wait and see for myself, you are taking your balls....

Never mind, he probably does that anyway. Moving on.

Okay, if you would like a bit of trivia on the story that does not involve spoilers for the new movie, Jack Finney's first thought about the story was the dog scene. He didn't really know where he was going from there, only that an important part of the story would revolve maybe around a scene of a dog getting hit by a car. He wasn't really sure what he was going to do with it. Maybe the dog would turn out to be a robot or something.

Also Mr. Finney mistakenly sold too much of his rights away when the first movie was made. He wasn't consulted on the second movie, and I don't believe he was paid anything for the second or third movies. He did a slight rewrite of the book right about the time that the second version of the movie came out, so I hope he made some money.

Okay, if you haven't seen it yet, here's the preview. And please remember, leave comments, but DON'T LEAVE ANY DAMNED SPOILERS.


http://us.video.aol.com/player/launcher?ar=us_en_video_748x541_full&mid=24581&mode=0&pmmsid=1922492

Interesting week

In the last week or so I've gained a few new readers. Welcome new readers. Stick around, leave comments, etc....

I bought a car. It was weird. It was sort of like buying a pizza, only it took longer. We've been seriously talking about it for a few months, and we were talking about a bit before since the whole thing that happened last year. But I didn't want a car last year. It seemed like he was trying to buy me back, and I didn't like it when he first mentioned it. Later, it didn't sound like that was what he was trying to do at all, but there was nothing wrong with my car and we couldn't afford to get a new one. But, now the old car was doing odd things and rather than get stranded somewhere in the dark I decided that I should probably get a new one.

So we had been talking about getting a certain kind of car, and we had talked about waiting til the holiday sale time to see if the ad was a gimmick or what, and then when the day of the sale arrived they didn't have that car in stock anymore. So I had a bit of a panic attack. And then we were looking at the car ads and I found an ad for a different car that was really cheap. I don't understand, but it seemed like someone made a bunch of really cheap cars that were orange for some reason. But I don't care what color the car is. If it's cheap and it runs and has an A/C, who cares what color it is. But, the cheap car turned out to be manual, and I only drive auto.

But then we were thinking maybe I should drive one of these kinds of cars anyway. The automatic cars with A/C and such cost at least four thousand more, but often cost even more with all the other stuff added. We saw one that had been 13 something that was marked down to 11 something. And it wasn't orange.

I really don't think all this stuff that they put on cars is worth all of that. I do like the gizmo that melts the ice off of the back window, but I don't think I would pay extra for it. And I never listen to the radio anymore; it is just a distraction. So I would not have paid an extra two thousand dollars for a lot of stuff that I mostly don't even know what it is, even if it includes the thing that melts the ice off of the back window. But, on the other hand, if they want to give me all that stuff for free, why not?

So I drive this car around the block and such. The seat is a bit taller than the car I've been driving, which may take a while to get used to, but I will probably appreciate it later. If I drive the new car for ten years, I'll still have the thing when I'm fifty. I really don't want to be driving around in those low sports car seats when I'm fifty. The back has more space than my old car, but is not quite as long as the car I had when I was an Art Major. But I guess it's close enough, and I'm not an Art Major anymore.

There was not much discussion about the thing. I think my husband was just getting sick of going back and forth with the idea. It went sort of like--you need a car, and here is a car, and you like the car, and that's not a bad price on the car, and the place is nearby if the car needs service. That was pretty much that. So now I have a car.

There is all this stuff about getting a copy of the title of my old car that is starting to be a pain. But I think I finally have the right forms and will get it taken care of soon. Not like they really gave me much for the old car. I've seen other places give you that much if you don't have anything to trade.

Some friends of mine had some fun on TV. There were at least three different segments on two different channels, but this is the only one that I could find on the Internet.
http://www.wfaa.com/video/index.html?nvid=148126

There were a couple of better Klingons on one of the other segments, and they aren't even on the Klingon ship. We rarely see them either, except around Halloween. I saw M and J at a Ren Fest last year. They were dressed as Gandalf and Frodo, and the costumes were really great, but I didn't recognize them as M and J. Someone had to tell me who was wearing the costumes a week later.

But these guys aren't too bad either. Of course, I know the humans in the group, but I'm not sure if I've meet these particular Klingons. I'm sure that they were at the picnic I missed a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway, the point of the news segments was that my friends are going to help out at this Star Trek thing with Robert Picardo (EMH from Voyager) and John De Lancie (Q) at the Dallas Symphony next week. I don't think I'll be going. I have a costume, but my best Star Trek costume is a Borg parody. And, after what happened to a girl who went to the Star Wars thing in the Princess Leia bikini, I think that I won't be wearing the Borg thing unless I am specifically invited.

And of course, I hate Dallas. And I do not plan to drive to Dallas. And I especially do not want to drive to Dallas in my new car, even if it does have gap insurance.

British Sci-Fi

It's Star Wars Week, and we're all talking about Star Wars on our blogs. I can't say that it's my favorite. I don't hate it or anything like that, but it will never be my favorite. Anyway, other people have had plenty to say about Star Wars this week, so I thought I'd talk about something a little different. Seeing that I don't have much to add to the Star Wars discussion, let's talk about other British sci-fi movies and TV.



Last week I saw 28 Weeks Later. This is the sequel to 28 Days Later. For the most part, this is a zombie movie with a scientific explanation. Sort of like Warning Sign. But Warning Sign is not a British film, so I'll talk about it some other time. Anyway, the zombie-like people are infected with a disease called Rage, and it is highly contagious. In the first movie, nearly everyone in Britain either caught the disease and died of starvation a month later, or they were were eaten by someone else that had the disease. The second movie takes place about six months later, when someone has decided that everything is safe and they should start moving people back into London, or at least someplace near London. Anyway, I liked the new movie, but not as much as the first one. The second one has more gore, and they skipped a lot of the cliche end-of-the-world stuff of the original. I happen to like cliche end-of-the-world stuff. And I have one silly observation about the abandoned pizza place. Why is it that six months later there is a dead guy that has decomposed almost to a skeleton, but on the tables and in boxes there are things that are still easily identified as pizza? I mean, even if the stray dogs and such didn't find the pizza, shouldn't it have decomposed into something that doesn't look like pizza anymore?





So I'm sitting in the theater watching 28 Weeks later, and I'm noticing similarities between the one of the main characters and the Homewrecking-slut. So that added to my enjoyment of the movie a bit, knowing that at least in the fictional world of this movie, she is either dead or one of these blood-splattered lunatics. But, this is a not a post about the Homewrecking-slut, so I won't tell you anymore about that. Let's move on.



There's other end of the world British sci-fi stuff. There's Children of Men, with a whole world of infertile people and a very depressing future version of England being the best of what's left. The place is so depressing, that suicide kits are handed out free of charge. Nice.



And there was a TV series called Survivors. I didn't see much of it, but a plague wipes out most of the human race after a scientist goes to an international airport. 98 people out of 100 die in England, and the survivors try to get get by. I watched the beginning of the series, when they did everything wrong. Maybe it got better.



There was a TV series called The Last Train. A woman on a train thinks that a big meteor is coming, so when they are safely inside a tunnel she freezes everyone on the train. They wake up fifty years later and try to find other people.



One of my favorite end of civilization stories is Day of the Triffids. Most people go blind and then these big plants eat everyone. It's more about the ugly things that the people do to each other, but if you sit still too long, a plant will eat you.



And speaking of John Wyndam stories, movies were also made from another book, The Midwich Cuckoos. The Village of the Damned was based on that, and there was a sequel called Children of the Damned, and then there was a remake and there's probably other stuff out there that I don't know about. Super advanced children were born to mothers who really can't even explain how they got pregnant in the first place. It seems to have been done by aliens, but we're not sure because we never see these aliens. The super advanced children are scary and if someone doesn't kill them all they'll probably take over the world.



I watched a bit of Blake's 7. Blake kept getting arrested for speaking out against the government. In the future there's only one government. I'm not sure if there was ever anything specifically wrong with this government, or just the fact that there was only one and they didn't like it. Anyway, Blake was one his way to jail on the moon or something, and he and a bunch of other prisoners stole a spaceship and escaped.



The British had a couple of sci-fi comedies. The first was The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I believe actually started out on radio. There was later a TV series and about five books, and a few years ago it was made into a movie. It's about the misadventures of an alien who was literally hitchhiking across the galaxy when he got stuck on Earth for several years and a friend from Earth who escapes with him right before the Earth was destroyed to make room for an interstellar by-pass.



Red Dwarf is another British comedy that involves a hologram, a robot, a computer, a guy who's been in suspended animation for 3 million years, and a black guy that evolved from the other guy's cat.



There was a TV show called Space 1999. It wasn't my favorite. It was set on our moon, but the moon was sent flying out of its orbit after a nuclear explosion. They rarely had any plot elements that did anything with the fact that they were actually on the moon instead of a starship or a space-station. And they had a lot of rubber monsters.



Dr. Who also had a lot of rubber monsters. A lot of different actors played Dr. Who during the TV series. So many different actors played The Doctor that he changes bodies or "regenerates" as part of the story. I've never seen the first Doctor, because the video tapes were used over again and no one officially made copies of things back then. I don't care for the second doctor. Pertwee isn't bad at all, but I think most fans prefer Tom Baker, and he is the reason I am making all these ridiculously long scarves. I think the show had three actors after him. There was a movie version of Dr. Who, and The Doctor was played by Peter Cushing. Couldn't quite see him being the major villain in Star Wars after that. Fox tried to get a Dr. Who series going in the US, but they only made the one movie. About three years ago, after the show had been off the air for about twenty years, Dr. Who is back on British television. The invisible man from Heroes played The Doctor for one season, and was then replaced by Masterpiece Theater's Casanova. There's a Dr. Who spin-off called Torchwood, and I believe another one is planned around the character of Sarah Jane Smith and the robot dog K-9.



A company called Hammer Films made a lot of sci-fi and horror stuff. They made the Quatermass movies. There was also a Quatermass TV show. Different actors keep playing Professor Quatermass. The only story I've seen of it that I really like is Quatermass and the Pit, which was released in the US as Five Million Years to Earth. I've probably already discussed that elsewhere in this blog.



And Hammer Films made a lot of Frankenstein movies that most of us have never heard of. Peter Cushing sometimes played Dr. Frankenstein. David Prowse played one of the monsters, as did Christopher Lee.



I'm sure I missed just tons and tons of stuff, but I think that's all I want to get into at the moment.

Monday Morons at conventions

As some of you may know, I recently went out of town the week of spring break. I wanted to rest and spend some time with my husband. I should have been home catching up on housework and doing stuff in the garden, but I decided that other things were more important.

While I was gone, I missed two small sci-fi conventions that were in my area the weekend of the 16th. I wanted to go to both of them, but besides the fact that I also wanted to go out of town and rest, I also did not have a lot of money and did not want to be tempted to buy autographs and such. Most of my friends went to one of them, and they had a blast even if they didn't spend money on autographs and such. Our little group even had a private room, and some of the actors stopped by. Can't get much better than having the actors in your private room.

But I didn't write this post to say I was a moron for not going to the convention. I did not have a perfect week away, but if I hadn't gone I think I would have regretted it. And I did not write this post to call my fellow get-a-lifers morons either.

I wrote this post to complain about the people who organize the conventions.

What were they thinking, organizing two convention on the same weekend?

I personally don't think that there is enough stuff like that to do in the area, and then there are two things the same weekend? You'd think that one of them would here about the other one and reschedule.

Unless maybe one of them did that on purpose.

I don't really think that was the case this time. I think that this is the third year for All-Con, and they are trying to make this an annual thing, and you want to try to have your annual thing on the same weekend every year. I did not go to the first one, but I went last year.

As for the comic con, those happen fairly often, and I think that the guy running that show either picks a day when he can get a good deal at the convention center, or on a day that he thinks he'll get most of the talent he's interested in signing. In my opinion, All-Con was not promoted very well this year, so it is very possible that comic con guy did not even know about the other convention until it was too late.

But in the past, we had a couple of groups doing conventions here, and they would be on the same weekend. It looked like Creation Con was trying to run off Vulkon. Vulkon would plan a convention, and then Creation Con would have something that same weekend, with really cheap tickets. Or Vulkon would plan a convention around a certain actor, and then Creation Con would plan a convention nearby for the month before that, with the same actor.

One time Vulkon planed a convention in Irving around the guy who played Odo (Rene Auberjonois) Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Creation con then hired the same actor to be at one of their conventions the month before in Plano. If everyone already got Rene's autograph in Plano, then they probably wouldn't have any reason to buy tickets to the convention in Irving. Anyway, when the actor found out that Plano and Irving were in the same area, he decided to cancel on the Plano convention. He made the commitment to Vulkon first, and he didn't want to see them get screwed. I think he made the right decision, but it ticked off a lot of people who bought Creation Con tickets, who then couldn't get their money back. The convention in Plano wasn't cancelled, they just got a different actor. I don't even remember who it was, but it was someone who'd already been to that area, and a lot of the people already had that person's autograph.

After a couple of years of this sort of thing going on, Vulkon quit coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. And Creation decided that they weren't making enough money here, so they quit doing Star Trek conventions here too. I think that they did a couple of Buffy the Vampire Slayer things, but I didn't go to them. And they did a Stargate thing two years ago, but that is all that they've done in the area for the last ten years or so.

So there was this whole stupid thing of both companies fighting over the area, and then neither one of them wanted to do business here. So we all got screwed.

I really hope that this isn't the same thing all over again.

100th post: Dinner with Shatner

I'm not sure how far back this was, maybe 1995. Voyager was the new Star Trek series. I was in a different Star Trek club than the one I am in now. I went to a lot of conventions. I had some fun.

Some people in the club I am in now and the club I was in then volunteered at a museum sometimes. I tried to do that for a while, but I quickly dropped out. I had volunteered at another museum before that one and was used to getting of stuff in return for my work. Working for no money is one thing, actually working for free is something else.

And I hate Dallas anyway.

This museum in Dallas was going to have a Star Trek exhibit. At about the same time, there was a small convention planned near the museum. People in the area were getting interested in Star Trek.

Wouldn't it be cool if we could get the actors who played the four captains on the four Star Trek shows all together for some event?

So I think I knew about The Legacy of Star Trek Dinner Gala before the actors did. More people got involved, and it looked like it might actually happen some time that September. There was all kinds of scheduling that had to be worked out, but none of the actors had actually said no, so maybe it would all work out.

Kate Mulgrew, Avery Brooks, Patrick Stewart, and William Shatner were all very busy people at the time. Finding a weekend when they were all free turned out to be very difficult. But it was finally narrowed down to two possible days: one day everyone but Kate Mulgrew was available, and on another day everyone but Patrick Stewart was available. Since Kate Mulgrew was the star of the new show, Patrick Stewart got bumped from the program.

Jonathan Frakes came instead, so they could still call it the four captains' dinner if they wanted.

Sometimes the local clubs are asked to help out at conventions and such. Volunteer security and directing foot traffic and stuff like that. For a while a friend of mine organized people from many clubs in Starfleet Region 3 (Texas, Louisiana, and Mars) to help out with such things, usually in return for free admission and free advertisements for the clubs and stuff like that. This was something she was not paid for, but it over time it seemed to develop all of the hassles of a real business. People she barely knew would call and complain that she did not pick enough people in a certain club, people demanded to work on certain projects after the schedule was already filled, I've worked twice as long as the new guy and he got just as many freebies as I did, mom always did like you best, etc.... She was getting tired of the whole thing. She decided she didn't want the Region 3 volunteer group anymore, just the volunteer group from her own club. If she needed more people, she'd ask for help from people in specific clubs, or maybe she'd just ask specific people.

So when this thing came up, she only had twenty slots to fill, and she was not going to waste them on the Region 3 group. I was one of the extra people she talked to about the Gala.

On that same weekend was a Stellar Occasions convention. I think Jerry Doyle (Mr.Garibaldi from Babylon 5) was there that year, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the point being that if I didn't get to go to this thing, I would not be totally crushed, there were other plans for the weekend. But it was really cool to be one of the few asked to work at this thing. And, if I skipped the costume contest on Saturday, I could probably do both.

There was maybe a bit of a problem. The volunteer group usually works in costume. Sometimes, they specifically work in uniform. Now, I have costumes. I enter costume contests. In a costume contest, for the most part, you do not want a uniform. Certain uniforms are really good, and if you have one of those uniforms the entire audience will be on their feet cheering just because you stand at attention. But most of us do not have those uniforms. Most uniforms are bought from a catalog and come in sizes S, M, L, XL, and you really shouldn't be in uniform but you've already sent us a check. Those uniforms are good, but not that great, and for the most part they should not be entered in contests but usually someone doesn't know that and does it anyway. I have never wanted one of those catalog uniforms enough to spend money on them, and unless I win the lottery I won't be buying any of the really good ones either. I have some homemade ones that are probably not even as good as the catalog ones, but sometimes I wear them anyway.

What I spend my time and money on are costumes, not uniforms. They rarely look just like someone else's, but they don't usually have to look just like someone else's. I made a few Centauri dresses that I liked, but mainly I was known for a certain borg costume. And this wasn't a regular borg costume, this was a parody costume with lace nylons and earrings and such. The last time I wore it, pearls were added.

So I didn't have exactly the type of thing that they wanted the volunteers to wear that night, but so far nobody had said that I couldn't wear the borg costume.

One of the companies involved with the Gala was one of those superstores that sells computers and stereos and such. It was owned by Tandy (Radio Shack), and I want to say it was called Incredible Universe, but there were a lot of these stores for a while, so I might have the wrong name. So this store was advertising the event, and they had a costume contest in one of their stores, and the first prize was two tickets to this event at Captain Kirk's table.

That store was in Dallas. I hate Dallas.

But never mind about the Dallas store. That same day the Arlington store was also having a costume contest. I heard that they were going to give away a phone that looked like Voyager or a shuttlecraft or something. And who doesn't want a phone that looks like a spaceship?

So a friend of mine was going to the Arlington store, probably to help out, and maybe to be a judge. But he wasn't going to enter the contest. He was wearing a uniform, probably size L. He was not wearing an elaborate costume. I went with him. I was going to enter the contest, unless they told me that I was disqualified for being a member of one of the participating clubs. I was wearing the borg thing.

While everyone seemed to know about the contest in Dallas, few people seemed to be aware of the contest at the Arlington store. There were about four people in uniform and two of us in other costumes, and half of the six were judges. Too bad, because it turned out that the Arlington store had the same prizes as the Dallas store. First place was two tickets to the Gala at Captain Kirk's dinner table. Second place was two tickets to the Gala at Captain Kirk's dessert table. And third place was that spaceship phone.

I won first place. This alien of a species I could not identify won second place. Another guy that was on and off with our club won the phone with a gold Voyager uniform, size S. And that was it. Only three of us entered. A little kid showed up in a red uniform, but he was almost an hour too late.

Who wants to compete against little kids anyway.

So that was cool. I won tickets. So my husband could go to the thing too if he could get off work. And they let him off work, no problem.

It didn't really sink in at first. I wouldn't be going to the Gala as a volunteer in either a borg costume or a uniform. I would be having dinner at one of the front tables, with William Shatner.

I needed a dress.

And, to go with that, my husband's suit didn't seem to fit him anymore. We didn't have a lot of money, but we needed to wear something. I think we went to Ross like a week or two before the Gala.

There is this whole other language to describe clothing, and I basically know none of it. The dress was very modest in front and a bit lower in the back. It had short sleeves. It was lace over something else. The skirt was sort of zig-zag in layers, so that in some parts the hem was up near the knee and in other places it was nearly down to the ankles.

And of course, it was black.

My husband was also all in black, with little glittery bits in his vest, and one of those shirts with the little collar that you don't wear a tie with.

And I still went to the Stellar Occasions thing first. I annoyed Mr. Doyle with my total inability to use a camera. ("Take the picture. Take the picture. Take the **** picture.") I spent most of the day in a Babylon 5 uniform and then changed into the dress at the hotel about two hours before dinner.

I have all kinds of stuff that would have been better with Will Shatner's autograph, but I didn't know what the rules were and I didn't want to risk losing my stuff, so I didn't bring much of it. I meant to put a couple of trading cards in my purse, but I must have misplaced them. And we spent a lot of time worrying about the camera. Flash photography was not allowed, and it was hard to find film that would work indoors without a flash. We found something that worked most of the time, but it made everything orange, almost red.

So we went to the place about almost an hour early. I saw a bunch of my friends, most of them were volunteers, but a few were guests in the cheap seats. And there were a bunch of other people that I didn't know with badges. I think that there were like four or five different kinds of badges. My friends had one kind, and the waiters and such had another kind, and other people doing different things had other badges, and then the people really in charge of the thing had a different color badge. So if someone told you something, you went with that, until someone with a higher color badge said something different.

We talked to people for about twenty minutes or so, and then one of my friends (in a Klingon General Chang costume) took us to our table. The table was still empty. I was surprised that except for the people with badges, there didn't seem to be a lot of people there yet.

And then I had to decide where to sit. Mr. Shatner had a place-card, but I guess the rest of us were supposed to figure it out for ourselves. So, does the first one there get to sit next to him or what? Or does he have a date? I don't want to sit in the chair next to his and then get asked to move because he has a date.

So I sit one seat over. In theory, I could get a good look at everyone from there. Kate Mulgrew's table was in front to the left, and Jonathan Frakes' table was in front and to the right. Avery Brook's table was just to the left of ours, and his chair was about six feet away from mine. This is good.

People are starting to come in, but not a lot of them, and most of them don't go to the tables. They're just sort of milling around the front of the room. Then I notice that one of them is Kate. Okay. We watch Kate, but we don't get up. Are we allowed to get up? This just isn't what I'm used to at all. Frakes comes in too. A couple of people go up and ask for their autographs. You're not supposed to do that now, are you?

There was a schedule printed out. We were supposed to be eating by a certain time, and then we were supposed to be having dessert by a certain time, and then people were supposed to be speaking by a certain time. So, even though we were the only ones at the table, someone brought us salads. Okay, we'll eat our salads.

Soon a couple more people came to sit at the table. They brought pictures. They were a father and son team who went to costume contests as borg. I'd seen them before, though never out of costume. They had won first place at the Dallas store. Two more people came and sat with us. I don't remember exactly what the deal was, but their tickets also came from a contest, but they didn't win that contest, someone gave them those tickets or they had the winning bid for the tickets, or something. Anyway, those tickets were originally won by my friend who was in charge of our little volunteer group, but she wasn't going to use them, so someone else got to use them. The guy who had won second place at the Arlington store came by so I could see what he looked like without the alien stuff. The waitstaff brought more salads.

The cheap seats were filling up. They were getting their salads. The front eight tables were still mostly empty. People are talking to Kate. Jonathan Frakes goes over to talk to her. That seemed to get everyone's attention. Like they weren't sure it was really Kate Mulgrew before that.

William Shatner came in, and someone told him where he was supposed to be. And he came over and pretends to look real serious and says "Eat...your...food." There was an implied "or else." We ate.

More people were getting up and asking for autographs. Now, I have been to many book signings and many conventions and such, and you're not supposed to just walk over to someone and ask for an autograph. I did that once, at my first or second convention, cause I didn't know any better, and I was embarrassed about it later. There is usually a set aside time and place for autographs, if they are even allowed, so that the actors aren't mobbed in the lobby and bothered by fans all the time.

On the other hand, there didn't seem to be anything on the schedule about autographs. And there was a warning about not taking shooting videos or using flash photography, but it didn't say anything about not being allowed to ask for autographs. And the man is sitting right there, and he doesn't seem interested in his salad, so why not? So I asked him to autograph my invitation to the thing, and he did, and my husband got his autographed too. And we took some photos of him with the orange looking film.

Everyone is going up front and asking William Shatner and the other actors for autographs. People in the really cheap seats are going to get autographs. Damn it, I'm going to go get some more autographs.

Just when I finally get up the nerve to do that, a lady with one of the important people badges asks me to sit down. And I'm like, but I'm at a captain's table. I'm supposed to be up here. And she says that they just can't have all these people milling around up front, so if I'll go back to my table someone will come and get me when it's my turn to get the other autographs. Okay.

So I go back to my table and other people are going back to wherever they are supposed to be. I eat my salad. The last three people come to our table. The guy that runs the Incredible Universe, the guy that bought my tickets for me, he sat down between me and William Shatner. And his wife and daughter sat on the other side of Shatner. Good. The guy who made this possible for me gets to sit next to Shatner. Couldn't be more fair, could it. Anyway, I don't remember the guy's name, but he was nice. He and his wife talked to Shatner about horses.

My husband said something about Avery Brooks coming in. Where? I couldn't see him.

Avery Brooks didn't sit in his assigned seat. He sat at the right table, just in a different chair. We were sitting back-to-back, and I couldn't see him without turning all the way around. He was in a very colorful outfit with boots and one of those little African hats.

Someone took our salads away and brought us chicken and vegetables. Shatner said he wasn't feeling well and sent it back and asked for all vegetables instead. Then he only ate the carrots. He looked at some pictures of me and the other two borg in costume.

Someone came and took two people at our table to a different table. They were supposed to be at Captain Kirk's dessert table, not the dinner table. So then we had two empty seats for some reason, and they can't have two empty seats at the front tables. How would that look? So they went back to the cheap seats and found a widow of someone who had worked for Tandy for over twenty-five years, and her and her grandson sat with us instead.

If you don't know, William Shatner has this problem that causes him to always hear ringing in one of his ears. Leonard Nimoy has a similar problem, in the opposite ear, so they think that they both damaged their ears during a certain movie scene that involved blowing up a door. So between the ringing in his ears and general background noise of people talking at the other tables, he couldn't hear us very well. So he made a point of getting up and going around the table and shaking hands with everyone and stuff like that.

Just about the time that everyone is starting to relax and talk to him, someone tells him it is time for dessert and takes him to the other table. I know that they're on a schedule, but that was a little bit unfair, since dinner got started a little bit late. The people at the dessert table had more time with him than we did.

And all evening, people kept being brought to the different tables to ask for autographs. Supposedly, someone is going to come and get me when it is my turn. I wait.

The people at my table are having a good time. The people at the Captain Kirk's dessert table are having a good time. The people in the cheap seats are having a good time. We're all looking at the actors.

The people in the other front six tables are all looking at themselves.

I don't think that they cared anything about Star Trek at all. It's like they just came so that people would see that they could afford the expensive tickets. From some conversations I overheard, some of them had never seen some of the shows and didn't even know who some of the actors were.

Whatever.

Someone took all the actors backstage. I still didn't have my other autographs yet. But I thought maybe I would get them at the end of the program. And I said that I would wait. So I wait.

People start milling around again. Someone from the Paramount station came over to talk to us. He was expecting Myrh the cat to come by later. I knew better. Myrh was at Stellar Occasions being MC of the costume contest.

This guy I know who has an excellent Klingon costume went to the microphone. "You will be seated." You do not argue with this guy. Today is not a good day to die. We sat down.

The guy from the TV station spoke first. I don't remember what he said. Then the guy from the museum spoke. I don't remember what he said either.

Then Kate Mulgrew spoke. She asked if we could see her okay, cause the lights were too bright and she couldn't see anything. So she was talking about what an impact Star Trek had made on people, and how recently she'd been to some thing where she met a lot of young women who had won scholarships and such, and a bunch of them talked about being inspired by Star Trek. So she just knew that one day one of them would cure cancer or something, and it would partially be because of Star Trek.

And then she talked about the hard work of being Captain Janeway on a weekly TV series, and how it was nice to be away from that for a change, wearing a dress.

Avery Brooks came out next. He was all into the Education is Paramount thing. And he was saying how in the beginning he wasn't even sure he wanted to be Captain Sisko. He didn't know if he'd like being associated with Star Trek. And then he was talking about it to his wife, and I don't remember exactly what she told him, but it was something like "Quit being dumb. Do it for the kids." I'm not sure if that meant their family specifically or that it was good for kids in general to have a role model, but that snapped him out of it and he took the job. And now he could go all over the country and tell kids to stay in school and all of that.

Jonathan Frakes came on stage, and he complained about the lights a bit. And he talked about how he wasn't sure about the whole Star Trek thing in the beginning. He didn't think people liked his character at first. At one of his first conventions he noticed a sign at one of the dealers' tables that said "Buy any action figure, get Riker free." But he was glad that he stuck with it. And he agreed that it was wonderful to be here "in a dress."

William Shatner spoke last. He came out and said, "I don't know what everyone was complaining about. I can see just fine." And then he was talking about how sometimes things happen to show you how insignificant you are in the grand scheme of things. He'd just gone with his family on a trip to Africa. And he was sleeping in a tent. And the guides had all warned them not to leave the tents, not to wander around at night, and all that stuff. And when you are in Africa, and your guide tells you to do something, you'd better listen.

But he heard a noise and woke up, and he went outside to see what it was. And it was this huge elephant. And he's standing right behind this huge elephant thinking, wow, an elephant, this is great. And he's trying to be quiet and not disturb the elephant.

And the elephant dumps on him.

So that was really funny. And then all the other speakers came back onto the stage. Someone had made these crystal statues to give to the actors to thank them for helping them with the museum's fund raiser. And they're all saying thank you, how nice, and stuff like that. Jonathan Frakes said, "Mine has Patrick Stewart's name on it." And we all laughed, but maybe it did have Patrick Stewart's name on it, since originally he was supposed to be there.

And then they all walk backstage. I have to run to the ladies room. There's a line, and this greatly upsets me because I still think that someone is going to escort me backstage so I can get autographs. I'm in the thousand dollars seats. Surely I'm going to get more autographs.

And I get back to the table, and people are milling around, but no one seems to know anything. Finally, I find someone with the important I'm in charge badges, and he tells me that all the actors left the building as soon as they went backstage. He's sorry about the mix up, but there's nothing he can do about it now.

So I never got my other autographs. But I have William Shatner's autograph, and that's the important thing.

So we went out to the lobby to talk to some of my friends. And we got someone to take our picture with the Klingon General Chang. Then someone from TV Guide took the Klingon's picture.

People were leaving. Some people went to another room for an auction, but I didn't have any money so what was the point in staying for that. My friends stayed and danced until the place closed, but I was tired and went home. I don't really dance anyway.

Really, I only got to talk to the man for like ten minutes. But who else gets to say that they had dinner with William Shatner.

The guy in the Vorlon suit

I'm taking a break from playing in the mud. Since this one only got one vote and will not be the 100th post, here it is now.

I think I picked a bad time for a 100th post. One of my readers will be away partying for several days. Playtah hasn't posted on her own blog for five days, and the last post sounded like she was depressed, so I hope she's okay now. I think that except for Rachel everyone who has ever read my blog is having a bad time or out of town or something this week.

But never mind about that. This post is about the guy in the Vorlon suit.

I think it was back in 2000, at a Stellar Occasions (or maybe Uncommon Con). I had this Babylon 5 poster that I got at the first Stellar Occasions. It was an old picture, not pilot old, but old enough that it had a picture of Sinclair instead of Sheridan, and Delenn's picture was bald. So I took the poster around and tried to get a lot of Babylon 5 people to sign it. The first year I got autograph's from Claudia Christian (Ivanova), Producer and Creator J. Micheal Straczynski, and Script Writer D.C. Fontana. Later I got other people to sign it: Michael O'Hare (Sinclair), Stephen Furst (Vir), Mira Furlan (Delenn), Walter Koenig (Bestor), Ed Wasser (Mr. Mordan), and Peter Doyle (Garibaldi).

So at this convention I was going to try to get autographs from Jason Carter (Marcus Cole, one of the human Rangers) and Patricia Tallaman (Lyta Alexander, the first and last telepath). And at the last minute Robin Atkins Downes (Byron, another telepath) was added to the guest list. So I'm very happy fan, walking around the convention with a poster I'm probably going to get three autographs added to.

The actors talk about some personal stuff. Jason Carter doesn't think much of the American University system. He went on about how in England you have your finals just before you get your degree. What is the nonsense about taking finals at the end of each semester. And then he read us this silly poem he wrote about grandma falling in the loo.

But mostly, they talk about behind the scenes stuff on the set. So Patricia Tallaman and Robin Atkins Downes are talking about a love scene that they filmed. It was directed by Tony Dow (Wally Cleaver from Leave it to Beaver). Apparently Robin didn't look like he was having much fun. When Patricia is on top of you naked, shouldn't you look happy? How bad do you have to be that Wally Cleaver thinks your big love scene looks boring? Robin said he was embarassed that he would get a stiffy in front of all those people. Patricia said when she's doing a love scene with someone he'd better get a stiffy.

Patricia also has stories of being a stunt-woman, which she decided she would probably have to give up since coming home with bruises would probably upset her child. Also, Patricia seems to think that she has a big butt. She doesn't really. Maybe she's just getting material ready for a comedy routine. So she's telling us about this stunt where she has to run in high-heels and jump onto the back of a truck. And the jump is okay, but not graceful since she's wearing these high-heels. So she lands on the truck with her butt in the air, and she isn't happy with it at all and wants to try it again. But the director is happy with it and doesn't want to waste time and money on a re-shoot. So she goes home and calls a friend and cries about the stunt and how big her butt is going to look on the film. And her friend is like, who cares, everyone will think it is the other actress' big butt. So then it was okay.

And I am just having a wonderful time. There's a line for the autographs, but not a huge line, and I'm going to get autographs from Patricia and Jason and Robin. And I've got my poster out and I'm about to talk to Patricia. And there's this guy sitting next to Patricia, but I don't think anything about it because there is often a volunteer sitting with the actor to help them and maybe sell pictures and stuff like that. And I put the poster on the table, and the guy asks if I want him to sign it. And I don't know who the guy is, and I don't know what to say. I don't recognize him, so maybe he's one of the writers, and I've already had a couple of writers sign the thing so that would be okay. But I don't know what to say, so I finally just blurt out something like, "Who are you?" And he picks up this name card that has Jeffery Willerth Kosh printed on it, and he waves it and says "I'm Kosh! I'm Kosh!" And I'm like, that's great, cause I'd love to have Kosh sign my poster. But I'm so embarrassed that I didn't know who he was.

So he signs my poster and Patricia signs it and I move on to another table and get Jason's autograph and Robin's autograph. Then I put the autograph stuff away and go look for some of my friends. Caught up with Melissa from the club and hung around a bit with Myrh the cat.

Melissa and I tried to get something to eat before the costume contest, which I wasn't in for a change. Myrh was the MC, and he should have been testing the microphones and such, but he was in the bar instead. Melissa said "Look, a drunk bobcat." Myrh just smiled. Not exactly drunk, just a bit mellow. Melissa said "That's what you get for drinking alcohol through a straw." Not that he has a choice about drinking through a straw with the cat makeup on. So Myrh went to get ready for the contest, and Melissa and I finally gave up on the idea of being served food within a reasonable amount of time and went to find seats to watch the contest.

I don't remember much about the contest, except that Myrh missed some cue from Skippy the Klingon. But, Skippy didn't get mad or anything. Then we all went back to the bar and tried to get something to eat again. Jason had a few drinks and probably said a few words about how Americans couldn't properly play pool or darts or anything else that one does at a bar. I heard that he had a few more poems, about worse things than grandma in the loo, but I didn't hang around to listen to them. Myrh went off to talk to some other people, which left four empty seats at our table.

Some guy that I didn't know at the time came in with his wife and asked if they could sit at the four empty seats, and we said sure, no problem. So he waves at someone at the door to come in.

And the person at the door is Jeff Willerth, Kosh, the guy in the Vorlon suit.

So Jeff sits in the chair next to me and apologizes for being late and missing the costume contest. He said that someone took him and his wife to a Japanese restaurant, and that they drove a long way to get there. He said maybe the restaurant was in Iowa. Now, if he'd said Oklahoma, I might have thought he was serious, so I'm glad he didn't say that cause I was embarrassed enough already. So the other guy asks if his wife is coming, and Jeff doesn't think so, because she had too much sake.

A bit later, Patricia comes in with this man, and says "Gimme the keys, gimme the keys," or something like that. (I would see this several more times that weekend, and I'm not sure if it was the same man each time or not.) So that was odd, but Jeff gave her the keys and she left with this man.

The five of us talk for hours. Jeff offers to buy me a drink, but I don't drink alcohol, and I didn't think that I should have any more caffeine, so I just kept drinking water. Then the guys are teasing me about how drinking too much water can hurt you. Then he was telling us something about some of the people who worked on the show. The other guy was talking about a Deep Space Nine script that he sold, but was never filmed because he missed some deadline. And then we were talking about Bruce Boxleitner working on some things with his wife Melissa Gilbert, and I said I'd seen them on Touched by an Angel, and I think that they used some video of the Babylon 5 Christmas party.

We finally had to leave. Being at a bar isn't something that I do very often, much less stay til closing. Melissa went home. The other guy and his wife went up to their room. I left Jeff talking to some fans and went to make an appearance at a couple of parties. I ran into Jeff again, just as I was leaving and he was going up to his room. I think that was a little bit after three in the morning.

So while it isn't exactly what it sounded like, the next day I had this to say: I spent most of the night with the guy in the Vorlon suit, I had more to drink than anyone else at the table, and we closed the bar.