We had a great time last night at the Star Trek Experience! I was practically skipping through the casino of the Las Vegas Hilton, following the signs to the attraction. We bought our tickets first, and then went downstairs to Quark’s Bar to get dinner. We decided to be brave and order a full-size Warp Core Breach, which is $25 and has 10 ounces of liquor. It comes in a giant fishbowl with dry ice coming off the top! Believe it or not, we managed to finish it all by ourselves, which is more than the next table did, and they had three people working on it! Of course, I was more than a little loopy by the time we finished dinner, but it was fun. The giant drink, plus two entrees and a dessert, only came to $60 - and our table was visited by a Ferengi, a Klingon, and an Andorian. How cool is that?! I would seriously not mind going there all the time.

After dinner, we looked around in the gift shop; to my dismay I didn’t find anything there to get. So we got in line for the ride, starting with Klingon Encounter because that’s the one you’re usually told to start with. Unfortunately something went wrong with that one, so we ended up seeing Borg Invasion 4D first. It was rather disappointing - you’re given 3D glasses to wear, but they didn’t work very well for me, because I kept seeing double anyway. It was also kind of annoying that Robert Picardo was obviously reading cue cards the entire time. Once we finally made it onto Klingon Encounter, that one was much better - it’s a full-motion simulator, for one thing, and the “interaction” with the characters (Riker and Geordi, mostly) was much better.

I would be totally thrilled to have a job at the Star Trek Experience. To work in that environment every day must be awesome. I only wish I could have found a decent souvenir to take home!

I was going to put this in tomorrow’s quicklinks, but I decided it was worth its own post, especially because you have to do this in order. These are all YouTube videos.

First, check out Patrick Stewart Alphabet, which I found thanks to hobbitblue.

Next, go to The Picard Song. You might want to turn your speakers down, this is kind of loud.

And finally, The Sims Picard Song. Also loud, but funny!

(Unfortunately none of these are accessible to deaf viewers…I really hate that. Sorry!)

I had a pretty good time at Shore Leave despite being sick and alone. First, a rundown of who I interpreted for this weekend. I had William Schallert and Antoinette Bower on Friday night, and on Saturday I interpreted for Amanda Tapping, Carmen Argenziano, Corin Nemec, and Connor Trinneer. Today I had all of them again, plus Kent McCord and Jamie Bamber.

Yesterday night was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I didn’t find anybody to help me with my corset; the one person who had the time to help started doing something weird. When I asked her about it, the answer was quite discouraging, so I went back to my room and did it myself after all. I thought I did a pretty good job anyway, and I was pleased with my appearance. The first part of the Masquerade was pretty typical; the kids all went first (one had hearing aids in both ears) and received their awards before the adults began. There were a few major productions but the really good parts for me were the Giant Assimilated Tribble, the Purple Menace (Barney the Dinosaur done Star Wars style), and the woman who beautifully replicated Amanda Grayson’s costume from Star Trek IV. Once the presentations were over, the halftime show began. I knew it was going to be the Boogie Knights, and I elected to stand because interpreting peppy music while wearing a corset is not an easy thing to do while seated. Because I was standing, I was more prominent than usual, so I made sure to keep my hands moving even if I was just making up the signs. I had a fabulous time! When the judges returned, the MC thanked the singers…and the judges’ clerk stood up and yelled “and thanks to the interpreter, too!” That was the first of many, many compliments I received during the rest of the con…apparently a lot of people were watching me and liked me! One of the con chairs told me somebody sitting beside her during the halftime show had gotten her attention and said she should watch me for a while! Several people asked me “how did you do that?!” I told all of them at least part of the truth, which I will now collect here. First, having the set list helped (thanks, kradical!) because I not only knew what was coming next, but how close we were to being done! It also helps tremendously if I know the song they’re parodying (is “filking” an alternative word, filkerdave and vixyish?). I also do a little bit of lipreading when I’m having trouble understanding - if you see me peering at the performers, that’s why. And finally, if I’m completely lost…I make stuff up that fits the general message/theme of the song! But anyway, I received tons of praise for my performance. (Several people said my outfit was pretty, too!)

Today started out awful. I was still sick, of course, but while I was packing up I realized…I’d thrown away the stipend envelope they gave me. They gave it to me while I was eating lunch; during lunch I had to relocate and I put the envelope into the lunch bag to carry it along. I forgot about it and threw away my lunch bag when I was done. After I carried some stuff out to my car this morning, I went to ask if that had been cash or a check…and it was cash, unfortunately. They said to find one of the con chairs and they’d see what they could do for me. I was crying, of course (and I’m sick, so it was messy), and I went back to my room. I stopped briefly at the front desk to ask what happens to trash, and of course it was irretrievable. I called A and cried at her, and she said not to worry about it…I don’t need the money, really, and I don’t do it for the money anyway, and this kind of thing happens to everybody at least once. So I agreed that I would just let it go, and I went downstairs to interpret. (I also bought an IDIC pin to put on the vest I wear to leather events, just to see if any Trekkies notice it! It’s more subtle than a communicator, and I like the meaning…the idea to get one came during the one panel I attended during the con, which was about gay fandom.)

After interpreting for a bit, I went to the registration desk to see if the staff photos had been returned. If you’re working during the con, you don’t usually have time to wait in the autograph line, so you hand in whatever you want autographed and the stars sign them at night or before their first appearance in the morning. The pictures weren’t there, but the treasurer still was, and she asked if I’d worked anything out with the con chair. I told her I wasn’t going to worry about it, but it turned out the con chair was standing nearby and the treasurer called her over! They discussed it while I chatted with some kids who were interested in my job, and then the con chair came over to me and told me not to worry…they were going to replace it. She said that with all I do for them, and especially after all the compliments SHE had heard about my performance last night, it was no trouble to replace it. As the treasurer was writing out the check, she told me she was glad they could replace it because losing something when you’re sick and exhausted (I had mentioned while explaining earlier that I’ve been sick all weekend) is understandable. So I got the money after all, which made me feel really good…though not as good as all the compliments I got for interpreting!

I did eventually get the photographs; Connor Trinneer just put his name on it but Amanda Tapping put my name, “with love” (that was on all of them), and she put “thank you!” too, probably because I’d slipped in a note saying I was the interpreter. I interpreted for a bit longer before leaving for home. I am taking tomorrow off as a sick day, because I still feel like crap and my voice sounds weird which is no fun when your voice is an essential part of your job. I’m not sure if I’ll make it to the staff meeting in Silver Spring tomorrow night…we earn three hours of vacation by going (because it’s after working hours), and I want to see a few people, but I don’t know that I’ll feel like going. I can always say “I didn’t want to infect the entire staff” if I don’t end up going - and hey, that’s true too.

I’m in a Star Trek novel called Last Full Measure! How did it happen? Read on!
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I have to admit it. I love Wil Wheaton. I had no idea the geeky teenager on TNG was a geek in real life, and I admire him. I have read his blog off and on, and I see all the comments, so I know a lot of other people feel the same way I do. Oddly, I feel like I want to be his friend - his writing is more human than that of most famous bloggers, and it feels so accessible…which is even more impressive because he’s a legitimate celebrity outside of geekdom.

There is one thing Wil Wheaton has got that I want: his autobiography, Just a Geek. Now, of course I could buy it on Amazon - but I want it signed. I wanted one the last time he sold them on his blog, but I didn’t get one then, and I’ve regretted it since. Unfortunately he hasn’t offered them recently, so I’m at a loss. I wish I could figure this one out!

In a bit of a departure from my encyclopedia-style non-fiction writing, today I’m going to describe my typical experience as an interpreter at a science fiction convention. This weekend will be my sixth trip to the Hunt Valley Inn north of Baltimore for the purposes of interpreting; I attended the same convention once or twice as a fan when I was a kid, but lately I only go to interpret. The two conventions I interpret for are Farpoint and Shore Leave; they are virtually identical in terms of format and most programming is the same, too.
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Known to millions of Star Trek fans around the world as the “Great Bird of the Galaxy,” Gene Roddenberry was the creator of one of the most successful franchises ever created. (”Great Bird” was a nickname stemming from a mythological creature from an episode of the original Star Trek.)
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Oh my god! George Takei is gay! This is so cool!

Yay Sulu!

I seem to have stumped a number of my geek friends with this question, so I figured I’d pose it to a broader crowd. There is a guy at work who is completely bald, and he has a big square band-aid on the back of his head. He could be an instant substitute for Marcellus Wallace from Pulp Fiction, but that’s not what I think of when I see him. Instead I think of one very specific episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. So my question for you is: what episode does that remind me of? I can think of several hints but I’m going to hold onto them for now.

Also, I got to see both Tricia Helfer and Steve Bacic on their respective shows tonight! That reminds me, I should mention what happened with Steve Bacic. He was really hard on me, trying to get me to sign things like “Meredith likes monkeys” and so forth. So I tried to tell him that he couldn’t top the time somebody said constipation in front of a large audience (who all immediately looked at the terp), but the only word he heard was “constipation” and so he joked about my bodily functions throughout the hour. The next day, he made sure my bodily functions were running smoothly, and then actually got me to sign “I like small furry men!” I didn’t even pick up on what he was doing until I realized I was trying to come up with a sign for “furry” - the thought process was something like okay, need a sign for furry, he’s talking about something like a bear, so I’ll just use bea - hey wait a minute! - oh well, I’m halfway through the sign, might as well finish the sentence. So basically he was just thoroughly tough, but even though my face was bright red, I was laughing the whole time!

Last weekend, I went to Farpoint, a sci-fi/Trek convention. Monday night, I watched Trekkies, and was amused because I’d just been to the con. Tonight I noticed that Trekkies 2 was going to be on, and I’m watching it now. They just had a segment with people like Joanie Winston and Jacqueline Lichtenberg insisting that “Trekkie” is a put-down and that they are “Trekkers.” They also said that Trekkies are the ones who run down the aisle screaming at the stars at cons, the ones who go overboard. Yeah, well, y’know what? I’m a Trekkie. And it’s not because I go overboard - I don’t. I enjoy the shows, and I enjoy going to the cons for work (I couldn’t afford to go myself if I weren’t working), but I am not the type to dress up in a uniform or otherwise go over the top. I am a Trekkie because that was the original term (and Gene Roddenberry, before his death, said Trekkie was better than Trekker), because I’m old-school, because I don’t give things up easily. When I first heard the word Trekker I thought it sounded terribly pretentious, and I still do. Trekkie is more relaxed, more friendly, more personable. So I’m a Trekkie, and a Trekkie I’ll stay, even if it means I have to explain my reasoning to everybody who looks down on me for my word choice. But fuck ‘em, I can take it. I am what I am.

Also, I’m hoping to get my hands on a DVD of Trekkies 2 so I can go frame-by-frame through a couple of crowd shots. I was at Shore Leave when Denise Crosby was filming, and I’m curious to see if I made it into anything! It’s not completely impossible, because I do sit right up there onstage with the stars. I was also tickled to see Kett Kettering in the show, and I sent her an e-mail about her IMDb listing. Maybe if I am in a crowd shot I’ll suggest an IMDb credit for “Sign Language Interpreter” or something!

Added: Mariann wrote an entry in response to this one, and I did some more philosophical musing in her comment section.