Convention the Final Frontier

If you read the last post I bet you are dying to know what I was up to in Vegas during the first two days of our vacation. I was at a Star Trek Convention. As proof I submit the photo of me with one of my favorite characters from Star Trek V.

As you can see I am not quite at the dress up level yet. Kat really pushed me to go and she was right to do so. It was not only very enjoyable but fairly educational. For example, I did not know that many Star Trek Fans are females. They were not social awkward, cat ladies types either. I would not be surprised if there were more women than men in attendance. Below an example of a very popular costume this season.

This was another popular costume.

There wear a lot of these but I didn't take many pictures because I didn't want to come off as creepy.

Here are few others that were big hits.

I spoke with the guy below and he really fit the Trekkie stereotype.

These two were pretty drunk. I thought the one on the right was going to throw me over her shoulder and carry me off.












This women was extremly popular, as you can imagine.

I went to a number of the presentation from the actors. I found that most people asked well-thought out, interesting, or humorous questions. Of course there are always the exceptions. Star Trek fans sometime have a hard time understanding why the actors are not as into the series as much as themselves.

I was really touched by Mr. Takei comments about Proposition 8 in CA. He did such a good presentation it almost made me forget about how weird he is. Lawenece Luckinbill was also very profound.

Zachary Quinto's mere presence on stage sent one of the fans into a panic attack/swoon kind of thing. He had to gave her a hug to help her calm down enough to ask her question. He seemed to get all the really strange questions. Such as why he didn't use his sword from Heroes to stab anyone, or how he could have a relationship with Uhura even though Vulcan males only mate once every seven years. I was impressed about how patient he was with people that made even me uncomfortable.

Mr. Shatner is larger than life on stage. My favorite part of his presentation was when called Mr Nimoy a whore/prostitute for jumping at the chance to do the new movie and not doing Generations with Shatner. Really, the term whore was used four time and prostitute twice. Nimoy just shuck his head.It was fantastic.

The best part of the convention was Sunday afternoon. I was in the Men's room, when Mr Nimoy walked in and used the urinal two down from me. I almost told him how much I enjoyed his work, but not even Spock was temptation enough for me to the break the unwritten "no talking at urinal" rule. Plus there is a time and place for everything.

Kevin Sorbo from "Hercules the Legendary Journey" was there and a little grumpy. There was also a huge number of people who played lesser roles.

I bought Kat a "Tribble" as a gift. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_With_Tribbles

She claimed to like it but I have my doubts.

I also think I got hit on by a prostitute. That is the last time I walk the strip with a Star Trek T shirt on.

Vacation

The past ten days we have been on vacation. We left our house and traveled to Las Vegas with Kat's family. Where we meet her oldest brother. They tell me they all had a very good time. You see, I was not with them for the Vegas portion of the trip. My destiny lies elsewhere. Don't despair, I will post on that adventure soon.

From Vegas we traveled to Oceanside and spent our time between the beach, the pool and napping. It was pure, concentrated, bliss. Kat's parents had a three bedroom booked till about Thursday and a one bedroom booked till Sunday. Since we all could not fit in the one bedroom, everyone flew the coop but us. We stayed until right before checkout before leaving. It was great. Kat's parents are superb human beings for letting us use the place.

Of course no family vacation would be complete without historical sites. This is the biggest of a series of Spanish Missions established up the California coast. The mission dates back to 1798 and is called San Luis Rey de Francia. It was beautiful and full of excellent artifacts. Spanish Churches never get old. It was also occupied by the Mormon Battalion in 1847.

It even had a sattelite dish.

Red and Smiley hated the Ocean and wanted nothing to do with it. However, they didn't mind the sand one bit.

Smiley was a bit unsure about this photo.


There was a high quality Fish and Chips place. You could tell because your could feel your arterys clogging as you ate. Kat, being raised in England, loved it.

We ended our vacation by taking Red and Smiley to Excalibur and then staying with one of Kat's cousins. They were of the church going, scripture reading, bishopric type. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Kat and I disagreed on if it it inappropriate to where a T shirt with Damn (and Captain Reynolds) on it to such a household.


Good times where had by all.