NerdBliss

My personal life is spent among like minded people. I am forever thankful as this has not always been the case, nor is it always among those people brought into my life though methods beyond my choosing. This is especially true in the workplace. It is frustrating beyond belief to constantly explain references to things like The Princess Bride or Star Trek to those near and dear, but only awkward to explain to acquaintances and co-workers.

I am a stranger in that strange land where football rivalries matter.

It is wonderful to simply ask “Have you ever watched Big Bang Theory?” in response to a statement made by an acquaintance and have them know exactly why you asked at that moment. I had just that conversation not long ago with the guy who waits on us at the Costco food court. Especially for us geeks and nerds, it is like a secret handshake letting each other know we are on the same wavelength. Even if we might not share a single fandom in common, we are both oriented towards a certain kind of cultural experience which is outside the mainstream even in today.

Unlike my teenage years when I tried to slide under the radar with my natural nerd/geek/dork proclivities, these days I embrace and advertize it. Everyone has their own definitions of those words. Some people are offended by one or more of them. Some identify with one and use the others pejoratively. I’ve long used “Nerd. Geek. Dork.” as my shorthand bio around the internet as I identify with each for different reasons.

It occurred to me at work one day that I visibly embodied each of those terms.

I am a nerd because my Kindle holds nearly a thousand documents, including around 500 books I fully intend to read and it goes everywhere with me.

I am a dork because while standing around with several coworkers in a meeting, I took a sip of my travel mug and missed, sending a cascade of coffee down my chest.

A few minutes later, I was trying to explain my identification with the race of Hobbits to the same gathered group. Let’s say, some of them got it and some of them didn’t. Of course, being 4’8 and of ample proportions, those who did get it knew exactly why I would say such a thing.

The lady conducting the meeting – a down home country girl if there ever was one – was taken aback, not knowing anything about Hobbits, to the point she feared the whole conversation was becoming an HR issue. My explanations only made things worse.

I explained, “I am short and my toes are hairy.”

She said, “They make Lady Bics for that.”

I said, “I do take care of it, but it’s there and sort of a joke. You see, I love a cozy home, second breakfast and merry making.”

In not so many words, I had to explain none of those things meant anything like “Afternoon Delight.” Second breakfast is literally a second breakfast meal and merry making is more along the lines of hosting a party with cake and giving gifts to your friends on your birthday. None of it any kind of innuendo, for sure, as anyone familiar with the source material knows. It boggles my mind post-Lord of the Rings trilogy anyone could have avoided a basic understanding of Hobbits to such a degree that my short stature wouldn’t be explanation enough.

Apparently, Hobbits really are Tolkin minorities. My native language is not widely understood, I’ve made a new work-friend who loves football and affectionately calls me “Hobbit.”

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I was thinking about how it has been around two years since I ditched cable. I’ve written about it before and how I found during the time I was living alone I would go a whole week without turning on the television. No joke, I would turn on the tv to watch The Big Bang Theory on Thursday night to a puzzlement as to why it was tuned to CBS already. I can’t think of any show I’ve watched on CBS beside BBT pretty much ever. It only took a few weeks of this to realize paying around $60 a month for a half hour of entertainment wasn’t worth it.

As if to confirm my decision, before I even missed an episode CBS began posting episodes for streaming on their website. Later I picked up an HD antenna which I pretty much have used to watch Big Bang Theory when I’m home to watch it and a couple episodes of – I admit it – Doctor Phil.

Early on, I didn’t miss cable or think I ever would. I’m still right about that, but I am wrong in my prediction that many more people would be canceling cable and satellite service. If it is happening, it is not happening among my friends, family and co-workers. It is not my intention to be snobbish about television watching, only to encourage those who can save money going with other options without missing out on entertainment to do so. I am not watching less than I want or missing anything. To my mind, the primary people who should keep paying for tv service are sports fans and reality show junkies. None of those in this house, thankfully, since all those beyond-basic packages and a DVR cost so much just to make basic cable worth the money. People just about have to click here for gold coin values and sell those heirloom collections just to pay for TV.

I can report we have changed our habits a bit in the last few months. Up until then, we streamed Netflix and, to a lesser degree, Hulu on the PS3. I’d gotten the antenna but it was seldom used. Those things still make it into our viewing line up.

What is new is Amazon Instant Video. In order to keep up with Doctor Who, we decided $2.99 – less if you don’t care about HD – an episode is a small price to pay to own the episode. They posted about 48 hours after the initial airing which is vastly better than waiting for the whole season to happen and be put on Netflex. It’s easy to set up on the PS3, too. I’ll be doing the same for season 3 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. While my thrifty self hesitates to pay a la cart, I reassure myself with the idea I’d rather directly support the shows I care about than to support all the horrible, horrible programing on basic cable as a whole.

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I have no identity crisis over being a geek. I am and I love it.

One pet peeve I do have is people – mostly not geeks – making assumptions about what I like based on identifying as a geek. The one I get most often is how much I must love Star Wars since I’m a Trekkie.

One big geek thing I’d avoided is comic books. As a teen, I listened to my friend Kate talk about her Batman family comics, but since we lived so far away from each other, I couldn’t mooch her issues. I just never got into it on my own. I enjoyed more than one movie based on comic book properties, even, but avoided getting sucked into the books themselves.

Until now. I started going with Chris to our local comic book shop Borderlands for tabletop games Warhammer 40K and HeroClix. Getting to know the inventory and staff lead me to try a couple things. Free Comic Book Day doesn’t hurt either. A few Serenity comics and a few Star Trek lead me to pick up the most acclaimed graphic novel of all time: Watchmen. After that, I got why I would want to invest time, money and effort into comics, but yet I resisted committing to any title enough not to miss my fix.

Then this happened:

Missing an issue is not an option, nor is waiting for the whole miniseries to come out and be issued in a bound volume. It’s STAR TREK AND DOCTOR WHO! Come on! It is so good, the artwork is beautiful, plus it would be impossible for it to be made as television or film.

The picture at the top of the post is our humble, yet growing comic book collection. I’m already thinking we’ll need to consider storage options. Perhaps converted corner tv stands tucked out of the way. Chris is reading some Lantern titles, but otherwise everything is ours together. For the most part, IDW Publishing is my weakness. They have Star Trek and Doctor Who which I can’t resist. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which is cool even if I’m not going to read them or so I say now. And look at the ad on the back of October’s issues:

Comic books just got 20% cooler.

No Comments | In: fandom | tags: comics, Doctor Who, My Little Pony, science fiction, star trek. | #

Dragon*Con 2012 will go down, for Chris and I, as the protracted Dragon*Con. We were able to make it down to Atlanta for only Thursday and Friday, leaving around 10:30 Friday night. It was hard to leave, however, it was almost the Dragon*Con we didn’t get to go, so all in all, it was good enough to achieve our primary objectives and pry ourselves away just as the party was getting started.

One side effect, I found, from the urgency of our short time at the con was an increase in spending on various souvenirs and toys. But who could blame me for picking up this little fellow from the Dragon*Con store?

Last year, the little fellow appeared on t-shirts. I love how he looks to be letting out a terrible roar, yet any con-goer can plainly see he’s yawning after a night of parties followed by an early morning panel.

Dragon*Con is a fan driven convention and as much as I loved Emerald City Comic Con, it just can’t compare to a con where what you see in the lobbies and food court is enough to justify the trip. Costumes are diverse, impressive and plentiful. I am especially impressed with folks who costume up on Thursday. These Spaceballs were among the first costumes we saw on Thursday in the food court. Classics never go out of style.

If we’d had our choice of which two days to attend, Friday and Saturday or Saturday and Sunday would have gotten us the most Con for our time. Thursday is a slow night with only a handful of events. Naturally, we hit up the drum circle, because it’s a Dragon*Con tradition, held every night until the hotel kicks them out of the room. I wish I’d thought to bring the real camera, but a few cell phone pictures give enough of an idea of how it goes. People wander in, do their thing, leave, stay, whatever. Most watch, some bring or borrow drums, some dance. I even observed a limbo contest in the middle of the circle.

Always remember, what happens at Dragon*Con is posted all over the internet within a matter of days, if not hours. Chris was left in charge of his brother Eric’s Blade Runner umbrella while observing at the drum circle. In his – shall we say – relaxed state, it seemed best to open it up.

I never feel like I taken enough pictures at conventions. Our short amount of time at Dragon*Con left me with hardly any photos. Only eight on the camera and a few on my phone. One of my favorite things to see and photograph are costumed folks doing everyday things, carrying mundane objects and the like. We had to stop to take these girl’s picture, notable to see a full complement of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles eating something other than pizza.

Our primary objective for Friday was hitting up the Walk of Fame for autographs. In truth, it is the moment with the actor in question that is truly meaningful. The glossy 8×10 a souvenir of the moment. Rob Paulsen was only second on our “must meet” list, but he was kind and enthusiastic about taking a picture with us, coming around to the front of the table like I’ve never seen anyone else do. We told him how much we enjoy his podcast and his recent hilarious bit of voice over for Regretsy.

Nichelle Nichols was, naturally, our first priority. She was lovely and gracious. I will never, ever forget her telling Chris she loved his hair and beard. What a complement from one of the most beautiful women – and legs – ever to grace television and film.

We also met Michael Dorn, Tony Amendola and Billy West. Dorn was all business and didn’t seem to be enjoying himself any more than Worf would in a similar position. We picked Worf and Dax’s wedding picture and had he been more friendly, I would have told him why, but still I consider a meeting like that as interesting and as much of a story as meeting those actors who seem as happy to be at the convention as we are. It’s all about – for me – seeing what someone is like off-screen and the story to take away. Tony Amendola was important to us for his role as Master Bra’tac on Stargate: SG1, but there is little to say beyond “pleasure to meet you” and “I enjoyed your work on Stargate.” Billy West would have sat there talking as long as we stood by listening, all about how the fans saved Futurama and how we may be needed to do it again. After careful deliberation, we selected his “head in a jar” picture. I sort of wish I could get all my autographs like that from now on.

Also notable, non-Walk of Fame celebrity encounters. On Thursday, we waited for the elevator at our hotel with Richard Horvitz, voice actor best known for being Invader Zim. Surprised the heck out of him that we recognized him. Later, we’d gone to the garage to assist our friends and roommates, Alex and Lucy, with retrieving their luggage and Richard stopped Chris outside the hotel to ask directions to the food court. First occasion of being recognized by a celebrity. We also waited by the elevators Friday morning with Colin Ferguson and Niall Matter of Eureka, but didn’t talk to them. Some big guy of a con-goer picked up Colin which may just qualify as the weirdest thing I saw at the con.

Before I go, more cosplay pictures. I love these My Little Pony Gala Dresses, but I didn’t get a shot with all six ponies clearly visible. Safe to assume Rarity did the sewing.

I wouldn’t have stopped to take this picture of Zander from Drawn Together had he not had Ling Ling with him. I love that wildly offensive little critter.

Last, but not least, Alex helped us take our bags down to the car when it was time to go. He posed with the awesome bag I got with my purchase from WeLoveFine. We’ll let him think he’s not a Brony even though he’ll watch with us or with his daughter. That’s a lot of pony for a man who isn’t a Brony, don’t you think?

1 Comment | In: fandom | tags: Alex, Chris, dragon*con, science fiction, star trek. | #

Just when I convince myself I’m not obsessed with pastel equines, I come upon something outs me (to myself) as a complete and utter Brony. I reject the term Pegasister as it sounds stupid.

Now, as I type this, I realize how crazy it sounds to say I sometimes doubt the depth of my Brony fandom only to follow it up with this:

Chris and I picked up a few necessities at Walmart last night. As we typically do, once we’d gotten our milk, chocolate and fresh berries, we headed over to the toy aisle to check for MLP goodies. Specifically, I’ve been after the “blind bags” as Rarity has indeed proved to be a rarity. I love the 2″ figures for their overall cuteness, plus they don’t eat much. Does that make me a hardcore Brony?

Often amused by the more kid-friendly toys, I always scan the whole area for new MLP products. The “Baby doll” versions are especially whimsical, if you ask me. I even saw a teach-baby-Pinkie-to-walk doll once which totally ignores the fact ponies walk on four legs and equines naturally stand and walk soon after birth. Silly, but if I was six or seven, I would so want one.

Last night when my eyes landed on the bottom shelf, I did this:

I wish I could claim to be exaggerating.

Naturally, I snatched up the very last Walmart Exclusive Pinky Pie Plush. She was the very last one and nothing indicated if the display box contained a plethora of partying Pinkies or various characters. She didn’t leave my sight until I got her home. I contained my impulse to remove her tag long enough to take a documenting photo to submit my find to Equestria Daily in hopes of being featured in one of their “Random Merch” roundups. I subscribe to the premier Brony news blog in Google reader. Does that make me a hardcore Brony?

Pinkie Pie is now living happily on my sofa, shooting off her party canon as we speak and frolicking with the smaller plastic ponies. I can’t help but smile, smile, smile at the thought. That, it seems, would make a hardcore Brony.

No Comments | In: fandom | tags: MLP, My Little Pony, Pinkie Pie, Plush, Toys, Walmart. | #

I’ve mentioned Ponies in passing here and there on the blog, but today is a day for excited Pinkie Pie. A bit redundant, one could argue, but I would say one should differentiate from scary Pinkie with the straight hair throwing a party for turnips and rocks or Pinkie chasing a pony down for breaking a Pinkie Promise. I never want to experience those first-hand. This GIF makes me smile, smile, smile just like Pinkie wants all her friends to do.

Feel free to bookmark this post, as I plan to do, and come back whenever you need a pink-party-pony-pick-me-up.

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After many months preparing, Chris and I finally got Klingon-married at Trek Trax Atlanta. It was an unforgettable experience. I do not know how to express how much fun we had and how meaningful, though not our legal and binding Earth wedding, it was to have so many people work so hard to make our wedding an exciting event for everyone in attendance.

A few important people must be thanked before I get on to the pictures and descriptions for those who did not attend. If the content of the ceremony is unfamiliar, please see Worf and Dax’s wedding from Deep Space Nine. For more pictures of our wedding and Trek Trax in general, see the galleries on the House Koloth website.

Thank you to everyone who came out for the wedding and the reception, but especially the following:

Trek Trax founder Eric Watts and his staff without whom there would be no convention.

Our Tawi’yan Alex who is an ever faithful friend. My lovely human parents-in-law Marion & Sandi – not Trek fans – and brother-in-law Eric for making the trip to be with us on our big day.


Theresa Parker aka Mistress Koloth, Klingon wedding planner.

Our convention guests who participated in the ceremony: Dr. Lawrence M. Schoen officiated, David Orange aka “The Sleepy Klingon” from Star Trek VI gave a toast in Klingon, il Troubadore played blood-stirring Klingon music, Jillanna Babb and her belly dancers done up in their best Orion slave girl green.

All those warriors who made up the bat’leth arch, and those who vouched for our honor. Connie and Illya Allman for the Romulan Ale. It was much enjoyed. All those who enjoyed the Romulan Ale and other refreshments at the reception.

If I have failed to mention anyone who played a role in the event, I apologize. It was all a blur of utter happiness to have so many people involved. I love our fandom friends and family so very much. While this wedding is only legal in the Empire, nothing we could plan for our Earth wedding and reception will compare.

Now, a selection of photos:

6 Comments | In: fandom | tags: Alex, Chris, Klingon wedding, science fiction, star trek, trek trax. | #

On March 28th, Chris and I flew to Seattle to visit my family and go to Emerald City Comicon. It was a great trip and, like all vacations, it was too short yet wonderful to get home at the end.


I didn’t take nearly enough pictures, so I swiped a few from Chris for this post.


First, Chris at the Con with my folks. This was, remember, the meet-the-parents, plus my brother and sis-in-law, trip. Being well over a year into our relationship, it’s a little different than me meeting his parents a few weeks after we started dating. Not less scary, I don’t think, but different. The family, of course, loved him, because he’s awesome.





Celebrity guests are an important part of the convention experience and being a short hop from L.A. helps ECCC get really great guests for a midsized convention. We decided to go – hell or high water – when George Takei was announced as a guest. His autograph was priority number one for the convention. We roped Mom & Dad into going through the line to get one since we were tasked with getting one for Alex who wanted his signed “I love sweaty basketball players” referencing this video. Chris was the only one of our party brave enough to ask Mr. Takei for the unusual personalization. And it was awesome. Mr. Takei laughed, his beautiful deep belly laugh. It was the kind of moment getting autographs is all about for as much as the signed 8×10 is a treasure, the story the interaction is the real reason we’ll wait in line for a couple hours and call it all fun.


Our other celebrity encounters were Adam Baldwin, Christopher Judge, Jason Momoa, Summer Glau, Jhonen Vasquez, and Tara Strong.


Tara Strong was out of things to sign, so she allowed fans to take pictures. If you don’t recognize her name, you wouldn’t recognize her face. She’s the voice talent extraordinaire behind tons of iconic cartoons. The Power Puff Girls’ Bubbles and Twilight Sparkle of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic are the two characters which make me a Tara fan-girl forever. She was genuinely nice to the little group of Bronies in front of us. Not that I’m a Brony or anything.

Chris could have spent the entire three day convention down in the gaming area where they’d set up a handful of vintage arcade games on free play.

One of the things ECCC does better than any con I’ve attended so far is vendor space and variety. I picked up several items including this fellow.

Any Harry Potter fan loves Hagrid. He has special meaning for me as we’re working on a Hagrid costume for Chris. I’ve wanted the Lego minifig for a while, but I couldn’t justify buying the whole playset. He’s adorable, ain’t he?

Oh, and the best souvenir:





Pretty much everyone knows by know Chris proposed at the convention. More than a few knew before it happened. It was perfect; my home city with my folks there and at a convention. I was surprised, at the timing not the question, which meant a lot to Chris and made the experience a lot more special than I could have imagined. I’m ridiculously happy and, truth be told, getting a little choked up and butterflies inside thinking about it.

6 Comments | In: fandom | | #

What separates typical fans of certain media properties from the fanatics and geeks?

Toys, of course.

If you click on the above imagine, you’ll get a pretty good idea what kind of geeks live here. The “geek display” as we call it, is home to most, but not all, of the toys.

Most of them came with Chris, although I assure him I don’t just love him for his toys. Sure, I’d always go press the button on the Enterprise model that lights up and talks every single time I was over at his place before we moved in together, but what red blooded (not to be confused with red shirted) Trekkie girl wouldn’t?

An astute observer might notice one item seems a tad out of place.

Don’t see it?



Her name is Honeybuzz and she’s not mine.

While she’s not My Little Pony, she is all my fault.

At Dragon*Con, Chris and I saw something strange while waiting in line for William Shatner’s autograph. I remember it was then because it was an extremely long wait in an open area with a good vantage point for costume watching. Picture it: Six or eight pastel pony costumes with heads removed to reveal each and every one of them was worn by a guy. As it happened, I’d seen a piece on the phenomenon of teenaged boys and twenty-something men into the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon. Brony culture, in the flesh, was much stranger than simply an entry at memebase. Naturally, I looked up the video I’d seen for Chris when we got back to our hotel room.

For whatever reason, the Brony thing has stuck around as a joke all these months. Maybe simply because it’s a fandom more silly than any to which we actually belong. Maybe because the fine line between cartoons it’s acceptable for a grown man to love (check out Gir from Invader Zim on the top shelf, front and center) and those it would be strange to enjoy without a child of appropriate age and gender to excuse the viewing is amusing from a sociological standpoint. Maybe I love a running joke far more than is natural.

Whatever the reason, the joke morphed with our friend Alex being accused of being a disgruntled Brony thanks to his colorblindness. The majority of the ponies are gray to him as are the majority of the backgrounds on the show. Poor guy. What torture, we joke, when his young daughter watches the show, that he can’t see his beloved ponies.

As Christmas rolled around, of course, Chris and I planned to get Alex a pink pony. What Chris didn’t know, I had a Little Pony surprise for him, too. Funny gifts make such wonderful memories. I managed to surprise them both. I was tasked with picking up Alex’s pony – any of them as long as she’s pink – and I showed Alex the pony I got for Chris. Neither of them suspected a thing. We set Alex’s up in a big box with his real gift – a pith helmet – well hidden beneath. I wrapped Chris’ before putting the obvious shaped package in a larger box for a second coat of wrapping paper. Along with the dollar store back scratchier wrapped in two Costco sized cereal boxes pushed together at the ends, his pile of gifts from me looked impressive while being 2/3rds silly.

The joke continues. Honeybuzz gets an occasional greeting, pat on the head, or hair brushing to go with her place of honor on the geek display in front of Optimus Prime. As I love a running gag, my delight is as much to blame as Chris’ silliness.

Chris pointed out, per the packaging, Honeybuzz is an industrious pony, always busy. Typically, we are not, preferring an evening on the sofa streaming Netflix to most anything else. Coincidence or no, since Christmas, it seems we’ve accomplished more around the house; cleaning, organizing and crafting more than we usually do. I wouldn’t say we’ve been influenced by little Honeybuzz, but having noticed the connection, she’s been dubbed the Patron Saint of Productivity in our home.

1 Comment | In: fandom | | #

Since Netflix added four of five Star Trek series on streaming over the summer, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the addition of the fifth series, Deep Space Nine. Of all the shows, I’ve seen the fewest episodes of DS9 and heard about several sure to make my geek heart flutter in excitement.


Tribbles! Vulcans playing baseball! Worf’s wedding!


I’d been working my way through the first season on DVDs from Netflix when Chris and I moved in together and we went to a shared, streaming only account. I’m pretty sure the announcement had already been made about the shows going on streaming. I do hate waiting for disks by mail as much as I love instant gratification.


As promised, October first, Sisko, Odo and Quark were added to the streaming Trek lineup. No surprise, Chris and I both dug right in. We skipped ahead to the gems mentioned above, plus a beauty of an episode called “Far Beyond the Stars” which places Captain Sisko in 1950s New York City living the life of a science fiction writer for pulp magazine Incredible Tales. Much like Dorothy in Oz meeting people from the farm, the crew of Deep Space Nine populates this world. Could easily stand among my top ten favorite Star Trek episodes of all time.


After skipping ahead to the must-see episodes, I went back to where I’d left off in the disks. As of today, I’m around five episodes into season two. Two or three of them, I’d seen before.


So far, I have mixed reaction to the show.


I do like the characters. Even my least favorite of them, Dr. Julian Bashir, is growing on me after a rough start. I adore Quark and Odo. Jake Sisko and Nog are handled better than Wesley Crusher was in The Next Generation, written like teenagers and not used as a plot device to save the day with stunning technobabble.


The episodes I love, I really love. Not just those later season ones I watched out of sequence. The Forsaken might be my favorite Lwaxana appearance. Move Along Home is stellar and If Wishes Were Horses echoes the classic Trek theme of thoughts becoming disturbing reality. I am mesmerized by these stories and a few others which excite my imagination and reinforce exactly why I’m a dedicated Trekkie.


Where I’m not yet sold is the tales dealing with the day to day operations of the station, Bajoran politics and fall out from the Cardassian occupation. I don’t find those stories particularly compelling in part because they don’t tend to feel like Star Trek to me. Like my best friend Kate says about her dislike of Deep Space Nine, it’s like Star Trek without the trek. Conceptually, Star Trek was always about going out into uncharted territory, encountering the unknown and moving on. It seems funny to live on a space station and deal with shop keepers and trading ships bickering over cargo. Sometimes the action seems drawn out as if to allow the story arc to last. I am not saying it’s bad. It’s not. I am saying I don’t connect to the story telling style as Star Trek.


Having been assured, both by watching episodes from later in the series and by Chris who counts DS9 as his favorite Trek series, that the show continues to get better as it progresses, I have no intention of giving up on the show. I’m interested enough to keep going for my own sake even if only to see what happens to the characters. Bottom line, as I always say, when it comes to a choice between experiencing more stories in the Star Trek universe or not, I’m always going to take the story.

3 Comments | In: fandom | tags: Chris, Kate, netflix, sci fi, science fiction, star trek. | #