It's Geek Time!

Time for another installment in the life of a geek. This is a late report on BayouCon '11, the science fiction convention in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The best thing about these conventions is not only seeing old friends, but making new ones. My Klingon friend, Shane (Ri'par) was there and he introduced me to some of his friends in the 501st, which is the Star Wars costuming group. I'm not sure if there is a more instant bonding among those of us who are into science fiction/Star Trek/Star Wars. Awesome folks! Now, to the meat of the convention. This was a good one for us Trek folks. Vaughn Armstrong, who played Admiral Forrest in Enterprise, as well as many other characters, including the first Klingon on Next Generation, and Max Grodenchik, who played Rom in Deep Space Nine were there, as well as a voice-over/video game actor, Dino Andrade.

We also met again Larry Nemecek who is a Star Trek authority and author who is also very funny and cool to spend time with. Here he is with me and Shane:

We spent time Friday night with Larry and some of the other con folks. I also got to meet Chris and Charity Wood, who run one of my favorite Trek websites, Subspace Communique. They are also such super folks and I am so glad to meet and spend time with them.

The first night, we were invited to dinner with Dino and Vaughn, which was awesome. They were such nice folks and we talked for hours and had a great meal. Shane mentioned to Vaughn that he had bloodwine, and he was only too eager to join us in a drink. The drink turned into several more hours in the parking lot, and several glasses of bloodwine. We talked about many things and it was so awesome to hear so many stories and tell so many stories to someone I consider as much of a celebrity as Brad Pitt. It was a great night.

The next day Shane and I went as Klingons and had a great time, talking to Max, who was equally as awesome as well, and meeting other friends and having our picture taken. Dino is also a great and funny guy. That's another great thing about science fiction conventions - meeting great people that I'd never really heard of. Dino is pretty in demand as the video game/animation voice actors go, but I'd never heard of him. Now I see why. He's funny and personable and BayouCon was fortunate to have him.

That evening, Max and Vaughn did a nightclub-type show - songs Max and Vaughn had written, which were really good and both were great entertainers. They do a full Rat Pack type show with Casey Biggs, Arman Shimmerman and Jeff Combs. That's a have-to see.

The next day was slow, as I had to get back to Baton Rouge. All in all it was a super con and I look forward to going next year.

In the country

When May comes, one of the things I really look forward to is going to see my Mother's family in central Arkansas, twenty miles from anywhere. A consequence of getting older, I guess, is that what used to be a dreaded experience, the family reunion, is now something that I love. It happened after many years of not going to the reunions. One year, maybe because our Mother is getting older, my brother and I decided to go with Mother to the reunion. The relatives are, for the most part, the same, and I guess I am, too. The closest I can come to what it feels like is lifting a burden off my shoulders. The burden, in this case, is one of an ungrateful child who didn't appreciate the simply joys of being with aunts, uncles and cousins I've known for many ears. Seeing them and telling them in so many words, how much I cherish this time together and please forgive me for being such a ungrateful child is something I needed to do. This was something I didn't tell my aunts, uncles and cousins outright, but I would like to think that this was something unspoken among us, something to be said, understood, and forgotten. How pointless it is to dwell on things I did in the past that, in this case, I had a chance to make right. The effect of this is, for me, the years and years of good memories that came flooding back. The days exploring the thickets and forests, relishing the clean air and experiences of being a child again. We talk, eat and drink and remember those times, tell stories and wish the weekend would never end. The first thing I did when I got back to work was to mark off the week around Memorial Day 2012, the simply joy of looking forward to this again.