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Posts Tagged ‘star trek’

FAN EXPO Portland 2023

Tuesday, February 28th, 2023 No comments

FAN EXPO Portland was February 17-19. It was forming called Wizard World Comic Con, but they renamed it. The last con I went to before the pandemic was Wizard World Portland 2020, where I got to meet many Smallville cast members. I think this event was supposed to take place under its new name in 2022, but was canceled or delayed.

My attitude about cons has changed. I don’t have to go every day and I don’t have to remain at the con all day. This con I only attended the 1st 2 days. I did what I intended to do and left. I didn’t attempt to take many pics of cosplayers. I didn’t go to all the panels I considered. Most of this was because I was just tired. I haven’t been sleeping well lately.

The con was fun overall. There were a lot of little things that I think could be improved. I noted them all in the survey they sent out after the event ended. One thing was scheduling a lot of the better guests (either for panels, photo ops, or autograph sessions) at the same time on Saturday. It made for some hard decisions. There was a lot of Star Trek representation, which I liked. William Shatner, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Anson Mount, and Ethan Peck. I saw them all except Shatner. Nothing against Shatner, but maybe I’ve had my fill of him for now. And he comes to Portland often.

On Friday the only thing I really did was get my picture taken with Ethan Peck and Anson Mount.

On Saturday I went to the TNG/Picard panel with Frakes, McFadden, and Spiner. Because of the weird location of the main stage, they entered through the audience. Frakes and McFadden walked right past me. I saw a panel with Katee Sackhoff, before getting my photo taken with Jonathan Frakes, seeing a Leah Thompson panel, and ending the day with a Strange New Worlds panel featuring Anson Mount and Ethan Peck.

Overall, a very chill but fun con experience. Looking forward to next year.

Rose City Comic Con 2022

Thursday, September 29th, 2022 No comments

A few weeks ago I attended Rose City Comic Con. It was September 9-11. This was year 10 of the con. I’ve been every year except 1, and I was in Hawaii that year. I’ve been meaning to write about it, but life is busy.

It was great to be back in con mode again. I’m in better physical shape than I was last year. When I first arrived I was proud because I was able to walk from one end of the convention center to the other. I was very much out of breath at the end, but at least I did it. Small victories.

Instead of spending pretty much all day at the con, I was only there for a maybe 5 hours tops each day. I got to do most of what I wanted to and even got to rest at times. I saw panels with Levar Burton, Billy Dee Williams, Buffy ladies (Charisma Carpenter, Julie Benz, and Amber Benson), Walking Dead stars (Ross Marquand and Khary Payton), Star Trek Discovery stars (Anthony Rapp and Wilson Cruz), Kel Mitchell, Sylvester McCoy, Hobbits (Elijah Wood and Sean Astin), voice actors from Dragonball Z, and Giancarlo Esposito. I got to have my photo taken with Anthony Rapp, Wilson Cruz, Rainn Wilson, Levar Burton, Sean Astin, and Elijah Wood. I also got autographs from Wesley Chu and John Scalzi.

My biggest complaint about the con was the food situation. On the first day the food places didn’t open until well after the con started. On the second day the lines were longer than I have even seen them. I waited an hour in line only to be told they were out of the one thing I wanted. And of course, the food is way overpriced.

Anyway, the con was great as always. Spending 3 days around my people was great. I saw more friends than usual and even arranged to meet up with one, which I don’t usually do because I kinda enjoy being alone at conventions and going at my own pace. I’m already looking forward the next con.

Christmas 2021

Friday, December 31st, 2021 No comments

I remember thinking a while back that I was going to really get into and enjoy this holiday season. Reese’s diagnosis and the omicron variant put a damper on that. Reese has mostly good days, but he’s been very needy. If I go to take a shower I can hear him wining when I get out. I wasn’t getting a lot of sleep for a while. But it wasn’t all bad. I put a tree up for the first time in a while. At work we got gift cards for GrubHub so we could have a meal together on Zoom one day

I had my first Christmas dinner on the 23rd with my friends Aaron and Josh and some mutual friends. We ate a lot of food, played Bomberman and that Exploding Kittens like Star Wars card games, and did a secret elephant exchange.

I spent Christmas Day with my friend Nir doing the Chinese dinner on Christmas Day thing again, except this time we ordered takeout instead of dining in a restaurant.. My friends Robert, Alex, and Jer were there as well along with one of Nir’s friend who I didn’t know. We played Codenames and chatted and ate so much food. We never got around to watching a movie.

What did I get for Christmas and my birthday this year?
  • Nike shoes
  • plates
  • Sagrada (board game)
  • Mulholland Dr (Criterion Collection)
  • Wayfarer Series
  • protein pancakes with bourbon-aged maple syrups
  • Trailblazers calender
  • Captain America mug
  • chocolate candy
  • Star Trek pride shirt

    I didn’t really treat myself to anything this year like I normally do. Over the summer I got a new TV and receiver, both of which support 120fps so my gaming consoles will be able to live their best lives. Maybe I can count that.

    Overall I would say that this was a pretty good year. It was great getting out and being able to see people, go to events, and be social again. It’s hard to describe just how much that has meant, especially after 17 months of isolation.

    There’s been a damper later in the year. Reese’s diagnosis, a friend passed away, Betty White died today.

    Next year I have to make health a priority again. I was making so much progress, but the last few weeks my diet has gone to crap again and I haven’t been exercising at all. And of course I struggles getting around most of the year like when I went to Rose City Comic Con.

    I also want to make getting a fulltime job with benefit and PTO a priority. It’ll make me feel a little more at ease and I’ll actually be able to have some real vacation time. I’ve had 2 contracting jobs this year. Hopefully, I’ll be an FTE someone by the end of next year.

    Speaking of vacation time, I hope that my travel plans don’t get screwed up by one thing or another. I’m supposed to be going to Chicago in April. Let’s hope that happens.

    As usual, I want to wish everyone a happy New Year. Take care of each other!

  • Rose City Comic Con 2021

    Sunday, September 12th, 2021 No comments

    This weekend was Rose City Comic Con. It was my first con since January 2020. Man if felt good to be at a con again.

    There were times leading up to the con where I thought about not going because of the delta variant that’s been so devastating lately. I waited a while to buy my passes and I didn’t purchase tickets for photo ops until the night before. At one point I was thinking the con might be cancelled, but going into that final week I was pretty sure it would go on. PAX (which I decided to skip this year) and DragonCon weren’t cancelled, after all.

    If was definitely different. Not as many people. Everyone in masks. It seems like there weren’t as many guests to begin with, but more than normal cancelled for various reasons leading up to it. By the time the con got here, there were only 3 people I was interested in meeting.

    I had actually planned on being there for only a few hours each day instead of spending almost all day there like I would in a normal year. I figured there wouldn’t be as much to see and I would limit my possible exposure to covid.

    I almost thought about skipping Friday, but I decided to get one of my photo ops this day, so I could squeeze in another photo op on Sunday. As I do sometimes, I drove on the first day and rode the train after that. I can’t remember how much I’ve talked about my health on here recently. I was pretty out of shape before than pandemic, but add on to that 18 months of not going anywhere and not eating badly. It was a struggle just getting around the con. I remember having to walk around pretty much the entire building at my last con and although I was tired, it wasn’t much of a struggle. This time, I had to take several breaks walking from the parking lot to the entrance. They were on opposite sides of the building. I only went to see one panel, Carl Weathers. I had to factor in a rest break when I decided when to head to the room it was in. And when I left for the Billy Boyd photo and when I left the con that day, I had to traverse the entire building 2 more times. My legs and back were killing me. I was so winded and sweaty. My heart felt like it was going to explode.

    The next day I had planned to do my normal cosplay photography stuff. Luckily, the train dropped me off right next to the Premium Pass entrance. I wish I had known about that entrance the day before. I got a few cosplay photos, but I was too tired to do more. I didn’t even walk around the show floor like I normally do. I got a photo with George Takei, but decided to skip his panel because I was so tired.

    Sometime Saturday night I decided to skip Sunday. I had a headache, my chest was hurting a little, and my body was sore. I ended up missing panels with Billy Boyd and members of The Boys cast. I also missed the photo op I had paid for with Jack Quaid. I hope he comes to Portland again soon.

    Even though it was tough on me, it was great being at a con again. I’m looking forward to the next one. In the meantime, I really have to focus on my health. I’m sure I’ve said that before, but I mean it this time. I’ve already been working with a trainer. It’s mostly diet that’s dragging my down.

    Christmas 2020

    Thursday, December 31st, 2020 No comments

    Christmas was last Friday. It was another day in quarantine with not much happening.

    I worked half a day. I streamed Overwatch for a few hours after work. I had Chinese takeout and watched Wonder Woman 1984 on HBO Max. The food was good, but the movie wasn’t nearly as good as the first one.

    Hoping for better times next year. And snow.

    What did I get for Christmas and my birthday this year.
  • a map of Portland neighborhoods poster
  • lots of fish food
  • fish cards and stickers
  • a bristlr worm trap
  • star wars card deck
  • an exercise ball
  • a pack of Reese’s trees
  • Star Trek: Picard Season 1
  • Overwatch Monopoly
  • Wakanda Forever board game
  • Star Trek Five-Year Mission board game
  • I treated myself to an Oculus Quest 2, an Xbox Series X, and a PlayStation 5, though the PS5 won’t be here for another couple of weeks.

    I’m at a point where I’m tired of hearing about how rough this year has been. Hopefully this will be one of the last times I mention it. Everyone can go into the new year with a new outlook and attitude

    There were many positives this year: finally getting a new job, making health a priority, getting to see Xander again, getting into a streaming habit, taking part in all the virtual events with PDX Gaymers, helping elect a new president elected, getting new gadgets, spending so much time with the dogs, and so on.

    As soon as the pandemic hit, I decided I wasn’t going to stress over that list of goals I set last year. It’s okay if I wasn’t productive as I wanted to be. I did meet a few of them I think. I’m not going to bother setting any for next year. Hopefully before the end of the year we’ll be able to start having game nights or going to happy hours again.

    Time will tell.

    Unfortunately, I had to work today and I’m working a half day tomorrow. Tonight, I finished a book to meet my book goal for the year. Now I plan to play video games, watch TV, and chat with friends while enjoying the most expensive bottle of wine I’ve ever bought.

    As always, have a great year and take care of each other!

    Rose City Comic Con 2018

    Sunday, September 30th, 2018 No comments

    Three weekends ago (the weekend after PAX). I went to Rose City Comic Con. I went back to work after a week long vacation after then and was swamped, so I didn’t have time to write about it.

    I won’t do a blow-by-blow as usual, but I will say that this convention, unlike PAX, was more about panels.  There was some cool stuff on the exhibit floor (such as a Dragonball Z exhibit), but I spent most of my time there taking pictures of cosplayers.  I did some artwork from local artists like I normally do.

    I went to panels featuring Kristen Bauer, Michael Biehn and Jennifer Blanc-Biehn, Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members (Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, and Michael Dorn), David Tennant, Felicia Day, Overwatch voice actresses Lucy Pohl and Charlet Chung, John Barrowman, Catherine Tate, Karl Urban, Smallville stars Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum, Michael Rooker,  and Evangeline Lilly.

    I didn’t get any autographs this year, but I did get photo ops with Tenant and the TNG cast members.

    They had a board game section which I didn’t check out because I didn’t see anything being played that I was interested in.  Maybe next year.

    I ran into my friend Daniel on the second day, but we didn’t hang out long before we got separated.  Again, I kinda like doing my own thing at cons.

    I really enjoyed being at RCCC again this year.  It was a exhausting having cons 2 weekends in a row, but I don’t regret it.  I think RCCC is later in the month next year, so that won’t be a problem. I’m so glad to have an event like this right in my back yard.

    Rose City Comic Con 2017

    Sunday, September 17th, 2017 No comments

    The second part of my vacation was Rose City Comic Con.  I think it had been a couple of years since my last RCCC. I’ve been a little burnt out on conventions lately.  They’re fun, but exhausting.  They can also be expensive. In spite of that I decided to make my return this year.

    This year the con expanded to 3 days.  On the first day, Friday, I got there a little after noon. The con didn’t start until 1:00.  As soon as I walked into the building, I saw a my friend Joshua, so we hung out that day. I wasn’t expecting to hang out with anyone that day. I kinda like having the freedom to do my own thing at cons.  Josh was cool though, so not much was different than if I had been there alone. After I got my badge, we went to Brent Spiner’s panel. Afterwards, we walked around the exhibit floor  and I got to do one of my favorite con activities – taking pictures of cosplayers. After this we saw a panel on writing LGBT characters. I don’t think either of us found it too interesting, so we left early. We caught the end of a panel featuring 2 cast members from The Munsters and then we saw Kate Sackhoff’s panel.  I left after this because I was tired. I missed the Weird Al panel that was coming up next.

    The next day traffic near the convention center was a mess. I didn’t leave as early as I should have and ended up spending an hour inching traffic before I eventually made it to a place I could park.  I got some more pictures of cosplayers.  I got all of my autograph and photo ops taken care of back to back to back.  First was a picture with Rose McIver, then Rose’s autograph, then a picture with Brent Spiner and John de Lancie together.  Originally I had planned on doing them over 2 days, but that changed when I found out Brent Spiner and John de Lancie were doing a photo together.  Rose McIver was so adorable.  I had no idea she was from New Zealand, so I was shocked when she asked me how I was doing with an accent. When I walked up to Spiner and de Lancie, they joked about my RCCC shirt asking what it was and were it is.  After the photo ops, I could just chill the rest of the day and the next day. No more lines.  I saw John de Lancie’s panel and Rose McIver’s panel before going home.

    On the last day, traffic was much better. After roaming the floor for a little while, I think I spent the rest of the day in the main panel room. First was Ming Chen. Then Peter Capaldi and Pearl Mackie. After that was some stars and a producer from Z Nation. And finally William Shatner.  I got a bite to eat after that and went home.

    I’m glad that I went back to RCCC this year.  It was a blast. This con has come a long way since first year when it was in that hotel and there wasn’t any air conditioning in the exhibit area.  Right now I have a desire to start going to cons again. We’ll see how long that lasts.

    I had a great vacation and it was hard to go back to work Monday.

    Lastly, I’m too tired to go through the trouble of posting pics from the con. You can find them on Facebook.

     

    Christmas 2013

    Thursday, December 26th, 2013 No comments

    I had a good Christmas this year.  I decided to remain in Portland this year. It’s nice to spend a holiday resting instead of traveling.  I missed seeing my family, but I didn’t mind missing out on the airports. I worked on Christmas Eve for the first time ever, but I did take a vacation from work beginning on Christmas Day and ending on New Year’s Day. On Christmas Day I saw two movies, two of many movies I plan to see during my break. I’m going to a game night on New Year’s Eve, but that’s the only social activity.  I have planned.

    What did I get for my birthday and Christmas? My friends and family took very good care of me this year.

    • Grimm lore book
    • Batman figure
    • The Shining by Stephen King
    • Princess Mononoke on DVD
    • 2(x)ist underwear
    • Pizza pan
    • Beanie
    • Enterprise-D model
    • C.O.P.S. Vol. 1 and 2 on DVD
    • Batman snuggie

    I sent my niece a toy Dora the Explorer guitar. I hear that she really liked it and was doing air guitar not long before she got her gift.

    Fandoms

    Sunday, June 30th, 2013 No comments

    While I was at LeakyCon, I spent a lot of time thinking about fandoms. I’m a major Star Trek fan. More specifically, I a major Star Trek: The Next Generation fan. I’ve seen every episode and movie many times. If I came across a rerun, I used to be able to recognize an episode and tell you the title and season within seconds. I haven’t put that to the test in a while since you don’t see reruns on TV anymore. I know there are people who are more obsessed with it than me, but I’m pretty obsessed. Star Trek: TNG is definitely the series I’m the most obsessed with, even more than LOST.

    I thought that I was fairly knowledgeable about Doctor Who. I’ve seen every episode since the relaunch at least once. I spend a decent amount of time chatting with people about it. At the Doctor Who meetup at LeakyCon, we sat around in the circle and discussed the show. I knew there would be people who knew a lot more than me. I was just hoping to be able to contribute to the conversation. As the discussion went around the circle on different topics, I was just happy that I knew what people were talking about. At one point, I was having trouble hearing what was going on when all of a sudden pretty much the entire circle of 50 or so people burst into some Doctor Who-related song. Later, I remembered hearing “Pandorica” and “Amy” and “River”. When they finished, I had no idea what had just happened. It blew my mind. They all knew the song word for word, but I had never heard of it before. Earlier they had all sung a Harry Potter song, but I figured that was from the Harry Potter musical that I have refused to watch.

    Later on, with the help of Google, I discovered that the Doctor Who song is by a UK band that writes songs inspired by Doctor Who. They write songs INSPIRED BY DOCTOR WHO. I had no idea this kind of thing existed, but I shouldn’t be surprised. These guys are big on YouTube apparently. The Internet wasn’t around when Star Trek: TNG was on, much less YouTube. I wonder how it would have been different for me if I had the Internet when that show was on. I don’t do a lot of general web surfing these days, but I did when I was in college and had more free time (I didn’t get Internet access until my freshman year of college in 1997). I’m hardly ever on YouTube, but if I had it in 1990, I probably would have spent hours watching Star Trek videos. Most of the people in the Doctor Who discussion were at least 10 years younger than me.

    I already knew that the Internet has changed fandoms. I’m already a part of several online communities. This Doctor Who discussion made me realize that I’m not utilizing everything that I could. I have to step up my geek game if I want to keep up with these young people. Or maybe I don’t need to. I’m doing fine the way I am now.