Prodigal Geek

I never got into science fiction, horror and fantasy... I was just always drawn to those genres--be it television, cinema or literature. It's part of who I am. So, it was no surprise that I got really excited when a marketing piece came on The New VR. Anyone remember? It's a Barrie television station that has affiliation with CityTV. The commercial featured a series of sci-fi and action stars that I followed on my weekends. One of them, was the amazing Hudson Leick of Xena: Warrior Princess. I am pretty sure that I wet myself from excitement like a miniature Chihuahua. In addition to advertising for the expo, they were seeking volunteers... volunteers LIKE ME!

I contacted them and said I was EXTREMELY interested and that I could be a critical asset to the team of volunteers they were assembling for the weekend. I got a call to attend their orientation meeting. There I met Philip, Matt, Little Joel, Big Joel, Asian Joel, Toni and Aman; partners in crime for the years that I continued to help out.

At one point, I sort of went on a hiatus to pursue other personal interests... much like a young senior would consider doing before going off to university; I thought I had to find myself so I stopped going. I say 'sort of' because I continued to watch many of these shows--new and old. Behind closed doors, I was watching Star Trek Voyager, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek The Next Generation... Regardless, I thought I was growing out of this phase of my life.

Years later, while watching tv with AW, an evolved version of the same ad about the expo played. This time, it wasn't me who got excited... it was AW, "wowow! Edward James Olmos! Damn that's expensive...". I looked up and replied, "We can go if you want. I've friends I can visit". I think AW crapped himself when I said that. We didn't get the date right and missed Edward James Olmos that year.

This year, we flew out to Calgary for the ST: TNG 25th anniversary fanexpo. This is the first time in over 2 decades that a cast who played together for nearly a decade, came together. I stood in line again. I waited for ~2 hours. I saw patrons in cosplay. I smelled the UW math nerds. I blow dried AW's hair to look like Lore and painted GM's ears for his Data costume. And you know what? I missed it. It felt really good to be back--so to speak. To make things come full circle, I bumped into Aman in Calgary of all places.

A lot of things have changed since I first went into this bright eyed and bushy tailed. But, when I reflect upon this weekend's events I realize that I can't wait until I can return to the Toronto fanexpo.