Pugnacious Priest's Warcraft Blog

** no Wow – just  about me **

I was always a bit of a  book nerd. I was reading King and Koontz and devouring anything that my mother considered appropriate from 10/11 years old;  Wilber Smith,  Jean Auel , Catherine Cookson, I discovered Fantasy and Science fiction because the books were longer,  and I wouldn’t finish them in 2 hours. So  it was no surprise I was called the walking dictionary in Year 7 and a Nerd ( 11/12 years old in oz)

In high school I did the band, the choir,  the debating team, the mock trial team, the social committee,  Did public speaking comps, and  a brief stint in the chess club. ( yes I was one of those people.. ) ( even wore glasses for long distance reading)   My saving graces from not being exiled to the library at lunch was I talked to everyone ,  and probably cause I also played Netball and Basketball reasonably well.

I was nerdy,  but I was never really geeky

After some random after school/Uni  jobs in Bowling alleys, restaurants, retail,   I found a job I loved in a video store.  ( free vids ) and I got to talk to people about videos ( and late fees ><)   I had always had a healthy interest in movies, but   I used to tease the nerds that would hire a stack of Star trek Vids to watch.  ( at least those stacks never came back sticky) until one pair of nerds asked me

” Have you ever watched any of it?”

I scoffed ” No”

They told me to start with Episode 1 of Star Trek Voyager,  I think there was 2 seasons available at the store and I devoured them and as new Ep’s come available to hire I would take them home and watch them.  When I left the store and starting working fulltime I started buying the next videos,  and watched them all,  and when the Dvd box sets came out I brought them, and watched them all again.

Voyager made sci fic Tv a little more accessible to me,  more acceptable, it was no longer the realm of boys only, and it gave me a good role model.  A female star ship captain.

I had the privilege of getting to see/hear Kate Mulgrew ( Janeway)  at Oztrek 6 a mini Star Trek con held in Parramatta in Sydney over the weekend with herself, Tim Russ ( Tuvok) and a skype call Q&A   by Leonard Nimoy.

I wanted to post about it because  it was a massive deal to me, to see her in person, and also to hear some of the stories of how she has influenced other people,  Kate’s character Janeway was the manager I wanted to be, the person I wanted to be, Strong, decisive, smart, diplomatic, feminine,   and to see the actress who brought the closest thing to probably the biggest hero I had to life was just amazing.

I was sitting there with a stupid grin on my face and on a high I haven’t come down from just yet.

It has reignited my desire to watch Trek. 7 seasons of voyager gogogo..  then there is DS9 and I never got around to Next gen, but I am also feeling a little more invigorated.

Voyager was my gateway to Geekiness, and nothing like going back to your roots, seeing how passionate other people  can still be about something you love to reinvigorate a dying spark.