I have to say there was an energy at this event that I have never felt at any other con. The staff was so professional, yet still laid back enough to have fun with the event. They were always right there for any questions or to resolve any issues, and did a wonderful job.

I had arrived at this Vulkon not knowing a soul. I had met a girl on a Gateworld forum earlier that week that was going with her daughter, we exchanged photos & cell phone numbers and arranged to meet up. Turned out they were really cool, needed a place to stay that night, and ended up being my roomies. I know that sounds crazy, maybe even dangerous, so I’m glad it worked out! We had a blast.

Also during the auction, the auctioneer happened to mention he was Cuban; the woman sitting next to me, and myself at the same time said “I’m half Cuban”. We hung around the entire weekend, speaking Spanish to each other, sharing family histories, and having a good time.

Two more sisters to add to the list!

Guests from left to right (see photo below), starting with top row: Nicole de Boer, Brandi Ledford, Katee Sackoff, Marina Sirtis, Torri Higgenson, me, Claudia Christian, Vanessa Angel, Alice Krige

 

 

I was so nervous about the group photo op…in line I was having heart palpitations and shaking…I am a fan of every single actress in the photo, and here I was about to walk into a room and they will all be looking at me…I was on the verge of tears! The minute I walked in the room, and they were all looking at me, the anxiety went away. As I walked to my place in the photo I looked at the group and said “wow, this is like some messed up dream!” They all laughed. (I am having a massive flashback as I write this, my hands are shaking on the keyboard and I can barely type!) When I sat down the photographer had to adjust the camera so I had a few moments…I couldn’t stop looking at all of them, and when I turned around Brandi says “hey, I remember you from Dragoncon”. Oh my gosh, that made my day, my week, my month, quite possibly my year. I told her I had great pictures of Kevin Sorbo goofing off, and she asked me if I had them with me…I told her of course, I would show her later. So time for the photo, and Claudia Christian grabs me.

 

I have a photo album that I bring to the cons that has all my photos with various sci-fi actors. After the group photo I was showing some friends the album and Marina Sirtis comes up and asks "hey, what are we looking at?" I informed her that there are more photos of her & I than of anyone else in the album. She had a great time looking at the photos and gave me a little tidbit of info on a guest at another con...which shall remain out of print.

 

 

Right after the photo was the banquet. Which worked out good, I was dressed up for the photo op. Someone told me they liked my dress and I can’t remember who it was.

The banquet was very small and intimate, definitely worth the money. You line up according to your ticket number, and get to choose whose table you want to sit at. I had used the “phone a friend” option earlier in the day to help me decide…I went with Katee. She was really cool. She talked about her accident on the set of Bionic Woman, she fell 15 ft and missed the mat right onto the concrete. Messed up her knee. Katee showed us pictures of her dogs and her friends. There was a fan that dominated the conversation with Katee at dinner, and none of us could get a word in otherwise! Every time we did, we were cut off. I kept exchanging glances with a friend that was sitting across from me (and right next to Katee) “what the…?”

Hey, not everyone can say they were embraced by Claudia Christian and then had dinner with Starbuck.

After everyone was finished eating I went over to Brandi’s table and showed her the photos from Dragoncon of her former coworkers goofing off. (see Dragoncon 2006 photos). Before leaving I was able to chat with Torri too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alice Kridge and I at theTiki party

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the banquet was the “Tiki” party. The hotel has this lovely outside tiki bar overlooking a lake, with a dance floor and everything. The Florida weather was more than happy to comply with the event! Torri, Katee, Vanessa, and Alice came to the party. It was nearly impossible to get near Katee. She did the limbo contest and almost won. I did get to talk to Torri, and tell her the story of 5 people that met online in a Stargate forum, one of which she met as a “get in the gate winner”. These 5 friends went on to met up at a convention and the rest is history. I told Vanessa that my kids favorite episode of Stargate was the one she was in; they loved how SG1 could run really fast with the armbands. I can't remember my conversation with Alice (oops! too much to drink, perhaps?)

This is the best I can remember from the panels. Every con I swear I'm going to take notes, and don't remember until midway through the second to last panel. One of these days.

Alice Kridge is the most graceful person I’ve ever seen. She wears these flowing dresses and just seems to float. She moves and speaks very softly and gracefully. During the panel she admitted she gets very nervous at auditions. She said she did a terrible job at the Borg Queen audition, but got a second chance to audition again (lucky for us!). Someone asked what she did different the second time and she said she was so nervous she doesn’t remember. Right now she’s working on an independent film…she and her husband and a friend invested in a high-def camera and are shooting and editing their own film.

In Katee's panel, she told this story: she was in line at Starbucks (the coffee place, that is) and she can hear the guy in front of her whispering into his cell phone “dude, I’m in line at Starbucks, and Starbuck is in line behind me…what do I do?” Not knowing she heard him, Katee says “well you could say hi”. She said the guy ran outta there so fast…

She couldn't give up much info about upcoming BSG episodes, but did clarify that  "Starbuck as we know her is dead".

It just dawned on me, the hotel lobby had an area blocked off by a wall that said “coming soon, Starbucks”. They should have done the photo op there...

Marina Sirtis is a hoot up on stage. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard at a con. There was a story about a scene where the bridge has an explosion that takes five hours to set up. Her scene is to sit at the helm after the explosion…so she runs over and sits down, embers from the special effects had fallen on the chair, and literally burnt an hole in her suit! Of course she jumps up screaming, the director yells cut, and they have to spend the next 5 hours re-setting the special effects. They start the scene all over, and this time when she runs over to the chair she pauses to brush off the chair just in case. Needless to say, they had to keep it and edit around it. Then there were the jokes about why the ship crashes every time Troi gets to drive…I have heard all of these before, and could hear them again a hundred times. She’s besides herself that TNG has been over for 13 years, and she’s  still going to conventions.

 

Claudia told the story of an overzealous fan who shot her with blanks in the ribs at a convention. Can you imagine? She thought she was going to die that way. And years later, runs into the same fan, who played it off as if it was funny and no big deal. What restraint she must have had to muster up... 

 

Nicole was also very funny up on stage. She seemed so quiet and shy, but made me laugh with her DS9 stories. There was a scene where she had to struggle with some big "monster", which she thought was crazy...being so tiny, all the monster would have to do is blow on her to take her down. You definitely had to be there to hear the sound effect on that one.