As I stood at the bottom of the steps, mic in my uncontrollably shaking hand, I assured myself that even if they did throw tomatoes, I was in a red dress, so at least the stains wouldn’t show. In a flash it was time to ascend those steps, on to the waiting stage and face my fears. At least I wasn’t alone, I had my fellow Trekkie Girls Carole and Teressa with me – if this ship was going down, we were sure as hell going down together!
This was my first experience of a Star Trek convention and I can hand-on-heart say, I absolutely LOVED every single minute of it!!
As it was, there was a rather modest audience for our cadet level quiz (undoubtedly thanks to the lovely introduction from Jordan Hoffman!), which seemed to be graciously accepted and enjoyed by all. Once my feet hit that stage, my nerves were gone and I had an absolute whale of a time! (Although my hands continued to shake inexplicably for some time to come?!).
Let me introduce myself – my name is Sarah and I have known Trekkie Girl Sam for almost 18 years, and Carole for nearer 28 years! One of my earliest memories of Sam is of her dressing up on a school fancy dress day as Captain Jean Luc Picard – complete with flesh coloured rubber swimming cap! That girl was BORN a Trekkie!? (Sorry I have no photographic evidence of this!) They are without doubt the nicest people I know. We have laughed together, cried together and supported each other through good and bad times. These girls are my family.
However, when they nominated me as their Trekkie in Training, or “TiT” as they so shrewdly coined it, back when they first started the Trekkie Girls, I thought they were taking the p*ss?! I’ve seen a fair few episodes of The Next Generation and Voyager, plus seen most of the films at some point during my life, but I certainly wouldn’t class myself as a “Trekkie”. Then again, I guess that’s the point?
My first taste of the Trekkie Girls world was attending the “Into Darkness” press conference last year, and being front row outside the cinema for the premiere, watching in awe as the stars walked the red carpet, and being almost within touching distance of Chris Pine (Trekkie or not – aaarrrrgggghhh!!). It was an amazing day.
As most of you will know, Trekkie Girl Sam has been working as a “Star Trek Ambassador” to the DST team over the past few months, and trust me, she has worked her ass off to well and truly “bring the Trek” to DST3 for you guys! However, having just given birth to the most amazing little baby boy, Hugh, only a few weeks ago, the Trekkie Girls were a woman down for the big event itself! It was time for The Original TiT to stand up and be counted, sent on her first away mission, under the watchful eye of Commanding Officer Carole…
I really didn’t know what to expect? I thought I’d be massively out of my depth. What followed was the most incredible experience, where I did things I never thought I’d have the courage to do; met the most amazing people, and did truly “once in a lifetime” things. I was in for one hell of a ride!!
Tomorrow… Day One of DST3: A baptism of fire.