How I Found Out My BFF Is a Nerd

 It was February 2005. We were at a Women of Faith convention with a bunch of gals from our church. We stayed an extra day and the two of us went out exploring. We went to the Harley Davidson Café, ate delicious BBQ and had a couple of cocktails, which made the endless loop of motorcycles circling on a dry-cleaners-like conveyor overhead seem almost cool. I figured now that she had her Harley fix, it was my turn to check out the Star Trek Experience at the Hilton that I had heard about, so we hopped on the monorail, headed for adventure.

When we exited the monorail, the path into the hotel led straight to the Space Quest Bar. This was my kind of decor! There were giant screens playing sci-fi movies above the space station themed casino, and even a neon-wrapped tube reminiscent of a warp core. We used the ladies room, where computer voices could be heard in the stalls and at the mirrors. Just outside the entrance to The Experience, the Borg Queen looked down upon us. 

The Enterprise D at Star Trek The Experience

Once inside we marveled at the huge ships suspended from the ceiling. We made our way along the illuminated timeline in the History of the Future Museum, beginning with the early 20th century, right on through the 25th.

We read every single word on that timeline. By the time we reached halfway I started crying. She asked me what was wrong and my answer was, “I can’t believe you are reading every word of this with me! Chicks don’t like this stuff!” Adjacent to the timeline were glass cases with costumes and props, each displayed as if they were historical artifacts. I was in Nerdvana. As we neared the torpedo casing that Spock was “buried” in, we spied a Borg scanning it. We got really and truly scared! (we had never seen Voyager before, and therefore the Borg were still the scariest things in the Universe to us) We even got scolded by a cast member for running when we skeeedaddled away from it. We protested, "But there's a Borg over there!!" Just then an old man ran past us fleeing from the same Borg. "See?!"

I don't remember which attraction we went to first, but I do remember this: While waiting in the queue for the Borg Invasion the woman next to Melissa pointed to the Borg figures on display (I swear they were really watching us!) and commented that she didn't understand any of it. She was there with her husband who loved Star Trek. Missy's reply to that was a full encyclopedic explanation of Borgdom! She gave this woman the entire synopsis of who, what, where and how the Borg fit into the Star Trek Universe. In the middle of all that I just burst out in laughter. Missy turned to ask me what I found so hysterical, and I answered, "You're a nerd!"  She agreed, "I guess you're right. We're both nerds!"  

I think it was one of the happiest days in my life.

We really got into the spirit of the attraction--perhaps a little too much, because one of the crew members ordered us shot. Haha..perhaps it was because I was yelling at them to just shoot the Borg! "What's the matter with you? Are your batteries dead?" I screamed at one crewman just as I threw an innocent bystander in front of me. We had the time of our lives, discovered something special about each other, and began a new chapter of our lives as Trekkies. 

Me & my BFF Melissa the morning after our first Star Trek Experience together.

Just one year later I talked her into going to our first Star Trek Convention. It was The Big One in Las Vegas, in the 40th anniversary year of the Original Series. That's another blog post....