This past weekend was Megacon, a long-running Orlando convention. Held in the sprawling Orange County Convention Center, it has an estimated attendance of 20,000. Programing spans many different entertainment genres, with gaming, anime screenings, speed dating, live performances and panels.

I have a confession: I have never been to a science fiction convention before. For most of my life, I was a general and distant admirer of the genre. I appreciated all the different shows, books, comics, and movies, but I never really understood all the hoopla. But then I met my boyfriend, Joey. To say he likes Star Wars is a gross understatement. So when Kelly asked me if Joey and I would be interested in going to Shore Leave, we jumped at the chance.

I consider myself lucky that my parents are both Trekkies, and that they indulged and supported my love of the franchise early on. When I was young, they actually drove me to geeky events, comic book stores, and even Star Trek conventions. I remember very distinctly that my mother took me to my very first “convention” experience in 1998, which was an event called Star Trek Day at Kennedy Space Center. It was the first time I’d ever get to meet an actor from the shows. One of the guests …

At a Dragon*con convention a few years back, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Brent Spiner (Data), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), and Gates McFadden (Dr. Crusher), from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Up until that point, I had only really met Marina Sirtis (Troi) and LeVar Burton (Geordi) from that series, so I was really excited to finally see more from the TNG crew. I had grown up on the show, and had never imagined that I’d ever have the chance to meet my childhood icons.
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I had the opportunity to meet Brent Spiner at Dragon*con a few years ago. I also follow him on Twitter. Spiner is a funny dude. I’ve said in the past that he’s a big weirdo, but in the most endearing and funny way possible. So when I found out he was going to be at MegaCon in Orlando this weekend, I told a friend of mine that was going that he had to make a point to see Spiner. (I no longer live in O-Town and couldn’t go myself.)
Well, my …