I went to the Star Trek convention today. I decided to take my bicycle, and an 8.7 mile ride in 102°F weather might not have been (in retrospect) the best of choices.
I was in the vendor room and saw that Natalija Nogulich (who portrayed Admiral Nechayev in Star Trek: The Next Generation was at one of the tables. Years ago, I had read a New Yorker article about Ricky Jay, the magician, and the article mentioned someone named Christ (pronounced Krĭst) Nogulich. Since it’s not a common name, I asked her if they were related. It turns out that he is her brother, and he happened to be at the convention. She told me to return in a half hour or so, and when I did, she introduced him to me and we talked about the article. It appears that a lot of people remember his name from there. Both of the Noguliches are really wonderful, personable people, by the way. At one point, Ms. Nogulich asked me, “so what do you teach?” This really surprised me, because I hadn’t mentioned my job. I asked her, “How did you know?” She said she just has a good sense for people. Indeed she does.
As I was headed out of the vendor room to see a panel by the “Ferengi Family” (Armin Shimerman, Max Grodenchik, and Aron Eisenberg [no relation]), a guy asked me, “Aren’t you supposed to be in the other room now?” I walked on, puzzled as to how he knew where I was going. About five seconds later it hit me, and I burst out laughing. He had mistaken me for Armin Shimerman. This has happened about three or four times, and I do not understand it, since we look nothing alike, as far as I can see.
After the convention, I went downtown to El Cortez, where they had “Streats” a street festival with lots of food trucks. I had some BBQ chicken wings (excellent) and a sandwich (OK, but not spectacular). It was about 7:30 p.m. at that point, so I headed back to where I was staying. So that was my day.
Here are a few pictures from the convention. The first picture just caught my eye; a holistic Trekkie veterinarian? Who would have though it. Even though this was the big “everyone in costume” day, the crowds surrounding the people in costume were so large that there really wasn’t any good opportunity for photos.