UPDATE: The winner is…Cindy Bartolotta!
*~*~*

Well, I’m up at O-dark-thirty again. Dratted insomnia. I don’t ever fight it. So, this morning I went ahead and made a cup of coffee and headed in the dark to my computer. The house is quiet; I can Google without feeling guilty. LOL. So, yeah, I’m how old? Self-employed? And I still feel guilty not “working” when I power up.

I went to bed a little early for me last night feeling a little angry. Why? The ending of Star Trek: Enterprise! I’ve been binge-watching the older series for a while now. Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager. All were unique but the same. Know what I mean? I was comfortable with the progression. Enterprise was uncomfortable from the beginning. I liked the idea of it happening before Kirk and was intrigued with the idea of watching “the first” Enterprise begin the star-trekking adventures.

**WARNING SPOILERS**

Problems? I didn’t like the captain. Over the seasons, Captain Archer seemed…a bit irritated and sometimes too aggressive. While I’d found Janeway annoying the first season of Voyager, I came to admire her (after the “Rambo” episode, I loved her). Archer never had that moment where I came to accept his personality. I struggled through the first season, but the show caught me in the second. I loved the evolution of the conflict with the Xindi, and it was odd, but my favorite castmate wasn’t a “regular”. He was a frequent guest—an Andorian commander in the Imperial Guard named Shran. Over the 4 seasons, I actually found him and his mobile antennae to be quite sexy. 🙂

He had a fiery temper, was stubborn, but at heart he was an honorable alien male who loved deeply.

And what did they do to his character in the finale? They made him a criminal! I wanted to see him as an ambassador, having moved up the chain of command through his heroism and good deeds. Nope.

And what else did they do in that finale? They killed my favorite regular cast member, Trip. He never got his HEA with T’Pol—even after they lost their child and all the years they yearned for each other. In fact, the finale fast forwarded years and said they’d broken up six years prior. WTF?

Yeah. I’m not happy. And now, I have to start into the newer Trek series and hope the Powers that Be redeemed themselves. Okay, deep breath. That’s the end of my rant.

Tell me, have you ever been fighting mad over the ending of a series? Tell me about it for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card! 

Saturday Puzzle

Following my Star Trek rant, here’s a picture of what my imagined first encounter would look like. Enjoy the puzzle!

I’ve said it before, but I pull a tarot card on Sundays as a part of my planning for the week. Just one card to interpret.

For Christmas, my lovely son-in-law had a very special gift he’d been eager to give me. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, he’d say, “I saw it, and I just knew it was perfect for you!” When we opened our Christmas presents, he watched to see me unwrap it. As soon as I did, I wore the biggest smile because he’d totally nailed it. He’d found this box of Next Generation tarot cards, which combine my love of woo-woo with my nerdy love for Star Trek.

So, I’m not sure how useful they’ll be in the future (I think they’ll likely sit in my curio cabinet with me Star Wars figures), but I shuffled them this morning and pulled just one card, and…

I couldn’t believe it! Out of 78 cards—Worf! Swear-to-God, hand-on-my-heart, WORF! I could’ve pulled the three bars of latinum (Star Trek currency), and it’s just a picture of three gold bars, and I don’t know what I would’ve “read” from looking at the card—but I got Worf!

So, as always, I concentrate on the card itself—what the picture tells me. Worf is naturally the card of Strength. Worf is a warrior, through and through, with a strict code of honor that he adheres to. When he loves, whether friend, family, or lover, he goes all in and he’ll always have your back. When he engages in a conflict, he’s not going in with diplomacy in mind, he’s going to kick ass. So, for me, this week, I’m going in to kick ass!

I checked the accompanying book to see what it had to say, and basically, I will overcome all kinds of obstacles with my indomitable will. Check

Which is exactly what I hope for. I began last week roaring in on my New Year’s ambitions. However, by Wednesday, I was sick with a virus—hacking cough, headaches, runny nose. Not COVID! I did a home test, and then the doctor did one on Friday. Now, I’ve got a mountain of pills to take to kick the infection. I’m hoping today is the last day I’m dragging ass, and that I’m going to “Worf it” this week!

Do you love it when something cool like that happens? Some lucky draw of the card or something just falls into place like it’s supposed to?

Open Contests

1. Happy National Science Fiction Day! (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win a $5 Amazon gift card!
2. Breaking Bad Habits (Contest) — Win a hand-painted postcard!
3. 2022 Review: Just reminding you… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: What are we celebrating next? — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Donna Antonio!
*~*~*

Yes, it’s a holiday! Obscure, for sure—but not to us Sci-Fi nerds!

My love of science fiction began with Lost in Space and Star Trek. Of course. My parents had just bought our first color TV when Star Trek began, and we watched the change from black and white to color with Lost in Space.

When COVID started I began bingeing the Star Trek series. I made it a mission to get through all the classic series after the original because I’ve seen every episode of that series multiple times.

So far, I’ve made it through Star Trek: Next Generation (Picard), Deep Space Nine (Sisko), and Voyager (Janeway). I’m currently watching Enterprise (Archer). I have to admit, Enterprise is daunting and hard to get into—mostly because I haven’t found that one character I love so much. Or that one enemy I find so compelling (Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians).

For Next Generation, that character was the handsome Worf. YES. I do find him wonderfully sexy and funny. And the good news was, he carried over into Deep Space Nine!

Deep Space Nine also had the wonderfully awful Quark. I found his pursuit of wealth and his Ferengi “Rules of Acquisition” a hoot. I wasn’t sure I’d love Deep Space because the show wasn’t about exploration. It was set on a space station at the mouth of a wormhole, but the cast had plenty of adventures.

Voyager‘s premise was the most fun, I think. A space ship stranded in a part of the galaxy far from home. They spent seven seasons trying to get home. Janeway, the captain, annoyed me for the first couple of seasons—until the episode when she went Rambo to save her crew. Awesome episode. But the characters I loved the most were The Doctor and Seven of Nine.

The doctor was a hologram who started out without much personality but who grew to be the most human of anyone on board. He was funny and sad. His love for Seven of Nine was shown through all the ways he tried to help her become more human. And oh, all the ways he explored his artistic soul… Just a wonderful character arc.

Then there was Seven of Nine, a former Borg drone. She was the sexiest character since Worf while still being a bit robot-stiff. Her arc was remarkable, too.

So, that’s my homage to my favorite Sci-Fi world. Let’s not talk about the movies. I ADORE Chris Pine as Kirk and wish like hell they’d hurry up and make more of them before he ages out! But the movies are only a couple of hours of entertainment, while I can wallow for weeks in a series.

So, there is a contest in here somewhere. I’ve rambled enough.  For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me what Sci-Fi series or movies made you lifelong fans. Are you more of a Star Wars fan or a Trekkie? Do you have favorite Sci-Fi movies?