If I were an Orion Teenager on Earth.

If I were an Orion teenager who was adopted and went to High School on Earth - my friends and I would wear sailor shirts, shave and dye the sides of our heads, and listen to Klaus Nomi, Public Image Ltd and the Manic Street Preachers while making zines and pea soup.

Now that I stop to think about it, that is pretty much my life now. The only differences are that I'm not adopted, and I am human. Oh, and I don't have any friends who listen to any of those singers/bands or make zines - so I just sit here with my laptop and have my own private party every night after work. 

"What about Star Trek?" Well, obviously I still watch and read and immerse myself in Star Trek. The reason why this was omitted is that if I were Orion, I would be part of the Star Trek universe and thus there would be no Star Trek shows.

But I digress. If I were an Orion teenager who was adopted and went to High School on Earth, this is what my yearbook photo would look like:

Of course, I would rather be a Vulcan or Human (or even Romulan) teenager going to school on Vulcan.

My skin is so light in this photo (as opposed to the deep Orion skin tone) because the photo finishing companies that do school portraits always do strange smoothing/lightening things to skin for some reason.

This has been a post.

IDIC Star Trek Shirt Photos

I haven't been blogging a lot - I have been working and pursuing other interests, such as photography. I have also been spending a lot of time on the Vulcan Language tumblr, which I started and now run with T'Puhku. I feel like the Vulcan language and culture are very separate from Star Trek, in a way. Like they are two very distinct obsessions (which they are) and I almost forget at times that the vulcan language ever had anything to do with Star Trek at all.

A couple of months ago I received an IDIC shirt in the mail, and it is definitely one of my favorite articles of clothing. I found it while I was browsing ebay, and immediately went out to buy a prepaid visa, came home, registered my visa, and bought the shirt. Luckily, I had another shirt in my closet which was the same style, and so I got my measurements from that.

I went outside to take some simple photos of myself wearing the shirt, but that somehow turned into a full-blown self photography project (which included using a tutu as a headdress).

The best place for taking photos happened to be in front of my apartment building, right beside the main street and a sidewalk. I had people watching me from their cars, and a couple of people asked if they could take my picture. One person (an amazingly nice woman) even directed me, asking me to look through the lens of my camera like I was taking a photo. We spoke for a while, sitting on the grass - and I taught her how to say "dif-tor heh smusma".

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations - a philosophy that I think more people should adopt. If you would like one of these lovely IDIC shirts for your own, you can get it here (women's) or here (men's).

Doctor Who Talking Soft Toy - Red Dalek

The other day, I went on a grand quest for fabric and materials for the Vulcan robes, necklace and headdress that I was going to create for Comic Con. Unfortunately, after hours of searching I found that the materials I would have needed came to more that 600 dollars. I walked home, defeated, drinking orange juice and singing Roses in the Hospital.

But then I decided to stop in at the mall to cool off. I walked in, and saw that the Hallmark shop had the new Star Trek ornaments in - my day got ten times better with that sight. Walking through the mall to get to the bus loop, I also decided to look inside HMV. My day then got 100 times better.

This talking Dalek plush is one of the most adorable things I have ever seen. Not only does it look adorable, but it sounds adorable as well. When pressed upon, it says one of two things: "Exterminate! Exterminate!" or "You would make a good Dalek". There are only three sense globes in each row around the lower casing, but it makes up for this inaccuracy with it's clear sounding phrases and charm.

The next day, I brought the Dalek with me everywhere - to work, across the street for a Monster, and around the city in general. I also took pictures while we were out (see above) and made a video about it, with which I will conclude this post:

Vulcan Conference Hall on Minecraft - IDIC and Kolinahr

A few days ago while I was working as a respite worker, the kids finally convinced me to try playing Minecraft on the Xbox. I became addicted almost immediately, and promptly got a version for my mac - a better version, in my opinion, because there is a creative mode as well as a survival mode.

I spend my time now in Minecraft writing books "written by Surak" in the Vulcan language, and building Vulcan temples. I am even creating the city of Shi'Kahr.

But my favorite building that I have created so far is my Vulcan Conference Hall:

I built an IDIC into the end wall using gold, iron, and emerald blocks. In order for it to be visible in the night, I then covered only the IDIC in torches. In this way, the IDIC is visible throughout the nearby city:

On the side wall I built in the Vulcan symbol for Kolinahr with clay blocks and, once again, covered the shape in torches so that it is visible at night:

The rest of this large structure is constructed from nether brick, and the roof is outlined with torches:

On the other two sides of the building are three sets of doors - around which are adornments in gold, iron, and emerald (matching the IDIC). Surrounding the building are often members of the delegation and ambassadors (actually "villagers").

Because of the gold adornment and and the torches inside of the building, the doors are easily visible at night, and have a glowing quality.

The same is true from the inside of the building:

The flooring inside is made of wooden planks, and is lined with torches. The IDIC is fully visible within the dimly lit hall as well as outside, but the symbol of Kolinahr is not.

Here you can see the inside of the building, as the final wall was not completed at this time. The major reason I did not light up the symbol of Kolinahr on the inside of the building was that unlike the IDIC, the symbol does not read as anything when reversed:

Minecraft is absolutely one of the most addicting games. Well, that and any Legend of Zelda game - both of which I am obsessed with at the moment.