Confessions of a Mormon Otaku

Ah, Star Trek. What sci-fi franchise has inspired more geekiness? None, I can tell you that.

I come from a long line of Star Trek fans. My grandfather liked it, he passed it on to Mom, who passed it on to me. I literally remember watching The Next Generation as a 4 year old with my mom. More recently, we went together to the J.J. Abrams reboot movie. I actually started clapping at the end credits. We also went to see Star Trek: Nemesis together. Both of us cried when (spoilers) Data sacrificed himself to save billions of lives(end spoiler).

Yeah, I have a lot of fond memories involving Star Trek. Like that universal remote shaped like a phaser I had for years. Never actually used the remote feature. I just wanted a phaser.

The world has changed a whole lot since 1966, thanks in part to Star Trek itself. So many modern amenites have their roots in Star Trek tech.

So happy 45th anniversary, Star Trek. May you keep boldly going where no one has gone before!

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Since I lived in Florida as a child, my memories don't involve snow, but they do involve lights. Lots of lights. I lived near Thomas Edison's winter home, so we would often go see the lights there.

However, there was one place that topped them all when it came to lights. It was out of the way, but that just made the drive there all the more exciting. These people went all out when decorating their home for Christmas, and I mean all out. There were miniature amusement park rides that moved, there were animatronics, there was a huge rocking horse shaped like a reindeer, there was a life size Santa's sleigh, there were even skiers on the roof with a ski lift! It was a child's dream come true. We went there every Christmas as a family, and each year they added something new.

I rather miss that place.

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I'd have to say that my fondest childhood memory of my dad was when we went to Epcot together, just the two of us. I was about 13 or so, and Dad was taking all the kids to their favorite part of DisneyWorld for some bonding time. That's what is so great about my dad. He does things with us, even if he might not neccesarily like what we choose to do. Since I am a total sissy when it comes to rides, we spent all our time at Epcot looking at the gadgets in Future World and the neato merchandise in World Showcase. And yet never once did Dad complain about it. It was also one of the last times I went there, so the memory is extra-fond for me.

So yeah. My dad is awesome. What else can I say about it?