The Starfleet Academy Experience

I have a confession and an apology to make, all.

For years, I turned up my nose at "Star Trek", believing myself too good for something so "nerdy", even as I regularly nerded out over the Viking age and  the American Revolution. (Hypocritical, I know.)

I didn't feel, at the time, like I was being judgmental. I could respect what a historically diverse show it was without watching it, and I never once looked down on Sarah for being a fan of the show. I just didn't think it was for me. After all, many years ago another good friend had tried for years to get me to watch "Star Wars", and when I finally sat down and did it, I was bored and underwhelmed. And "Star Trek", as a TV series, was much longer - I wasn't about to sit through hours of being bored and underwhelmed.

Turns out I was being unfairly judgmental and I am sorry. Because I finally sat down and started watching "Star Trek: The Original Series" and I am completely and utterly in love with it. Obsessed, even! How could I have let myself miss out on this joy for so many years? And why, because I was afraid it was too nerdy for me? How blind I was!

Even though it came into my life later than it should have, I'm grateful for it now. My confession to you all? I was an asshole, I am sorry for it, and I am now, one week later, a thoroughly devoted Trekkie.

Live long and prosper, bitches

Go ahead and roast me for it. I deserve it for what a jerk I was about it.

But the point is I love it now. I am learning (slower than most adults) to like the things I like without caring so much about what other people might think of me for it.

And this past Sunday, to thank Sarah for introducing me to it, I decided to treat her to a certain Trek-themed museum exhibit before it closes next month. We journeyed back into New Jersey to head to the Liberty Science Centre's Starfleet Academy Experience. Basically this exhibit, in between props and costumes from all the Star Trek series, uses interactive tests and games (including the infamous Kobayashi Maru test) and at the end of it all, you're placed into a different section of Starfleet. Kinda like a sci-fi version of being sorted into your Hogwarts house.

A Modern Victorian Retreat Day

My teatime spread

 God bless the Wayback Machine, honestly.

One of my favourite websites that I discovered back in my early twenties was a website called "Eras of Elegance", one that appealed immensely to my history-loving sensibilities. It was divided into sections such as "movies" and "fashion" and "lifestyle", and gave not only brief overviews of historical eras and trends (i.e. the Ancient era, the Medieval era, the Regency, the Rococo, the Victorian period, etc.) but also gave lists of fiction that took place in these eras, historically inspired recipes, and ways one could translate historical fashions and hairstyles into a modern street look.

I loved that website so much. I was heartbroken when it disappeared from the internet. Thankfully, on the internet nothing is gone forever!

The Eras of Elegance homepage

One piece of the website that I had completely forgotten about, that I rediscovered again thanks to the Wayback Machine, was the ideas the site's author(s?) had for a "Victorian Retreat Weekend". That is, a weekend where one turns off all modern technology and does activities predetermined by the website (I assume the schedule is to be printed before the technology all goes off) to live in the spirit of the Victorians, if not quite historically accurately.

This idea intrigued me and would not let me go. I knew, now that I discovered it again, that I had no choice. This idea was gripping my mind. I couldn't stop thinking about it for weeks. I just had to do it. But there was no way for me to get an entire weekend off - so I consolidated it to just a day, combining the suggested schedules for two days into one:

7:00 am: Rise and shine, get ready for the day
8:00 am: Make breakfast from scratch.
9:00 am: After cleaning up from breakfast, morning devotional activity or reading.
10:00 am: Housework, crafting, or family time.
11:30 am: Prepare a picnic lunch.
12:00 noon: Picnic lunch at a local park.
1:30 pm: Afternoon excursion - possibly a local historical museum or antiquing.
4:00 pm: Afternoon tea. Once tea is cleaned up, reading, crafting, or writing in a journal.
6:30 pm: Prepare dinner.
7:30 pm: Dinner and clean-up.
8:00 pm: Family time.
9:00 pm: Back to the future.

I set rules for myself. I would make historically inspired recipes, I would dress historically-inspired (in a vintage Gunne Saxe dress - Victorian by way of the 1970s), and I wouldn't use any appliances that they did not have in the Victorian/Edwardian eras. My phone was only used as a camera (they did have cameras) and a phone for 8pm family time (my family lives in California and it's my sister's birthday, I couldn't not call just because I wanna escape modern life for awhile).

So then how did it go?

Happy Thanksgiving!

 
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I haven't posted much lately. November has been... a Month, to say the least. I hope to have a more frequent posting schedule in December when I am done with my current writing project, but lately that's been consuming a lot of my time, between the writing itself and all the research I've been doing!

However, today (in America at least) is a holiday, and despite the fact that back home it was never one of my favourites, and despite the fact that the story of the first Thanksgiving is largely a myth, I was really excited and, well, thankful when my roommate asked if I wanted to have Thanksgiving with her this year.

New Year, New Home!

First off, L'shanah tovah! Rosh Hashanah ("Jewish New Year" for all my goy friends) starts tonight!

Second off, I am no longer crashing on my cousin's couch or Sarah's floor - I got a place of my own! How did I do it, you ask? Here are my steps to finding a home of your own on the East Coast:

1. Schedule an apartment viewing in Queens. Go to it. Have the guy promise to call you back.
2. The guy never calls back? That's fine. Schedule another in Brooklyn.
3. They want you to sign a lease you're not comfortable with? It's okay. Brooklyn is huge. Try another one.
4. Too expensive, huh? Let's give Harlem a shot.
5. They picked someone else? Try a few more places in Brooklyn.
6. Rejected, rejected. Get stood up once. Try Harlem some more.
7. Rejected, rejected, rejected.
8. Break down. Cry. Then get back on Craigslist.
9. Give up and move to New Jersey instead.

I'm being somewhat facetious. Truth is, the place I found is in New Jersey. In fact, it's in Weehawken, just a short walk from where Alexander Hamilton was shot. My story begins where his ended. Poetic, isn't it?

But I don't feel as if I failed in any way. Actually, for how much shit New Yorkers give Jersey? I love it here. I love the house I'm staying in - it's an old (supposedly haunted) Victorian boarding house that has been converted to apartments. Sarah saw it and agrees it's perfect for me.

And as my boss said, "new year, new home!" It's a fitting time to move into such a lovely place. And it's actually really close to Manhattan - check out the view from the front porch:

A ten minute bus ride through the Lincoln Tunnel, and then I'm in the middle of Times Square. (I hate Times Square but it's a convenient transportation hub...) And, you know, I've always dreamed of someday living in a Victorian house. I just never expected it would happen at this point in my life.

Now, obviously, for privacy reasons I can't show you what the outside of the building looks like. Rest assured it is very cute. However I can give you a small home tour...