Well what a shit week.  First Marg's dad died so she's been pretty upset, though it was expected he has been sick for a long time.  But the worst happened Thursday night.  I was at work and all the managers and Kevin started rocking up saying there had been an emergency managers meeting had been called.  They all sat down the end I could see them and hear bits and pieces of the conversation from Cafe.  I only heard a small amount but that coupled with Debbie crying I guessed what had happened but I really hoped I was wrong.  The managers took over running the store and called all the crew over.  They told us what had happened, Gen and her passenger had died in an accident a few hours before.  Most of the crew on were newish so weren't as affected as those of us that had known her for quite some time.  They sent us all back to work, me crying, and expected us to do the job to the same standard we had been.  Not bloody likely.  I didn't take long for word to spread and soon we had a lot of crew in the store. As Tegan said it was good to see the crew coming together.  We were there until about 2am talking about Gen, giving hugs to whoever needed them, basically just taking comfort in each other, even though some of us had never spoken before.

It was hard driving to work the next day, nearly burst into tears several times on the way down but managed to hold it back, until I got to work and saw the flags flying at half mast.  Kylee got told off by Erin for telling everyone (3 people is everyone, right?) and organising them to come into the store (even though she didn't even know the names of some of them let alone their phone numbers), because she wanted to tell everyone.  But other than Erin being a selfish bitch it wasn't as bad as I was expecting, it had been pretty busy all day and continued to be most of the night so it kept our minds occupied.  The crew that were there on Thursday night seem to have developed a bond of sorts, asking each other if they're ok, if they got any sleep, etc.  Most still can't believe she's gone and can't imagine what her brother's going through.  They was very close and a few of us have come to the conclusion he probably won't come back to work, it will be way to hard.

Gen was a great person, always positive, help you out if she could, a pleasure to be around.  She was one of those people that made work fun a times.  I don't know one person that didn't like her.  I wish I had known her better, I wish I had talked to her Thursday afternoon when I saw her instead of getting distracted by work.  She will be greatly missed by everyone that knew her.

OK, so I was one of the very lucky people that got to attend the World Red Carpet Premiere of the new Star Trek! As the tickets sold out in about 8 minutes, I missed out originally but I managed to get a couple of tickets off ebay which turned out to be better than the tickets my friends had got hehehe. Anyway flew up to Sydney yesterday got in at about 1:30 so I started getting ready pretty much as soon as I got to the hotel. I stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Darling Harbour as Pete gets discounts. Still hadn't quite sunk in that I was going, actually it still hasn't a day later.

We got there at a bit after 5 and found ppl and got orginised to get photos and autographs. I managed to get JJ Abrams, Eric Bana, Karl Urban, John Cho, and Zachary Quinto's autographs and a photo with John Cho but missed out 3 times getting Chris Pines. Eventually we did walk the red carpet up the stairs of the Opera House with Pete taking photos the entire way. We had a drink and then went up to find our seats, after handing in all recording equipment. JJ was called up to introduce the film and the actors that were there, with jokes about 3 of them wearing the same tie, Eric Bana was called out last and decided he was going to live a dream...and started singing the national anthem, very badly. Thankfully he didn't keep it up for very long.


( About the movie (may contain spoilers) )

After the film we were told we could take home the STAR TREK signs but unfortunately I had no way of getting it home. Later on we saw people wondering past with the S, T, A, & R, then later more with T, E, & K, don't know what happen to the other R. A group of us went and had dinner and talked mostly conventions and actors that we've met. I also discovered cheap shoes are cheap for a reason. Got back to the hotel exhausted.

On the way home I got to the airport and called Lyn and Chris who were there already. They managed to get me into the Virgin Blue lounge which is pretty cool as I was flying with Jetstar, free food and drink and comfy seats, can't go wrong really.

So in conclusion when it comes out to cinemas I'm going to see it again!!!!

Ok so over the weekend I've ordered VIP tickets for 3 Cons: Viper Con (Kent McCord, Felix Silla, Herb Jefferson JR), Warp Core Breach (LeVar Burton), and Armageddon Expo (Amanda Tapping). I'm also planning to get general tickets for the Doctor Who con (Peter Davison) and Supanova this month.  And I am now wondering how the hell I'm going to pay for it all.

Ok where to start....I got a new car about a month ago!! It's big and shiny and big. Taken quite a bit of time to get used to the size as i went from an excel to an X-trail.  But it's very exciting.  Mum says she'll buy me a toy crocodile (named Boris) to stick in the back for Christmas. :D

I've decided I want to go back to uni next year to do Architecture as I don't actually want to work in the IT industry and that's the degree I already have.  Unfortunately there are only 4 Uni courses in the state of Victoria for Architecture. 1 is 6yrs full time instead of 5yrs, another is 2hrs away in Geelong, the other 2 are in the right areas but the one I really want is going to be very difficult to get into as it is Monash.  Bugger. But fingers crossed.

I love the fact that currently I am earning a lot more money than I ever have and I still have none to spare.  I'm wondering if I'm gonna have the cash I need for the Cons next month as I worked out how much I need and it's gonna be like $800 and it's right around the time of my car payments and I still have to pick up my photos and pay the other half on them not looking forward to that but really looking forward to getting the photos.

And why the fuck is Livejournal in Japanese? It's kinda annoying.  Gonna go find a way to change it.....

OK since I haven't actually posted anything here since November I'll give a few highlights of each month.

December:
On the Friday before Christmas I went into the city to see the Myer Windows with my Aunty, Uncle and my Cousin's kids.  Jayde held my hand for almost the entire trip.  Someone I think may have actually thought Jayde was my daughter, which was a nice change from people thinking I'm about 6 years younger than I am.

On Christmas Eve I went to the signing Ricky Ponting did at Melb Central, with Liz and Kylie's sister Kim (Kylie couldn't make it due to work).  I decided to give Punter a chrissie card.  When I finally decided what I wanted to put in it I realised that the card I brought with me was too small, so Kim went and got another one.  She has now had all card choosing privillages revoked.

Christmas day was the usual affair.  Mum's side of the family, losts of food, dogs that won't leave you alone, laughter, prezzies, etc.

Boxing Day I went to the cricket.  The first match I'd been to with Dad.  I bought the ticket, drove in and we got to see all of Australia bat.

January:
Not a whole lot happened this month at least not a lot good.  Our dog Cara died.  We had to get her put down, she had kidney failure and there was nothing the vets could do.  So we went down as a family to say goodbye and all had a good cry.

February:
My birthday party.  Only about half the people I invited showed up, but that's ok.  We played some cricket, listened to some music, talked, and got a shit load of KFC for dinner.  And I've discovered that apparently chocolate doesn't count as a present.

I was very happy when I found the 5th book of the Obernewtyn Chronicles had finally come out.  And in my opinion was worth the almost 9 year wait.

March:
Supanova.
Me and Nikki got a hotel in the city.  The friday night, after getting on the wrong tram, we finally made it to the show grounds.  After handing over all of our electronic equipment we got to see the X-files trailer and what we had all come to see The Ark of Truth.  Millions of years ago in a distant galaxy.... I love it. 

Saturday we got on the right tram.  Met up with a heap of people: Smiley, Locky, Donna, Scotty, Iain, Sarah, Daniel, Peter, Rebecca, and the list goes on.  Because we were so early we ended up near the start of the autograph line where I spent $180. John Rhys Davies, Jewel Staite, Teryl Rothery, and Michael Winslow autographs and Jewel Staite and Teryl Rothery Photos.  Because I spent so much I got free posters!!!! JRD is awesome he likes to have a chat to you when you get your autograph so it took me and Nikki about 5 minutes to get both our autographs from him.  Went to Teryl, Michael, James Kyson Lee, JRD, and Jewel's Q&A sessions Saturday.  Sometime earlyish afternoon I lost Nikki and didn't find her again until Sunday afternoon. 

Sunday due to 5am messages from Nikki telling me she couldn't find the hotel I slept through my alarm. So instead of getting up at 7am I got up at 8:15am...oops.  I got up had a shower packed up my stuff as well as Nikki's and checked out of the hotel in about 45 minutes...I think I did well.  I was at the showgrounds by 9:30.  I decided I needed to spend some more money so I got a Photo with JRD, an autograph from JKL, and another autograph from Jewel.  Met up with more people I know from cons and went to a heap of Q&As. (Jennifer Fallon, Teryl, Michael, Lou Ferrigno (he's huge), JRD, and Jewel).  Also spent a lot of time all weekend running around looking at everything and spending way too much money.

April:
Kylie is not speaking to me of Nikki because we didn't invite her to supernova.  The reason we didn't invite her is because she is not a sci-fi, anime, or wrestling fan, and if you know anything about these things you'll know that's basically all there is.  So she is going to be prebowling every week and if she feels the need to let us know something we will hear about it through Daniel and Thecko.

Last night I went to see Priscilla. It was excellent.  I went with my parents, Emily, Cheryl and Brian.  We had 2nd row seating so we got a pretty good view up peoples dresses and made eye contact with a lot of the actors which is very disconcerting at times.  But I can understand why I haven't heard a bad review.  And the little touches were great, like the number plate on the bus: ME 69 NU.  It was also good to catch up with Em, I don't get to see her much as she is pretty much over run by uni work.

Anyway that's about it for now....

Yesterday I met Mike Hussey.  He was doing a book signing at Melbourne Central.  Kylie and I decided that we would get there early so we wouldn’t have to wait in the queue for too long.  We got there at 10:30am the signing started at 1pm.  We were the first in line, the only people in the line for 2 hours.  Then TV cameras showed up (only 2 :( ).  I asked Kylie if she wanted to go first, her answer was: “NO!!!!” So I went first didn’t really get to say much to him but I did get a reasonable photo.  When it was Kylie’s turn he asked her if she’d been waiting long, she giggled very girlishly and said “no”.  She now regrets this as now she would like him to know we had been waiting there for quite some time.  But I got the book signed and personalised and a card signed as well.

Today I went to meet Adam Gilchrist.  We decided not to get there so early this time; we ended up getting there at about 11am the signing was supposed to start at 12 but actually started at 12:30 as apparently Gilly’s plane was delayed.  We chatted to the girl in the queue in front of us while we waited.  We were about 15-20^th in line.  Kylie went before me this time as we weren’t at the front so it was ok.  He started out signing everything put in front of him but by the time we got to the front he was only signing 2 things for each person.  So I decided to get the DVD and one of the posters they had at the front signed instead of the card I had.  When my turn came up I actually talked to him which I didn’t get a chance to do with Hussey.  I told him he was the reason I got into cricket in the first place.

What I found really odd was I was kinda freaked out about meeting him.  Here’s a list of all the stars I’ve met in recent years:

• Torri Higginson (who has a photo of me :D) (SGA, SG1)
  
• Rainbow Sun Francks (SGA)
• Alexis Cruz (SG1, SG Movie)
  
• Tony Amendola (SG1)
  
• David Nykl (SGA)
• Rachel Luttrell (and her sister Erica) (SGA)
• Jolene Blalock (SG1, ST: Enterprise)
  
• Don S. Davis (SG1)
• Carmen Argenziano (SG1)
• Alan Ruck (ST: Generations, Ferris Buller, Speed, SGA)
• Joe Flanigan (I freaked him out) (SGA)
• Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Dodgeball, A Knights Tale, Death at a Funeral)
  
• Peter Woodward (who I have been a fan of for close to 10 years) (SGA, Babylon 5, Crusade)
• Connor Trinneer (SGA, ST: Enterprise)
• John Weasley Shipp (The Flash, Dawson's Creek)
  
• Billy West (Futurama, Simpsons)
  
• Rob Van Damne (WWE)
  
• Chris Rankin (Harry Potter)
  
• ….etc

I was more freaked out about meeting Gilly than meeting any of these other people.  Does this make sense to anyone?  Coz it doesn’t to me.

You gotta love Maccas.  It was over 30 degrees today and the air con wasn't working.  It was at least 5 degrees hotter inside than out and that was only in cafe, the kitchen was 45 degrees!  And the only manager that thought to call up and get it fixed was the close manager who got there well after I did at 6:30pm! To top it all off it appeared that nobody had gone out to clean patio for most of the day so I ended up with 2 big bags of rubbish just from patio! I hate Maccas. 

But of course amongst the bad there's always some good.  Had a great customer.  I made them a coffee and went downstairs for a minute when I came back up they had brought back their glass, which by itself is a bonus, but they also left a note saying that the coffee was nice. :D I love customers...sometimes.

My weekend:

• Talked to Chris Rankin
• Hugged Neil Kaplan
• Asked for 4 and got 5 autographs from Billy West
• Found out I have the same name as Alan Tudyk's first love, who broke his heart
• Freaked out Joe Flanigan
• Sat next to John Wesley Shipp at dinner
• Chatted to Peter Woodward about how ridiculously expensive the education system is
• Sat on Connor Trinneer's knee

Ok so I've decided to start a cafepress shop.  I am now trying to think of a name for it.  The stuff I'll be selling will be mostly Cricket or Sci-fi (stargate mostly) related.  One of my mates came up with "Slip Through the Gate".  That is looking like the most likely at the moment.  But I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas, for either the name or designs I can make up.