Lt. Awesome finds The Undiscovered Country

I'm a geek. A pretty big one too. And I'm not shy about it.
I'll announce it to whoever will listen proudly.
You can also tell this by the choice of the part title of this post.

Now this movie "the undiscovered country"
referred to "the future", but in this case I'm
using it to refer to an undiscovered "tribe of
fellow geeks" that I just recently stumbled upon.
While do know everybody's name in this story
I thought not everyone might appreciate being blabbed
about on the internet so they will remain nameless.

Now, I consider myself well versed in the geekdom,
and thought I was pretty aware of all the slices of the pie.
Everything from Time Lords to Jedi, Starfleet, Pirates,
Vamps to Anime Vixens. But it seems there was one I overlooked.
I was aware of the midnight lines waiting for the new books and
movies, and the general dominance of younger readers.

But for the most part Harry Potter and I had never met.

I believe someone offered me of one the books
on a flight once to read. I thanked them, but declined
thinking "that's for kids" and stuck my nose back
in my NBA fantasy draft book. Because I am that
big of a nerd, I do fantasy basketball.

Since then, I had began to noticed at our local geek convention
more Harry Potter based costumes. Mostly because they
consisted of cute girls in schoolgirl outfits
and this year they seemed to be quite few more.

I had chosen to go with the old school
Trek uniform this year as a counter balance to the new
movie. Don't mess with a classic people.

Around 6 PM on Saturday of Archon, I had
wandered away from my friends to take
more photos of people in costume like I do.
I came upon the large room with music coming from it.
Being a huge Luke Ski fan, I'm willing
to give most filkers a listen for a few minutes.

So I decide to wonder in, starfleet uniform
and all. The guys on the stage sound good, so I grab
a seat at the back room up against the wall
by myself, unsure how long I am staying.

They finish up their set and up to
the stage walks a girl with short black hair
with acoustic guitar by herself. Now I'm a
sucker for girls with guitars be it Sheryl Crow,
Jewel, Natalie Merchant, or Aimme Mann,
I love them all!

She explains that her name is Tonks and
she is a Wizard rocker or Wrocker for
short and that most of her songs will be
about Harry Potter as told from her
character Tonks' point of view. Okay, I'm game.
She starts to play and sing.
Hey, this girl is good. I mean really talented.
I'm moving up to get a better seat.

She gets to the point in her set
where she says she is going to sing
a song about her boyfriend, and how things
didn't end well. Standard Boyfriend song. right?

She sings "Charley Weasley doesn't really love me,
he's only loves his dragons"

"And that for her birthday her got her a dragon skull."

That's hilarious.

I love it and I'm hooked. While she suggests
people dance, I'm so blown away
by her set I can't move. She also sings
a song about how to fight off a zombie attack
called "Aim for the Head." That I get.

She ends her set by saying, up next
is "Ministry of Magic", and and they
are going make you want to dance
your face off. A bunch a guys hit
the stage in what appears to be
a Harry Potter boy band.

After a couple of songs they announce
"It's dance time." By this time
I'm having such a good time, I'm
like what the hell? I like to dance,
and head to the dance floor.
No big deal, right?

So few songs after this, some gal runs up to
me and hugs me on the dance floor.
Okay, that never happens.
Turns out, she's the promotor for these
bands and they were afraid they
wouldn't be accepted by the other genres.
She's so happy to see someone in a Starfleet
uniform dancing to their music.

Is she kidding? You're nerds, We're nerds
and you're at Archon. All nerds are welcome here,
and this music is good.

Shortly after this, one of the boy band
guys jumps off the stage and hugs me.
What the? Okay, that was unexpected.
I finish up dancing poorly to their
set, I decide I need a copy of Tonks
cd. But don't know which one to get.
I spy one of the female wizards from
the dance floor and decide to ask for help.

Chit chat leads to the sales table, which
leads to more lady wizards who are eager
to help me with decision and some more
hugs. I'm low on funds by this point and
only think I can buy one.

The wizards ask Tonks which one I should buy.
After she suggests one, I get ready to hand her my cash.
But it's less than I thought, I tell her I can afford
another. They suggest her EP which has
the Charlie Weasely dragon song on it. Ooo, I
want that one. We all agree, it's a great song.

As a finish up paying, one of the wizard suggests
I get a picture with Tonks. Okay sure, she's cute,
and I dig her music. Pictures are taken.
Sometime during this, this another girl wizard
comes up to me and hands me a notebook
and asked me to sign my name. I am like
"Okay, why I am I signing this?"
"Oh, so I can stalk you via Facebook".
Sure why not? They all seem nice,
why not keep in touch?

By this time, my friends have tracked me
down, "We thought we'd find you here." C'mon
the masque is starting, lets go! I ask my new
friends if they are going? They don't seem to get it.
Sit on your ass for an hour?, We'd rather dance.
Well, I'm sitting on my ass for an hour because
I just danced for an hour, the masque is a bonus.
Goodbyes are said, with promises to stay in touch.

I run into them after the masque and they
seem more distant. Someone has lost
her purse, so that drama plays out. The purse
is found, as I predicted. Archon is full of good
people. I leave them be, and head for pizza.

I then get latched onto by a crazy guy I don't
know who wants to know why I'm here?
He won't take for the party as a good enough
answer. I spot some wizard girls on the dance
floor. I'm saved. I tell crazy, that I promised
these girls a dance. He congratulates me
and I make a bee line for dance floor.
I tell them, "You guys don't know it, but you
just saved my life." We share a laugh and dance
and I figure I've pushed my luck enough
and bust a move out of there.


The next day, the promoter runs up and hugs
me again and says "Lt Awesome"  while I waiting
for Luke Ski to start. We were calling you
"Lt Awesome" all last night in the room. We chat
some more about her upcoming event Wrockstock.
The topic turns their large gay and lesbian members
and why they attend their event more than other
Potter based conventions. Why this comes up,
I don't know? Hey, straight guys dance too.
Poorly. But we try.

I tell her it's because.... Music is universal.

It doesn't matter if you understand
the words or the stories as long as it
sound goods and makes you feel something,
it brings us all together. It did in this case.

I mean, I really didn't to that much, I just
got up and danced to music I liked.
So Starfleet got to meet Hogwartz
and Lt Awesome was born.

While I can't swing Wrockstock this
year money wise and I'm not sure I'm ready
for full blown Hogwartz nerdom yet, I am happy to
attend tonight's pre-party for Tonk's cd release
here in St Louis. It should be a great show.

Like this story about wrocking, here's one about my love of my new wizard freinds!

Comments

[Julian]

heh, i just stumbled on your blog via google and thought the first post was awesome so i kept reading! i was going to save sommenting till i'd read through the archive but this post was so awesome i had to stop. i've only recently completed the HP books myself...having loved them as a kid but grown out of them. and now i'm more into it than ever! this song really made me smile and i'm going to try and track downa copy of it myself, so you just imported Wrock to England (i've never heard of it before...)

so thank you!

Julian

[Mike Wendler]

If I can spread the gospel of Tonks I am happy.