Pnuemonia and old games

Well, as most of my friends and minions know, I've been stuck in the house for the last three weeks at my doctor's behest in order to recover from a particularly nasty bout of pnuemonia. Those of you who haven't had it, you don't want it and those that have... well, you can share my pain. I'm starting to feel like a human pin cushion with the amount of blood tests I've had and all they can tell me is that my white blood cell count is up and that my lungs still sound a bit rattly. Gee, really. I wouldn't have expected that from a lung infection.

In other news, all this time being made to rest has forced me to replay some of my old games. Sadly, there are parts of my Kingdom Hearts II games that won't load properly - sad face - so therefore I went back to play Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for the DS.

It must be said that I quite liked this game, hence why it wasn't traded in. The strategic nature appealed to me, along with the ability to constantly summon Yarhi/Espers. The storyline was quite acceptable and I found myself warming up to Llyud, the first Aegyl you meet in-game. I'm a bit neurotic with games, so I've had to try and finish every mission, summoning melee, monster melee and all-out brawl. This has led to my party having some pretty tricked-out gear that has better stats than the stuff they came with (example, Bathier comes equipped with Rygel, his gun. Crafting one with Cu Sith, however, boosts most of his stats +10, so what's the point in keeping the old one?).

The other game I restarted is Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise. Yes, yes, I know I bought it around this time last year, so technically it's not all that old for me, but the Viva Pinata game itself is old, therefore it counts. This time round, it seems to have lost a lot of the fun for me. I don't know why, but maybe it's just one of those games that you absolutely love the first time round but the second... you forget what you saw in it in the first place.

Completely off-topic, today is Johnny Depp's birthday, so happy birthday to you, sir! Funnily enough, I was reading a topic over at the escapist forums and found a nifty little video clip starring said handsome actor that I'd never seen before (and for those of you complaining that Johnny Depp has nothing to do with video games, I have one thing to say to you: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. Ha).

Oh... and happy birthday to Karl Urban for yesterday. The gorgeous kiwi is now 38. I watched reboot!Trek in his honour. ^_^

Supanova Brisbane: This McCoy Fangirl's Dream

Every geek who is any geek will know what Supanova is to Australia. It's like Comic-con, only in Oz.

Well, this was my big weekend. This was it. I was finally meeting my idol, my hero and my dream man - Karl Urban. He of the sexy southern doctor persuation and Star Trek inclination who rocked in the movie Doom (based on the classic cult video game).

In short, I will share the story I shared with my friends in STARFLEET (alright, you can all stop laughing now):

I went to Supanova with a friend of mine - Veronica - where said lovely man was signing autographs and having photos taken. We checked out the line for the pavilion to pay for aforementioned photos/autographs and it was nearly a kilometer long. We decided to skip it fora while and have a look around at the other booths in the room.

I should mention that I was in my Starfleet Medical Corps uniform (sans tricorder and communicator) and was moseying around when we spotted Karl stepping out for a break (cue my hyperventilating). He walked past the queue and turned.

He looked right at me.

I looked back at him and did the only thing I could think of - smile and snap off a salute.

He grinned back, pointed at my uniform and said "THAT'S cool!" He then proceded over to me and began plucking at my shirt to see what it was made of.

I was in a state of shock, so Veronica swung into action, asking him if we could have a photo. He smiled at me and said "Sure, I'm not supposed to do this, but oh well!"

He then slid his arm around my lower back and posed kindly for a photo(something I would have had to pay $40 for if I hadn't been in uniform!). He was also gracious enough to answer a question I had about his portrayal of McCoy whilst I was present at his Q&A session.

This awesome story continues on the Sunday, Day Two of Supanova Brisbane...

On this day, I had a portrait with Karl and I done - signed by the man himself! I had to edit it slightly, because he gave me a moustache while signing it, which he apologised for and offered to draw one on himself. He also signed my Star Trek DVD.

Even better, Mr Urban thanked me for the invitation to the Region 11 STARFLEET summit in Adelaide! Whether or not he will agree to come, that I cannot tell. But he said thanks for the invite and - from me - a copy of In Limbo, the short story I won a Starfleet writing award for.

I went into recruiting mode whilst I was there and found two other girls who maybe quite keen to join up, with at least one saying she'd be interested in attending the summit. I got to ask him - at his Q&A - if he would like to see the relationships between Kirk, Spock and McCoy developed further, maybe ala' The Search for Spock. He said yes, from what he's seen of the new script, there will be moments that will better develop the "triumvirate".

We have been told that the Supanova website will probably podcast Karl's Q&A sessions later in the year, which is an opportunity to check out the really interesting questions he was asked and how he answered them.

What can I say about Karl - the man is an utter gentleman; funny, kind and clever with a real dedication to his fans and will go out of his way to make his fans happy. To that end, his queue for autographs and photos was the longest in the room. Just goes to show that he is one very much loved Doctor and they couldn't have picked a better successor to DeForest.

And now... you know I'm a rabid McCoy fangirl... and what I look like... hmm.