Never Ask a Romulan to Call Bingo

Boy, what a summer! I truly cannot remember a summer so jam-packed with action, travel, and basically the things I love. I mean, last summer was wonderful, but add a wedding to my sweetie, another world-class cruise to a part of the world I thought I'd never see, and, yes, a Star Trek convention.

The only thing I don't like about the Las Vegas convention is, well, there are a few. The 103-degree heat. The really weird fans (yes, there are a few, like the Poodle People). The seats from which you can't take photos. The parties that are included that I can't attend because I'm exhausted after a 12-hour day.

But the good things outweigh the bad. For example, one of the funniest things I've ever experienced in my life happened at this one. It happened at the Bingo "Resistance is Futile" Game on Thursday night.

Award-winning veteran actor Malachi Throne was at this convention, and the old guy drew quite a crowd in the secondary theatre. He seemed to enjoy telling us tales from the over 150 T.V. shows he has guest-starred in. In fact, he's the only star I know who starred in the original series (as a Starfleet officer in The Menagerie (aka The Cage), my favorite episode) and then came back for The Next Generation (as a Romulan senator). That range of years should tell you that Mr. Throne is getting on in years. But when they asked him to host Bingo, he more than happily obliged.

However, when it came to calling the numbers from the little Bingo balls, he couldn't see the numbers. So the young Creation helper told him the numbers. But when you're blind AND deaf, your career as a Bingo Caller is short-lived. He kept calling the wrong numbers. I have to say, as I'm laughing out loud right now, I have never heard "D 49" called at a Bingo game. And "D" came up several times.

It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen!! However, the room was filled with either people who wanted to win that$1,000 gift certificate, and were very serious about it, or Bingo purists like my nephew. Neither type was very happy with Mr. Throne's invention of Bindo.

So now I have to go off and spend an hour trying to decipher my notes and write a column for the Far Beyond the Stars newsletter, the one that covers Deep Space Nine stars Nana Visitor, Alexander Siddig, Andrew Robinson, and Armin Shimerman. And I may have to cover Rene Auberjonois in a separate report for his newsletter, too. I enjoy the reports after I finish, but it's still work.