Amaryllis sillyramA

I don’t have the words to say properly how sad I am that Majel Barrett has passed away. Just these few disjointed thoughts will have to do.

Tonight I am watching a mini marathon of Majel. First was Half a Life, in which she and David Ogden Stiers are guest stars. She has several memorable lines in this episode. There’s one that flits through my brain on a regular basis. It’s when Timicin says he doesn’t think that children should have to repay their parents for their love and care by caring for them when they get old. Her response, delivered just perfectly: “Well, why the hell not?!” Heh. Also during this episode she describes a certain kind of elaborate headdress or wig that the women of Betazed once wore, which I would like to attempt to make a drawing of. Perhaps tomorrow. More on that below.

Second was The Cage, in which she plays Star Trek’s first First Officer. Unfortunately the network didn’t think the public would accept a female first officer, so her part as Number One didn’t make the jump from the pilot to the show. She was cast instead as Nurse Chapel, and appeared in tons of episodes. Later she became the voice of the Enterprise computer, and became the only performer to be in all of the series — plus several movies. I hope to not cry during the new movie when I hear her voice.

And right now I am watching The Forsaken. I’m just at the place where she and Odo are talking in the broken turbolift, and he is starting to open up a little about his past:

Odo: What was it like — well, I guess you could say I was the life of the party.

Lwaxana: I don’t think I understand.

Odo: My way of trying to fit in. I found I could be entertaining. ‘Odo, be a chair,’ I’m a chair. ‘Odo, be a razor cat,’ I’m a razor cat. Life of the party.
I hate parties.

Lwaxana: Perhaps you’ve been going to the wrong ones. Come to one of mine, Odo. I’ll make sure that all the guests are there to entertain you.

I just love that part. And sure, it’s good writing, sure. But going by everything I’ve read or heard about her, these are lines that suited her very well.

Next up: The Muse. And maybe after that, the one where she gets Worf to take a mud bath. Ha!

I’ll get to sleep eventually maybe.

Last, one of the best lines ever:

When it comes to picnics, the only thing that really matters is the company.

Oh yes! I changed the palindrome in her honor. It’s the only space-related one I could think of off the top of my head. (Not that I made the palindrome — I just found it a while ago out there in the cyber net thing.)

Also, it is part of the reason I want to try to draw a picture of the fancy Betazoid headdress.

So here is the palindrome for the rest of December, and also for January, because I love Majel just that much:

Space caps!

Rest in peace, Majel.

Earlier this week I got together for some scrabble with a few friends. Except we didn’t play scrabble. We tried a new game that M. found called Bananagrams. It has 144 tiles instead of 100, multiple Qs and Zs, and the object is to use the letters you draw to very quickly make connected words, like a crossword or a scrabble board. After we played a bunch of games — super fun games — we decided to attempt to use all the tiles to make one giant themed crossword. Theme: Science Fiction. And we did it! Mostly, anyway. Not all the words are proper nouns, but most are. Woo hoo!

I had a birthday recently, and this beautiful machine came to the house that day, courtesy of the amazing M.

!!!!!

I still can’t believe my luck.

I had planned to go into more detail, but it seems like that would just be bragging. I don’t feel like bragging, so the picture & link will have to suffice.

This would be fun to play with. (From thinkgeek.com)

Also for sale on the site there is a red t-shirt with the word “EXPENDABLE” in a trekky font. Heh. (Via WWdN:iX.)

A small boast: I have had the privilege of holding, in my hands, a real phaser. Really from the show, that is. A few years ago we spent a fun weekend at the coast with the family of a good friend. One night, in between rounds of Balderdash, I was talking with one of our hosts. He and I discovered that we both love Star Trek. He proceeded to knock my socks off with the story of how he had met Majel Barrett at a convention some years ago. He had become friendly enough with her that she had given him a few items, including the phaser and an original series communicator. I was thrilled when he offered to bring them out.

I must say: touching actual Star Trek set pieces was wonderful, but being two degrees of separation from Majel Barrett is a hundred times better. I heart Majel Barrett.

Here’s something fun (via WWdN:iX)

How big the Enterprise?