Doctor Who for Kids & Adults

Doctor Who & hiding behind the couch. Is it still a show for the entire family? YES! As as child I found the monsters terrifying & many old school Whovians will tell you the same thing. The saying about hiding behind the sofa comes from days even earlier than when Tom Baker fought off monsters with Jelly Babies. I didn’t hide behind the couch, I sat next to my mom & would put my head under the lap blanket that stayed on the couch & would bury my face in the couch itself. I was scared that if I left the safety of the sofa that the monsters would get me.

Now as adults the monsters are just as scary but now we don’t have to ignore the zippers. There are stronger sets, better designs & writers that have been fans of the show since early childhood. True the show has taken on a darker aspect but if you look back to some of the episodes that you loved as a child your favorites are probably the ones that terrified you to the point of almost peeing your pants on more than one occasion.

We love to be scared! Why do you think there are so many horror films being release every other day? We enjoy being terrified but at the same time always knowing that there is a hero that will save the day & rescue us all from the monsters. It doesn’t matter how dark it may get or how terrible things might seem, we know the Doctor will swoop down in his Blue Box & make everything good prevail in the face of darkness & evil. That Mad Man With A Box shows the goodness we have within ourselves to make the universe a better place to live in.

The show was always intended for children & has been a family show. It has been ridiculous at times & makes us laugh no matter what our age. It has also made us cry & touched on subjects that might seem a bit mature for younger audiences. I feel though it’s giving us a healthy platform to use to talk to our children about such things as depression, homosexuality, loss or even death & how we can help each other through our personal problems & conquer fears. There are subjects that other ‘family’ shows are afraid to touch but I don’t think there has come a subject yet that is too taboo for Doctor Who.

Throughout the years The Doctor has made me feel more at home in my own skin than I felt on my own. No matter which actor is playing the part there is always something that touches my very soul when I see him in action. He shows that actions speak louder than words but gives such depth & meaning to his words that you wonder how anyone could shoulder the weight of them.

Yes there are terrible episodes & there have been writers that deserve to be strung up for the travesty they forced upon our beloved show. Even then we have fun laughing at their terribleness & have been shown in the case of the 1996 movie that it could have been so much worse. Still today when watching old episodes I chuckle when the sets shake or when the obviousness of the green screen gives it a bit of a cheesy factor. Those are the episodes nearest & dearest to my own heart because of the memories I hold with them from childhood. I wonder sometimes if my fear of spiders didn’t come from Planet of the Spiders ‘cause it scared me so much. That takes me right back to the beginning. We love being scared & I remember one day playing with a granddaddy long-leg & the next day being terrified that they would jump on me.

The show deeply influenced me in many ways but there is one thing that I think I will treasure more than anything. The friends I have made through the years made from the bond of our mutual love for all things TARDIS. Something was said at TimeGate (a Doctor Who/Stargate convention) which I recently attended. “Doctor Who makes us treasure every other Whovian we find. It’s like Instant Friends--Just add TARDIS”. I fully & wholeheartedly agree.

My path to finding inner beauty

I've done so much since I posted last & this rant isn't going to be much about being a geek. Well sort of, but not really.

I've been looking back on myself, how I have changed physically, spiritually, & mentally. Changing inwardly has taken a serious toll on how I appear physically. I was the awkward child all elbows & knees, uncomfortable in my own skin proverbially & physically. I knew I wasn't an attractive child but I tried to at least be cute. Once I finally grew up a little into my late teens early twenties I managed to have that cuteness. At which point I was already viewed by too many as the "sweet cute sister" type. I wanted more so I pressed on to search out how to become sexy, little did I know that it was something that would come at a price. I lost my innocence that made me so loving, forgiving, wondering, exploring life & the world around me with such sweetness that would put a diabetic into a coma. I had foolishly entered a marriage with a foolish man. My heart was shattered & my soul was crushed but it wasn't until I was physically beaten that I became wise enough to leave.

As I left & closed the door to that part of my life, I unknowingly closed the door to the part of me that was cute. I gained knowledge that comes from making harsh mistakes but it made me walk with an all new confidence. Gaining that confidence is when I was first called "sexy". I spent time & effort to keep my physical appearance up to that level of sexy but a piece of me longed for the ease of cuteness that had become a natural part of me.

I found a good man & fell in love. By the time I had met him, I had made a list of all the basic things I wanted in a man: No tobacco or any kind of drug use, not a musician, must have a steady job & not just something at a gas station but a good career, a great sense of humor that understood my own, not a father 'cause I was tired of getting attached to the kids then finding out their dad was an ass. My husband met all of the basic requirements & more. He has made me laugh so much since I met him, that I have laugh lines around my mouth.

A few years after marrying him I became very sick. My misdiagnosed genetic condition had finally caught up with me & my body declared it would take no more. I spent the better part of 2 years in the hospital & my spirit withered. Being ill in such a manner will change a persons entire self. My physical form changed as I was stuck as an invalid for so long & so did my mental state. I have mentioned to some about when I knew I was about to die. I remember praying that God give me the strength to tell my family that I loved them before I died. That was my last thought before waking a day later much to the relief of everyone around. My spirit was never quite the same after that.

Some time later I realized that I no longer had the "sexy" I did before. I was old (or I felt old) sick & my body had lost so much muscle that my shape had become altered. I also had a lot of IV holes in me which didn't help. My husband would tell me that I was sexy but as others can tell you; our husbands often see us with their hearts not their eyes. I am thankful he sees me with his heart & at the same time I have taken on the attitude of the old married woman.

In the hardships I have faced & the knowledge & security that I am loved no matter what I look like on the outside, I have found what it really means to have true inner beauty. That beauty shows outwardly & though I no longer have that cute smile or those sexy mischievous eyes, I have found that I can look in the mirror & see a beautiful creature. I may not always be happy with how my hair looks or, the blemishes I still get on my face even though I'm in my 30s, or the fact that I now have cellulite that came from being stuck in a hospital bed. I might get frustrated at my laugh lines from time to time but I wouldn't trade them for the world. They remind me of how much laughter my husband has brought into my life.

I would love for other women to realize their own true beauty. It shines throughout & makes the world around them a more beautiful place to live in. No one & nothing can make you more or less beautiful than you already are. And you know what? The Doctor was one that helped me come to that realization. Wow I almost went an entire rant with out mentioning my beloved Doctor, that almost never happens. I think that if I could use the TARDIS & go back to my teens to tell myself one thing, it would be to always believe in myself no matter what. I think The Doctor would be okay with that.

My first Dragon*Con Experience

To sum up my first Dragon*Con in one word....WOW! From the moment I walked into the main hotels I was overwhelmed. I asked some friends that had been multiple times how does one not get overwhelmed. They simply replied “You don’t”. I don’t think it is possible to not get overwhelmed by everything going on.

Day one was Thursday. I wanted to be there for the Girls of the Con calendar release party so I made sure I was there early. I stood in line for a couple of hours to get my pass but I heard that it soon turned into a 5-6 hour ordeal. Standing in line with someone I was familiar with made time go by easier but I found that many of us soon stuck up many conversations about all of our fandoms. I then got cleaned up & went walking around to try to get familiar with where everything was going to be. Everywhere I went people were friendly & all interested in what other peoples fandoms were & how many times other people had attended the event.

That night the party for Girls of the Con happened with the Con Sluts & the CON-tourage event & it seemed complete madness. I met so many new wonderful people & from time to time started seeing some old familiar faces. Parties continued into the night but I had already been awake for about 30 hours as I had worked the night before. I knew that sleep was going to be needed in order to make it to everything I wanted on Friday. I managed to get about 6 hours before I was up again, eager to see & do everything possible.

Dressed in my Bellatrix Lestrange costume I found very few Potter fans through the day but I was able to make it to many panels. I got to meet Frazer Hines & he told some of the best stories about back stage on set of Doctor Who. We got to hear about other actors from the set as well as about Patrick Troughton. Frazier was such an animated speaker, full of life & laughter & gave us many laughs. It was difficult to get a clear picture of him though while he was talking. I wanted to capture the expressions on his face while he spoke but he couldn’t stand still long enough for that to happen.

With some friends that I had met at TimeGate I walked around the walk of fame room. I was amazed at some of the stars there. Paul McGillion is more good looking in person than he was on Stargate Atlantis. It took me back a second when he reached across the table to shake my hand how really good looking he is. The “Weasley Twins” James & Oliver Phelps are just the cutest things but I must confess I think they were cuter as gingers. Saul Rubinek was there with other members of the Warehouse 13 cast but he was the only one that I really cared about.

I walked around & saw other stars, looked at many of the vendors & saw a lot of fun costumes. I went on a constant ‘go’. I got lost multiple times trying to find my way from one place to another. Sometimes I would start walking in one direction & have to stop for a picture & after a few dozen flashes I’d start walking again only to realize I had no idea which way I was originally walking. I found the Girls of the Con table once on Friday & that was by accident & wasn’t sure how to get back to it again. I rested about an hour early Saturday morning before I started getting ready for the next costume.

I marched with Girls of the Con in The Parade even though the Brit-track people kept asking me to march with them. I was proud to represent the calendar so I was going to be with the girls. If I had been with the British Track people they would have only been 4 people behind the 501st in number. So I think next year Doctor Who might just beat Star Wars in the parade & I think the 501st always have the most people when it comes to the parade. Right after the parade the Doctor Who costumers all did a photo session with a few videos. We did the biggest group hug & we had a HUGE group shot of everyone in costume. The entire convention I tried to get photos of every Doctor I found. There were all sorts of Doctors, companions, & villains in this group that I couldn’t keep track of how many Doctors there were.

I have decided that if I go back to Dragon*Con & wear the Miss Hartigan costume again, I am going to have a “handler”. I’ll get a friend help me get from one place to another because I couldn’t maneuver from one place to another. I was late to everything that I attended & couldn’t even think about going to the Doctor Who panels that day because they were located too far away from the main hotels. I was afraid I was going to miss getting to meet one of my favorite authors Jim Butcher. I did miss his signings but I was fortunate enough to get to one of the panels he was in. I was late but I only missed the first few minutes & I thought once it was done I could get him to sign my book.

The Dresden Files has become one of my favorite series of books. I was determined that I had to get him to sign at least one of the hard backs that I had taken with me. I had carried his latest book Changes around with me as well as one that his wife had written. I walked into the room where the panel was being held & tried as best as I could to slip into a seat where I could see everything but not be too conspicuous in that big red dress. I took up 2-3 chairs with that dress but it seemed as though everyone was trying hard to see yet make room for everyone else. It was a very interesting panel discussing gender verses sexuality of characters. I had only heard of a couple of the other authors but I enjoyed their views.

After the panel people were very quick to get to moving. A few people went up to the front & were having their books signed but Jim Butcher disappeared very quickly from sight. I was feeling a little disappointed & decided to quickly slip out the side door & see what other panels there were that I could enjoy. I then see Jim sitting in a corner with his handler. He had set his stuff down & a line of about 20 people had formed & he was signing anything people handed him. I was so tickled that I was going to get him to sign my book after all. While standing in line I saw some friends I had made Thursday & they noticed I was grinning like a maniac from ear to ear. They asked me what had me so happy & I had to giggle. I pointed at Jim Butcher & then at my book & said “Yes I know I’m being all sad little fan girl but I’m more excited about meeting one of my favorite authors than I am about most actors.” Then when it came my turn I had to apologize to Jim for being such a pathetic fan girl. I then told him I made a City Of Heroes character named Pathetic Fangirl who’s dream is to some day work for UNIT or to help “A certain wizard from the phone book solve a mystery.” He then asked me about the newest expansion of going Rogue & I got to tell him about how it plays. He said he is going to have to log on to play it & said that I will have to look him up so Harry can run missions with my character. I had to look at him odd & ask seriously?!?! We talked about the servers we play on & he liked my little nod to his character so he said he would team with me. I got my picture taken with him & I let him move onto other fans. Before he left the hallway many of us fans got into discussions about the last book & how we screamed at the ending. Jim laughed & said his mission had been accomplished because if that didn’t have us screaming then nothing would. I told him I almost threw the book across the room & that I cursed him once it was done. He laughed quite hard & said that we couldn’t do anything to him or we wouldn’t get to find out what happened.

Finally finding the Girls of the Con table again I periodically stopped by just to sit for a bit but kept getting pulled from one place to another by friends I had made there or from other conventions. I even found a wooden paneled K-9, which I had to pet & talk to of course. Any & every time there were more Doctor Who people I had to take pictures of or with them. Sometimes I didn’t get a picture myself because so many other people were taken pictures of us, yet another reason why I need a handler.

I went to one of the parties that the CON-tourage was throwing since they were partnered with Girls of the Con. It was hot & muggy but people still didn’t understand why I didn’t want to partake in the consumption of alcohol while I was in that dress. I thought it was a no brainer but drunks can’t be reasoned with. It was when night time came that my headache began because of all the football guys. It is something that I am told happens every year. Big football games happen at the same time as Dragon*Con & a bunch of drunk football fans tried to bully their way into the party as I was leaving. I wanted to throw one of the guys over the banister as he called out for me to show him my “titties”. I had to wait on an elevator empty enough for me to fit in & had to put up with the stupid football guys attempting to act cool by making fun of all the nerds.

Once the hotel staff began to ask for Dragon*Con badges in order to enter, I had a much easier time getting around with out being hassled. I ran into more friends that I had met at other conventions & just enjoyed the night talking with them. Time passed so quickly that before I knew it, Sunday morning was upon us. I made myself lay down for a couple of hours but I couldn’t sleep much because I was afraid I was going to miss something. I made it to more panels, mainly Doctor Who & talked with more friends. I didn’t wear a costume, just regular pants & a Doctor Who t-shirt. I ran into people I met when I was dressed as Bellatrix & they almost didn’t recognize me with out the crazy hair & make-up.

Being in regular clothes & no longer taking up the space of 3 people, I was able to check out the vendors & see all the neato stuff that people were selling. Some of the sales people at their booths were a bit too pushy. One man tried to sell me comic books that I wasn’t remotely interested in but was still willing to sell them at half price. I had a woman try to convince me that her necklaces would look great on me. I almost told her that I can make my own for less than what she was trying to sell them to me for. Still it was fun getting to look at all the fun, pretty, spiffy, funny, & cool stuff. I had fun just walking around with friends & getting to talk with everyone in between panels.

I did see things that I wish I could unsee. There were some disturbing costumes, there were the most awesome costumes. Some were sexy, some were well done. Then there were the ones who wanted to be sexy but missed greatly & were just a bit sad. Some people had spend hundreds upon hundreds of dollars on their costumes. Some were bought, some were hand made. Some were clever & well thought out & I think some were thrown together last minute.

All in all I had a blast. I loved almost every minute I spent there. I believe I would like to go again but next time I know what I would do differently. I still think I prefer the smaller conventions like ConNooga & TimeGate but the wow factor of Dragon*Con makes me feel like I must return at least once.

Costuming & Conventions

As a child I always loved costuming. When I was 5 my mom made me the Little Orphan Annie dress & it was my absolute favorite thing in the world to wear. Then she made me the blue dress with the white pinafore apron from Alice In Wonderland. I would do a few Halloween costumes but we didn't celebrate it much as a kid. One costume that really sticks out in my mind was when I dressed up as Jeannie from I Dream Of Jeannie.

Then I grew up & as The Doctor says...You never want to do that. As a teenager I was a closet geek & wished for the guts to dress up again. I had very few friends & I was afraid of what people would think it they knew. (Yes I say that a lot.)

Once I was in my 20s I started dressing up again but just for Halloween. It started out mild as Wednesday Addams, then Morticia. I had fun making costumes & had to work really hard to make Ariel, The Little Mermaid costume. I wanted to do more complex costumes so I turned to the best & most talented seamstress I have ever met, my Mom.

She would sew the really hard items while explaining to me what she was doing while I watched her every move. Or she would stand over my shoulder & tell me what to do step by step teaching me as I went. It makes me nervous when she does that but it really does teach me a lot.

Together we made Bat Girl one year then we did Harley Quinn. Mys sister & I got the idea to dress up together & our mom agreed to help us make the costumes if we would make special appearances in them for the kids at church. It was such a small price to pay that we readily agreed. My sister is blond so she went as Rainbow Bright & I was original Strawberry Shortcake with my lovely red hair. We had a blast & had professional pictures done just for our mom.

I got very ill for a few years & was unable to do much of anything. When God healed me I came back full force stronger than ever. I wanted to do everything & finally sat down to make a costume I had thought about for years but had not yet done. I made my own Poison Ivy costume. It was one of those tedious projects that was made fun by knowing how awesome it would look in the end. I walked around with various friends on Halloween & discovered that not many non-geeks really understood who I was dressed as. Too many people thought I was Eve with out my Adam or just some tree/plant lady. I had the same experience with the Harley Quinn costume being called a jester or just a Harlequin. Silly me thought that since Poison Ivy had been around longer & had greater exposure to the normals out there that she would be a little more popular. Once again the normals of the world disappointed me. That is part of what made me decide to try out going to a convention.

I had heard that the local fandom conventions were just drunk fests for geeks to gather & grope one another. I had even been told my those close to me that I wouldn't like conventions, but I wanted to give them a try for myself. I did a bit of research & got word that a newer multi-fandom con in the area was better than the others. I went in with fairly low expectations but I wore my Poison Ivy costume anyways & barely in the door when people were wanting my picture.

We walked all over & saw multiple vendors with lots of cool toys & collectible stuff. Which is great but even better, I found a group of people that I can call MY people. One guy ran 3 panel discussions all relating to my unhealthy obsession Doctor Who. There was really a place for me here! People didn't judge me & I met those that knew even more about The Doctor than I did.
My best friend & I went to many other panels but the ones that I remember the most were the Harry Potter discussions & the Whoniverse related talks. Oh & there was a great B movie Fistful of Brains- A western zombie film. I met so many wonderful people & for once, didn't feel like an outsider. There were room parties but for most people, that was where the drinking stayed & wasn't excessive.

All of us dressed in various costumes, you never knew what you were going to see next from The Cult of Snuggie to a group of Stormtroopers marching through the parking lot. Some costumes were store bought but many were hand made. Some were cheap & simple & some had spent hundreds of dollars & so complex that I had to wonder how much time it had taken to make them.

One year later I'm helping run the Doctor Who panels & volunteering to work the convention. We told the man who put ConNooga together how a small group of us had formed into a Doctor Who "fan club" because of the 2009 con. We had a fan table to help promote the love of all things T.A.R.D.I.S. related in the Tennessee Who Authority. For 2010I didn't have a Doctor Who costume so I wore my older costumes. One day I was Strawberry Shortcake & the next Bellatrix Lestrange costume that I do for the Harry Potter movies. I enjoyed being polar opposites from one day to the next.

My enjoyment of the convention grew so much that I decided to branch out & go with friends to TimeGate 2010. I felt as though someone had made a convention just for me. It was Doctor Who, Stargate, with a splash of Joss Whedon thrown in. Lets take my favorite sci-fi shows & spend a weekend of talking about just those shows. I was such a happy little fangirl!

It felt surreal meeting Carmen Argenziano who played Jacob Carter on Stargate SG-1. He just sat across the table & chilling out with us. At one point in time I actually thought to myself "Holy crap Jacob Carter is joking around with us". At that time I thought I was going to cry because when I was sick watched a lot of SG-1 & I would joke that a Tok'ra symbiote would blend with me to heal me or that The Doctor would pick me up in his TARDIS & take me into the future where they could cure my disease. I told Carmen about my time of watching him while I was in the hospital & how we would joke about the cures. The man stood up & hugged me, thanked me for sharing my story with him. He then complimented me on how healthy I look today & my excellent costume. Which by the way is my newest, & most awesome costume of them all. My mom & I spent well over 50 hours making it but she made me the red Miss Hartigan dress. I am hoping to make the Cyber Kind head piece by Dragon*Con but we shall see how that turns out.

This will be my first year at Dragon*Con. Once again I am being told I will hate it but I want to experience it for myself at least once. I know I love small conventions but at least once I want to attend a large one. There are only a handful of stars or famous people that I would want to meet. Anyone with a hand in anything Doctor Who related of course so I'll try to get in to see some of the Torchwood people. Mainly I just want to have the experience of being in that large of a group. I will be with a group called Girls of the Con since I have a small picture in their calendar.

I love costuming & having been found by GOTC I have finally made it into a calendar! I have those model friends that are gorgeous with their store bought boobs, fancy clothes, & never have a moment when they're imperfect in any way & always cool. Now I can finally tell them that I made it into a calendar & all I had to do was be nerdy self.

A New Doctor

Contains spoilers for those of you that have not yet seen The Eleventh Hour.

I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive about Matt Smith as The Doctor. I adore David Tennant as My Doctor still but I think Matt is working brilliantly. I watched with bated breath for fear that it would be ruined forever but excited because I enjoy Steven Moffat's stories. Matt exceeded my expectations of him & I think I'll greatly enjoy him because he has such a flaw that I loved in My Doctor as a kid. He's goofy looking, his head is a weird shape & looks too big for his body. As I have said before my biggest problem with Tennant being The Doctor was that he is too sexy & my inner child has issues with The Doctor being sexy. Only time will tell if Matt will take David's place in my heart as My Doctor. Matt is proving he can do the job of being a Time Lord. He is portraying a completely different Doctor, which is how it should be but I miss David, I miss Ten.

The Eleventh Hour was a fun episode & was very kid friendly but also appealed to adults with the intelligent writing as Doctor Who has been known for doing. It had a scary bad alien that The Doctor had to outsmart in order to save the planet because other aliens were going to burn the planet in order to kill the scary bad alien. The Doctor found his companion & built a friendship while still trying to figure out who he was & what he liked to eat. He puts together his 'costume' & scolds the aliens that were going to burn the planet & basically tells them he had better not see them around his favorite planet again.

Once again he proved that he can't "drive" the TARDIS, which is something that always made me laugh. The Doctor has always had a bad habit of landing in the wrong place or time & this time was no exception. Still he shows his love for the TARDIS, petting her & talking to her like she's an old lover.

This episode made me laugh a lot & it also showed the power that The Doctor has by simply talking. It was a very quotable episode & it gave hints of a story arch that will continue through out the series. I like to have a few stand alone episodes but I personally like story archs a bit more. I like to see how something small from one episode will come back & affect something that's happening 6 episodes down the line. I am excited to see what is to come & I am very happy to see that The Doctor continues to be brilliant, fantastic, molto bene.

Matt Smith is a fantastic guide throughout the Doctor Who universe of amazing adventures that Moffat has in store for us. So far my biggest complaint is the opening sequence felt blah & the theme song sounded like a generic remix of the Doctor Who theme. I like the new look of the TARDIS, inside & out. Over all I give it 2 thumbs up & I can't wait until the next episode. I think I'm going to watch this one again another half dozen times.

A little bit star struck

I was never the one to get really star struck. I always knew that famous people were just as flawed as us normal people, they're no more special than us, they just get paid to entertain us. I have come to a point though where one actor really does have me a bit star struck. He starred in my favorite tv show & the more I watched him, the more I liked him. I knew he'd done other work so I decided to check it out & every role he played just knocked me over. He can make you believe any role he is in now matter how small it is, whether he's playing a schmuck, a looney, a demented bad guy, the ultimate romancer, or The Lord of Time. Yes boys & girls, I am talking about David Tennant. I have listened & watched some of his interviews & he keeps striking me as the dorky kid that got lucky. He says he worked hard to get to where he is today but he still looks like that nerdy guy that knew what he wanted so he obsessively worked until he was in a position to try for it, then one day luck smiled upon him & was given his dream job.

I love a man that's white & nerdy. I married a math teacher who collects so much Star Wars stuff that we had to dedicate one room of our house to it all. The Star Wars room is the pride of the entire house & I am hoping I can get more going so I can have my Doctor Who room. In David Tennant's first season as The Doctor, I struggled with him because I thought he was a bit too sexy. He is the really skinny, kind of awkward, brainy guy that makes my heart go *thump*. My inner child felt that The Doctor wasn't supposed to appeal to that side of the grown up in me. In his second season I began to make myself focus on the scripts, the story lines, the acting & somewhere along the way David Tennant wiggled his way into my heart. From then on he became, & forever will be, My Doctor. I now watch season one differently than I did before & I think maybe it's because the first time I was forced to watch him from the hospital or drugged up at home. Or maybe it's because when an actor takes the role as The Doctor it takes us a little bit of time to get comfortable with him in that role. What ever the reason may be, his acting blew me away & I am constantly surprised at how good he is. I am apprehensive to see how Matt Smith takes over but I understand that David Tennant leaving will help the story move forward as it always must. I will probably cry when it happens because when we get so attached to certain actors in that role we hate to see them leave. I was upset as a kid when Tom Baker left but understood that the story would continue. I need the story to continue to be good & David Tennant confessed on The Graham Norton Show that he was "enough of a pathetic fanboy to need it to continue to be good" after he is gone. If he isn't a dork then he's a greater actor than I thought, either way it's a win in my book. He is starring in a pilot 'Rex Is Not Your Lawyer' for NBC that I am really hoping get picked up because I want to see what else the man can do. I know many people are disappointed that he is using an American accent but I think it gives us a chance to see more of his talents as an actor. From now on he's going to be called The Doctor by many of us no matter what other roles he might play so I think in order for him to not be The Doctor, taking his accent & making him American helps. I know his Scottish & British accents are very sexy & I'd listen to him read the phone book, some on twitter have been trying to find a way to get him to read a trashy novel. It would have to be Scottish accent because I wouldn't be able to listen to The Doctor read anything smutty with out feeling a bit weird. Some might laugh but there is still a bit of conflict in me because he is so sexy & as a child I loved that Tom Baker was so funny looking, then gets replaced by Peter Davison who was considered by many women of the time as very attractive, but I was still quite young & loved that he was wearing celery. Every Doctor had something quirky about his appearance that was laughable & I never found anything about the Tenth Doctor to giggle about. The long "hero" coat is nice, I love the suit, & his hair is f*cking amazing, & my hubby wears red converse so I never gave any thought to his shoes. So if we're looking for quirks it's in the personality & those are the kinds of quirks that makes a person more endearing to me.

As an actor he makes me smile & to think, if he had never taken the role as The Doctor, I might not have ever known who he was.

Sickness & Health

This one has nothing really to do with being a nerd. Well not directly anyways. I think if I had not had so many health problems that I would not have found the comic books in my grandmother's house. Nor would I have spent so many hours watching sci/fi tv or reading so many odd books.
I have been seeing so many people complain about having health problems & going to the doctor only to be told that the doctor doesn't know what is wrong. This is something I know more about that I care to. As mentioned before, I used to suffer from a genetic blood disease called porphyria, more specifically the type is known as E.P.P. mainly 'cause no one, including doctors can pronounce it correctly. I was a medical mystery, doctors couldn't explain what was causing so many health problems. None of them ever connected the dots that all of my health issues were caused by one thing. My muscle pain, photo-sensitivity, excruciating stomach pain, constant nausea, I had come to find were all caused by one thing. It is an enzyme deficiency & is difficult to explain, I was born with it & only half way understand how it works, plus there are 8 different types of porphyria & each type depends on the enzyme & each one affects the body a bit differently. For mine the body didn't make the correct amount of a certain enzyme that helps the blood cells form. When the blood cells are made, some of them are made incomplete, as to almost look hollow. I was told that under a microscope it looked a lot like sickle cell anemia because the way the cells were hollow & couldn't hold onto iron, which made the cells die very quickly so they couldn't function in the manner that they were supposed to.

It took me too long to get a proper diagnosis from doctors then once I finally did get a confirmation that I had E.P.P. I had local doctors telling me that because they had never heard of it that I didn't really have it. They almost killed me because of their own stupidity. I was pointed in the direction of a good doctor who took me on as her patient & even though she didn't know much about the disease, she took it upon herself to learn everything about it. She is a hematologist & the disease is so rare that the only time she had heard of it was when she was in school. She helped fight for my life when I was too weak to fight for my own. She was a God send & I was so thankful that I was able to share my healing with her & her entire office. I am a rare one, not only was I born with a disease that is almost completely unheard of & tried to kill me, but I was healed of the disease. The doctors have done tests & have found that everything is normal, no trace of this genetic disease that afflicted me for 30 years. I have been healthy for over 2 years now & I have spent this time trying to live the life I didn't have the ability to live before.

I am still the nerdy girl who plays a certain on-line video game (City of Heroes). Still collect comic books when I can afford them. I still think I might go into a coma if I lost my computer & the internet. The obsession with Doctor Who has only grown in my time of being healthy, I think it's because I have more energy to obsess over it. My personality & interests didn't really change when I was healed. It just gave me a whole different perspective on life. I still don't know why God chose to heal me because I am a crude, foul mouthed, pessimist that was shown first hand how horrible people can be.

I want all of you out there that suffer chronic illness to know, there is hope. I also want you to know that you need to make some noise, scream if you have to when a doctor gives you some lame dumbass diagnosis. Ask tons of questions, do some research for yourself, challenge the doctors until you find something that makes you better. I was afraid to make a fuss, thinking the doctors knew what they were doing. When it comes to very basic stuff, they do, but when it gets complicated they need to be challenged. Yes many of them hate it, but if they would take the time to do their job correctly we wouldn't have to challenge their opinions.

Girls like Science Fiction too

I have found a world totally new to myself. Other girls who are as obsessed with The Doctor as I am. I think I can get used to this, I like it. I have had some female friends in the past who were nerdy or had certain nerdy aspects but they were into different aspects of nerdiness than I have enjoyed. In a way it was a good thing because I would join them in their interests just out of the sake of having another girl around that didn't ramble on about shoes, hair or celebrity gossip for hours on end. The problem always was, that I would join in their interests, but no one wanted to join in mine, so I stood alone with my little memories of the TARDIS, my comic books or just the odd books I enjoyed that weren't popular.

Earlier this year I attended my first fandom convention & instantly I was hooked. I am very grateful that I went because I found people just as obsessed as I am, if not more so with Doctor Who. We decided to form a group or club to share our love of The Doctor & every month I find I like these people more & more. In the group was a girl but she is more familiar with the new series but seems to love the old just as much. After a short time I was introduced to another girl through Facebook, a mutual friend tells me that he knows a girl who would fit in with our group. We instantly hit it off & she gets all of my Doctor Who references. So now I have 2 whole girl friends that I can share my Doctor love with. Then I get sucked into the world of Twitter. Oh wow has it been uhm, should I say, educational? Yeah I think that's a safe word to use. There are Who fanatics galore & David Tennant fangirls that make me look like an amateur when it comes to unhealthy obsessions. Yes I absolutely adore David Tennant, but he is a branch of my Doctor obsession.

For many people a part of my present, my past isn't well known. I used to suffer greatly from a genetic blood disease called porphyria. Thanks to a God given miracle I no longer suffer but for most of 2006 & 2007 I was in the hospital or stuck in a bed at home with IVs hooked up to me. The disease caused great pain & severe sickness all over, & I needed an escape & the two places I escaped through were the Stargate & the TARDIS. Now that I am healthy I still enjoy being able to take an hour from a busy day to take a trip to an alien planet, go back in time, or visit an alternate reality. Even greater than enjoying the shows I love best is being able to have another girl on this planet enjoy them with me. I think I am slowly drawing in one of the girls I LARP with into the world of Doctor Who/Torchwood. Bit by bit I am showing a "normal" friend of mine the appeal of all the science fiction shows I like. I am a girl who is used to having these things in common with guys, so having girls who like them is a refreshing feeling.

"Magic & time travel are not only possible, but are every day occurrences." This has been something I have been telling people on a regular basis, I believe that it is true. I don't know who said this first, I don't presume to think that I was the first to come up with it but I would like for it to become a popular phrase.

Where my love started

My unhealthy obsession is Doctor Who. Everyone who knows me at all, knows that the show, the stories, the concept, the actors, are all things that I thoroughly enjoy. I have been watching the show from some of my earliest memories. I remember watching the show with my mom before my earliest moments of singing on stage with my dad, which I started doing when I was about 4 or 5. I tell people I get my nerdiness from my Mom, whom I am very thankful for. She would watch tv shows (mainly Doctor Who & Star Trek) & read books with stories that were fun & interesting. I grew up enjoying many of the same shows & books. I admired characters I watched on TV & though I was smart enough to recognize that it wasn't real, I still wanted to be like those women that were so elegant & smart. I think I grew up very smart in knowing what I liked in people because of the shows & books that I read. I found qualities in personalities that I thought were important & throughout life many of those things stuck with me. I know that my first real crush was on a character in a book. I was about 9 years old & all my friends loved those teeny-bopper TV stars because they were cute. I was even given posters, but I felt weird because in comparison to the characters in my books, the tv stars acted stupid. I wanted something more than just looks, or to know that his favorite food was pizza. I wanted personality with values that acted with such valiance that would make adults & children respect & love him.