Valentines

Welcome to the Lounge Lizards Valentine's Page.

Here you will find a few stories of how Star Trek fans came together and found they had even more in common with each other than just Trek.
These stories relate how these people met, feel in love, and made a committment to each other.
To date, their have been three marriages that have resulted from this type of "introduction" and several engagements.
Enjoy these pages as I have enjoyed putting them together.

LOVE IN THE LOUNGE

These days you hear many stories of love found on the internet. There are many places to find love as well. Some services have set up specific chats for people looking for love or looking for someone like themselves, lonely, in need of someone, or others just like them whom they can talk to and understand them. The global community has really taken shape and has given us more than simple communications. We are developing lasting relationships. This is NOT a story about one of those rooms, nor any service that invites you to join it to find your "perfect mate." This is as story about the Star Trek Continuum.

In July of 1996. Paramount Digital Entertainment opened up it's new Star Trek site to members of the Microsoft Network. Part of this site was the Trek Chats. These included the Star Fleet Lounge, the Klingon Lounge, and Quark's Bar ( a virtual chat room). The chats were frequented by people from all walks of life, doctors, salesmen, truckdrivers, students, adults and children alike. They all came together because of their common interest in Star Trek. It might serve us well if we stop and think about that for a moment. What is it about Star Trek that crosses so many boundaries in our everyday lives? What is it that makes us all see each other as equals? Gene Roddenberry had a vision of a future where all people would be treated as equals, that no wars on Earth would be fought again, where money had no real meaning, and that what really matters is what is out there to help the human race better themselves. Fans of Star Trek have embraced this vision as their own. It is without question a worthy goal for our future. The stage was set for some interesting conversations, debates, and celebrity chats, or at least that's what the folks at PDE were hoping to accomplish. However, they accomplished much, much more.

Personally, I discovered the Continuum and Trek chat in August, 1996, or more specifically, the Star Fleet Lounge. I was made to feel very welcome, unlike other chat rooms I had previously visited. The chatters were willing to help the "newbie" learn all about LOL and BRB and :) . I was delightfully surprised by these chatters. I surmised that these people not only enjoyed Trek, but had some part of Trek ingrained in their personalities. I found people from all over the world coming to the Lounge talking Trek. There was a new movie about to come out in November, and we all wanted the lastest information. The chatters in the Lounge were very helpful to each other, and shared their pictures and web addresses and wav files. This is the atmosphere where I met, feel in love with, and actually married my husband, Ben.

There is something very special about the atmosphere in Trek chat that is difficult to put into words. For some reason, when you talk to people on the internet, you show more of yourself to them than you have to people who have known you all your life. You can express your opinions without fear that someone will think badly of you, because, in Trek chat, most people think the same way. It's comforting to be able to talk to others about Trek when your friends and family think you are a "geek" for watching it at all. You get to know other people very well, as they get to know you. It is in this atmosphere where I and several others have found love.

I never went to Trek chat looking for a partner for life, just some information on the new movie, and neither do most of the other chatters. I was pretty content with my life the way it was and wasn't seeking to change anything. Love in the Lounge just seems to happen. At the start, because of your mutual interest in Trek, you already have a lot in common. Trek is much more than a TV show or a movie. If you read through some of the transcripts of prior celebritity chats, you will find that physicists who have visited say that they got there early inspiration for their work from Trek.

Since, and perhaps prior to, our marriage in the Continuum, there have been many romances. One couple that I know of personally, "Odoswoman" and "Cadet", also got married as did my daughter Brianna and her love, Dennis. There are several other romantic relationships that have been formed. The stories of the romantic couples in the Lounge are stangely similar. These people met on a level playing ground. There is no expectation of a relationship until it happens. Two people start a chat about what they like or don't like about Trek. Or, one chatter helps another with setting up the chat program or navigating around the net. Or, even still, they just hit it off and find they have many interests that they share. Some are very secretive about their relationships. Personally, Ben and I kept it pretty much to ourselves with only a few "chat buddies" knowing what was really happening. Some express their love, respect, and admiration for each other in open chat.

Although I am aware of only a few romances, there have been some relationships that haven't worked out. It is unfortunate and sad, but nothing in this life is guaranteed. For the majority of these chatters, Love blooms in the Lounge. I can't tell you of all the romances that are currently flourishing, but I can tell you that they all have very deep feelings for each other, and that some are even engaged to be married! Imagine, meeting your life long mate on the Internet. Unbelievable!