About Play It Grand!

The real owner of Play It Grand? Why of course that would be her horse Gershwin! (not pictured), although Michael Shanks and Amanda Tapping certainly are! LOL!

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I am an Alumni of Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, in South Bend Indiana, but I am originally from Flossmoor Illinois, a tiny little south suburb of Chicago. I am the only child of two loving if not annoying parents.

You are probably wondering where I got my pseudonym, Play It Grand, from. I have a horse, a Palomino Saddlebred, by the name of Gershwin. His full name, or show name as we equestrians call it, is Play It Grand. In that way his nick-name of Gershwin is kind of a play on words because he was named that after composer George Gershwin

I have been a stalwart fan for Stargate SG-1 for almost seven years now. I admit that I was not there from the beginning, but yet we have had the feature film on DVD since it came out. My dad had raised a treky and he had enjoyed the movie, but he also didn't start watching SG-1 until season 6 had already begun. One evening I sat down and started watching it with him, and though I didn’t understand what was going on, I was very interested by it. It was unlike anything I’d watched before.

Next thing I knew I was watching it every day at 5:00 and then watching the Monday night four hour block on the SciFi Channel. Soon I had caught up with the airing schedule. From there things only went up. I was hooked. I bought the DVD box sets, logged onto Gateworld.net for news, collected wallpapers, fan art, and read fan fiction (Sam and Jack shipping only), novels, season companions, and analysis books. Sometime later I got hit with the urge to do a little writing of my own, and I created a little bit of fan art, if it’s good enough to be called that! I took the next big step when I attended the 2004 Creation Convention in Rosemont IL. and came home with a team poster signed by Michael Shanks and Don S. Davis. In 2005 I went to the same convention at the same hotel and had the same poster signed by Chris Judge. I haven’t missed that convention once, and I have a huge collection of autographs. This year I fulfilled a dream of mine and traveled across country to attend the Creation Convention in Vancouver B.C. There, I finally got to see Amanda Tapping and add her signature to my prized poster. It is currently framed and hanging in my room!

When Stargate SG-1 was cancelled in August of 2006, I joined with my fellow fans around the world in campaign efforts to save the show. While the show may be over, the characters live on in our hearts and through our own creative efforts. In an effort to support the people who inspired me and whom I see as my friends, I teamed together with a friend of mine, WR_Systems, to create WormholeRiders. The rest is history!

I hope you, my fellow fandom members, will enjoy this site that we have built.

Play It Grand

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Bio Questions and Answers

1. Handle/Screenname:

Play It Grand, sometimes with spaces, sometimes without!

2. Education/Awards/Etc:

Degree- Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame. I’m very proud to be a Bell!

3. Favorite Stargate character:

Doctor Daniel Jackson, hands down. He’s intelligent, he sticks to his morals and values like superglue, he’s totally selfless, has a razor sharp wit, and I love archeology too! Don’t even get me started on his eyes. What more could a girl want?

4. Favorite Actor/Actress:

Michael Shanks, Amanda Tapping, Chris Judge, Don Davis (R.I.P.), Teryl Rothery, Ben Browder, and Claudia Black. What can I say? I love Ben and Claudia, but I’m an “original team” girl at heart. I’d have Richard Dean Anderson in here really high, but I’ve seen so little of the man when he’s not in character that it’s hard to feel like I really know him for himself!

5. Favorite Band/Performer/s:

I grew up on The Carpenters and then branched out to The Coors, but I also like Switchfoot, and Train in particular. After that, it’s more about the song than the artist. I’m as addicted to Starbucks’s Pick Of The Week as I am to their coffee.

6. Hobbies:

Horseback riding, showing (Huntseat and Western), writing, reading, sometimes knitting. I like to swim and I work out whenever I can. I watch SG-1 and Atlantis continuously, in order from the features to the finale, year round, over and over and over. I sometimes quiz myself just to see what I can remember without having to look it up! Pathetic, I know. What can I say? We need a trivia game!

7. Pets:

Currently, a horse named Play It Grand, but we just call him Gershwin! I say “currently” because my hope of having a dog will never die.

8. What's your theme song?:

“This Is Your Life” by Swtichfoot. Ever since I first heard it, used for a Daniel music video, it has pulled at my heart. I could also say “Unwritten” by Natasha Bedingfield, because so much of my life is undetermined. Then again, some days “Don’t Let Me Get Me” by P!nk is more appropriate!

9. If you could have a sidekick, who would it be?: Can I have Daniel? If not, I’ll take Gershwin, and he can beg my enemies for food until they surrender to his innocent, “Aren’t I handsome?” look.

10. Favorite food:

My mom’s seafood enchiladas. They are amazing. Crab meat, spinach, and cheese in baked in a tortilla. Yum! After that, if it’s sweet, I love it.

11. What would you keep in a utility belt?:

Way too many things. My friends say I always come prepared for anything. I would have a GPS, though I have a good sense of direction, a book to read when I get bored, my iPod to shut out the world with when I need to, Sudoku puzzles, because I can’t read and listen to songs at the same time, a lead rope because I always seem to need one, a spare shirt for when my horse uses me for a Kleenex, a deck of cards to smack down anyone who dares to challenge me at Egyptian Rat Screw, and my laptop because my computer is my life.

12. Favorite Stargate Episode:

It would be easier to list the ones that drive me up the walls because I love them all!

13. What was your sci-fi gateway drug?:

I was raised on StarTrek: Next Generation and Doctor Who (The Original, none of this “Oh, but we’re starting over and he falls in love with his sidekick” weirdness!). It was a good way for me to bond with my dad. Later in life I’ve kind of dumped ST:NG, but Doctor Who lingers on, aided by the fact that I can find full episodes online now! I picked up on Stargate SG-1 when my dad found it on Sci-Fi, and then RadioStar introduced me to Farscape. However, my devotion belongs to SG-1 forever!

14. What's under your bed?:

An under-the-bed-box half full of shoes, stacks of old papers saved for scrapbooking (if I ever find the time), a couple spent C batteries, the empty box from my brand new 1TB external drive, a craft desk full of paint and brushes and at least one half finished paint-by-number horse project, and the butt end of my big white dog stuffed animal, Max. There’s no dust because we have a Roomba!

15. Favorite TV show (not Stargate):

Ummm . . . What do I watch besides Stargate? Oh yeah! Sanctuary, Amanda Tapping’s new show, is awesome. I watch Lost only because I want to know how long the writers can keep it up. I like Castle, NCIS, and The Mentalist is ok, and now that it’s not on NBC, I can watch Medium! That’s the shows that are on now. I grew up watching Murder She Wrote, Doctor Quinn: Medicine Woman, Early Edition, and many many more. They now live on in my DVD collection.

16. What is your dream job?:

I wish I could get paid to do nothing. . . . My dream job would incorporate horseback riding, writing, and web design as needed. Right now I get paid for mucking out stalls, teaching kids when I’m lucky enough to get called in to sub for a regular instructor, and I do the writing a web design pro bono. In other words, I need a job.

17. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be?:

Toughy. My visit to Vancouver really makes me want to go back. I’m fascinated by Ireland and Egypt. I guess the only solution is to become a billionaire and buy a house in all three places, right?

18. If your life could be written by any author who would it be and what genre?:

That depends on if it’s my actual life, or a dramatized, fictionalized one. If it’s the real one, I think only I could write it and make it seem interesting enough to bother reading. Though I’d be interested to see if any of the authors of the Stargate Fandemonium series would dare to take it on. If it’s fictionalized, Tamora Pierce could put her fantasy/science fiction spin on it. That way I get horses and magic!

19. Favorite movie:

Stargate, of course! I’m a big fan of the old Disney classics – the non-animated ones, like Flight of the Navigator, Pete’s Dragon, and Escape to Witch Mountain (it should be a crime to redo these!) and that genre in general albeit it has to be about 15 years old or more. I want to shoot the screen writers of the Harry Potter movies.

20. What are your goals/dreams/aspirations for WormholeRiders.Com?:

I want to see WormholeRiders become a leading Stargate community and news provider, carrying all the things that fans love, and inspiring creativity just as the show inspired me personally. I want WormholeRiders to help support MGM, Bridge Studios, and the Stargate franchise so that they can grow and continue to bring the cast back for more adventures. I want us to follow and support those cast members in their future endeavors. Is this too much to ask? With a strong fanbase to rally, I think not!

If course I’d die if we could get any of the cast to say, “Hey, I remember you! You’re from WormholeRiders!” But I’d settle for having Michael Shanks ask me why I go by Play It Grand!