The evolution of GEEK – where is it going, where did YOU come from in particular? I was thinking about this question this morning. Geekdom, to analogize the term, is like Sherwood Forest – a place where outcasts retreated because they no longer (or never did) fit into the “modern times” of their era. We come from all over… there are geeks born into their handicap, as if sprung from the womb with a graphing calculator and an inkling for constructing 3D video games from basic binary code. You have your vampire, werewolves and comic book freaks, sort of stuck in the middle of things… they typically have a cooler fashion sense but still possess the desire to stab pencils in the necks of head cheerleaders and football jocks. Then you have generational geeks like me, raised in households of Thornbirds and Godzilla and taken to Star Wars premiers. Homes where dinner conversations about Thor and Superman were not uncommon. So which one were you? How did you come to Sherwood Forest?
Moreover, where is Geekdom going? I am perpetuating the lifestyle by turning my offspring into future geeks. I think it is a great alternative to a life of drugs, crime and beauty pageants. I have made Geekdom cool in my house and immerse my prawns in all things NERD. The only PG-13 movies my kids are allowed to watch are Star Wars, Indiana Jones, LOTR and Harry Potter… I know, I have a problem. They speed through books like crack addicts, and have been playing video games since age 3.
So, although it seems as if Sherwood Forest is growing in inhabitants, it will never become Main Street or Pleasantville. Where did you immigrate from?
I was originally a comic book and Horror movie geek. Then I was a baseball card geek as well. In 1996, I discovered the Internet and HTML code, and became a computer geek, something which the Navy decided to exacerbate about a million times over…
Now, in addition to a computer and horror movie geek, I’m completely a Pop Culture geek to the Nth degree.
Hey Lucas!! LOL, oh boy I know you and you had no other path but the “geek” path. You are pure to the bone. 100% fortified nothing fake about cha. And no, FB is the devil. Miss ya and hope everything is beautiful again in your world after your loss.
and, dammit, it’s about time you came back…Welcome back!!!
I was the lone geek in my household growing up. I attended sci-fi movies and convinced my got friends together who played more than our fair share of D&D (and eventually white-wolf games).
From there, it went to video games, more movies, computers, and, perhaps geekiest of all, board games. I even decided to combine my love of games and the interwebz to start a board gaming blog.
I only hope that my geekiness continues to grow like the mighty oak.
I relate to the cheerleader in Hereos becasue I was always running with popular kids, although I had a huge geek mom and loved much of the stuff she was into. I was always making friends with kids outside my circle because I enjoyed out-of-the-norm things. Once I got to college I had a hard time finding the right group of people… until I found true “geeks”. I had been enjoying since childhood, all the things that made me one as well. I came alive and discovered who I really was, LOL. I teach my kids to not be ashamed of their “weird” passions and that you can not follow the crowd, and still be happy.