My New Chimerical Kit

My good friend Christina and I have been participating in NaNoWriMo together for two years now.  Next year, we were contemplating choosing a storyline and characters and each writing our novel using the agreed upon plot and setting.  I’m not sure how this is going to work out, but it sounds rather interesting.  I was also recently inspired by my Twitter-bud, @melissaoyler and her friend (Amy) who are choosing a random topic and then each blogging about it.  Christina and I thought this would be an awesome way to test out our ability to write individually on a collective topic.

For the record, these topics will appear weekly on Fridays until we run out of ideas or get bored with the project.

Geek: Definition (from UrbanDictionary.com)

One of four titles used to classify someone based on their technical and social skills. The other three titles are nerd, dork, and normie. The difference between the four titles can be easily shown in table form:

……………. Technical …… Social
Title ………… Skills ……… Skills
———- —————- ————
Normie ……… No …………. Yes
Geek ……….. Yes …………. Yes
Nerd ………… Yes …………. No
Dork ………… No ………….. No

Normie: A normal person. Blah.

Geek: An outwardly normal person who has taken the time to learn technical skills. Geeks have as normal a social life as anyone, and usually the only way to tell if someone is a geek is if they inform you of their skills.

Nerd: A socially awkward person who has learned technical skills due to the spare time they enjoy from being generally neglected. Their technical knowledge then leads normies to neglect them even further, leading to more development of their technical skills, more neglection, etc. This vicious cycle drives them even more into social oblivion.

Dork: A person who, although also socially awkward, doesn’t have the intelligence to fill the void with technical pursuits, like a nerd, and is forced to do mindless activities. Almost always alone. Usually with an XBox. Like playing Halo. All day. Every day. Not even understanding how the Xbox is making the pretty pictures on the screen. Very sad.

If you met me at a party, you would have no idea that I enjoy finite element analysis-based inviscid flow modelling using computational fluid dynamics. That’s because I’m a geek.

OR

The term “geek” originally referred to the carnival performers whose act consisted of biting the heads off chickens and eating glass. Over time it came to be applied to anyone who got paid to do work considered odd or bizarre by mainstream society.

The term now enjoys a special status within the technical community, particularly among particularly knowledgeable computer programmers. To identify oneself as a “geek” indicates a recognition that most people still consider programming computers to be a bizarre act, along with a certain fierce satisfaction in being very good at their inglorious profession.

That most software geeks now easily earn twice as much as the average laborer just sweetens their defiant embrace of the term.

Note: Unlike the word “nerd,” which is always pejorative, “geek” often carries a positive connotation when used by one of the group. The use of the term by outsiders is considered insulting.

“If you really need the right answer, check with Bob; he’s our resident alpha geek.”

I… am… a…. geek.

There, I said it.  Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way I would like to clarify that I do not bite the heads off of chickens or eat glass for the amusement of the general public while residing in a tiny little trailer next to the woman who weights 700 pounds.

I’m supposed to be blogging today on when I first realized that I was a geek.  The concept of when I became a geek is somewhat fluid to me.  I moved around quite a bit as a kid, and thus I believe that this had an impact on how my peers perceived me.  Go with me on this one.

I have a good friend from High School who was very academic (salutatorian of our class).  She lived in our little town her whole life.  In High School she had friends from all different cliques of people.  I was 6th in our class, very academic, but was shunned by most of the people who were friendly with her.  My theory is that because she grew up with most of these people since she was little — she went to preschool with them, Brownies and Girl Scouts, 4-H, Sunday School — they accepted her regardless of her inclination towards being a geek.  I, on the other hand, was unfamiliar.  No one had anything to base my personality on.  They didn’t know me, didn’t particularly want to know me, and thus pigeon-holed me into my little “geeky” persona.  Did I mind not getting invited to the parties?  Then, yes.  In retrospect, no.  Would I have traded my geeky nature to be popular.  Nope.  I liked that I was academic.  In college I fit in fine, joined a sorority, and was never blamed for my geekiness.

But there were two particularly noteworthy events that clearly secured my place in the Halls of Geekdom.  These events truly made me realize that I was a geek and there was no turning back.

The First Moment of Geekdom

See, I told you I was a geek!

It was the spring of 1999 and I was standing in line, robed in black robes, waiting in line with my hall mates to enter Elon College’s (yes, it was a College back then and not a University.  We were also the Fighting Christians and not the Phoenixes.) Convocation for Honors and I had the esteemed honor of being on the President’s List for the first time in my life.  Amazingly enough through three upperclassmen courses and Calculus the meager Freshman that I was had managed to get a 4.0 during my Freshman Spring semester at Elon.  Quite a notable (and geeky) task.  As we were standing there waiting the faculty began handing out the programs.  I received mine and took a precursory glance across it.  But there, sitting on the page in black and white were the words:

Stephen Jay Gould, Keynote Speaker

I thought I was going to faint!  Stephen Jay Gould, as luck would have it, was my hero.  But not just any hero.  He was my childhood hero.  You probably haven’t the faintest clue who he is.  But I did.  And I knew who he was when I was in kindergarten!  At a very young age my career goals were to become a famous paleontologist.  I knew all the names of the dinosaurs (their REAL names) and I actually researched who Stephen Jay Gould was and thought that one day I would be lucky enough  to study under him.  My fascination with dinosaurs continued for quite some time before it was replaced with other typical childhood career goals (ballerina, President of the United States, writer, actress, doctor, etc).  But I still remember how I looked up in awe to that man who was at the forefront of groundbreaking evolutionary theory.

I was 19 years old and I was about to see my childhood hero speak at a Convocation to honor me (and the others who happened to make the President’s List).  I was in heaven.

My hall mates called me a geek.  They were right.

My Second Moment of Geekdom

I recently did an experiment; four out of five Internet tests say that I’m “Ross” from the sitcom Friends.  What’s more, they say that I’m Ross, bearing at least a 71% likeness.

Given the fact that I just told you my childhood hero was none other than, Stephen Jay Gould, field leading paleontologist and ground-breaking evolutionary theorist, you are probably not surprised by this fact.  I, however, have been bucking the “Ross” horse for years.

When Christina and I lived in the apartments in Williamsburg she (and I) was obsessed with Friends.  At one point we were all sitting around trying to figure out which Friends character we each were.  I immediately spoke up and said, “I think I’m Pheobe!” because I loved her quirky, eco-conscious, free-spirited ways.  I longed to be Pheobe, and I sort of thought I was like her.

A chorus of “No, you’re Ross” hit me like a ton of bricks.

I denied it.  Vehemently.  Everyone refused to budge.  I was Ross and no one was going to let me be Pheobe, or even Chandler!  I was crushed.  I slunk back to my apartment to go study my Anthropology books and dream of my trip to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and live in denial that I was Ross.

It wasn’t until very recently (October 2008) that I was able to open my arms and really welcome my Inner-Ross into reality.  I had purchased “secret” tickets to the Big Apple Circus for my dear hubby (I buy these tickets every year and intend to surprise him with a “secret date.” And though I’m sure he’s figured it out by now, he always acts surprised and never lets on that he knows where we’re going).  After the circus we were walking back to our car and we passed through the apartment complex community near by where the circus had set up.

On one side, there were the apartment buildings and then on the other side there was a sunken garden of sorts.  It was actually a soccer field.   And on the other end was an ampitheater.  I giggled, audibly.  I couldn’t help but begin to draw conclusions about how society hasn’t changed that much from our ancient ancestors like the Mayans and the Greeks.  We still place a great deal of emphasis on communal sports and entertainment.  So much so that our communities are beginning to reflect this by how we plan and develop them!  I had made an inward decision not to share my thoughts with Steve, feeling sure that I would get ridiculed for my geeky anthropological interpretation of a soccer field.

He insisted.

He called me a geek.  And then put his arm around my shoulders and kissed me.

I smiled knowing that I had an Inner-Ross and I was still loved.

I’m interested to know when Christina first realized that she too has a place in the Halls of Geekdom!  You can read her blog here.

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