14) I am a geek wannabe/groupie: I think geeks are hot!!!

Note: There is a DISTINCT difference between geeks, nerds and dorks. Nerds get good grades and can be quite boring. Dorks are simply embarrassing (we don’t talk about them). Geeks are highly intelligent beings who don’t have to conform to the masses but they might’ve spent too much time on their computer to have done well in school.Make no mistake about which category I claim.

I come across as a ditz who lives under a rock a lot more than I do a geek, so it’s not quite correct to call myself one, but I certainly enjoy surrounding myself with lots of them so I feel more like one. Geekiness really appeals to the elitist within me and I really, really want “in”.

I can’t for the life of me trace the source of my obsession with geekdom but I generally blame it on having to wear glasses from age 7. I felt it made me quite a bit of a dork growing up and I’m quite grateful for that. I think having a pretty geeky dad helped too, There are 3 for-sure geeks out of the 6 kids so that must have something to do with it (either that or they were too heavily influenced by me).

Because I have the tendency to love things simply for the sake of it making me more geeky, I feel like a little bit of a wannabe and impostor at times so today I decided to write a list to help me feel better about myself (who writes a list to reassure themselves that they truly are a geek?!).

Here’s the list of the geeky goodness in my life:

1. Almost all the relationships I’ve had (I counted 5/7, Christopher included) have been with guys who’d had jobs involving computer programming or web development. I don’t think I can even begin to describe how much I am attracted to geeky hotness. If I find out something geeky about you, my love for you is guaranteed forever. My hugest *ever* celebrity crush has been Matt Mullenweg, developer of WordPress (blogging, coding, photography AND Jazz music?! *mock faint* ).
2. I do not run Windows. I despise it. I don’t even have a Mac anymore. I use LINUX! And I can now navigate my way around in command prompt alright. Ok, it’s Ubuntu, which is completely noob friendly and I didn’t choose it to begin with, it was my boyfriend and his/our best friend that set it all up for me, but I took it from there and having been able to figure out how to do everything I want on it on my own (with the help of plenty of forums, of course) is probably the thing on my list I am most proud of. Seriously, I rock.
3. I swing dance. I didn’t realize it when I started (I just thought it was the coolest thing ever), but swing dancing is truly a geek magnet. Think about it: For jazz lovers, retro, not mainstream, lots of opportunities to dress up, friendly to those with absolutely no hand-eye coordination at first…. I know everyone loves Herrang (world’s largest swing dance camp in Sweden – I’ve been!) for the dancing, I just love it for the delightful conglomeration of like-minded weirdos. I collected a few.
4. I love XKCD. And people who love XKCD like I do. I am not geeky enough to appreciate all (or even most) of the references and jokes, but the ones I do get are true gems to me. It truly is a work of genius.
5. Band geek —–> me. At least the years I was in a school with a band. I wish I had the opportunity to be as band geekish as my brothers are. *sigh* Oh, the lives I could’ve lived.
6. Chess club. That may not count, though. I did like chess then, but mostly, I joined because it was either that or a club that involved sports. Chess requires the kind of thorough and meticulous planning ahead that I just don’t have the patience for. Gives me a headache. I’ve never thought I’m much good at strategy because of it despite what Keirsey might think.
7. I published my first website when I was 14. I learned the HTML and CSS I know mostly from blogging and I do love trying to figure out code when I see it, but other than that my skills in the coding area of things is pretty dismal.
8. In college, our weekend activity was hanging out in “the hub”, a computer lab and played Counter Strike. Actually, this one is really pushing it because I sucked at it, I’ve never played any other first person shooter games, and I was there because those were my boyfriend’s friends. But the fact of the matter was, everyone else wished their wives would play with them.
9. Way too much time on the computer and waaaay too much Mountain Dew in college. I did say geeks are highly intelligent beings who can be stupid when it comes to doing well in school, didn’t I?
10. Physics, baby. My ultimate favorite subject in school, next to psychology (sorry, the NF in me trumps all other interests), and followed by English and math, of course.
11. I have written my ATM pin down in binary. My dad taught it to me when I was about 9-10. We learned it in school when I was 16.
12. Past hobby: reading the manual to my scientific calculator
13. Dungeons and Dragons. W00t. Ok. So that doesn’t count either. I wanted to play when I found out that I had friends who did. But I knew extremely little about it and was mostly interested because I knew that was something that would secure my place in the geek world (I tell you, I’m a serious wannabe!) I’ve loved every adventure though (don’t tell my DM), the mechanics of the game are somewhat tedious (yes, Christopher, I know, there is always WoW), and I’m really not much of a role-player. I prefer spending my time on:
14. My latest obsession. Games. Board games. Card games. Games that make you think to win. Games that are complex enough to filter the un-geeky out. But mostly, games where I can watch a true geek’s brain at work… mmm hmm…. groups of only up to 5? Mostly guys? It’s the utterly *perfect* social activity for me.

I don’t know if my eagerness to participate in all things geeky make me more of a geek or much less of one (geeks are not supposed to let other people influence their interests) In any case, there are lots of ways in which I could improve my geek ratings.

My geek wish list

I wish I:

• knew how to code. Anything besides the little HTML and CSS I can modify.
• could figure out the technical aspect of photography and maybe get good at it
• were an astronomy geek
• actually played all the computer games I can only claim through people I’ve dated.
• have played more boardgames instead of just wanting to play boardgames
• actually have what it takes to win them. Though I like to think that I learn quick enough to regularly earn me 2nd place in a group with only one experienced player.
• could actually bother to keep up with the latest gadgets and technology.

Fortunately, I have myself a truly incredible Christopher, who is hot in all the ways I am attracted to – and more! He teeters on the nerd/dork side a little (though it is the kind of endearing dorkiness – nobody else should ever dare call him dorky to my face!) but I can still live a wonderful geek life vicariously through him.

Whatever it is that I am, though, geek with full status or not, I take pride in knowing that whatever geekiness I have, combined with the fact that I am Asian, makes me the girlfriend every geek wishes he had.

And that is good enough for me. ;)