In Defense Of My Nerd Heritage...

It has been recently brought to my attention that there are those that do not agree with individuals proudly wearing and using the title of "nerd". Those that necessarily don't disagree, but are confused by the pride the nerd-folk hold in having this label. I felt that it was my duty to set the record straight. I'd like to begin todays lesson with a story...

The other day, The Boyfriend and I were laying in bed, having one of those random 2am talks, that generally spring up out of nowhere, and usually don't actually go anywhere, but instead ends when one or both of us simply passes out. The subject was junior high and high school, how it went for each of us, and how we survived. He seemed really surprised when I told him that when in junior high I only had one or two friends. And our school was so big that I rarely ever saw them. So a large majority of lunches were spent sitting by myself while dodging french fries being thrown at me from nearby tables.
"Really????" He kept saying. ".......really????" He has assumed that school stories such as this were only being exaggerated in movies and TV shows. Nope. Really. Preteens and teenagers are pricks. Period.

But alas, I survived (with minimal emotional scarring) and trudged on to high school. I had managed to make a larger amount of friends, and off campus lunches saved me from picking food out of my hair on a daily basis. This does not mean that I went without harassment. Everyday, several times a day, there were those that felt they were better than everyone else, and they were going to drill that into your head through public humiliation...... Again, I survived. A little more bitter toward the world and the general population, but alive.

So I grew up knowing the definition of the word "nerd". I blossomed feeling like the damn word was etched across my forehead. But I survived. And more importantly, I didn't change much. I kept right on liking all the same nerdy things I liked before. Even though every corner I turned, every magazine I opened, every show I watched, I was being shown, told, lectured on how girls my age were supposed to act, dress, and project. I stuck to the things I liked.

I was given (and deserved) the title of Nerd, and I wore it proudly! Proudly I tell you! And into my adulthood I have fallen farther into that catagory, and still wear the title proudly.

How, you ask? Well let me enlighten you...

A few years back my brother worked at a comic book/gaming store. He was in charge of the RPG and table games, which meant he had to learn how to play them so he could then in turn, educate the customers. So he brought games and cards galore home and practiced with me as his pupil. One of which was the Star Wars card game.

Awesomeness!!!

This was one that we decided we really liked, and played quite often... My brother had gotten one set from work, which consisted of a full set of Rebels/Jedi cards, (the good guys) and a full set of the Dark side (the bad guys). I always played with the Rebels/Jedi cards, because frankly.......they are awesome. So when we decided to retire the game for the time being, my brother gave me one set, and he kept the other. Which, you need both sets to actually play, so each set alone was basically useless. Remember that episode of the Simpsons where all the old men in Springfield were apart of that "order" and each one of them had a key, and as they died off their key would be placed in the large round lock? Then the last person living inherited what was inside...? Yeah, it was kinda like that, except with Star Wars cards.......and there is only two of us.....

And who else but a nerd has toys and action figures displayed in their living rooms.........at the age of 30?? To name a few, I have Spiderman figures, Ghost Busters toys, and Lego Star Wars toys and figures. (and I have friends that have collections that make mine look like a happy meal prize) And to top off the obsession I just this week spent several, several hours on ebay bidding on more Star Wars Lego figures. A few of which, I won, proudly. This next week will be the longest ever, as I stand closely behind the post man as he fills all 75 mail slots, waiting for him to deliver my figures. He may call the cops....it could get ugly.

The Obi Wan, above, is my newest addition.

Every week or so, my friends and I get together and have the same conversations, over and over again. Sometimes we expound and branch out.....sometimes they can get quite heated. But they usually all contain the same set of material. Star Wars, Angel, Firefly, The Office, True Blood, Buffy......it gets rough..especially when there is liquor involved.

So in closing, I am a nerd. I am proud of that fact. I survived the torment of junior high and high school, and have managed to skip the therapy. I earned that title back in my youth, and held on to it until we have reached a time where people claim it. They are proud of it. Because like the rest, they went through hell to get it, it took a hell of a lot of pride to accept it, and even more guts to display it with honor.

So, suck it...

Holy clogged artery, Batman!

I have accomplished the unthinkable and the dangerous. I went Christmas shopping....in December....on a Friday night.....and lived. And so did those around me for that matter. My friend and I started off the evening with dinner. We went to a nearby "sit-down" burger place and had two of the best burgers ever made in the history of man, and/or cow. This burger was so good that even cows themselves would eat it.... It was totally amazing. Along with the burger basics, it donned a fried egg. This may not sound like much, but it was worth slapping your mother over. This burger, from this point on, has ruined all other food for me.

Anywho, not the point. After leaving there we went to several other stores, including the mother-ship, Barnes and Noble. It was extremely difficult to get out of there without spending my entire Christmas fund on books for myself. But I showed great strength and just bought gifts. At this point it started getting late, so our last stop of the evening was Target, which has now changed to their new holiday hours, which means they close at midnight. Yay for employee suffering!! We were worn out and about to drop, but just had to get this last little bit of shopping done before we called it a night. As we sauntered through the movies (something I cant normally do without drooling in want over some of them) we came to an endcap of "value collection" dvds. These usually consist of four older movies of the same set or type, all in one case, and are usually anywhere from $10-$14 depending on the titles. As our eyes scan through the titles, I come across all four of the original batman movies....together....and on sale for 8 bucks. I almost wet myself right there in the aisle. Being a geek, AND adding the fact that I have a slight dvd obsession, I am ashamed that I do not already own these movies. But I do now!

We didn't think we were going to be able to go one more step, until we walked onto the aisle that holds the action figures. From a far, like a homing beacon, or that shiny star off into the north (yes I am comparing action figures to the star of Bethlehem, but they were STAR WARS figures!!) I spotted one lonely storm trooper sitting in its little clear plastic shroud on the floor. I immediately ran over and saved it from its abandoned plight. Upon retrieval, I notice a small hole in the front of the packaging, with a sticker that gives the instruction to "try me". Being that I can never ignore this type of invitation, especially when it is presented in the form of bright white sticker with bold blue lettering. My friend and I were absolutely elated to discover that it had something like 8 or 9 sentences. And this was no crappy computer voice......no. This was the actual voice from the actual movie. The way George Lucas had intended. Needless to say, we got our second winds, my friend purchased the storm trooper, and all was right with the world.

Later that night while hanging out over at my friend's, the storm trooper regularly gave his input into the conversation;
friend: "Donnie Darko was an odd movie, and it didn't make any sense."

me: "hey, I really liked that movie!"

Storm Trooper: "Close the blast doors!"

friend: "it didn't make any sense, and it was rather depressing.."

me: "I loved it! I thought it was great, sad or not."

Storm Trooper: "The Deathstar plans are not in the main computer."

friend: "i dunno, it just wasn't my favorite. It could have gone in so many different directions and ended up being a much better movie."

me: "well, I loved it. I....loved....it."

Storm Trooper: "move along".

This went on until about 3:30 in the morning...
I later retreated back to my home and plugged in the first Batman movie, and slipped into a "cheesy comic/movie" coma. It was a good day..

Insomnia may be hazardous to my cat's health..

From time to time, I've had problems sleeping. Nothing horrible, I just toss and turn for a few hours. Most of the time its simply due to the fact that I have so much on my mind that I cant stem the flow of thoughts long enough to drift off.

Even though these occasional sleeping problems are not major, they are much worse now then when I was younger. *just as a side note* I should clarify that I'm not THAT old, for I just recently turned 30, but I am constantly surprised how I feel physically now, and know that it is only downhill from here....so...good times.

Anyway..
So, last night I lay there wide awake and feeling horribly jealous of my boyfriend sleeping oh-so-soundly next to me. My boyfriend is a good honest person, a hard worker, and has often stated that he has very little imagination. He has the ability to just shut every thing off mentally and completely relax. So saying he sleeps soundly is an understatement.....he sleeps like the dead. At that moment I wanted to smack him, but I resisted.

Just as I start to doze off, the cat decided to sit outside our bedroom door and meow the same tone, over, and over, and over....... if it weren't for the fact that it would have just made things worse, I would have set him on fire.... Not that I think this would have helped with the insomnia, but it definitely would have made me feel better. Again, I resisted.

This went on most of the night. Getting up to yell at him or smack him was only a temporary fix, and only made me that much more awake. But they say that pets are intuitive, and I now believe that to be true. I am still so damn sleepy, and the cat has been hiding quieter than Anne Frank today..... but I have made it a point to wake him from his catnaps every thirty minutes or so throughout the day. Just to let him know how bad it sucks for SOMEONE TO INTERRUPT YOUR SLEEP....

YES its petty, and YES its a little on the crazy cat lady side...but I don't care! Little bastard deserves his payback..

But he'll get some peace and quiet soon enough. I'm supposed to go shopping tonight with a friend. This is one of the few friends that I have that allows me to drag him all over town to shop after endless shop without complaining about it.....much. But that is usually just because we always end up at the toy store playing with all the Star Wars toys!

So hopefully I make it through this evening without falling asleep in the store and being trampled by the many, many crazed-hardcore Christmas shoppers who will inevitably be out there tonight. Wish me luck!