So, what is so unspeakably nerdy about speaking at a Science Fiction convention? Science Fiction conventions can be fun.

And even if it was, why be afraid to embrace the inner nerditude?

Nerd up!

So, what is so unspeakably nerdy about speaking at a Science Fiction convention?

You… are… joking, right?

I’m a Whovian, a fan of “Doctor Who”. Apparently, that’s the nerdiest thing on the goddamn planet, and this told to me by a guy who buys multiple first issues of comics, plays vampire role-playing games and has a shit-ton of super hero action figures. I’m also a Hank Williams Jr. fan and have “Hee-Haw” on DVD. During my lifetime, I have seen Howard Zinn speak, Doc Watson pick and Ric Flair rassle, and I did all three on purpose. This blows people’s minds, apparently.

What blows my minds is getting made fun of for the above by two specific friends. One drove from Chicago to Oxford to see Blue Mountain and Wilco, and the other plays (and gets infuriated by) fantasy football. Seriously. I’m weird for digging a cheesy British science fiction show, but refering to a pro-football team wherein your only involvement is observation via mass media as “We” is cool.

Everybody’s a nerd about something, it’s just that different things are acceptable by society and pop culture as “not nerd, but cool”. And it’s not set in stone, as what was once unforgivably nerdy can become hip. Ain’t that a weird stroke? What was that “Buffy In Space” show that got all the hipsters into sci-fi for about 15 minutes a year or so back? Does it work in reverse, reckon? Will there come a day when hanging shirtless out a window and hollering “GO DAWGS!” will be seen as across-the-board hopelessly socially inept?

And you mean to tell me goddamn Goldstein ain’t got a job yet? Shit!

Speaking of our old buddy Adam, why hasn’t he posted in a while, I wonder? He hasn’t given up the battle of wingnutitude, has he?

I’m not a nerd. I just really, really miss the old Star Trek cartoons.

And when I walk into a used bookstore, I sniff the air for that intoxicating old book smell. I’ve been known to sniff books, too.

And I randomly slip Monty Python quotes into conversations, just to see if people notice.

But I’m not a nerd.

Matt- why would Jeff get a job when he has a brilliant racket of begging his readers for money? I’d do that sorta thing myself, but then again I have that… whatdyacallit?… oh yeah, dignity.

I am a nerd. And I suspect most people who read and write blogs are as well. Thoughts?

How dare you impugn my reputation with your slanderous allegations!

That’s it; I’m off to relabel my stamp collection. Has anyone got any sticky tape (one of the legs fell off my glasses)?

Brad R.,
But he’s a conservative! Aren’t they all about the Protestant work ethic and an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work and if you wanna get ahead in life you gotta workworkwork? Doesn’t he have kids? Isn’t the husband supposed to be the breadwinner? Isn’t he supposed to be the provider? Admittedly, I don’t read his blog, but does he ever bitch about “if you want to not be poor, why, just work harder and be good, and you’ll soon be like Bill Gates” or “they’re coming here taking jobs from us, sometimes at knifepoint” or “darn that dratted ol’ Welfare State making everyone live like kings on food stamps”?

Gah. That whole bit about “oh, no, I’ve got to find a new place for me and my family to live and I don’t have a job, so why aren’t those hypocritical libbies helping me out” just blew my mind. Sure, if he was on his own I’d say he’s just being a wise-ass, but for fuck’s sake…man’s got kids, right?

I’ll shut up about it, sorry. Still, is there any reason to respond to any of Goldstein’s mewlings with anything other than, “Jackass, you got a jobby job yet?”

You… are… joking, right?

Not really. Why is going to a Science Fiction convention nerdy? Or, lets put it this way, why do we give a shit what’s ‘nerdy’ anymore?

Like Matt T.’s saying- who decided basketball was cool but Dr. Who was nerdy?

We are all Nerds Now!
———————————–
Well, this post does raise the question of if we are nerds or geeks? And what exactly is the difference?

I

I am a nerd. And I suspect most people who read and write blogs are as well. Thoughts?

It’s true. That’s why I never, ever read or comment on blogs.

I have a pair of glasses badly scratched from a microscope lens.

They were scratched because I looked up too quickly; the theme from Speed Racer emanating from the television caught my attention.

Do I qualify?

Most people are geeky about SOMETHING, it’s just that some get away with it by being geeky about cool things like cars or music.

This reminded me of an old favorite, in case anyone in the universe has not seen this chart yet.

“What was that “Buffy In Spaceâ€? show that got all the hipsters into sci-fi for about 15 minutes a year or so back? ”

Do you mean Firefly? I didn’t realise it was a hipsters show. All the people I know who love it love sci-fi. Then again most of the people I know love sci-fi. In case you hadn’t noticed I’m a nerd. Or at least a geek.

World Science Fiction Convention

Damn, that makes ComiCon sound like a Hell’s Angles orgy.

Do I qualify?

Doc, I think that might qualifiy you for the ‘Nerd’ stamp on your driver’s license.

I am not only a nerd, I am several different kinds of nerd. For starters, I’m a record geek. That guy at the party talking about late-period Byrds records? That’s me. You want to know the difference between Black Metal and Death Metal? I can tell you. My 17th favorite record last year was a record called “Lonely People Of The World, Unite!” by a Chicago-based singer-songwriter named Devin Davis. I know it was my 17th favorite record because I make top 20 lists of my favorite records every year.

I also make music, so I’m a complete gear nerd. Me and my nerdy friends will talk for hours about old mic preamps and mixers. My particular fetish is for old analog synthesizers. Nothing will clear every female from the room faster than talking about vintage microphones and the Glyn Johns drum miking technique.

I’m also a baseball fanatic, a stathead. I’ve read probably every book Bill James has ever written. When I’m not laughing my ass off at the latest Pastor Swank column, I’m posting on other nerdy baseball sites about things like K/9 rates and DIPS theory.

My girlfriend is also a nerd. A gorgeous, six-foot tall, blonde, 27-year old nerd. Luckily for me, she’s into nerds.

I’m fat, I wear glasses, and I run a website on medieval Celtic literature. I spend most of my time learning dead languages. But at least I don’t speak Quenya.

I’m partial to Sindarin. It’s based on Welsh.

Heh. Indeed.

This reminded me of an old favorite, in case anyone in the universe has not seen this chart yet.

Never seen that! That’s hilarious! I love how the furries are the sine qua non of Geekiness!

Some of that furry stuff is pretty sexy, IMHO.

Everybod get your nerd on
Everybody get your m_therf_cking nerd on…what?

oh, sheesh, now I have to whip out my celtish nerditude, too, don’t I?

I once named a stray cat after the name of a cat in a medieval poem glossed in the margin of a copy of The Book of Kells.

And I am so glad I’m mostly anonymous here, because I’d never be able to show my face in public again.

but wait. you said you had a job.
also that you’re between jobs.
which is it, then, eh?
you can’t pull *my* wool over the ice!

Us, at Lebowski Fest a couple of years ago, near the front of the line: Hmm, guess we’re really early.

Him, at the very front of the line: This reminds me of the Sifl and Ollie convention I was at a few years back.

Us: feeling better about our degree of nerditude, which is still generous.

the name of a cat in a medieval poem glossed in the margin of a copy of The Book of Kells.

Pangur Ban–if that’s what you’re referencing, I don’t acutally know–wasn’t in the Book of Kells. It’s from a MS Codex Sancti Pauli. You can see it here.

Unless there’s a poem I don’t know about in the margins of Kells; they have a lot of other texts besides the Gospels–I know there are land tracts, things like that.

The last two time’s i’ve been to the city for fun have involved the Museum of Science. I do historic research and chemistry for a living. I think making pluto not a planet is stupid. I listen to Jethro Tull.

I’ve never been to an SF convention, but I went with Poppy Z. Brite to three different Horror conventions.

Does that make me a nerd? I was accompanying actual Nerd Talent. Surely that’s got to count for something.

Or does that just make me a Nerd Ligger?

Matt T, you’re in my town.

Have we met?

I listen to Jethro Tull.

Oh yeah? Well I listen to the Fairport Convention! On purpose!

/gonna go get me some more John Barleycorn… er, beer.

but wait. you said you had a job.
also that you’re between jobs.

I had a job most of the summer.

Then I found another job.

Now I’m in between the first job and the second job.

TRex,
Might, for it is indeed a small town. It is entirely possible I was stoned at the time, though.

What I love about the chart DexX linked is how all the genre writers hover above the communities that they create with their fiction. The more accomplished pulp writers would put out science fiction no fantasy reader would touch, and would write fantasy no science fiction reader would go near.

You could make a similar chart for mystery readers and romance readers as well.

I’m a trivia nerd. I also love comics, video games, & horror movies. When I’m not in front of a computer I spend most of my time in the library, bookstore, or video store. Thank God I married another nerd. The only fights we ever have are over our shared WoW account.

Fairport Convention! -slaps forehead-

I said I was a nerd, not a dork! 😉

completely ruined by that stüüpid icon.

I am not only a nerd, I am several different kinds of nerd.
My girlfriend is also a nerd. A gorgeous, six-foot tall, blonde, 27-year old nerd. Luckily for me, she’s into nerds.

Okay, since we’re coming clean, I’ve got most of the basic nerd-dom traits: Monty Python, music fanatic, computer geekery, sci fi…..

But I also build sci fi models. which, I believe, qualifies me as full blown Geek.

I spend much time on another board, arguing about inconsequential details of imaginary spaceships.

Geek.

completely ruined by that stüüpid icon.

Well, at least I don’t have any Amon Düül records lying around. 😛

I am not only a nerd, I am several different kinds of nerd.
My girlfriend is also a nerd. A gorgeous, six-foot tall, blonde, 27-year old nerd. Luckily for me, she’s into nerds.

What’s your secret?!?!?!?one???

I said I was a nerd, not a dork!

Whassamatter- ya don’t like Fairport Convention? They’re interesting, I can get into them.

Like Matt T.’s saying- who decided basketball was cool but Dr. Who was nerdy?

The basketball players, who have no trouble beating the Whovians up. Even the basketball *fans* can usually win a fistfight, if only because so many Whovians are pacifists.

I mostly enjoy making fun of people, and geekdom is full of people who deeply deserve to be made fun of. Of course, at one time I wore my hand-made Shanna the She-Devil costume in public, but thank Murphy that was many years before the toobz of these internets made it possible for strangers on the other side of the world to enjoy a misguided teenager’s “creativity”.

And those of you who haven’t read Del Rey’s manga GENSHIKEN, you should look for it next time you’re hanging around the local Borders trying not to get ejected for pedophila since most of your purchases are from the YA aisles. Just because DH & I honeymooned at the last Anaheim Worldcon doesn’t mean I can’t identify with Kasukabe.

Social life? When was the last time you attended a local Drinking Liberally? There really is no social life outside of that!

“Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter!”
[pinch!]

My current pseudonym is derived from the language in which I program…

Any more questions?

(Truth be told, I prefer to think of myself as a geek rather than a nerd – but my understanding is that’s largely an East/West split – MIT hacker culture v. Stanford, Berkeley & CalTech. Sorta like the East/West hip-hop schism, only with more scientific calculators and fewer drive-by shootings.)

Even the basketball *fans* can usually win a fistfight, if only because so many Whovians are pacifists.

That, and the damn scarves get in the way…

I’m a high-level dork who can’t seem to break into nerdiness. It’s sad; I try. Really. It’s not working.

Anyway, UFO and cryptozoology convention attendance is way nerdier than science fiction.

True UFO researchers don’t go to conventions, because that’s where NSA assembles its databases

. Except, given past performance, that really is how NSA puts together databases. Convention membership logs, and the everyone who’s ever posted to LGF under a pseudonym.

stigmas left over from our developing years, mainly the high-school days when the need for social hiearchy developed criteria by which others could be considered lesser…. once you can get past THAT bullshit, maybe judging people as people becomes possible.

except furries. those people are FUCKED UP……

Mary Jones pwn3s the nerdy!!1!!!!!11!!!!!!!!!

Goddamnit, you kids these days don’t know your goddamned asses from your goddamned elbows.

In my day, a nerd and a geek and a dork were all exactly the same damned thing, and nobody had any goddamned trouble distinguishing them from normal people.

Sports was not, in any way, shape, or form, nerdy. Sure, there were stat-heads, they were people who respectably added a bit of erudition to their sports-fandom. And there were guys who liked to paint their stomachs purple and drink beer out of complicated hats while watching games, but those guys were die-hard fans, not goddamned nerds.

Collecting records was not nerdy. Nerds didn’t go into decent record stores. They went to chain stores to buy their records, and they only listened to novelty songs, and maybe some Bach or Rush. There was a special radio show just for nerds, and it was pretty handy, because if there was a blackout and you were unable to identify a nerd immediately by his clothing and acne, he’d tip you off within five minutes by uttering the words “Doctor Demento.”

There were no girl nerds. Girls were either popular or ugly. Nerds were all male.

I don’t know where you damned kids get the notion that any old eccentric or enthusiast can be called a nerd. The word used to mean something, goddamn it. It meant someone thought science was cool, instead of being just, you know, science. It meant someone thought sports was stupid. It meant someone thought taking care in selecting one’s clothes, and possibly laying out some serious cash on them, was stupid. It meant someone thought small talk and dancing and going on dates and having a hair-style were all stupid. It meant, in short that someone was, in all things social (sports, dancing, drinking, flirting) rather than empirical or material (science, rocks, yo-yo tricks, math, riding a goddamned unicycle), profoundly stupid.

I don’t know how you damned kids lost sight of this. It wasn’t very complicated. Then again, beating the japs and the krauts wasn’t complicated, either, and you worthless little punks wouldn’t be able to starve them out of Death Valley if they parachuted in tomorrow morning.

Now get off my goddamned lawn.

Hmmm, let’s see: amatuer writer of historical fiction (Iron Age Celtic); partner is a Celtic scholar; he speaks Cornish, I speak a smattering of Welsh; HUGE fan of the following: Monty Python, Dr. Who, MST3K; read Fortean Times religiously….and I understand everything Mary Jones said above.

Aw hell, BUSTED!!!11eleven!

I went to see the French version of Monty Python, my blog has the Evil Monkey from Family Guy, I’ve bought Neil Gaiman a drink at a bar, I have a signed Bluntman and Chronic comic book, and worst of all:

I have ‘pi over 2’ tattooed on my calf.

http://primatejournal.blogspot.com/2006/04/me-mods-my-amsterdam-tattoo.html

Actually, the NSA assembles its databases from conspiracy conventions. I keep trying to convince them it’s a bad idea for us all to be in one big room that we’ve announced ahead of time. I’m always dismissed as “paranoid”.

I don’t get some people. I really don’t.

” I’ve bought Neil Gaiman a drink at a bar,”

I hate/love/lust/want your babies (and I’m a guy)

*ahem*

I spent a total of 17 years in various forms of marching band/drum corps/color guard

I have an unhealthy interest in Gustav Holst and Percy Grainger

I collect brass bands (and I’m from New Jersey)

I buy every new Discworld book in hardback

i still have fond memories of D&D games on friday nights when i was in high school, and when that bored us we’d have Archon tournaments on the host’s Commodore 64

my yearly birthday present from my dad is a series of 8 NY Philharmonic and 4 Mostly Mozart concerts

i DVR every monty python, blackadder, vicar of dibley, young ones, and eastenders episode that shows up

i want to take drugs with grant morrison, buy garth ennis a beer, get snarled at by warren ellis, and have alan moore read my aura

how’m i doing so far?

I have nerd tendencies, but I am too much of a slacker to fully commit to it. I have a job as a software tester, but it was more of a fall into it thing than a computer science degree thing.

Blogging is definitely nerdy. But not attending-conferences-level nerdy.

I would like to offer this piece of advice to the more hard-core male nerds out there: Belts. You should wear a belt if you are tucking your shirt in. If you are thinking there is a right time or a wrong time to wear one, just go ahead and put one on. You look silly without one. You’re welcome.

Well…

I do have a job as an accountant. I collect trading card games and was just having a conversation with my wife last night about how the new movie, The Covenant, is probably based on the Mage: The Ascension role-playing game. I have every Final Fantasy game you can play on the PS2, including the retarded Charlie’s Angels one.

M. Sphinx: I’m insanely jealous, as Gaiman is my favorite author!

Jeez, you guys. Before long you’re going to start claiming to be the folks in Jackie Mackie Parsley Passy’s Norwescon 2005 pictures….

(First three or four Fairport Convention LPs were okay, btw. You can own up to those and still meet girls.)

When Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out I sat through it twice. So, I guess, I’m in. Go team!

Okay, I’m gonna give this a go. I’m afraid I’ll fall a bit short, but maybe I’ll get points for trying.
I’ve watched Star Trek. (Patrick Stewart is hot)
I’ve watched Monty Python.
I like classical music.
I read books… lots of them, but no sci-fi or fantasy.
I’ve got a sister who plays World of Warcraft.
I think Welsh sounds interesting.
I — um…. I got nuthin’.

On the other hand, I’ve never hung “shirtless out a window …hollering ‘GO DAWGS!'”

Matt T., Dr. Who is nerdy. Doc Watson is as fucking hip as it gets, though.

I suppose I am a nerd. I not only play video games, computer games, board games and role playing games, I also LARP. And use “LARP” as a verb.

Yeah, I said it, I am a LARPer.

By the way:

I listen to Jethro Tull.

This only counts if you listen the Songs From The Wood, the nerdiest Tull album ever (and of course, one of my favorites).

Chessplayer who actually earned money at it one year.
Still own my lone Golden Key Magnus: Robot Fighter comic.
Gone through multiple copies of every book in both Thomas Covenant trilogies.
Play both Everquest and City of Heroes.
Keep my folder of M:tG and Star Wars (Decipher) rares on the shelf next to my Mage Knight set.
My iTunes says I have 1278 items, 3.3 days, 4.50 GB sitting here….with about another 100 CD’s to throw in.
The kicker? I have both Tortelvis’s AND Ed Zeppelin’s autographs.

Yep, I was nerdy when nerdy wasn’t cool.

Numismatics, anyone? Hello? Nobody else here has/had a coin collection?

I was actually quite pleased yesterday because I got a 1936 “Mercury” silver dime in my change at the mall yesterday. I’ve never gotten one of those in circulation before! I usually only get wheat pennies, and once or twice a buffalo nickel. And did you know that pennies used to be larger than quarters? Really! Look at this 1838… hey! Wake up! I’m talking to you!!

Are there nerdy drugs and cool drugs? Is LSD cool or nerdy? How about reefer? And what the fuck is a furrie?

First off, the World Science Fiction Convention is the epitome of the sf geek hierarchy. That’s where they award the Hugo, for Asimov’s sake!
🙂

Secondly, anyone remember this? http://www.geekcode.com/geek.html

I’m a multi-disciplinary geek as well, from music (Bach to Muse), sf and fantasy, manga, video games, D&D, history, philosophy, tech, comics, etc.–what else could I be but a librarian? 😉 And Dan S–recovering LARPer here.

It’s true that sports fanatics get more respect, but give it a decade or two, once society realizes that sf shows and video games can bring in the money too. Although part of the problem might be that the rules and concepts of say, collectible card-gaming or the intracacies of the Doctor Who canon are extremely complex. Maybe after a few more years of complex, intricately-plotted TV shows, the mainstream will be more open to geekery.

Actually, I prefer the Japanese term “otaku”. Although in North America the anime/manga fans have appropriated it for their own fandom (equiv. to “Trekker” or “X-Phile”), it can refer to anyone with an obsessive hobby. It looks like “geek” might be filling a similar niche in English.

Songs From The Wood is nerdier than A Passion Play?

Wow, you people stayed up all night bonding over nerdiness? That’s sure proof of something. Possibly nerdhood, possibly geekitude.

Now cut this out, or I’ll be forced to pull out my Dork Defcon 3 card. It’s my only real nerd credential, but it is a whopper, and I like to save it for special occasions. You know, when everyone’s really drunk and won’t remember it later.

MCH, I remember hitting a fast food drive-thru one morning and getting back in change a buffalo nickel, a couple of wheat pennies, and a mercury dime, among other much more recent coins. Chances are excellent that these were either stolen by someone who didn’t know or care what he had, or spent by some kid who got a collection as a gift and decided he was more hungry than intelligent.

Nerd Cred: Star Trek fan, Monty Python devotee, way amateur sci-fi/fantasy artist (had art in the 1998 WorldCon in Baltimore), current City of Heroes/Villians gamer, and that’s just the start…

I play video games. I watch anime. I attend Otakon in Baltimore every year. Hell, I have been known to play Japanese-only video games based on anime, which I purchased at Otakon. I’m also one of the people who’s unreasonably jealous of the guy who bought Neil Gaiman a drink. I’d say that qualifies me.

I’m also a big fan of (American) football and baseball, but it’s probably no coincidence that my favorite sports resource is Football Outsiders, which is host to by far the nerdiest and most math-based discussions about 300-pound men hitting each other that you will ever see.

And what the fuck is a furrie?
You don’t want to know. I wish I didn’t know.

I play pc and playstation games. II blog squid and geology. I have met Terry Pratchett and had a conversation with him about Justice Cockecarrot and the 12 red-bearded dwarves.We have thousands of SF books and even more comics in our household.

Cut me in half and I have ‘nerd’ written right through me like a stick of rock.

Okay, in addition to the furries, what is LARP? Cronically un-nerdy of me, but I don’t know, and I’m trying to keep up here.

LARP = Live Action Role Playing.

A bunch of people go camping dressed as elves and wack each other with foam swords for a weekend.

what is LARP?

Live-Action-Role-Playing. Which is still better than Cosplay, which is like theater for people who can’t act. Yeah, I said it. I’d rather LARP than Cosplay. I’d rather play Evercrack and EvercrackII (my highest is a lvl 45 half elf wizard) than LARP. And I’d rather go hang out with other Druids than any of those things.

Crap. I’m trying to think of something I do that isn’t nerdy.

Um.

You know, I do have sex regularly. And I’m getting married. To a guy who has Rush records and is a DM.

I fear for our children.

A bunch of people go camping dressed as elves and wack each other with foam swords for a weekend.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on there, bucko! There are several varieties of LARPs — one-shot, single-evening games (the nerdy answer to “Host A Murder Mystery” parties); two- or three-day events, usually run at sf or comics conventions; and ongoing (often vampire-focused) games. I’ve been involved with all three, mostly as a player, occasionally as a writer/judge, over the course of years, and I have never (a) dressed as an elf or (b) whacked anyone with a foam sword. Not to say that doesn’t happen — and there are some very funny videos out there in the Intertubes to prove it does — but for some of us, it’s just a social event with some theater thrown in.

Now, the Society for Creative Anachronism — those people are whacko.

I’m with Gramps, but for one gender-based caveat. I agree there are no koolkids in nerdtown, that the genuine thing has to be founded on social isolation. But in my life the boy nerds I’ve known were the ones who rejected society with a scathing self-confidence that’s truly great, but for girls I’ve known, self included, it was a much more painful development; nerdy collections and obscure but fully realized fixations came after the banishment. I don’t know if this is of interest to anyone but me, but hey.

Actually, the NSA assembles its databases from conspiracy conventions. I keep trying to convince them it’s a bad idea for us all to be in one big room that we’ve announced ahead of time. I’m always dismissed as “paranoid�.

I thought the NSA ran the conspiracy conventions, using the membership lists it ‘acquires’ at UFO conventions.

/snark. On the other hand, if the NSA has infiltrated the Geek Cons, it would explain why it thinks the ‘Day Late and Several Million Dollars Short’ management manual is appropriate for general use. (Yeah, I know, the problem with volunteer labor is that it’s worth what you paid for it.)

flawdplan:

Nerds do not reject society. They fail to comprehend it, and society consequently rejects them. That “scathing self-confidence” you speak of is nothing but goddamned sour grapes, and the subsequent furious stoking of wounded ego.

As to the rest of your caveat, I think you missed the part where I mentioned that there weren’t any girl nerds back in my day. There were definitely girls way out at the far reaches of not-popular, and how they got there (apart from being ugly) and what they did with themselves afterward is perhaps a worthwhile avenue of academic inquiry, but they were never nerds. “Bookworms” or “Tomboys,” maybe, but not nerds.

You see, “nerdland,” as you call it, had a deep hatred of girls back then, and I gather it still does nowadays, though it’s been watered down, of course, like everything else, and the girls kicking sand on the nerds these days seem to prefer to call it “misogyny,” for some goddamned reason.

Re Whovians: “That, and the damn scarves get in the way…”

milk. out. my. nose.

My best friend in high school had the scarf. Homemade, too.

Also, Dan Someone. Let me bring YOU songs from the wood. To make you feel much better than you could know. Dust you down from tip to toe. Show you how the garden grows. Hold you steady as you go. Etc Etc Etc.

I love you people.

Count me in as one of the jealous-of-M.Sphinx crowd. Oi, how’d you swing that?

As for my nerdy/geeky/whatever-y cred… I play FFXII and WoW (and have tried Martial Heroes [a.k.a. d.o. online], EverQuest, Maple Story, Ragnarok Online, and Dark Age Of Camelot); I’m looking forward to getting a new computer/rebuilding an old one so’s I can play Neverwinter Nights 2, Battlefield 4121, Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and (best of all) Rise Of Nations: Rise of Legends; have developed my own universe/storyline(s) for on-line text-based free-form role-playing games (some of which continue to persist today); host my own rather random blog on my own domain; can tell you the difference between Lolita, Gothic, and Loli-Goth styles in Japanese fashion (and why “Loli” does not carry the icky overtones in Japan that it does here); discuss other aspects of Japanese culture, most of them pop-culture related but I do know a bit about the history as well; keep a running spreadsheet of all of the manga titles I own, charting the number of titles, series, whether I want to continue collecting the series, and how much I’ve spent (plus tax); write and read fanfic for various sci-fi/anime fandoms and one non-sci-fi fandom (though not as often as I once did); went to SakuraCon this year and plan to go next year (planning on at least one day in costume*); own doujinshi in the original Japanese; do think that subtitled anime is superior to dubbed, but recognize that for some people, dubbing is the best way for them to enjoy anime; like tinkering with the innards of computers (I can make patch cables -and- crossover cables… Usually I make the latter only by accident, though.); am an avid reader of Makeblog and have aspirations of actually turning the odd leftover/no longer working bits and bobs in my house into something useful… And I like to knit, but as a 20-something young woman, I think that actually qualifies as ‘cool’ (not that I picked up knitting because it was ‘cool’, but because it’s warm).

* And after seeing a number of people in sadly inappropriate costumes, I have vowed that I will only dress up as some-one/-thing that is suited to my current build and cosmetic limitations. I’m kind of partial to Riza Hawkeye from Fullmetal Alchemist, at the moment.

I love you people.

Count me in as one of the jealous-of-M.Sphinx crowd. Oi, how’d you swing that?

Hey! I might have an in! My daughter refered to an RPG (see, I’m getting the lingo) at dinner tonight and I see it mentioned here. Evercrack. Which she informed me is actually called EverQuest but is as addictive as crack. (She is only speculating on the addictiveness of crack, I assure you.)
I am one of those girls way out at the far reaches of not-popular that grampaw refered to and I’d really like to fit in somewhere.

p.s. I’m not ugly, as grampaw implied.

Hee hee, this is funny. But then, y’all are always funny. Um, nerd credentials, let’s see…

I collect books. Actual, printed on paper books.

While I do not belong to the SCA, I have several friends who do, and I have attended medieval feasts, as well as tournaments. I think they’re nuts, but they’re my friends. And the food is good.

Another friend went to a WorldCon where she met Stephen King. She was wearing a cave-girl costume at the time (I can’t remember why). He complimented her on her costume, he said the fur bikini underneath really made it work. She wasn’t wearing anything under the cave-girl costume.

I once belonged to about 5 different VRML communities, some as an admin. I made my own avatars. It doesn’t get much nerdier than that.

The only social life I currently have is political organizing.

I have no life. I think it’s because I’m a nerd.

re: the homemade scarf. Yeah – I didn’t have one, but one of my good friends in high school did. I will, however, take advantage of my pseudonymity to confess to seeing the BBC’s traveling Dr. Who exhibit in, oh, 1984 or thereabouts.

And with that, I’m feeling compelled to add:

Join the chorus if you can; it’ll make of you an honest man…

I may have to go put on a CD to get that out of my head. I know! Some Blue Oyster Cult!

Standing on the edge of time/ Where the winds of limbo roar

Ahem. Or perhaps not…

Um, what, exactly, would be so difficult about buying Neil Gaiman a drink at a convention? Having been a guest at several Chicago Comicons in the early ’90s (small press–Hi, Auntie Em!), and thus having observed these things up close, it’s really pretty simple:

1.) Hang out in the hotel bar at which the convention is being held, or is the “official” hotel of the convention. Drink, to gather your nerve. But, not too much.
2.) It helps if you know what some of the big-name pros look like, and don’t forget to take into account shitty bar lighting. Also, remember that if you call Joe Blow “Mr. Gaiman,” and offer to buy him a drink, if he’s a convention attendee, he’ll think you’re a dork and take advantage of your mistaken adulation. Maker’s Mark all around! If he’s not a convention attendee, he’ll think you’re a fag hitting on him. Fisticuffs could result… unless, of course, he’s “Mr. Gay man,” and thinks you’re cute enough to eat! So, after a few drinks, it’s off to his room. Sure, he’ll sign those Sandman comics you brought!
3.) Now, every comics pro doesn’t drink heavily… oh, who the fuck am I fooling. 97% of ’em do. So, when you spot a fave, if he or she appears to be approachable (i.e., not in deep discussion with their publisher or in an obviously foul mood), walk up, introduce yourself (try not to drool–remember, I’ve seen this in action, no, not to me), and ask if you might buy them a drink. Some will turn you down, but most will be happy to waste your money. Don’t expect that you’ll be invited to spend a lot of quality time with the celeb comics person–they’ve just spent hours answering dumb questions and hearing how wonderful they are. It’s tiring. Be gracious, and get by with a “Hello,” and buying the drink. It’s probably not even the best time to beg an autograph–there are usually scheduled times for that sort of thing, and the poor bastard is in the bar trying to relax, so don’t fuck it up for him.
4.) Mission Accomplished!

Oh, forgot to mention in the above–at one of the cons I was at, several of my cronies and I, as well as some guys from Overstreet, were hanging at the bar swilling, when a Big Name comics pro everyone was in awe of came in and one of the guys wanted to… buy him a drink (I ‘m kinda hazy on who it was-mighta been Frank Miller). And, it went pretty much like the 4-step process I outlined above. Easy peasy.

Firstly, I apologize for the wierd pseudo-double post; my first one got caught in the spam filter and I forgot that it would eventually go through.

Secondly, since I A) am wierd and B) don’t know Mr. Gaiman (not having been introduced or anything), I feel strange calling him ‘Neil’, even in print. (Yes, I know. See A.)

Is that dude smoking Newports?

Actually, he doesn’t look so nerdy to me. He looks like he has a collection of body parts in his freezer.

Maybe that’s just me.

Grampaw said: There were definitely girls way out at the far reaches of not-popular, and how they got there (apart from being ugly)…

Grampaw: I’ll have you know I’m neither unpopular nor ugly, and never have been. A girl can play Munchkin and wear high heels and makeup you know.

You obviously don’t meet enough geeky women, yet there’s plenty of us.
Perhaps you’re just too ncredibly unattractive and dull?

(Re cons: I can remember gazing adoringly at China Mieville 4 feet away and being too bashful to speak. It’s not just guys who get nerdcrushes.)

Um, what, exactly, would be so difficult about buying Neil Gaiman a drink at a convention?

The fact that I wanted to, I suppose.

This is an interesting site. Too bad it seems to be abandoned more or less…….And yes, after the revelation of the NSA’s central Evesdropping facility in Utah’s Mormon Country being built. I do believe the NSA does indeed penetrate Geek, Pop Culture, Trekkie, Sci-Fi, Comic, and Anime Cons.