Before I start, it is important to try to define the terms "Geek" and "Nerd." Some people that are probably not geeks nor nerds might try to argue that there is no difference between these two terms; those people are wrong. However, not every geek and/or nerd will agree what that difference is. Google "geek vs nerd" and be prepared to read a hundred different takes on this dichotomy. However, every geek and/or nerd I know is a fan of the following Venn diagram, so I am going to present it as gospel:
I'm going to assume that my audience, consisting almost entirely of geeks and/or nerds, knows how to read a Venn diagram; in fact, the vast majority have probably already seen this. If this is new to you, don't get distracted by the addition of "Dweeb" and "Dork" to the diagram. Although I have definitely been called a dork numerous times throughout my life, those people were just misusing the term. I don't recall ever been called a dweeb, but that wouldn't have been too inaccurate. Anyway, that Venn diagram pretty much perfectly defines "Geek" and "Nerd," so now I can move on.
I personally consider myself to be more of a geek now, but I was definitely more of a nerd in school. The "more of a" qualifier is important, because I do consider myself to be both a geek and a nerd. Depending on the situation, I may drift in and out of the "Social Ineptitude" circle.
But, wait, how can that be? Someone is either socially inept or they aren't, right? I'd argue that the degree of social ineptitude can change significantly depending on circumstance. Even the nerdiest nerd probably has nerdy friends, and when with those friends, any social awkwardness will seem less significant. Compared to many of my friends in high school, I was borderline cool, but there was no question amongst the greater population of the school that I was a fucking nerd. There's some macrocosm vs microcosm shit involved here.
In high school and much of university, I was definitely socially inept--I was a nerd of the highest order. In high school, I dressed terribly, wore huge glasses, was a teacher's pet, and spent most of my Friday and Saturday nights at home. In university, I still dressed terribly, wore the same huge glasses, was fat, treated most people as beneath me, and spent most of my Friday and Saturday nights in the Engineering computer lab to get away from the noise of partying. Good times.
At some point, I became more socially aware. Without saying too much, it definitely had something to do with a certain person coming into my life. Suddenly I was aware of how terribly I was dressing, how out of fashion my glasses were, how fat I had become, and how much I had been wasting my life by avoiding social encounters. I broke out of my nerd shell and crossed into geekdom.
I am an introvert; this will never change. When hanging out with large groups of people, I tend to blend into the background, because I am not the type of person to interject into a conversation. If I am asked a question, I will respond. In the rare event that someone says something offensive about Star Trek or The Lord of the Rings, I may jump in to tell that person that he or she is a fucking idiot. But generally I will quietly observe and listen, and only speak when spoken to. I probably come off as socially awkward in these situations. When with smaller groups of people, preferably one or two, I believe that I come off better. I hope so at least.
But, anyway, enough said about social ineptitude. There is obviously much more to being a geek and/or nerd than that. Just look at that Venn diagram: you need intelligence and obsession as well.
I won't spend much time discussing intelligence. I am typically an intelligent person, although like everyone, I have done numerous stupid things over the course of my life. Having a good memory (not nearly eidetic, though) has often helped me seem smarter than I probably am, and is certainly responsible for much of my success in school. Memory is also an important component of my geekiness, especially when it comes to remembering useless trivia or facts about my favourite TV series, movies, and books. I don't know what my IQ is--and I don't particularly care--but I am generally strong in the areas of reason, logic, and problem solving, important components of intelligence. I don't think I will get many arguments that I belong in the "Intelligence" circle.
Nor should anyone argue that I belong in the "Obsession" circle. This is the fun area. Each geek and/or nerd is obsessed about something that the majority of the population considers to be lame, often including other geeks and/or nerds. Every geek and/or nerd is intelligent and probably socially awkward, but we all have very different obsessions.
On the mildly geeky side, I have interest in the sciences and engineering. Science shouldn't be considered a geeky interest, but society doesn't always make sense. On the getting geekier side, I have hobbies like homebrewing and computers and video games. But these interests and hobbies, albeit geeky, are not really obsessions.
I am obsessed with numerous sci-fi and fantasy television shows, movies, and books. Much of my spare time is spent indulging this obsession. This is the biggest thing that makes me a huge fucking geek. I have three posts coming up soon in the About Me series that will elaborate on some of my biggest sci-fi/fantasy obsessions of all time: Browncoat and Whedonite, Trekkie/Trekker, and Xenite. All three will be fun and interesting to write, especially the last, which was arguably my biggest obsession of all time.
Except possibly for The Lord of the Rings. This topic is also deserving of its own post, but I am aware of no label for a fan of The Lord of the Rings except geek and/or nerd. So, I guess I will end this post with some LOTR geekiness.
My obsession with The Lord of the Rings started in the summer of 2001. There was a lot of excitement in geek communities about the upcoming movie adaptation from Peter Jackson, and I decided I need to re-read the books before December rolled around and The Fellowship of the Ring hit movie theaters. I had read The Lord of the Rings many years earlier, grade 7 or 8 probably, and I had liked it enough to finish it, but it was a little boring, and it was certainly no Forgotten Realms. In 2001, I found my tastes had changed, and The Lord of the Rings novels blew me away.
But not as much as the movie adaptation of The Fellowship of the Ring did. I don't think I will ever have another movie experience so completely satisfying and exhilarating. It was surprisingly faithful to the source material, easily the best fantasy movie ever made, and quite possibly the best movie ever made period. Not only did I see Fellowship numerous times in the theater--nine times, I believe--but I became obsessed with the merchandising of the LOTR movies. I signed up for the fan club magazine, purchased many toy sets, bought any magazine with a LOTR cover story, bought every book about the movies that was released, bought every DVD set released, and began what would play a huge role in my financial undoing: my United Cutlery swords and Sideshow / Weta polystone statues collections.
Collections go hand in hand with geek obsessions. I did not have any intention of starting a collection when I bought my first sword (Sting replica), but it worked so well as wall decor that I decided I needed another sword for another wall. And then another sword for another wall. And you can guess the rest.
My first polystone statue was the Gollum figurine included with the Two Towers Extended Edition DVD gift set. Unlike my sword collection, where I started early on and was able to buy each one as they were released, I now had a two-year back catalog of statues to catch up on. So I got hooked on Ebay. I didn't buy every statue, only the ones that I really liked that weren't super rare and therefore super expensive. But all the statues were pretty expensive for what they are, so I quickly found myself spending way more money than I was earning... and well, that was a different blog post.
I think I saw The Two Towers seven times in the theater. It wasn't as faithful to the source material as Fellowship, nor was it quite as good; but it was still the second best fantasy movie ever made, and featured a battle sequence to die for. And the Extended Edition on DVD rectified many of my problems with it. I can't even begin to count the number of times I have watched Fellowship and Towers on DVD.
I think I have seen The Return of the King only six times, total--four times theatrically and twice on DVD. Not because it wasn't an unbelievably satisfying ending to the trilogy, because it was (although, again, the Extended Edition is way better than what played theatrically), but because it was the ending. One of the major reasons I re-watched Fellowship and Towers multiple times was the anticipation of what was left to come. If I couldn't yet watch the rest of the story, I would re-watch what was available to watch. Finally seeing the ending was a huge release. And I didn't feel like I needed to experience that release as many times as I experienced the build-up.
Due to increasingly poor finances, I was unable to continue collecting swords and statues anyway, but with the anticipation for The Return of the King finally out of the way, my desire to collect everything LOTR was also waning. I had a huge collection already, with almost all of the important swords, and a statue of each major character.
But I have saved the best part of my The Lord of the Rings obsession for last. It is not only the geekiest thing I have ever done, it was also a swan song of sorts for this obsession. I had a LOTR-themed wedding! I didn't even have to work very hard to convince my ex-wife, as she was also a LOTR geek. I'm not going to go into every detail of what we did to make this wedding work--and it (mostly) worked wonderfully!--but we had it all: LOTR-themed costumes, music, decorations, cakes, rings, signs. One of my highlights was cutting the cake with a replica of Aragorn's Elvish hunting knife. (Another highlight was my grandpa being the first to pull said knife out of its scabbard and hold it up triumphantly for pictures. And then my brother knighting me with it. Basically, the fact that I got married with a small sword hanging from my belt was awesome!) The wedding and the three parties that followed were such a geek triumph that it's pretty hard to imagine ever having another wedding.
And that is why I feel secure calling myself a geek. And a nerd. Just more geek.
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