Your Inner Nerd Is Begging To Be Let Out

[Guest Alex2]

My hobbies are more geeky than nerdy I think but I have a ton. I am more than a little anime obsessed. I collect Manga. I write fanfiction. I am a Dungeon Master for 3.5E. I design bento boxes and blog about it. I read the same couple of fantasy/scifi series again and again. I do text-based roleplaying and am a mod on a forum for it. I also conducted an experiment on text-based roleplaying my freshman year for a class. I play Magic: the Gathering. I cosplay. It's so cool that there are other people here into a lot of the same stuff.

As for nerdy hobbies I guess I have some of those too. I've memorized parts of The Constitution. I want to try to get it completely committed to memory eventually. I've read Supreme Court decisions for fun. I'm trying to memorize Robert's Rules of Order this summer, which is essentially parliamentary procedure. I collect maps and think they're really cool, even though I suck at reading them.

[Guest Dutchie]

I'll refrain from the urge to go all philisophical about nerd-ness, but instead I'll just be sentimental.

The year is 1978, me, just a little confused and lots kid, not having much at home...

A relative of my mother had a press agency and did public relations. He was a nice married man, well in his 60's at the time, their children had left the house. He had his office at his (huge victorian decorated) home. He had adopted many modern office equimpent, amongst which was a (German build) CP/M machine. He was well-educated and highly proficient in English, I'm not sure, but I suspect he had a degree in English as his knowledge was truely amazing. Anyway, due to my interest in board games (which I collected at the time) and a problem with a translation (it was an English game, someone brought me from London), I ended up asking him for help (as I was still in primary school and wasn't taught English). I got more than I came for, he read my translation and had to laugh about most, which made me cringe, since I thought it was quite an accomplishment. He proceeded with showing me his latest find, being the computer. I was already familiar with the telex and loved to be creative with the punch-hole ribbons, trying to make a comic in telex "pixels". He showed me how to use it (mostly Wordstar) and explained to me step by step the structure of the English language. He then told me to rewrite my translation and have him correcting it. He rounded up the day with a two page "essay" on how to write English, mentioning the examples I wrote. To this day I still have his "essay" as it has been an inspiration for many years to believe in being me. He always took me for who I was (a confused and lost child), never corrected me on my (girlish) behaviour and to this day I'm very thankfull for that. In the time following that I got interested in what else could be done with this magical 'computer' and before long I was quite proficient in using his computer and not only for writing.

In the month following I begged my parents for a computer, but they refused (which was the usual case when I wanted something for myself). My father told me that if I really wanted one I could wash his car on a saturday, once a month. It didn't take me long to figure out that it would take me roughly 8 years to work up the money, so that became a more or less lost cause. I was just 12 and wasn't officially allowed to work (the law states the minimum legal age for working a few hours per week is 15 years), but nevertheless I went along the local shops to ask if I could help out and told them why. The last one I visited was willing to take me on and withing a few months I was able to buy my first own computer, a Timex ZX81. I couldn't afford the Sinclair version, but in the end it didn't matter, they were the same. By the time I finished primary school I had mastered BASIC and was very quiet about it in school, since it wasn't something common and I had already too many problems to deal with and didn't want any more attention from the bullies or otherwise.

Secondary education was basic for me, nothing high level or anything specific. I was a screw-up in the eyes of my parents, always stuck in my computer and too lazy for anything. It wasn't that I lacked the capacity for higher, it was just that my parents didn't believe I would get a grip on myself and start studying. Within the first few months for some reason it became apparent about my computer knowledge and was labelled "the professor". I suppose if the term Nerd was know in our language that would have been used. During those school years I also spend many hours in the library, reading about whatever caught my eye. (I'm still pretty much like that.) The result was that I gradually grew intellectually in unexpected ways. The school that followed was a technical one, since there were no specific schools for informatics yet, I choose electronics. After 18 months I dropped out, not being able to keep up. The reasons for that are a mix of alot of things, including identity issues (read gender issues, at the time I couldn't believe that yet). I worked, joined the navy when my time to serve was up and after 8 years started my carreer in IT.

I started as a simple on-site-support engineer at a large factory where I had to visit many offices by car. Within a year I was so proficient in everything I decided to go and work for a project based outsourcing company. A few years later I was IT manager in a medium sized company. Once I'd reached that I discovered that management isn't where my heart lies, so I quit and started to work as a systems engineer, making good money. The internet took really off and I was in computing heaven...

A few years after that I found a job at a university, as a computing manager for the supercomputer department. The job required someone at an academic level, but the emphasis was on the technical knowledge, which was tested during the interviews. I managed to get in, with my only diploma, being from high school. I loved my time there, and I really fitted in. We reached the position 27 of the top 500 of the world, how cool (and nerdy) is that... lol I left after several years due to personal reasons, I still miss the job and the academic enviroment, but life just took a different turn at the time.

Now I'm still a humble systems engineer, grateful to all the people who believed in me during all those years. After all, I didn't have anything to show for me, except for a high school diploma, but I do realise I was very lucky to be at the dawn of the computer era. If I'd been born later, my world would have been very different.

So yes, my love for everything under the bonnet (hood) of the operating systems is probably what makes me a nerd, but besides that I still love most modern gadgets and keep an interest in them. Also my love for the academic world (as much as somemight loathe it), is probably nerdy, research papers, theories, ideology, philosophy, and many other subject still draw my attention, even if I don't have enough time in a day to do it all. :-)

I do love (in my eyes) good SciFi, as well as some Fantasy. I like lots of Anime, but it never grabbed me the way it does with others. Perhaps it's because I'm mostly into the soppy romantic ones. :-) But this is only one part of me... So I guess, I should say I have lots of nerdy-ness, but am no longer a real nerd(ette).

[Guest Jackson]

Can I just be you, Pól? I want to label everything in my room in Irish.

You know, I used to just think I was a little bit of a chemistry, pharmacology, and history geek. But I see that perhaps it goes way beyond that. I was a band geek in school. I can play the piano, trombone, trumpet, sax, french horn, and lastly, bugle. I was just given an accordion and a banjo. I do have a harmonica lying around somewhere. When I grow up, I want to play blues harmonica.

I grew up watching Dr Who. I loved that show. I used to grow crystals in high school chemistry class. I got excited when I learned how red clover degrades a chemical into coumarin (which is the scent of newly mowed hay) and then dicoumarol. I know the whole history of Coumadin (warfarin) since it was developed from dicoumarol and patented by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

The ultimate: I spend my spring, summer, and fall weekends "fighting" a war that happened almost 150 years ago.

Wow. Now y'all should understand when I say that I have some of the most useless information stuck up in my head.

[Guest Pól_Eire]

@ Dutchie, what a great story! Thanks for sharing with us.

@Jackson, I can probably help you if you really want to label things in your room. I've forgotten loads since I left school since I haven't had anyone to speak with since I left, but 8 years of school in Irish ... hopefully a decent amount of it stuck. Also, accordion? ...eesh. Your neighbors must love you when you practice.

Pól

[Guest Jackson]

@Jackson, I can probably help you if you really want to label things in your room. I've forgotten loads since I left school since I haven't had anyone to speak with since I left, but 8 years of school in Irish ... hopefully a decent amount of it stuck. Also, accordion? ...eesh. Your neighbors must love you when you practice.

Pól

(evil laugh) Ha! I have no near neighbors. My nearest neighbor must be at least a half a mile from me. But I just got the accordion over the weekend. The only thing its been doing is sitting in the back seat of my pickup.

[Guest Jeannine Bean]

Alchemy and Chemistry cross paths in a lot of places, but I agree they are different. Paracelsus, in my opinion was both...

I also think that the Ether exists, Michelson and Morley were incorrect in their assumptions about the way it might interfere with light, and our scientific system is skewed now because of this. Having studied Reich a bit and spent some time with some famous orgone researchers, I've developed my own philosophy of chemistry. Chemistry tends to drive mathematicians crazy sometimes because it can be a bit qualitative.

Remember, though, the odd bacteria I mentioned growing under polarized light? I haven't the faintest clue what those were, but once we get into organisms like that, I think the possibilities for what can happen are pretty insane. Plants and animals create some rather remarkable products.. And yes, I was using an old alchemical text to create them.

Hmmmm..... maybe I should take this to the spirituality section, because now I'm curious who's tried any practical lab alchemy or any other form...

--Jeannine

[Guest Jackson]

Remember, though, the odd bacteria I mentioned growing under polarized light? I haven't the faintest clue what those were, but once we get into organisms like that, I think the possibilities for what can happen are pretty insane. Plants and animals create some rather remarkable products.. And yes, I was using an old alchemical text to create them.

Hmmmm..... maybe I should take this to the spirituality section, because now I'm curious who's tried any practical lab alchemy or any other form...

--Jeannine

Hey, Jeannine, would you PM me and give me more details about that bacteria growing under polarized light? Thank you kindly.

[Guest StrandedOutThere]

(evil laugh) Ha! I have no near neighbors. My nearest neighbor must be at least a half a mile from me. But I just got the accordion over the weekend. The only thing its been doing is sitting in the back seat of my pickup.

You have a banjo AND an accordion? OMG!!

Accordions make me think of Weird Al, who is the ultimate nerd.

[Guest Ghanima Corrino]

I have been reading the stories and backgrounds of transgendered mtf's, and wondered why I didn't feel a strong desire for high heels, makeup, and glamor.

for a long time it was a question that gave me an uncomfortable doubt about my tg status.

from the start of my memories I wanted to be pretty, and cute, but in a subdued and gentle fashion, without a lot of flair, or attention.

I was talking to a born female, when I realized........I am a geek girl.

not only that. I had experienced a condition that geek girls often feel, of being at a lower station in the hierarchy of the female world.

I felt a weight lift, and a surge of confidence in myself, and realized why one of my confidants said "you inner girl is very immature and needs to grow up"

I am happy to know that there is someone else who loves my inner self, and may also wish that I really was a girl.

I know that some geek girls are also into glamor, and that I'm using generalizations, but this is my best illustration of how I feel.

I believe this is the first time I have ever posted anything about my personal experience anywhere, I hope this assures someone else, and this expression of myself is appreciated.

"Strength and Happiness"

[Guest Neuro]

It is appreciated, Ghanima Corrino! I know exactly what you mean by being a geek of different gender.

I'm a fan of things like anime, sci-fi fantasy etc, but as a 'girl' I get lumped in as a 'fangirl.' When on the inside and the way I express myself, I am reluctantly yet proudly a 'fanboy' or 'otaku' in the worst sense of the word!! XD I wear FMA shirts and glasses and go 'MOEMOEMOEEEE' at things and collect figures of my favorite characters and realize that--

--even though it may be immature or odd, it is who I am! I am a fanboy. And you are a Geek Girl? Such a cool story~

Not every girl desires to be glamorously high-heeled, just like I as a guy don't really desire to be hairy or butch. Ohohoho. Geeks and Otaku and Nerds are a wonderful group of people, we break all the rules yes~