In the company of geeks
I’ve never been in denial about my geek status… I know I’m a level 3 dwarf.
That means that I have several geek qualities all at a mid-range level – science (biology), video games (inc. imports) and comics (non-superhero) – plus a tenancy to collect things and a thirst for trivia.
I once met a level 9 wizard – coding (hardcore), science (physics), video games (inc. home-made) and maths (for fun).
Still, I could tie my shoelaces quicker… actually, he wore Velcro (that’s what distinguishes a mere level 8 from a 9) and I still beat him. Every wizard has a weakness.
…There was a time when bumping into such individuals was a rare thing indeed, they hardly ever venture into a social setting without trepidation… but along came the internet.
At first, all you could find were geeks – they were the only people using it – but then slowly, in decreasing levels, the rest of us caught on…
And that’s how it nearly stayed, but then something interesting started happening. It turned out that the internet encouraged people to be geeks… or perhaps it brought out the latent geek within them.
It’s all that information, it lets you reach a high geek level with relative ease and it encourages virtually everyone to read more about what they are interested in.
Now, I know some of your geeky tendencies… the fact you read my comic… but I want to know more, do you own a dice with more that six sides? Do you know an unfeasible amount of trivia about a subject? I’m willing to bet you do.
Philip J Schadenfreude on 
I’m proud of my nerdhood, it has never bothered me because I know what rocks and if other people discriminate because something is considered “geeky” well that’s their loss and they are the more bland for it.
My geeky tendencies include:
I read 4 webcomics, plus have a Dilbert and Garfield emailed to me everyday.
I collect all things related to Japan.
I’m trying to learn Japanese.
I love anime and “cartoons”.
I also have a thirst for trivia.
And I read comic books.
science (Electronic Eng degree, unused. No money in it.), video games (Castle Wolfenstein up. The Apple II game) and comics (I remember Marvel’s UK editions and while in Primary school bought Action from number 1 until they merged it with Battle, the bastards!!!)
Referring back to the last comic. I’m “getting” about half your posts and am still baffled about what the vultures were eating.
My geek list
C++ coding (hardcore)
Former RPG gamer, oldskool (D&D, Rolemaster)
Attended dozens of fantasy conventions
Raised a reticulated python from 4 feet to 9 feet.
Ran largest Japanese-English video game translation site for 9 years
Major was in Japanese history (in particular comparing Feudal eras in Japanese and Western cultures)
Self-taught Japanese for 9 years.
Started and ran an internet book store for 3 years.
Cat person
Run my own forums about Japanese gaming (5 years+)
Eventually met and gamed with most of my forum members.
I typeset for a living
I teach
I’m a dad and thus, dad-geek, father-geek, etc…
What gaming translation group were you with?
I am a Disney Brat, and grew up in the park itself. Now I work there too!
I own a set of dice, including a d%, and make zombie, and both types of gamer jokes. I socialise better with RPGers though.
Cab, Dino, Frankie, Sammy, Louis, Fats, Ella and Peggy are not the names of my cats.
My rabbit is named after the death god in Watership Down.
I live in the Kingdom of Caid and I’m moving to Atlantia.
I can rattle off the proper emblazon for all the Hogwarts houses, and have made up heraldry for the Malfoys.
I nitpick costumes in films, and can usually tell you what century a given outfit is from.
I know what Rococo means.
Gaol is not a typo.
I will lecture you on albinism.
I know the difference between puce, aubergine, and maroon.
Indigo is more than a colour.
Henna does not start out as a paste, and doesn’t work with stencils.
Sea dragons exist.
I know at least five different versions of the gingerbread man story: The Wee Bannock and The Harvest Bun are my favourites.
I speak LOLcat, as well as 1337.
I can go on, but I think you get the idea.
hurrah for watership down!
I continue to read about Magic: The Gathering though I have not played it in nearly 2 years.
See previous post regarding “-tor” and “-trix” suffixes.
Everything I needed to know in life I learned from Mage: The Ascension.
I am 6′3″ and own at least quadruple my height in roleplaying games.
When reading House of Leaves, I took the time to decode the letters in the appendix.
I own a pair of Cthuhlu slippers.
Being a geek is awesome! And so is this comic.
Geek:
Calvin & Hobbes AND Complete New Yorker comic books
Have read Hitchhiker’s Guide trilogy (all five parts) into double figures
Write blogs about the influence of The Simpsons on culture
Seen all Studio Ghibli movies, even ones not directed by Miyazaki
First DVD was Akira
Download, watch and get all of Robot Chicken
However:
Go to gym semi-regularly
Play team sport
Used to be in a children’s circus
Own and wear leather
Cook
And:
Into cars
Has Geek just become a positive self-categorisation for people who want to feel unique?
You think geek is supposed to be negative? It sounds like you do, from your ‘however’ list, which I assume is your argument for how ‘normal’ you are.
How is wearing leather non-geeky, btw? SCA geeks wear leather. So do um, leather people. XD Lol. And us geeks cook and like team sports too. And cars?
Sounds like you are really insecure, imho.
yay for Douglas Adams!
he has two other books, “Dirk Gently’s detective agency” and “the long dark teatime of the soul”
he’s really not good with endings
I have his entire collection of published books in a series of .txt files and I own an old copy of Last Chance to See.
i havn’t even heard of that one, you beat me
Oh, I wasn’t competing. If I was, your body would already be cooling in a shallow grave in the country side.
/tic
I’m not really a geek.
Not sure what I would be classified as.
I guess you could call me a music geek.
I read the facts/number sections in porn mags, rather then look at the pics.
Audio engineering fascinates me.
I get XKCD and TFFU.
I’m in the 91st percentile for general knowledge, 97 for English (wtf?).
Not geeky things.
I work in mining and can tough it out with the best of them.
I have worked in construction, as a roof plumber, possibly the most dangerous occupation in Australia.
I can fire several semi-auto rifles up to 600m with high accuracy.
I have 3 gf’s.
I could go on for both, but I feel that both sides balance out.
do the girls know you’re dating multiple people at once? if they don’t that’s really a kind of nasty thing to pull…
Nah, I am very open about that issue. Something that I have never lied about. All the girls I see know about the others or atleast that there is others and atleast one of them is seeing other ppl herself.
Being honest about things like this is something I place alot of value on, I know how much it sucks to be lied to or cheated on.
I embrace my geekdom and declare myself a level 8 monk (due to being a blackbelt and a holyman.)
My list:
Science:
Chemistry (+1)
Math:
God no (-2)
Coding:
HTML (+0.5)
Javascript (+0.5)
Visual Basic (+1)
Art:
Best done in PS CS2, ranked Semi-pro, opened graphics design business at age of 13 (+2)
Can work wonders with MS Paint (-0.5)
Gaming:
You name it, I’ll play it (+2)
Except for sports games, horror survival games, or anything made by Blizzard (-1)
Internet:
Favorite blog is Gizmodo (+0.5)
Using Stumbleupon, has stumble 3500+ pages (+0.5)
Met GF through a convo about LOLCats (+0.5)
Frequent IRC (+0.5)
Am an OS whore [linux, os X, vista, I run em all] (+1)
Movies:
Have an annual LOTR day which lasts upwards of 15 hours with close friend, do nothing but eat hot wings, drink MD and watch all three LoTR’s extended editions. (+1)
Webcomics:
Read XKCD, PA, CtrlAltDel, 8BT, and explosm daily (or whenever their respective authors update) (+1)
Weaknesses:
I hate leet speak. (-0.5)
I’m an otaku with level 3 drawing.
my ambition’s to work in zoology someday, but i’m a little lost
I go to a grammar school. Does that count?
And my two greatest heroes are probably Stephen Fry and David Attenborough. I suppose that’s kind of geeky.
Oh, and I have my own photography website.
I don’t really get the point in drugs or alcohol.
I like the interwebz.
And various other things, really.
I’m not a hardcore, but I’m a bit of a fringer (that’s totally a word, in the same way that “punnery” is).
Hurrah for Stephen Fry!!!
Of course! He’s so awesome.
And looks insanely huggable.
Bachelor’s in astrophysics
I love and understand your comic and XKCD
started a blog on physics news
have my own set of purple dice
I don’t think I need to say much else :), everything else matches with those. Keep up the awesome comic/blog!
Where is this site that you are all using to obtain these ranking scores?
I wanna see what I get.
Please.
i think they’re making them up, at least i did
Damn, oh well.
A guy whose blog I read (not a friend as such; I’ve only just discovered him) wrote a blog where he claimed “My regular friends-list probably won’t get this joke, because they’re not string-theory physicists, but I like the idea of a zombie who walks around chanting, “Branes!”
So I commented, “See anything Greene?”
He did not reply.
The fact that my feelings are hurt by this means that I have trumped everyone else’s geekosity.
I don’t get it, but I am not a string theory fizzycist.
I wouldn’t worry to much, ppl of that persuasion are often un-sociable or just shy.
He probably went “Arrrrgh girl *hyperventilate* what do I do?”
Brian Greene is mildly popular, as a science writer, he’s well known. Maybe your friend just thought Greene wasn’t enough of a physicist cause he went all main stream and didn’t want to dignify it with a comment. I think Greene is great for popularizing string theory, but I have a suspicion most people haven’t read his most popular book, The Elegant Universe, all the way through. It gets a bit thick in the end.
Brian Greene was a good introduction to the theory, for me, but my favorite physicist is actually Patricia Schwartz, whose name didn’t lend itself to an instant pun.
Ah, geeks. I tend to prefer the wurd nerd myself, it’s more fun to say.
Geeky tendencies:
I have my own grammar, spelling and pronunciation rules, thus creating my own language: Maddish. hence “wurd”, i spell wo- wurds how i pronounce them, which is as though they were spelt wu-
I read *counts* 46 webcomics, many of which update daily.
I can read the archives of a webcomic creepily quickly (example-Sluggy Freelance has over ten years worth of daily comics in it’s archives, i read them entirely in about three weeks, only reading it for an hour or so a day)
I love English as a subject, and write poems
I made up an alternative to “your mom” and “your face”-”your WALK!”
I made up my own swearword that can also be a compliment-”Munflewhiptish”
I have OCD that is just minor enough to be thought odd.
I decided Rosé wine is made from gay grapes because it’s pink
I also decided global warming is not our fault (there’s a 10% chance it isn’t) and is in fact the fault of Pandamites, a termite-panda cross that burns fossil fuels when we’re not looking.
I have an obsession with stationary.
I have a superhero alterego….who is a man. Madaman, to be precise. I’m also his sidekick delboy.
I play trombone
Non geeky stuff
…..Dear lord, i’ve drawn a blank…
Most of my geeky things are only little ones, it’s not like I know how to code, or am a science geek or anything major…but i tend to class myself as a nerd, and damn proud of it!
I also decided global warming is not our fault (there’s a 10% chance it isn’t) and is in fact the fault of Pandamites, a termite-panda cross that burns fossil fuels when we’re not looking.
At last, the voice of reason (ALTVOR).
That’s some party (and by that I’m referring to the collective noun for geeks, as in D&D etc.)…
My hat is officially doffed to your geeky prowess.
Oh, i forgot some.
Geeky tendencies:
I try (and fail) at drawing two comics: 1. two cats and a squidgy thing and 2. the Potato vampires.
I play on Gaia.
My four shopping weaknesses are Clothes (proof i really am a girl! yay!) books (mainly comics) stationary (unhealthy obsession with it) and music (spend hours deciding on one CD)
I have a notebook i write quotes and words of the day in. the first entry is “whatnot” and “boobs are the opposite of genocide”
Dagnammit, i’m gonna be thinking up things for ages now…you have released my observation-of-inner-geek…thing..
Let’s see. I…
- draw a webcomic.
- program my own computer game.
- know all sorts of useless science trivia.
- love math jokes.
- collect miniatures and plastic models.
- own “Panda Z” and “Principality of Zeon” t-shirts.
- can identify a giant robot cartoon after seeing just a two second clip, which does not have to feature any robots.
- watch “Dr. Who”, “Mythbusters”, and “Rough Science” religiously.
- can write out the Necromunda weapons chart from memory.
- have an opinion about linked lists.
- married a woman who reads two fantasy novels a day and has completed every JRPG ever translated into Korean.
That’s geeky enough. Maybe not as geeky as some other people here, but overall I’m happy with my level of geekiness.
The Flowfield Unity » In the company of geeks…
A discussion about all things geeky….
Well… I have a few. not too much though. I read 3 webcomics and 3 blogs a day. I am an environmental consultant, I dont even know what that means, i dont like it so probably nothing. I do minor circuitry, but i mainly suck at that. Is sewing geeky? I sew, but i do it while drinking beer to seem more macho. Then i do some horrible animations and experimental video. Trivia… yeah, i go to the pub once a week.
sewing? that’s awesome. i need to learn how
When I started I thought it was going to be really hard. But the machine is way easier to handle than i ever thought. Start with something easy, like a pillow, go to the fabric store and pick out some cool prints, or better yet, get blank fabric for one side and stencil/silkscreen your own picture, just remember to fold in your seams, and remember to leave a hole to stuff it! Then you’ll have the chillest pillow on the whole block, you’ll even make your couch jealous.
ironically, whenever i silk screen i get paint all over my clothes
Ok, I think I am ready to admitt that I am a geek.
I bought a logitech wireless numpad on the weekend, and I was happy at work today when my supervisor asked me to enter in a few dozen pages of co-ords, cos that meant I got to seriously use it for the first time.
I am fairly sure that is disgusting.
A dedicated numpad is pretty geeky, I’ll give you that… wearing it out within a week though, that’s hardcore.
Yarr, I be not knowing my level of geekness… Here are a few of my feats and skills though:
-I play a wizard in D&D with friends.
-Im studying Computer Science (or will be as soon as I take on of those classes… so far its been the general education.)
-I customize my PSP and use homebrew on it. I dont make homebrew, though.
-Im a big fan of science fiction series like Stargate and X-files. I also really like the setting for the game series Star Ocean.
-I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy.
-I hang out at a game shop during my lunch at work.
-I read a lot of webcomics, something like six or seven. -_-;
-I listen to nerdcore music and videogame/anime OSTs.
-I am a huge anime fan. I attend conventions and buy a lot of figurines and models.
Thats all I can think of at the moment.
I had to think about that joke for a second, but I got it, haha. I dislike coding.
me and my freind are hapharderlertley wrighiting a gamers guide to life i would it fits
I have always been proud of my geekiness.
I’m not sure what level of geek I am, but I assume it’s somewhere around a level 7 half-elf mage
- Music (hardcore with proficiency in dance music),
- Science (Moderate, biology, physics, computer science),
- Video Games (minimal),
- Comic books (superhero, manga),
- Random Trivia (hardcore),
- Computers (a+, Net+)
- SciFi (Hardcore, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, Alien, Predator)
- Anime (Hardcore)
- Beer (Hardcore, homebrew)
- i used to play tabletop RPGs including D&D, and Mage
- i still use IRC
I think the only thing that’s holding back my leveling up is that, unlike many ubergeeks, I’m actually a very social person, and I lack velcro shoes.
Yeah, you can’t have it all. If geeks were supposed to venture outside they wouldn’t have invented the internet.
That said, velcro shoes will cancel that out.
I’m diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, which I think is pretty close to just being psychological terminology for “geek.” I’m not a math or science geek, though. I have a passing understanding of math and science– better than average, I think, but not enough to say I’m a geek at them. Mostly, I’m a language geek.
When I was five, I corrected my kindergarten teachers’ use of transitive verbs. (It’s “lie down” for naptime, not “lay down.” They sent a nasty letter home to my parents.) By high school I was fluent in German and Spanish, I’d written a limerick for every element on the periodic table (though most of them were awful limericks; some of those names are damn hard to rhyme!) and I had written an over-200-word rhyming poem that made absolutely no sense but read the same right-side-up and upside-down (if you wrote it in a certain font).
Just before graduating from college I had my first book published– a memoir called “Born on the Wrong Planet,” mostly about my childhood in the special ed system. Currently I’m writing a science fiction novel (if that doesn’t make me a geek, I don’t know what does) and I’m posting a regular webcomic about a college girl on the autism spectrum (with very bizarre humor… one character was conceived through artificial insemination because his parents disapprove of social interaction; another character speaks only in palindromes).
I know enough HTML to manage a website. I had to be talked out of wearing an alien costume to my high school prom. I had a serious-to-the-point-of-disturbing romantic relationship with the character of Spock from Star Trek, right up until I met my real-life husband.
When I did meet him, our first date consisted of watching an anime movie in my apartment. Our honeymoon was at DragonCon. We have matching recumbent bicycles. Our pet is a blue-fronted Amazon parrot named Rain Man.
Yes, I think I can say I am a geek.
[i]why[/i] did they talk you out of the alien costume?
that would have been awesome.
See, that’s what I thought… but my family members and teachers thought it would “ruin the experience” for other students. I asked a lot of students, and none of them said it would ruin it for them… but no one would actually go *with* me if I wore the costume, either, so I guess the critics had a point.
i suppose i’m lucky, i have the kind of friends that would join in
That looks like some top geek credentials to me…. language geek is perfectly fine. In fact any type of geekery is.
“I’d written a limerick for every element on the periodic table” – y’see, that alone bags you a position of level 4 Alchemist and bard.
I find Aspergers syndrome fascinating… from an evolutionary point of view, just like ADHD. I don’t like to hear them described as conditions, since that implies a frailty, which in my experience doesn’t exist.
A few people have commented that I have some pretty obvious autistic qualities; I’m not that great with people, I have greater emotional attachment to objects, and I really have issues with routine and change… but as you say, that’s just technical speak for geek and I have found these qualities have given me an advantage in several situations in my life…
“Our pet is a blue-fronted Amazon parrot named Rain Man”
Ha. fantastic.
Some people think Asperger’s Syndrome is humanity evolving to relate better to a technological world. There might be something in that (though AS clearly was around before computers).
Rain Man the parrot was found as a stray, running down the street in the rain, in Minnesota. My mother took him in… this was several years ago. She barely managed to live with him for all those years. He bit, screamed, could not be handled except with thick gloves, and begged to go back to his cage when taken away from it.
Then I met my husband John, and John met Rain Man. Rain Man suddenly loved someone for the first time in his life. It is unclear why John has this magical power over parrots– maybe it is because John also has Asperger’s Syndrome and parrots are rather autistic creatures, or maybe it is because John was raised in Hawaii and went to a nursery school where he was surrounded by pet birds all day. In any case, his talent has worked its wonders for many parrots besides Rain Man, and Rain Man was smitten from the beginning.
Mom let Rain Man come and live with us. Rain Man made a startling recovery. He still bites and screams, but not as much, and he also lets John pet him and kiss him and give him baths.
He says two words: “okay” and “Joey.” “Okay” is what he says when he wants something. When he lived with Mom, she trained him to say “okay” in response to the question “Do you want to go back to your cage?” and if he said it, she would let him go back. So now he thinks that saying “okay” will get him whatever he wants (his cage, a cracker, a toy, etc.) and so he says it a lot. It’s fun to ask him questions like “Can I borrow your credit card?”
“Joey” may have been his name in his previous home. He usually says it along with a lot of mumbly things that have the rhythm of words but no distinctness. He also can whistle in several different ways; he and John have a game where they whistle back and forth between two rooms and mimic each other’s whistles.
He can eat oatmeal with a spoon, too.
I was thinking about this whole aspergers/autism thing.
I thought about how I was a kid, I was either extremely weird or I had undiagnosed autism/aspergers.
Barely.
But then, at times I possibly had ADD/ADHD, so not sure what to make of that.
Possibly just the product of a different upbringing.
I had a dream vaguely about you Erika, of course it was vague, not knowing what you look like, but it was basically just about what you mention in your post.
Many people on the autism spectrum have attention span problems too. It may have to do with our tendency to get distracted by interesting objects, or sounds, or smells (autistics often have stronger senses than other people).
Bwahahaha, I am now invading your dreams. Soon I shall conquer your entire brain…
ooh! something shiny! gotta go!
Id say Erika’s geekery is nearly unmatched… Just impressive.
Hahaha. It took me a moment to realize that you had just left the apostrophe out of “I’d.” At first I thought you were saying that your “id” was trying to convince your ego and superego that my geekery was unmatched.