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Geek Pride
May. 25th, 2010 12:41 pmI learned from about five sources simultaneously that today is Geek Pride Day. Now, for me this whole year has been sort of a celebration of geek pride. It's been six months that I’ve been going to cons and similar events, and trying to improve my geek credibility as well.
I can be proud of my library: two full bookcases of speculative fiction, plus another two and a half of other books, including a small collection of children's books in Latin. If that's not geeky enough, how about the database I use to manage it, which exports to Notes on my iPod? Then there's my Magic: the Gathering collection, five big binders in my bedroom closet and two paper boxes in the basement. Or the Warhammer Lizardman army. Did I mention I've never played Warhammer? I just like the lizards.
However, the geeky things I'm proudest of are my parents. They made me the geek I am today. They met because of miniature wargaming; my mom was dating one of the guys who played with my dad. They were among the earliest players of Dungeons & Dragons, and played in some of the legendary 70-player games at MIT in the mid-70s. As a kid, I couldn't wait to be old enough to join the gaming group, or to read my dad's science fiction and fantasy books. My teenage rebellion against them was to refuse to watch the Star Wars trilogy.
My mom is a self-proclaimed math geek (and professor) who delights in geeky T-shirts. My dad is the electronic archivist for HP, after having worked for Digital most of his career. He's my model for life-long learning, because he tries to be a renaissance man, knowing at least a little bit about everything. He collects BBC radio comedy. Their last two vacations were to England and to Australia, where in addition to sightseeing, they met a bunch of their Internet buddies who work with my dad on his hobby.
My Geek Pride is in my geek parents. I still hope someday to live up to their geekiness.
I can be proud of my library: two full bookcases of speculative fiction, plus another two and a half of other books, including a small collection of children's books in Latin. If that's not geeky enough, how about the database I use to manage it, which exports to Notes on my iPod? Then there's my Magic: the Gathering collection, five big binders in my bedroom closet and two paper boxes in the basement. Or the Warhammer Lizardman army. Did I mention I've never played Warhammer? I just like the lizards.
However, the geeky things I'm proudest of are my parents. They made me the geek I am today. They met because of miniature wargaming; my mom was dating one of the guys who played with my dad. They were among the earliest players of Dungeons & Dragons, and played in some of the legendary 70-player games at MIT in the mid-70s. As a kid, I couldn't wait to be old enough to join the gaming group, or to read my dad's science fiction and fantasy books. My teenage rebellion against them was to refuse to watch the Star Wars trilogy.
My mom is a self-proclaimed math geek (and professor) who delights in geeky T-shirts. My dad is the electronic archivist for HP, after having worked for Digital most of his career. He's my model for life-long learning, because he tries to be a renaissance man, knowing at least a little bit about everything. He collects BBC radio comedy. Their last two vacations were to England and to Australia, where in addition to sightseeing, they met a bunch of their Internet buddies who work with my dad on his hobby.
My Geek Pride is in my geek parents. I still hope someday to live up to their geekiness.
