Measure for Measure
Amongst my friend Doctor Doctor's LJ circle, a meme commanding a respondant to list the top five things that make one a dork. Lockholm responded admirably and also noted that geek has a more appropriate connotation. She then motioned me past the hole and the deck to the plate; so in response to lockholm's tag, I hereby offer a proclamation of and an apology (in the Classical sense) for my geekiness (not in the Classical sense).
1. This one should lift me above and beyond all other mortal geeks into the pantheon of demi-geek-god-dom: On March 25 of every year I celebrate the destruction of the One Ring by Frodo the Nine-Fingered in the cracks of Orodruin. I make foods from the Lord of the Rings (no, it's not a trilogy) and decorate my house to have rooms representing various parts of Middle Earth. I also display for perusal and consumption my copious bits of LotR memorabilia (books, maps, figurines, DVDs, and posters signed by a producer whom I flew thousands of miles to see at a special screening of LotR). It is a night of revelry and celebration of things geek (I call it "Geekfest"), as it celebrates other geeky phenomena.
2. I've read the Harry Potter series through many times (though never in the proper order, and, yes, I have kept track of the order) and actually taken notes on the books. I have compiled these notes and used them to try and determine several things about the Wizarding world (the number of students at Hogwarts, the course schedule at Hogwarts, the number of wizards and witches in Britain, a correlation between wand length and height, etc.). I have actually made computer models of these things to try and make sense of them.
3. I've been officially and publicly called a "nerd" by the creator of an internet site devoted to detailing the minutia in television shows. This "outing" was in the context of a question regarding grammar as pertaining to extra-terrestrials and sentient animals. Yes, I'm that much of a grammar maven: I think of outlandish scenarios to test obscure usage points that may contradict the greatest maven of all.
4. I am a math superhero. It's true. I became one in my sophomore year of college under the tutelage of Professor dX. I gained my powers after the massive flux of tau neutrinos from 1987A triggered my latent math powers. I never used my powers in any focused fashion until Professor dX showed me the path of my True Calling (no, not the show with Faith). Since then, I have fought those who use math for nefarious purposes and try to turn people away from its beauty.
5. In sixth grade, I didn't go outside because I was memorizing an atlas. Yes, you heard that right. I skipped what most people consider their favorite class to sit inside and pore over a 1979 National Geographic World Atlas I had found in my family's crawl space. This is a book I took to bed with me. And, yes, I did memorize all the world capitals. I also kept a map on my wall which I would update in marker as Soviet bloc states split apart. Whenever I see a map, the first thing I do is date it by seeing which countries they have on it. Is East Timor (Dili) there? Eritrea (Asmara)? Is there a Czechoslovakia (Prague) or a Czech Republic (Prague) and a Slovakia (Bratislava)? I keep up to date on tall buildings (Petrona Twin Towers recently added an antenna to one tower to regain the "Tallest Building" title).
1. This one should lift me above and beyond all other mortal geeks into the pantheon of demi-geek-god-dom: On March 25 of every year I celebrate the destruction of the One Ring by Frodo the Nine-Fingered in the cracks of Orodruin. I make foods from the Lord of the Rings (no, it's not a trilogy) and decorate my house to have rooms representing various parts of Middle Earth. I also display for perusal and consumption my copious bits of LotR memorabilia (books, maps, figurines, DVDs, and posters signed by a producer whom I flew thousands of miles to see at a special screening of LotR). It is a night of revelry and celebration of things geek (I call it "Geekfest"), as it celebrates other geeky phenomena.
2. I've read the Harry Potter series through many times (though never in the proper order, and, yes, I have kept track of the order) and actually taken notes on the books. I have compiled these notes and used them to try and determine several things about the Wizarding world (the number of students at Hogwarts, the course schedule at Hogwarts, the number of wizards and witches in Britain, a correlation between wand length and height, etc.). I have actually made computer models of these things to try and make sense of them.
3. I've been officially and publicly called a "nerd" by the creator of an internet site devoted to detailing the minutia in television shows. This "outing" was in the context of a question regarding grammar as pertaining to extra-terrestrials and sentient animals. Yes, I'm that much of a grammar maven: I think of outlandish scenarios to test obscure usage points that may contradict the greatest maven of all.
4. I am a math superhero. It's true. I became one in my sophomore year of college under the tutelage of Professor dX. I gained my powers after the massive flux of tau neutrinos from 1987A triggered my latent math powers. I never used my powers in any focused fashion until Professor dX showed me the path of my True Calling (no, not the show with Faith). Since then, I have fought those who use math for nefarious purposes and try to turn people away from its beauty.
5. In sixth grade, I didn't go outside because I was memorizing an atlas. Yes, you heard that right. I skipped what most people consider their favorite class to sit inside and pore over a 1979 National Geographic World Atlas I had found in my family's crawl space. This is a book I took to bed with me. And, yes, I did memorize all the world capitals. I also kept a map on my wall which I would update in marker as Soviet bloc states split apart. Whenever I see a map, the first thing I do is date it by seeing which countries they have on it. Is East Timor (Dili) there? Eritrea (Asmara)? Is there a Czechoslovakia (Prague) or a Czech Republic (Prague) and a Slovakia (Bratislava)? I keep up to date on tall buildings (Petrona Twin Towers recently added an antenna to one tower to regain the "Tallest Building" title).