Slippery slope

[hmpf]

I built my first computer today. Pretty much successfully, too. I.e. it starts up fine now, though there's still a lot of fiddling with it to be done. Technically, it's not 'my' computer, as I built it for a friend from parts cannibalised from her old computer and mine; but it's certainly the first I built on my own. (With a little help from a very

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[eyeless_angel]

Sweeeet. Once you've built, you'll never go back.

*hugs Hector, her first-built at age 30*

Oh, all of mine (except for the very first) have been built,

[hmpf]

not bought - but never by myself. I have several computer-savvy friends who get rid of 'old' parts fairly frequently, so I get those parts to upgrade my computer. It means my computer's always sort of second-rate, but it also means I get to upgrade pretty much for free if I'm patient... *g* I've done *some* of the work myself before, but never a lot - just exchanging a CD-Rom drive or some RAM and stuff like that.

I still have loads and loads to learn about the software side of things, though. Partitioning the drive, installing the system... and what exactly to do with the BIOS... (I have loads to learn about Hardware, too, obviously, but at least I know roughly how to put a machine together now.) But as my 'personal computer expert' has moved to Australia, I *have* to learn for myself now! *g*

[beccadg]

*Snickers.* Would it be bad of me to ask if you dressed up for your first con, or if "cos play" is a separate point you should have in the geek list? I know you did do the cool Zan look at some point.

For me, to the best of my memory...

- Discovered fantasy and sf at 5 (The Empire Strike Back)
- First computer at 8 (Coleco Adam)
- Fell for comics at 8 (Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld)
- Discovered fandom at 9 (Voltron Force Fan Club)
- Started roleplaying at 9 (Dungeons and Dragons)
- Went to first con at 12 (Can't remember it's name)
- Got internet access at 23 (That was relatively recent)

I haven't built a computer, and I'm not sure if I've participated in something that qualified as a fan campaign. Of course I was LARPing at 15. :D

Zhaan I did for the Farscape campaign,

[hmpf]

so it was sort of part of that. I did it to raise the visibility of the fan tables we had at various cons. I'm not really that into costuming - haven't done it again. Far too much trouble. *g*

I should probably have put things like 'joining Tolkien Society (at 24)', 'discovering computer games (around 17/18)', 'giving talks at cons (around 25)', and 'going to a filk con (around 24)' on the list, too, though. *g*

Re: Zhaan I did for the Farscape campaign,

[beccadg]

I'm not really that into costuming - haven't done it again. Far too much trouble. *g*

*Giggles.* So you've got at least one form of geekiness for which you've got a limit, costuming. ;)

I should probably have put things like 'joining Tolkien Society (at 24)'

Well, I filed joining the Voltron Force Fan Club under "Discovered Fandom." O:)

'discovering computer games (around 17/18)'

Ah! I can add Discovered Video Games to my list. We got our Coleco Vision game system before we got or Coleco Adam personal computer. :D

'giving talks at cons (around 25)', and 'going to a filk con (around 24)' on the list, too, though. *g*

I haven't gotten to a whole lot of cons so I haven't done much con stuff, though I should probably include my having volunteered at Leeds on my list as my latest first. *Considers.*

True.

[hmpf]

When fandom begins to involve nine hours of make-up and a week of festering rashes afterwards, it sort of stops being fun, even to an obsessive. ;-)

Well,

[hmpf]

alternatively, I could get rich, buy my parents a house, and move into said house's basement. And then proceed to wear only anoraks and to live on a chocolate diet, in order to get loads of pimples. That would be the only other feat of 'ultimate geekiness' I can imagine at the moment. ;-)

Or, well, I could become a computer programmer.

Or help organise a Worldcon.

Okay, I admit, there are some summits of geekiness I haven't scaled yet. *g*

(I'm sort of managing the "30-year-old virgin thing" fairly well already, though... )