Being a geeky sort of girl in a nerdy sort of industry I often question the depths of my dorkiness. For many years I have felt that I pale in comparison to the joyfully “out of the closet” sort of nerds that I work with and I worry that I cannot hold my own against the truly dorky. Thus I have become the type that semi-consciously grades all of my geeky activities to compare and contrast the level of my illness.
For example, I work in the comic book industry, that’s about ten geek points right there, however, I letter comics, that’s probably a minus seven. I do read comics (+5) but I don’t read any superhero comics (-4). I do have comic boxes in my bedroom (+4 for the boxes and +2 for the blatant lack of sexiness in bedroom décor) but they are only “short” boxes (-3). And while I don’t actually read superhero comics, I am familiar with many superheroes (+2) but I can’t always tell you their alter-egos (-5). (But I do know who Hal Jordan is (+1)).
The endless grading of my skills reaches into so many areas of my life. I do own a computer (+5) but it’s a Mac (-3). I do have my own blog (+10) on which I occasionally review the comics I read (+12) but I have only been blogging for about 6 months (-13). I read science magazines for fun (+5) but generally it’s something like Scientific American (-3). I do read a lot (+4) but I have never read a Star Trek novel, John Carter of Mars or anything by Larry Niven (-7, -4, -8). I have, however, read all of Douglas Adams Books and any Terry Pratchett novel that is in paperback (+7, +10). And I do believe that I deserve some extra points for willingly reading anything by Shakespeare (+2), John Donne (+2) and Geoffrey Chaucer (+2), it’s another kind of nerdiness but it’s nerdy all the same.
I think I lose a lot of points for not watching and version of “Stargate” or “Farscape” (-15) but I believe that I should get due credit for having a favorite Captain on Star Trek (+3 for having a favorite, + 5 for it not being Janeway). I have only seen the first four movies in the Star Wars series (+10 for having seen them, -7 for referring to them as the “first four” instead of “episodes 4, 5, 6, and 1”, +2 for knowing the importance, -2 for not caring). And I once even got a geek point for making a “bacta-tank” joke (+1) and knowing what I was talking about (+1). But I am pretty sure I lose at least a few points for thinking that ewoks are cute (-4).
I have often asserted that I am a nerd but a “nerd of a different color”. By that I only mean that my true nerdiness shines when someone starts talking about…oh, say…Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Or perhaps New Wave music of the 80’s (which I know suggests that New Wave lasted past the 80’s and that is up for debate). I probably get some geek points for liking Dr. Who (let’s say +10), for having had a favorite Doctor who was not Tom Baker (the fourth doctor) (+5), for watching almost any show that my favorite Doctor appeared on after his regeneration (+5) and for watching the most current incarnations of the show with great joy (+3) and getting hold of them in a geeky fashion (+5) BUT I guess I have to lose a few points for liking Dr. Who at all (-5), for not remembering ANYTHING about an episode after viewing it (-7), for not being upset at the departure of Christopher Eccleston (the ninth doctor) even though I thought he was an excellent Doctor (-4), for rethinking my favorite doctor when Peter Davison (the fifth doctor) voiced his displeasure with Christopher Eccleston for leaving (-3) and for disliking Daleks because they are too damn loud (-15). (But I have to admit that Jules knows and remembers far more than I do when it comes to any doctor)
It gets worse, people…I have read most of J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels (+10) but I have not seen any of the recent films based on them (-20) nor do I really want to (-5) as I didn’t really love any of the books except The Hobbit (-100). But, I did see The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (+5) and I do have theories on why it didn’t work very well (+5).
Just how nerdy am I? I’m not doing the math on this one. I think the lack of love for Tolkien kind of screws up the balance. Maybe I am being too hard on myself and I should just settle for “nerdy enough to write this all down.”
6 comments:
You need to lose more points for waiting for Pratchett in paperback... Still, you are an amazing geek!
That was great!
I get extra geek points for not only buying my geeky books in hardback, but actually ordering some of them from Amazon.Uk because they are published in England first (George R. R. Martin and Robin Hobb come to mind).
Strangely enough, though, the last two Pratchett books were published in the States two weeks before they were published in England (+10 points for even knowing that).
Your score is a -96. Whatever that means.
That's what kind of dork/geek/nerd/whatever I am. I think you should give yourself more dork points for all that Dr. Who stuff, dude!
I think even being able to summon up that many facts about the various Dr. Whos is worth a hundred or so points.
This reminds me of all of the "purity tests" that used to be popular on the early internet days (http://www.armory.com/tests/purity.html) (+10 points)
hello????
doctor who is not dorky.
anyway, its british, so it would have to be wanker points or something like that.
well, i only buy my pratchett in paperback because i am such a dork that i read it fast. and i may have ordered a few books from amazon uk, or i may have stocked up when i was in london, or i may have a british friend pick things up for me, but i'm not sayin'.
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