Ain’t never heard of it? I love it. Not many people know about it? I’m gonna dig it up.
Music geek: Love finding works by long-forgotten composers or from less-studied musical eras, like the Gothic or Renaissance. Carl Michael Bellman, for instance. Most Swedes probably know who he is, but outside of Sweden he’s not too familiar. Same with Johann Helmich Roman.
Language geek: The less commonly spoken the better. I have a whole list of languages I want to study and I know where I can get the requisite books, too.
Beer geek: OK, there are a lot more of this type around now, but that’s all good! If it takes a little effort to find and buy, 9 times out of 10 it’s going to be worth it.
When I am not pretending to be a 17th century aristocrat, yes, I am a geek.
There are three subjects of conversation that are inexhaustible to me. Swordplay, old literature, and Diablo II.
Buried in my closet is a considerable stack of rpg books. I have not played in ages due more to time constraints than to inclination.
My knowledge of certain fields important to me is thorough and pedantic, thus seriously limiting my social skills. As long as I don’t talk about what I love, I don’t come off like a geek. Don’t ask me about medieval or Roman literature if you value your sanity. No, you really aren’t interested in 17th century Italian rapier technique. Even if you are, pretend you aren’t. And Christ on an Experience Shrine cross, do NOT ask me for tactical or skill point allocation suggestions if you want to play a D2 sorceress.
So I think that’s the essence of my geekdom. I am perfectly normal unless I am in my element.
I think your comment “My knowledge of certain fields important to me is thorough and pedantic, thus seriously limiting my social skills.” is the most concise non-insulting definition of a geek I’ve seen.
Ok. If 21 years of D&D, video games, starting to watch Star Trek at age 4 and being a general science-fiction fan qualify me as a geek, then I’m in.
I don’t bite the heads off live chickens, though.
Let’s see. My geek points:
D&D
Star Trek (all series)
Baldur’s Gate
Planescape: Torment
Rush fan
Painting Battletech and D&D miniatures (Car Wars too!)
Building Quake 2 levels with QuArK
Learned to program on an Atari 400 and a TRS-80
Long hair, streaked with grey
By the definition, as above:
I may be foolish, but not inept or clumsy.
I’m not that socially inept. I’m married, and I’ve been the DM for all 21 years…
Music geek: I am a big fan of almost every type of music and make an effort to listen to everything from classic rock to Greek folk to Gregorian chant to rap.
Poetry/literature geek: I love reading, but I especially love poetry.
Roleplaying geek: Self-explanatory. I’ve created my own worlds and over 100 characters.
Language geek: I want to learn French better, learn Italian, and learn Welsh and Gaelic.
I also read fantasy and sci-fi (though I haven’t been reading much lately) and I’m thinking about joining a program here at my university that is (mostly male–woo!) populated by mostly artists and computer nerds.
A geek 19 years and running! I’m an engineering major, so I got the geek career all set to go with my geek lifestyle. I don’t play D&D so much anymore, mainly because of schoolwork (engineering is fuck hard!) I read some fantasy novels (mostly Dragonlance ones, but I plan on reading LotR.) I love Star Wars, and to a lesser extent, Star Trek (though SW is better and we all know the Empire could kick the Federations ass anyday, but that’s for another thread.) I’m fairly skilled in computers. I could build my own, if I had the money to do so. I can’t program, and my web skillz (notice how I used a ‘z’ instead of an ‘s’ to appear more ‘1337’?) are severly lacking, but I am trying to learn HTML. Magic the Gathering? Been there, done that, still got a heap o’ cards to prove it.
I still contend that I am more of a nerd than a geek, though. MIT is a geek school, RPI is a nerd school. I go to RPI, therefore, I must be a nerd (unless I’m a management major (aka hockey player or one of the girls the school accepted merely because they desperately need more)) which I am neither of.
First of all, I should mention that I really don’t get to Role-Play much anymore. But I still like to read the manuals (hows that for geeky). I won’t get into my computer skills. They pay the bills.
Diogenes - I somehow knew when I started this thread that someone would come along with the definition of “geek”. Good for you. Maybe you can handle the whole Trekker/Trekkie debate. I haven’t the strength.
rjung - There’s a T-shirt? I had no idea.
From andygirl:
Who doesn’t?
From matt_mcl:
Yes. That’s why we attached the tracking collar. We’re still looking at the data on your migratory habits.
