Five Reasons I Love Being A Geek...

Your eyes are not deceiving you. The above picture is of a TARDIS. Not the real TARDIS, though, in my dreams...It is a cupboard made for me by my own father - this was my Christmas present from him to me. Handmade. Just for me. I'm still pinching myself because it doesn't seem real.

This is one of the numerous reasons why I love being a geek. (Not the live chicken eating geek.) And it's also one of the reasons I love my dad. And my mum, of course. They both sneaked it into my house the other night and would have gotten away with it if it hadn't be for those snooping kids...oh wait...Facebook...they would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for Facebook. Mum could not resist posting a picture on Facebook.

Let's launch into my top five reasons why I love being a geek. (In other words, why I love being me.)

5. In the words of John Green:

"…because nerds like us are allowed to be unironically enthusiastic about stuff… Nerds are allowed to love stuff, like jump-up-and-down-in-the-chair-can’t-control-yourself love it. " 

In this case nerd and geek are interchangeable. They just are. I love being enthusiastic about stuff. And my enthusiasm spills over. It shows in my work, especially when I am teaching about anything I am slightly enthusiastic about. When I was able to teach Looking For Alaska by John Green I was excited. When I watched The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug for the second time I was enthusiastic to the point of jumping out of my seat. (Great film by the way, if you haven't seen it...) In short, being enthusiastic about 'stuff' is fun.

4.

Fandoms. This is definitely a two edged sword because some fandoms can be terrifying. Just open tumblr and type in SuperWhoLock - fantastic but bloody scary at the same time. Fandoms are a way to forge instant friendships and create life long enemies. Hence the two edged sword. There is something magical about finding out that there are others out there who love diving into the world that someone else has created and just make it richer. Just tread with caution.

3. My general knowledge from being a geek has just grown exponentially. I'm not exaggerating because you have to have a broad general knowledge to keep up with allusions within nearly every graphic novel, novel or TV series. You have to research ideas to further your own understanding of the things that you love. Hell, just read Y the Last Man and see how many things you can learn about English Literature, various cultures and just basic morals etc. Basically, through embracing the geekiness in my soul I've improved my knowledge on numerous concepts and pop culture, of course.

2. Conventions - where else can you find yourself surrounded by like minded folk who are enthusiastic about stuff. I know that there are quite a few people out there who have started to complain about SDCC (San Diego Comic Con) becoming too 'mainstream' but the first time I went I thoroughly enjoyed it. I flew from New Zealand to California to attend two days of SDCC. Just two. I woke at a ridiculous time in the morning in order to get on line to get tickets. I would love to attend again this year and make it a hat trick but I'm not sure if the timing will work. (Fingers crossed)
I just love being able to look at all the stuff I love under one roof and find stuff I didn't know I loved. Hell, even the pretzel dogs were exciting.

1. I want to cheat and say everything - I love everything about being a geek but my final reason is that there are so many different mediums out there that make being a geek fun. Film, television, novels, tumblr, YouTube, graphic novels, collectables. The list goes on. There is something out there for everyone. This translates into the fact that everyone has their own little nerdy/geeky loves and we should all embrace them. (Okay, so maybe I did cheat a little on this last one. Mediums can quickly be replaced by everything...but a girl has to have some vices, right?)

So there you have it. My five reasons I love being a geek...My question for you, though, is what was the first geeky thing you remember doing? Mine was recovering after my sixth or seventh surgery and watching The Empire Strikes Back on VHS. Dad had recorded it from the telly and had cut out all the ads for me.

Peace and pancakes everyone.
x Jaime