rant (sort of): on being a nerd.
June 29th, 2005 § 3 Comments
today i was reminded of a situation a few weeks ago at work when a group of us attended a short workshop on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. upon leaving with the group of girls in my department, they were talking about how they could barely stay awake through the workshop. i mentioned that in actuality, i thought that it was pretty interesting hearing the reasoning behind why the firm is so strict in adhering to the Act, protecting consumers, etc. and all that. one of my coworkers just looked at me and said “NERD” while the rest of them just nodded and had this look on their face like “ooooo-kay….”
i don’t know why i open my mouth.
so i’ve been thinking about this for a while now (possibly too much, but whatever), and just what constitutes being a “nerd” and i think i may have found a couple things that could possibly contribute:
– being excited about something that’s fiction-based and finding a kinship with fellow fans of whatever it might be. this could be a series of books like harry potter, the lion, witch and the wardrobe, or the like. it could also be a movie or series of, star wars being a prime example, and it could also be a television show such as lost (my personal favorite), buffy the vampire slayer, sex and the city, what have you. i should add a disclaimer that there IS a point where any of these things can take over your whole life, and that is the point where it becomes a mite unhealthy….
– being interested in learning something new, even if it’s not perceived as interesting to the general public. i’ve loved all of my previous jobs because of all of the information that i gleaned from working for a market research company for radio stations, a newspaper, an airline, a uniform company, an industrial hygiene organization, and now, a law firm. it’s the intricacies of all of these jobs and the people that i’ve met through them that were excited about their jobs that have contributed to all of the information that i carry around in my head.
what i want to know is this: when did we as a culture decide that not being excited about anything was the way to be socially acceptable to your peers? what is so inherently wrong with loving what you do, loving learning new things, and being excited about life in general? give me people who are passionate about something and know so much about it that they can talk for hours about it and let their excitement rub off on you. i would rather have this than people who think they won’t be accepted by their friends and feel like they have to downplay their emotions in order to maintain “status” of some kind.
i never want to be the person that feels like i have to dress or act a certain way to be accepted, that i have to fit into a social “norm” of some kind. if i wake up and feel like dressing like a hippie (like i did today), or if i feel like going out wearing all black and my 4” moon boots with buckles and springs in the soles, i don’t want to ever have to care what people think, and usually i don’t. i might act like a spaz at times, but it comes from a place of appreciating whatever comes down my path, and trying to live as much in the present as possible. because really, it’s the only thing you ever own. you can’t change your past, and you can make conscious decisions to try and affect your future, but you really have no way of knowing what it will bring.
so if all of these things makes me a nerd, i’ll take nerd status any day over the alternative.
further affiant sayeth naught.
*pushing glasses up bridge of nose* I don’t get it…
it would be funny if you actually wore glasses. instead of contacts, i mean…
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