Geeky and Proud

So the other day my cousin comes over to work on our AC. Now, I've grown up with this cousin to the point where he's basically my little brother. So he's taking a break and we're talking in my room and he notices my Alienware laptop. He questions if I bought for gaming, to which I reply in the positive. His response was something to the effect of "You're such a geek, Ell."

At that point, I paused and looked around my room. I asked him what tipped him off. Was it the Ravenclaw banner and World of Warcraft poster hanging over my desk? Or the 40+ action figures arranged on my shelf? The Firefly DVD set on my nightstand? Or the newly purchased Avenger Lego on my dresser? Clearly it wasn't the Darth Vader Mr. Potato Head my awesome girlfriend got me for my birthday.

The point is, yes, I'm a geek. And I'm actually quite proud of it. So proud that I'm currently wearing a Gotham Rogues football shirt and watching Jeopardy. But here's the big secret.

Everyone (and I mean everyone) is a geek about something.

We just usually call it being passionate so it doesn't make us feel like losers. But in reality, it's the same thing. Now, I'm an easy target because I'm a geek about stereotypically geeky things. Superheroes, Star Wars, video games, fantasy novels, about the only thing I haven't done is tabletop gaming like Warhammer (and that's because a. that stuff's expensive and b. I don't have the patience to paint those things). But let's look at my parents. Both were sports nuts as they were growing up, and probably as far removed from the bookworm I turned out to be as one could get. But my dad is an absolute fanatic about VCU basketball.  Mom is a big fan of songbirds and gardening (she'd garden more if the deer would stop eating our flowers).

None of those is a geeky thing. But I'd contend that my beloved parents are indeed geeky about them.

I think we need a reality check here. I know geeky is in right now with "The Big Bang Theory" and whatnot, but there's still a bit of a stigma attached to those who society deems as geeks. I'm not asking for sympathy or anything, I'm just asking us to be real with ourselves. You can totally be a geek about skateboarding or knitting or bike riding or rock climbing or fantasy football or NASCAR. The fact that it's not something a normal geek is usually into does not negate the fact that you enjoy it as much as the stereotypical geek enjoys his D&D.

Let's not judge each other based on our interests. Let's instead check out the things our friends are geeky about. Obviously there's something worthwhile there, even if we don't see it ourselves.