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Location: Upstate, South Carolina, United States

I think that the Meredith Brooks' song, "Bitch," summarizes me rather nicely. Or, if you prefer, X. dell says I'm a life-smart literary scholar with a low BS tolerance...that also works!

Thursday, April 06, 2006

The Calvary

The calvary is coming, the calvary is coming!

My parents are going to stay with us over the next week and a half. They should arrive this evening after having driven up from Florida. I can't wait. Having mom and dad here means a) I can grade papers when the kids are awake because they are entertaining them; b) I don't have to run any errands because mom runs them; c) my house gets a thorough cleaning; and d) mom has dinner waiting for me when I get home from a long day at work. Letter (d) really, really makes me happy. I LOVE cooking, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays I get home so late with the kids that I never do anything more than reheat leftovers or somesuch. In retrospect, the part about me as the ex wife that my ex husband should miss the most is that I always had dinner prepared for him when he came home from work, even when we both were working full time. What a luxury!

The calvary is coming at a good time because I am sick...YET AGAIN. This is getting old.

To answer a comment NWJR made, yes I have DM'd in my life. I'm rather proud of my total geek status. There are a ton more of the male geek types, so I'm a rarity. Most of my female friends are NOT geeks in the same way I am, but they love me anyway. Thank goodness :) Most of my male friends are total geeks too, so there's never a problem. I was 13 when I started playing d&d. I've played through 1e, 2e, 3e, and 3.5e. I also have played Champions, Palladium, the Star Trek roleplaying game system, and....hmmm, what am I missing? I know there's one more. I've read fantasy and science fiction novels primarily since I was 6, although in the last few years I've not been able to read for fun as much due to work and children issues. I have a PS2 and a gamecube and play console games. I like PC games, too, and my all-time favorite was Balder's Gate. I used to read comic books like crazy until I became too broke to keep up with them. Largely, I was a Marvel girl, although I also enjoyed some independents and a few DCs that my friend Lee threw at me.

For those readers here who are wrinkling up your noses and saying, ewwwwww geek, all I have to say is: I'm sorry you haven't had as much fun in life as I have. Haha! Seriously, I started up an ALL GIRL gaming group as a teen. How rare is that? NONE of these girls were geeks like me (wait, except Lee)...they were just friends. How did I sell them on rpgs? Basically, guys like their battles in roleplaying games. Girls like their character development and social interaction. Know your audience as a DM and work with it! It's FUN! For people who already like to write fiction, the roleplaying experience is guaranteed fun as you get to LIVE your character that you create.

The best part about being a geek is the friends. I am still friends with EVERY SINGLE ONE of my closest high school buddies. Every one. They do things for me like use up their vacation time to tile my house or send me money for a washer and dryer when I move out of a disasterous marriage situation. We used to gather together and play the rpgs or go to movies every single week, at least once a week and sometimes twice a week, for my entire high school days. We weren't the popular kids, but we had each other's backs, and to this day I couldn't be more grateful for the terrific memories I have of high school. None of my fond memories of high school involved drinking or sex in unusual places (that was college...haha!), so maybe some of you are wondering how on Earth I can think it was so great. Well, just trust me...it was. I'm totally grateful for my geek memories.

I haven't been to a fantasy/sci fi convention in years, but I used to go to them all the time. I used to actually know Piers Anthony, and his daughters Penny and Cheryl are around my age, so we'd sometimes goof off together at Necronomicon (a convention that is annually held in Tampa). My hair was long like his daughters, and I often wore a Xanth shirt, so I was sometimes mistaken for one of his daughters. That was cool, too. He lived not too far from Tampa, so it was easy for him to show up to that convention. My friend Lee often accompanied me at those events. Those were the days!

Anyway, I understand that some of you guys totally don't get the geek part of me, and that's fine. All you have to get is that it's enriched my life and gifted me with some amazing friends and terrific memories. Yayness!

12 Comments:

Blogger WordWhiz said...

I was never a computer geek and most of what you said in those paragraphs sailed right over my head. I was a music nerd in school. I hung out with other music nerds, with whom I am still in contact. Of course, many of those males ended up being gay, but that's another story.

Only three more weeks!!!

3:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I was a journalism nerd - yearbook, newspaper, literary magazine whatever we could publish. =o)

I'm still trying to fight off my cold or whatever it was from when I was studying so much stats. It's getting old to me too. Alas - this is what teaching does to an overworked woman.

4:13 AM  
Blogger Kira said...

WW--Geeks are nerds with social skills. You were a geek! My first boyfriend was a music AND a fantasy/sci fi geek. I wish I could play a musical instrument, but this was not on the list of talents that I was given at birth. Oh well!

Angie--I did yearbook my freshman year, and I hated it. I hated it mostly because I'm ornery and wanted to do it all on MY terms. We had a newspaper, so I'd periodically just submit an article to them that I'd written for the heck of it. That worked. They grumbled that I should BE on the newspaper staff to write for it, but I shrugged it off. Again, I was ornery and just wanted to do things the way *I* wanted to do them. School ends for me the end of April. After a trip to Las Vegas, I'm sleeping. A lot. And then sleeping some more. I really need it.

4:53 AM  
Blogger Grant said...

If a geek is a nerd with social skills, what's a J-obsessed neo-Satanic Southern Psychopath with basically no social skills or filters whatsoever? I'm just asking for my, um, friend.

And guys do too like character development. All of my characters liked to battle with the males and sleep with all the females. So stop stereotyping me. :p

7:04 AM  
Blogger Amanda said...

I thought geeks were nerds who get laid?

7:18 AM  
Blogger NWJR said...

Have you ever read "Knights of the Dinner Table"?

7:44 AM  
Blogger April said...

I was a band and drama geek.

I have to be honest, I didn't understand 3/4 of what you were talking about. DM? rpgs? However, I do know some good role-play games......in the bedroom. =)

How exciting that your parents are coming!! The kids must be stoked. Enjoy your time. =)

9:27 AM  
Blogger X. Dell said...

We have this bug up here around NYC that makes you want to go to bed and sleep every hour on the hour. Is this similar to what you're experiencing?

I was into Traveller and Kingmaker in HS. Never liked D&D. I like the Civilization series of computer games, but that's about all.

Amanda--I think a geek is a nerd who founds multi-billion dollar corporations. The getting laid part is simply an after-effect.

10:44 AM  
Blogger NWJR said...

X--that cracks me up. It also explains why my non-multi-billion-dollar business isn't getting me ANYWHERE.

:-)

12:18 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I would KILL to have more people like you up here. The only geeks up here tend to be nerds if you know what I mean.

I was always a science geek, but then I met Sam and it was geek-love at first sight. He's a comic book, video game, Star Wars junkie, action-figure collecting geek and (sigh) it's just wonderful.

It took a little getting used to, in the redneck town I grew up in, the only geeks like you must have been closet geeks because there were none! And my life was a little less fun than it could have been.

Geek-On Sister!

7:26 PM  
Blogger Joseph H. Vilas said...

Amanda, does that mean I have to turn in my geek card? I guess the charge would be non-consortium? Man, that sucks. Now I'll have to start calling myself the Ur-Nerd instead of the Ur-Geek.

8:18 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I was a book geek...well I was a book nerd later on I cut my reading down and developed social skills...lately I've become a blog geek.

I read Batman like I was um batty.

Despite a degree in Computer Science I don't really care much the machines. The gaming bug never bit me though I've occasinally known to spend hours playing Need For Speed!

2:59 AM  

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