Wednesday, 21 September 2011

Geeks Are Cool

Yeah, you heard me. Geeks are COOL! Yes they ARE! And do you know why? Because we are ALL geeks. In our own way we are all interested in something, to a degree, in a way that could be considered geeky. Sure, I'm a geek geek. I'm geeky about computers and Star Trek and Quantum Leap and The Beatles and other geek "standards". But there are people out there who look down on me for being a "geek" and think it's a bad thing because they don't recognise that THEY too are a GEEK. They just don't realise because the things they are geeky about are considered acceptable and cool to them. Things such as shoes or X-Factor or clothes or handbags or etc. Things that to another person (me) are a waste of such intense interest.

Of course there are levels of geek. Let's take Star Trek as an example. You have your person who likes Star Trek and will watch it when flicking through the channels and come upon an episode. They are a level 1. You have me, a person who has EVERY episode and film of Star Trek (The Original Series; The Next Generation; Deep Space Nine; Voyager and Enterprise) on DVD. I am probably a level 5. Then you have the people that go to the conventions dressed as a Klingon and get married on the bridge of the Enterprise and stuff. Their level is THE FINAL FRONTIER (geek joke). Each level is cool. As being interested in and loving something is cool (as long as it's not hurtful, like poking puppies with a stick or something of course). 

My best mate, recently, spent an amount of time showing his wife engineering drawings on his phone. She in turn spent an amount of time trying not to look bored and humouring him and saying that they were very nice, when she didn't really have any idea what she was looking at. He is an engineering geek. She is a nice wife. She, in turn, is an awesome knitter. She carries her knitting wherever she goes and will quite often whip out some needles and wool to carry on with her latest creation. She is a wool geek. They are both very cool people, not despite these things, but BECAUSE of them. It is an amazing thing to find something in this world that engages and excites you to a degree that you pledge a devotion to it and want to share it with others. We all have big interests in our lives that we know lots about and spend lots of time showing an interest in. In whatever that thing may be, you are a geek. And you are very cool because of that thing. That thing helps define who you are as a person. And being defined by something you love is very cool.