Life as a nerd beard is an all-around great life. I catch all the references and inside jokes, and I can walk the walk. I’m just missing the swagger, the passion. Even without having passion for the nerd culture, I have loved me some nerds. I’ve married them, birthed them and surrounded myself with them and their appreciation for beauty, strength and intelligence.
As a young adult, I was the hot girl who raised eyebrows when taken to comic book stores on dates. It was fun. I love comics. Plus, I never had to worry about roofies, because my dates were always more interested in the comics than me. I blossomed into adulthood surrounded by the birth of the internet, the anime invasion and the everlasting hope that, some blessed day, George Lucas would complete the Holy Nine.
My friends taught me how to hack into university web servers to DOS chat with people all over the world, and they let me tag along for their D&D games. I started snoring, surrounded by my friends at the altar of Lucas, twenty minutes into each Star Wars chapter. It was my safe place, so it was the perfect peaceful place to sleep. Back when nerd culture was less mainstream, I offered sincere appreciation, female giggles and strut as our nerd gang walked down the street.
I didn’t understand all of this back in the day. I just knew I didn’t deal with girl or relationship drama; I had FUN with my guy friends. They made me happy.
Eventually, I finally made it through an entire Star Wars movie, followed by the whole III-V trilogy. I spawned mini humans… and my mini humans grew into nerds, and not the floaters on top of the nerd cream. They have serious nerd knowledge. I smile and nod, throw in an appropriate reference here and there and revel in their celebration of all things nerd. My favorite nerd friends are still my favorite friends. We can still talk for hours.
My hope in writing is to share the whole culture from an outside view, to help the reader appreciate his or her fellowship or gain a deeper understanding of nerd nobility. So in the words of the great Master Fae Coven “Dammit Jim. I’m a doctor, not a…” 😉