What's so wrong with being a nerd anyway?

Hey all... you wonderfully dedicated but extremely silent and commentless readers you....

So in the past 24 hours I have done at least four really nerdy things. And sort of like how you have to divulge your darkest secrets in order to move past something disheartening, I'd like to treat this blog like a little group therapy session. Momentarily, of course, because if this ever comes up in casual conversation with me I might just destroy you publicly.

So where to begin? How about approximately 24 hours ago at 1 p.m. on a Wednesday (my day off). And what was I doing? I was playing Defense of the Ancients, aka DOTA. It's a game modification of World of Warcraft III. And I've discovered that anytime I say that, people give me the look. You know... that look you give someone who does something that completely annihilates your previous perceptions of them. Yeah. I'm that person. And every time I mention it, I find myself immediately defending myself with "but it's nothing like WoW" or "DOTA only takes, like, 30 minutes to play... so I'm not addicted or anything." No. There are no excuses for it. It is one of the nerdiest things I could play. Like dungeons and dragons or Oblivion.

Just around dinner time, my boyfriend, his father and myself started watching Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I should preface this by saying that a week ago we had watched the Fellowship of the Ring and the Two Towers back to back. It was sweet. It was only natural to finish the series. This isn't in itself that nerdy, because they are really excellent movies. But keep in mind that I've read the series. Twice. And that during the viewing lull between Two Towers and Return of the King (obviously all three parties needed to be present for the climax), I watched all the extended version bonus materials. For every... single... movie... There are six DVDs dedicated solely to that. I watched cast interviews. I watched special effects. And I now know how WETA workshop created Gollum and how they dealt with the hobbits' size. In fact, it was probably nerdy enough just to say I know what WETA workshops are.

Several hours later (midnight, to be exact), I decided it would be fun to re-read one of the Harry Potter books. I had recently seen the movie and wanted to re-familiarize myself with the material. I'm sure they left stuff out, but wasn't sure what exactly, and I want to be well prepared to amp up for the next movie. I finished like a quarter of the book in a manor of a few hours. So there's that.

Now it is a new day... it is today on our little blog entry's timetable. Not even 24 hours later, at approximately 9 a.m., I decide to watch a movie in bed. I'll give you one guess as to what it is. There's really only one book-series-gone-movie left. Yup, I watched some of Twilight. I watched Twilight in bed on my iPod because my TV was too far away to see Edward's features clearly enough omg. Because he's dreamy obviously. And he dazzles people ENUFSAID. Then it was off to work for the office luncheon, where I would wait patiently at my desk. Oh, and I forgot to mention. I have a Twilight poster staring over me at the office desk. I'm a sports writer... in a room filled with other (male) sports writers with no cubicle walls... and I have a poster of Bella and Edward, caressing ever so gently for my viewing pleasure.

So, that's me on a good day. And it really was a glorious 24 hours. The thing that tipped me off was that at approximately 3 p.m., a coworker suggested that he Facebook friend me and send me an e-invite to join his own gamer group. He plays online games as well, and had heard of the legend of my nerdyness. But that doesn't count towards my 24-hour nerdy tally because technically it was two hours outside of the window.

Then I started to wonder why it embarrasses me sometimes. I mean sure, it's silly. But I like fantasy. I do. I can't help it. My friends, family, and boyfriend all know this about me and, frankly, find it endearing and cute. I mean who knows how cute it would be if I was an addict and could talk about nothing else? Thankfully I'm a sports writer and movie buff, not to mention very interested in lots of music. So there's some depth there.

But really, there's nothing wrong with being a nerd. Nerds are smart usually, because it means they read at a young age. They probably know a thing or two about computers too, and can not only perform the basics, but can configure computer properties to fit their gaming needs. That has to come in handy sometime. And what's even more important... they have imaginations. We could always use more people like that in this world.

And who knows... maybe this will all parlay into me writing nerdy fantasy fiction one day. Maybe instead of obsessing over Potter or Twilight or LOTR (we nerds know the shorthand for things obv imo), I'll write my own. Maybe I'm the next JK Rowling/Stephenie Meyer. Here's hoping it lends itself to something helpful in the future, but for now the ride sure is fun!