Geeking Out

My friend posted this picture today on Facebook.

I love it. Seriously.

You have no idea how long I've struggled with my inner geek. I've allowed it to surface more and more in the last few years- but for some reason I've always felt I needed to be ashamed of my geeky side. 

Well- I'm coming out of the geek closet. I am a geek. A super geek. I don't dress up. I don't speak Klingon or Elvish- but I just think it's all fun. I wouldn't be opposed to paying a subtle tribute to a Tardis in my furniture or some other nod to geekery.

I'm the kind of geek who goes to Star Trek conventions (I've been to FIVE of them) [I actually had someone use this against me trying to convince a guy not to want to hang out with me]. I LOVE Star Trek. I've seen every episode of The Next Generation at least a dozen times (each). I like the original series- but I haven't seen all of those- and Deep Space Nine and Voyager got a little soap opera-y for me so I stopped watching them- but I love TNG. I've never even seen Enterprise. So I guess one can't call me a truuuuue fan- but still. I know the names of the episodes, most of the guest stars- all of the story lines- and even then I've lost a lot of my trivia knowledge over the years because of hiding the fact that I like it.

I've waited in line for TEN hours to see The Phantom Menace. Of course, I didn't like it- but still, I waited. I acted so put out and annoyed with my sister who asked me to wait with her. But to be honest, I had a great time. We rolled out a blanket and sat in the theater parking lot. We had food and games and entertained ourselves all day. When they finally started to sell tickets, they sold out three people ahead of us. ARGH! This was back in the day when it only debuted in one theater instead of the whole building. But they kindly consented to do a second showing sometime around two a.m. I didn't get home till five (that might be partly why I didn't like the movie). At least they let us spend the last few hours in theater seats instead of sitting outside.

I love Doctor Who. I know I know, I'm new to it. I'm one of those irritating band wagon Americans who is just now getting into it (I HATE that. I hate being a band waggoner). But I can't help it. It's just so awesome. But I am trying to learn all about it- to be a true fan- not just a fair weather friend. Netflix finally put some of the past seasons on so now I can watch them. Nine is still my fave- but I'm willing to give the earlier blokes a go.

I like Twilight. Whew! There. I said it. It's been getting a lot of hate the last few years- but I like it. It has it's issues of course- but people are always so critical of fluff because they're angry they didn't come up with it themselves. I don't like it because I wish it was my life- I like it because it's so far from real life that I can enjoy it. I read to escape- not live reality.  I've even been to Forks. I have a Forks sweatshirt- and a Breaking Dawn T-shirt. My friend Lisa and I went to every midnight movie release (save the final movie) together. But we were more than just bystanders in line- we were the entertainment! We always played trivia while we were waiting, and a lot of times got the people around us involved.

I like books about dragons. I know there are a lot more out there that I need to read. But my favorite-ist books in the whole wide world are the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Dealing with Dragons, Talking to Dragons, Calling on Dragons, Searching for Dragons [not in that order]) and the Dragon Slippers series. Again- I read to escape real life.

Which brings us to Narnia and Middle Earth. I love CS Lewis- and I love Tolkien (I had a hard time reading those though- I can't lie. I have to stick with the movies when it comes to Hobbits). I love Harry Potter. I have read every book several times (but listening to them really is the way to go. You can't beat Jim Dale). In fact... it might be time to get those from the library again. (gift hint- I'd LOVE to own them)

I am a HUGE Brit Lit fan. In fact, when I went to school in England, one of my professors had us write a list of all the books we'd read (for school or pleasure) during our college careers. Her comment to me? "You need to add more contemporary- and probably less British- authors to your list." This coming from a British Literature Professor. But I love it. I geek out over it. I would visit Austenland if it existed (which by the way, is another totally awesome book that is being made into a movie and showing at Sundance this year that I really REALLY want to go to).

I love movies. There are some who can sit and watch sporting events for hours and DAYS. I like sports. Don't get me wrong, I like a good game as much as the next former jock turned closet geek (That's a lie- I was never really a jock- I just played a few sports in my day and didn't entirely suck at it) but I would rather spend my time these days watching movies. I collect them (sort of) and watch them when I have free time (which lately has been a lot).

I like all kinds of movies-chick flix, blow stuff up flix, bawl baby flix, but  I especially love musicals. I have Oklahoma so memorized- that I can tell the difference between the two movies they made. Did you know they made two? Yup. They did. They shot one with a regular camera and another in the "new" CinemaScope. I don't like the one in CinemaScope. It bugs me. I grew up on the regular one and so now when I see the CS one, I can see the differences in their facial expressions- and the inflections in the dialogue. It drives me bananas that they're saying it all wrong!

My favorite of all is Brigadoon. Mostly because they sing about the Heather on the Hill- and it's set in Scotland which naturally means it has lots of bagpipes. :) When I went to Scotland, my soul mission was to find a place where I could walk through the heather and sing that song to myself.

Another pilgrimage I would DIE to make is going to Salzburg where they filmed the Sound of Music. How awesome would that be? They do a tour. I'd totally take that tour. I find myself dancing when I'm alone on elevators (thanks to Thoroughly Modern Millie) and singing about State Fairs whenever I grate cheese.

I love anything Disney. I almost always win when I play Disney trivia (I've only ever lost to my sister). I'm talking serious geeky trivia like What is Mickey Mouse's birthday? What was the first cartoon featuring Donald Duck? My friend Melissa and I used to do a talent every year at the ward talent show called Stump the Chump. Between the two of us there is not one Disney movie we can't sing a song from (with all the straight to video stuff these days I can't really boast that anymore).

My geekiness runs the gammit. I'm a geek about everything. I find something I love and obsess over it until everyone around me is sick to death of the very utterance.

But I'm not going to feel badly about it anymore. I am a geek. And proud of it!
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How hilarious is it that not TWO seconds after I posted this- I popped in an episode of Frasier  called "The Show Must Go Off" and the opening scene is Frasier and Roz walking through a science fiction convention and talking to a Klingon- and making fun of it. See- we geeks have it hard. People just don't get it.