One of the things that was brought up at the panel a few weeks ago at Illogicon was fake geeks vs. real geeks. So I've been questioning the past few days what makes me a geek? Am I a geek in the truest form of geekdom or am I wannabe? I mean after all I have seen plenty of blogs pop up with female geeks in mind as well as YouTube videos. I see them all posted in some way, shape, or form in my Facebook feeds all my genre's that I love and then some. Not to mention, I feel that some of those videos exploit women but I will save it for another blog...so onward to what makes me a geek or doesn't make me a true geek.
Let's see...what makes me a geek or in my mind makes me a geek. One, I have a ferocious love for Star Wars....I mean I've only been collecting since I was young and there were years when I was on a dry streak because I didn't have money but now I'm collecting figures that interest me. Not to mention the simple fact that I dress up as two Star Wars characters and am planning more. I also like Star Trek and love all the original series movies, the TNG movies, as well as the new genre...also I like to catch Next Generation episodes on BBC America when I get a chance. It takes me back to my childhood and my first ever episode of Star Trek TNG: The Best of Both Worlds (I had nightmares for weeks!).
I love watching Stargate SG-1 re-runs, Being Human, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Supernatural, Smallville and Charmed. As well as other Sci-Fi shows, I love watching Comic Book Men, and the Toy Collector just to see what other people have. I read tons of Star Wars and Doctor Who books as well as Star Trek books by William Shatner. I also love reading Star Wars: Insider as well as The Doctor Who magazine. I also listen to the Big Finish Audios of Doctor Who, specifically the ones with the Eighth and Seventh Doctor. If I'm on a long road trip I will listen to the Audios and just geek out to the soothing sounds of Paul McGann's voice and although the 96 movie didn't give Paul a fair chance and is considered to be the worst thing, Paul McGann makes up for it in his Audio Dramas which I love!!!
I also like going to Cons seeing all the neat stuff. Now granted as I've stated in Blog 5 and in earlier blogs I do nothing but hang around at cons. I only buy stuff if it's Doctor Who or Star Wars related at a reasonable price as well as X-Men Phoenix stuff. Other than that I hang out with my friends, take pictures and watch everyone else. There are no comic book stores around Goldsboro so I go into Books-A-Million or BAM as I call it to read some comics or graphic novels but the only one I currently hold onto right now is The Dark Phoenix saga and my friend Jim from the UK is sending me the complete Secret Wars to add to my collection.
Gaming? See the previous blogs for my feelings on that. I only have Eight X-Box Games and one that I play now and then.
Now for those of you that don't know me very well, I'm a Second Grade teacher and I love what I do. I have a Yoda that I keep on my desk and I wear my Celebration 6 lanyard along with a mini-Lego Anakin around my neck with my name tags. I take my Ipod into school and I end up playing music from Harry Potter, Star Wars, Superman or any one of my favorite geekdoms. Lately, I've been favoring Shuttle Tydirium Approaches Endor to start my mornings. During Silent Reading time, I will sit down with my kids and read from my latest Star Wars book. When teaching, I randomly pull out tricks and sayings from Doctor Who, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Stargate, not to mention Avengers. My teaching assistant and colleagues think I'm weird but yes I let my geek flag fly at school and yes there are times when there are uncomfortable situations at school that I hum the Dallas theme or Imperial March. If I could during lessons, I wish I could dress up as a Doctor or Harry Potter or someone to teach lessons. My kids do learn from me and think it's cool or are totally lost when I go off on a geek tangent to teach a concept.
Just today, my counselor that I see from time to time for other issues said that I should've been an actor. Perhaps, she's right!! Also, I am in love with The Big Bang Theory and if I were to name myself as a character, I'd be a Leonard for sure, with a slight twist of Sheldon in there. I tend to go off on random tracks but mostly I'm Leonard.
I also have to say when I go Geek. I tend to let the quirkiness come out and it's taken years to develop that quirkiness that I think a lot of people like about me. Seriously, I was at an event the other night doing Padme' and I was letting the quotes fly and the geekdom come out. There are pictures of me hugging both Vader and Anakin, which the Doctor Who geek was screaming Paradox!!! When I do my guard, or troop as my guard I also pull Weeping Angel on people, by moving when they are not looking. It really gets one of our Vader's going when I do that and thus, I have earned my nickname Stealthy" or Stealthy One" before it was cool.
However, there are those that would say that I'm not a geek because I don't regularly go to Comic Book Stores or fit the attractiveness scale. Also, because I don't have every thing displayed from my Star Wars collection in my apartment. First of all, Goldsboro doesn't have a Comic Book store, second I am overweight by 50-60 pounds, I will not be squeezing into a Slave Leia anytime soon or a Phoenix Comic Costume, though I am considering X3 Dark Phoenix at the moment, and third my apartment is really small so I can't display like I want to. Even my 40 some odd Vader's/Anakin's can't be displayed not unless I get rid of some of my furniture and really I love my Lazy-boy chairs and couches.
You know, I will say this and this is from the panel. Being a geek is being comfortable in your own skin and willing to fight for what you believe in. So I'll close with a quote from Fox News, slightly modified.... "I'll report. You decide!"
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