Anatomy of a Geek

So what is a geek really? I find the whole definition of geek to be terribly interesting because we come in so many different shapes and sizes. Is it someone obsessed and adept with technology? Some are, but that is not me. I do okay but I'm no IT professional. Some say a geek is someone who uses hard-core academics to live their real world lives, like using multivariate math to bake a cake. That's not me. I can't even tolerate reading instructions. Finally there are those people who have a devotion to something that sets them apart from the mainstream. Ahhhh... that sounds more like it. Yep, I'm a Doctor Who fan. I read Lord of the Rings and have even attended a Star Wars convention. And yet I didn't collect comics when I was a child, I actually had girlfriends in high school, and I've never... EVER... let my hair grow past the top of my ears. So even though I can lose myself in the crowd at the national republican convention, what sets me apart from the throngs of boring white people? The answer is my inner geek.

Or should I say my inner story teller? I had planned a post about my geek origins for some time and it seems like the death of Gary Gygax is fitting enough timing, partly because it was his influence that offered me my first look into a shared experience of creative story telling. You see it all started at the tender age of ten years old. My two best friends, who lived down the street, introduced me to the wonderful game of Dungeons & Dragons. I was immediately captivated by it. It was like my mind came alive with possibilities as I entered another universe where I could help to shape its outcome.


At that time in my life, I was like many young boys who loved cartoons, action figures, and pretty much anything that could delight and entertain. Ironically enough it is around this time that many children begin to see the perils of conformity looming ahead. Junior High was just around the corner and I had no idea the lengths to which society could go to squash a child's unbridled creativity. I am happy to say that I was one of the lucky ones. After being introduced to role playing games, when my two friends and I would get together, we would play nothing else for the next three years. It is hard to articulate that feeling of first being exposed to a game that literally required only a pencil, some paper, and your imagination. To this day I still have memories of those early adventures and the images that it evoked in my own mind. Those were formative times because it helped me appreciate and find the joy in creating something from nothing. In fact it was so rewarding that I refused to relinquish my grip on it.

The summer I turned thirteen I moved away from the only place I had ever known as home. I would see my two best friends from time to time over the next few years but I wouldn't play Dungeons and Dragons with any regularity for a very long time. I moved hundreds of miles away to a place where I knew no one. But I didn't let that squash my inner geek, because just prior to my move I had been introduced to a funky little British TV show called Doctor Who.


To Be Continued...