I’m pretty sure I was always a geek.
I was one of the “smart kids” in high school. I was wholly obsessed with musical theater. Instead of getting drunk on the weekends with the “cool kids,” I hung out at the local coffee shop with my also-geeky friends and played guitar and talked about books. I distinctly remember the re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy back in 1997. My pals and I got in line super early for each film, ensuring that we’d be in the front row of the theater for the ultimate hard-core fan experience. It didn’t matter how many times we had seen the movies. We ALWAYS found some nuance to discuss or some wild theory to argue.
I can’t pinpoint exactly why, but I definitely neglected my geekiness during college and law school.
I don’t know if it would have resurfaced were it not for my husband, Jason. In addition to being one of the smartest and most interesting people I’ve ever known, Jason is an unabashed geek.
Jason has loved Doctor Who since he was a kid. He tried to get me to watch it with him, and I resisted. It just seemed too big and ridiculous and, honestly, overwhelming. But, Jason is a smart cookie, and he was determined to make a Whovian out of me. So, he cuddled up one night and said, “There’s this great British crime drama called Broadchurch, and you would love it.” It only took one episode for me to agree to a full binge. From the moment I first saw David Tennant on screen, I was hooked. (Though, to be fair, Olivia Colman is equally brilliant and compelling).
Once we finished, I agreed to watch Doctor Who. But, only if we could start exactly at the beginning of the David Tennant years.
(I realized later that I shouldn’t have skipped Christopher Eccleston, so I went back and rewatched starting with the 9th Doctor. Don’t @ me). I have never been so captivated. And the best part was, I had opinions about ALL OF IT. So did Jason, and we debated and sparred and hypothesized and just plain fed off each other’s geekiness. Finally, I was back where I needed to be all along – a full-on geek, and proud of it. Since then, I have lost all restraint when it comes to geeky culture. I wouldn’t have it any other way!
I adore this quote by Marissa Mayer: “Geeks are people who love something so much that all the details matter.” That really resonates with me, because the biggest thing that I’ve gotten from my “new and improved” geekiness is LOVE. My love of geeky stuff has brought fantastic people into my life (#confriendsarethebestfriends – definitely a subject of a future column), and it has given me a new lens through which to examine the world, which I look forward to sharing with you here! Whatever gets your geek flag flying – books, movies, TV, fashion, makeup, politics, gardening, food, wine, beer, sports, you get the idea – keep diving into those details and spreading more love around this world of ours!
Share what gets your geek flag flying in the comment section below!
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