I heard today that Geek is Good. Geek is In. Geek is Cool.
Well, its about time!
Although, I wouldn't trade my childhood for anything (besides maybe changing a few things that I know now of course. Oh, and buying some stock in Starbucks or Apple Computers) But maybe Geek could have been popular when I was a kid.
I can't recall how many times that prissy girls or sporty guys on the playground would make fun of me because I wanted to play Justice League over 500 (a game of one person throwing a football at a crowd of recievers. The thrower would yell how much its worth. If caught, thats the points you'd earn. The first person to 500 would become the thrower.)
The cool dudes and the popular chicks would make fun of my Superman II lunch box or Star Wars velco sneakers. The names were usually just nerd or goober. It was okay. I loved my lunch box and my shoes more than them.
There was a time when I was about 23ish (say 1995). I was collecting Star Wars toys and selling my leftovers at a thing called a Toy Show (eBay eventually killed the novelty of selling toys at Holiday Inns) and looking up to find someone asking a question on a near mint 1979 Star Wars Jawa figure, complete with "cloth" cape and gun. The voice was rather soft for a guy. To my surprise, it was a rather attractive girl. We started talking and let's say flirting. Then the guy behind her (I would learn was her boyfriend) was totally giving her the "I'm bored can we go now babe?" vibe. I pondered this paradox like feeling that I found the first instance of a hawt girl liking Star Wars and the boyfriend thinking it lame and nerdy. (for the record I had come across other girls that liked Star Wars and Comics, but this one was actually good looking!) If I had the balls back then I would have asked for her phone number. Who cares what the boyfriend thought?
Fast forward 15 years. Now everywhere I turn around, there's actually runway model hot girls liking Star Wars and comics. And they don't hide it. Geek is the new Cool. We aren't the minority anymore.
I do admit that I was so blinded by the fact that the really cute girls didn't like the things that I liked, that I actually overlooked one in High School. And she was captain of the Varisty Cheerleading Squad. Who'd thunk, eh?
