I am

A full on Nerd.

Like, no kidding, a nerd in the strictest sense.

The definition of the word (that someone made up one day on wikipedia) is a derogatory connotation or stereotype, that refers to a person who passionately pursues intellectual activities, esoteric knowledge, or other obscure interests that are age-inappropriate rather than engaging in more social or popular activities.

I was raised in a home of Star Trek, Sea Quest (yes, the one with the talking dolphin), and Isaac Asimov.

I wore out my Star Wars, Labyrinth, Krull (yes, the one with the spinning knife), and Willow VHS tapes.

I created whole worlds, universes, story lines, heros, and villains while sitting on my living room floor, using these films as the raw material for my imagination.

Over the course of this last week, I had a few conversations with my Aunt about how and why we think and formulate opinions. Which has a great deal to do with who we are, who we associate with, who we are attracted to, what we excel at, and what we never touch or never let touch us.

I really feel like a lot of it has to do with the media we are exposed to when we are growing up. I will admit to being programmed/wired mostly by the strangeness ( read::awesomeness::) of the 80's. A lot of adjectives could be thrown around to describe this period in Western society, but it could probably be explained by saying that pretty much across the board, it was an era of Aesthetic for the sake of making/showing something New.

REALLY new, in most cases.

Big hair, bigger shoulders, why not?

Hyper-colors, music videos, and electronica...sure.

I feel like my claim to Nerd-ness resonates around my tendency to think a little (read::A lot::) off-center. Combine the strangeness ( read::awesomeness::) of my thought process with the inward-turning-day-dreaming tendencies of an only child, and that pretty much sums me up.

So I'm a Nerd.

But we all have to live out our destiny, right?

I choose to embrace the one that's a little strange (read::awesome::).