Thursday, December 15, 2005
Accessing the world of 'Geek'
As with many others in society, I do some of my most interesting thinking in the shower. Today, while cleansing myself, I contemplated 'geekdom' and whether or not I could be, or could have been, considered a 'geek'. What started it was my recent, new found, obsession with reading blogs - which of course led to my own here - which, in a way, could be described as geeky. Now, I've read blogs for awhile, but I was never obsessed by them as much as I am now. The closest I've come in the past was previous to the 2004 American presidential election, when I visited many political blogs, both conservative, liberal and centrist, to observe people's opinions and thoughts.
First stop was to Wikipedia, for a definition. The most important part of the definition is: A geek is a person who is fascinated, perhaps obsessively, by obscure or very specific areas of knowledge and imagination. I believe the term 'obsessive' is the most important parameter of the definition.
As is mentioned in at Wikipedia, 'geek' has evolved over the years. It is no longer likely to lead one to status as a social outcast. In fact, as opposed to when I grew up in the 70's and 80's, I often look on groups of people with a loudly screaming aura of 'we are geeks and proud of it!', and find myself admiring them; they know what they like and don't care what others think. Then again, perhaps it is a state of oblivion that leads them through their geeky lives and into harmonious bliss.
So I thought a little bit about my own life. Have I ever been, outwardly, a real, true to life geek? Probably.
I delved a little deeper and immediately my obsession with hockey, and more specifically the Toronto Maple Leafs came to mind. Back-in-the-day, I don't believe that anyone would call a sports fan, let alone a hockey fan, a geek, at least not to their face. But, Wikipedia specifically points out that one can be a 'sports geek'. Alright, so I'm a geek. Piss me off and I'll hip-check your ass through the boards.
Further self analyzation revealed a whole buffet of potentially geeky behaviour. I say potentially because I've never actually considered myself to be obsessed by these activities, I've always been more of a temporary traveller down the path. Here's a few things that might define me as a 'geek':
1. enjoyment of computer games - not so much on a console, as I prefer the vast, intense world of strategy games. I manage to find time to play a video game, if I'm lucky, once or twice a month. Video games are such a huge industry now adays, and people of all ages play, but obsession with games is still a geeky thing, I believe.
2. role-playing games. Ya I've played before, I'll admit it, but usually only for short periods of time. I actually think it's a neat form of entertainment and socializing with other creative minded people, but it has such a 'geeky nerd ner ner ner' attitude about it that I have resisted my interst in it. I've even played recently - some of the Ex's co-workers were into it - and had lots of fun, but with the divorce, it looks like I am once again a non-role player.
3. Comics. Of course when I was a wee lad growing up on the tough streets of Toronto, I read many an Iron Man, or Alpha Flight comic. When I reached middle-school/high-school age, I, of course, gave them up for other pursuits. In recent years, though I've been intersted in several 'Graphic Novels', which is a more accepted way of saying 'adult comicbook'. I've read Bone, and Sin City (after the movie came out), and think they are pretty damn creative, and enjoy the melding of art and story.
4. Sci-fi/Fantasy. Again, back in high-school, I read a lot of this type of writing. Yes, that probably did make me a 'geek' back then, and so be it. As I further matured, though and went to University, I moved away from this type of work, and into the more 'sophisticated' world of Hemmingway and Faulkner. On occasion I will secretly pull out one of my old fantasy novels and re-read it.
5. Xena/Buffy/X-files... I admit that I watched, and enjoyed these types of shows back in the 'coming-of-age-for-geeks 90s'. Once again, though, I was never obsessed. I watched the shows regularly for maybe a season or two, enjoying the story lines and fantasy based worlds, but that was it. My Ex, on the other hand, went to a Xena convention back when we were still dating. She proudly announced that she was one of the prettiest lasses at the event. Good for her!
So, yes, I suppose I do have a wealth of geek-like behaviour, perhaps enough so to make me offically a geek. Back in high-school being called a 'geek' was an intense diservice to your fellow scholar, today being called a 'geek' can often be a sign of acknowledgement of ones accomplishements and intelligence. Now, if I could only make myself obsessed with making lots of money, and be called a geek-millionaire, well, that's cool.
First stop was to Wikipedia, for a definition. The most important part of the definition is: A geek is a person who is fascinated, perhaps obsessively, by obscure or very specific areas of knowledge and imagination. I believe the term 'obsessive' is the most important parameter of the definition.
As is mentioned in at Wikipedia, 'geek' has evolved over the years. It is no longer likely to lead one to status as a social outcast. In fact, as opposed to when I grew up in the 70's and 80's, I often look on groups of people with a loudly screaming aura of 'we are geeks and proud of it!', and find myself admiring them; they know what they like and don't care what others think. Then again, perhaps it is a state of oblivion that leads them through their geeky lives and into harmonious bliss.
So I thought a little bit about my own life. Have I ever been, outwardly, a real, true to life geek? Probably.
I delved a little deeper and immediately my obsession with hockey, and more specifically the Toronto Maple Leafs came to mind. Back-in-the-day, I don't believe that anyone would call a sports fan, let alone a hockey fan, a geek, at least not to their face. But, Wikipedia specifically points out that one can be a 'sports geek'. Alright, so I'm a geek. Piss me off and I'll hip-check your ass through the boards.
Further self analyzation revealed a whole buffet of potentially geeky behaviour. I say potentially because I've never actually considered myself to be obsessed by these activities, I've always been more of a temporary traveller down the path. Here's a few things that might define me as a 'geek':
1. enjoyment of computer games - not so much on a console, as I prefer the vast, intense world of strategy games. I manage to find time to play a video game, if I'm lucky, once or twice a month. Video games are such a huge industry now adays, and people of all ages play, but obsession with games is still a geeky thing, I believe.
2. role-playing games. Ya I've played before, I'll admit it, but usually only for short periods of time. I actually think it's a neat form of entertainment and socializing with other creative minded people, but it has such a 'geeky nerd ner ner ner' attitude about it that I have resisted my interst in it. I've even played recently - some of the Ex's co-workers were into it - and had lots of fun, but with the divorce, it looks like I am once again a non-role player.
3. Comics. Of course when I was a wee lad growing up on the tough streets of Toronto, I read many an Iron Man, or Alpha Flight comic. When I reached middle-school/high-school age, I, of course, gave them up for other pursuits. In recent years, though I've been intersted in several 'Graphic Novels', which is a more accepted way of saying 'adult comicbook'. I've read Bone, and Sin City (after the movie came out), and think they are pretty damn creative, and enjoy the melding of art and story.
4. Sci-fi/Fantasy. Again, back in high-school, I read a lot of this type of writing. Yes, that probably did make me a 'geek' back then, and so be it. As I further matured, though and went to University, I moved away from this type of work, and into the more 'sophisticated' world of Hemmingway and Faulkner. On occasion I will secretly pull out one of my old fantasy novels and re-read it.
5. Xena/Buffy/X-files... I admit that I watched, and enjoyed these types of shows back in the 'coming-of-age-for-geeks 90s'. Once again, though, I was never obsessed. I watched the shows regularly for maybe a season or two, enjoying the story lines and fantasy based worlds, but that was it. My Ex, on the other hand, went to a Xena convention back when we were still dating. She proudly announced that she was one of the prettiest lasses at the event. Good for her!
So, yes, I suppose I do have a wealth of geek-like behaviour, perhaps enough so to make me offically a geek. Back in high-school being called a 'geek' was an intense diservice to your fellow scholar, today being called a 'geek' can often be a sign of acknowledgement of ones accomplishements and intelligence. Now, if I could only make myself obsessed with making lots of money, and be called a geek-millionaire, well, that's cool.
