Geek Love

So, I'm a geek. There's not much arguing that point. Sci-Fi, Role-Playing, Video-Games, Movies, Comics, I love it all. I've found that over the years of working in IT there are many of us. We all come in varying degrees of nerdness, but we all have one thing in common. We repel women. Now with me being married one might ask how this is possible. Well, I hid my geekdom very very well. Then after my wife and I were married, I sprung it on her. It was too late for her. Now she lives with a man who knows the magical resistance of a sverfilbin gnome, but can't fix a broken door knob. My wife and I cannot watch any of the Star Wars movies together. I tend to get rather chatty during Lucas's epic tale. I feel the need to regale her with trivia about Jawas, the physiology of Hutts, and the interworkings of a E-11 Imperial Blaster Rifle. She however, doesn't care to know this information. Somewhere I my head I just can't figure out why anyone would not want to know that Ewoks are not short Wookies and that you can't use Force Lightning without real hands( i.e. Vader). She asks me to turn the channel or takes herself and the children to a safe part of the house until the movies have finished.

Once, while watching an episode of Star Trek TNG, my wife pointed out that the actions of the Enterprise crew in the story would violate the edicts of the Prime Directive. I wasn't sure that I heard her correctly, so I asked her to repeat herself. Looking peevishly back at me, she said never-mind. Knowing that I had caught a glimpse of something special I pushed the issue. She then proceeded to recite the basic principles of the Prime Directive to me. I was frozen in this moment of time. I laughed out loud and hugged her. I asked about other geeky information she has been hiding from me. Alas, she had none at the time. Slowly but surely she is picking up information that will never help her, but that will continue to endear her to her husband in a way that I cannot describe.

My son and I constantly review all sorts of nerdy stuff. Before bed we usually read Cameron a story. I've been reading him the Encyclopedia of DC Comics. He absolutely eats this stuff up. We watch Teen Titans and look up the characters we've never heard of. Find out their powers and history. It's really a lot of fun. My son knows the differences between DC and Marvel comics. He told his Grandmother the other day that Metropolis and Gotham City are not real cities, but that Marvel Comics have cities like New York and San Francisco that are real places. What a moment. So we keep an eye out for new superhero books and TV shows that we can watch and read about together. Oh, he still plays hockey and soccer and like lots of different things, but in geekdom, he and I are truly father and son. That we have that together is very special.

What have we learned here today? That Will knows far too much useless information. That one should NEVER ask will about this information unless they want to be overwhelmed with it until they cannot breathe. In large groups of women, Will is a detriment. He will eventually say or refer to something that will make all said women run away screaming. That Will loves his family enough to give them all sorts of information that they can never possibly use. Finally, that Will knows enough to use this geek-power only for good.

Anyone out there know how to fix a door knob?