So, I try not to talk too much about my day job when I’m writing stuff that will permanently stay online, but I’ll make an exception for this little anecdote. I work with kids on a daily basis, and last week one of them came up to me and told me I was cool.
Um, what?
I asked what he meant, and he said, “Oh, you know, you like World of Warcraft and stuff. You’re just really cool like one of those guys on The Big Bang Theory.”
Seriously? Since when is it cool to be a nerd?! What HAPPENED?
I thought the guys on TBBT were supposed to be so nerdy and socially awkward it was funny, but apparently they’ve become cool. I see Superhero Pop-art on Pinterest and the people repinning are normal, not-nerdy people. I have children tell me I’m cool because I like to play WoW. I get compliments from cashiers on my Wonder Woman t-shirt. My tattoo artist does regular work involving Mario characters, and last week his facebook page was covered in pictures of a really awesome Spiderman sleeve. And other nerdy persuits are getting cooler, too – more and more people laugh when I tell them my cat is named Schroedinger. I saw a wild copy of The Name of the Wind being read in a restaurant yesterday. And when I went to tell my upstairs neighbor that water from his apartment was leaking into my apartment (again) he was wearing a shirt that said “I roll 20s.”
I don’t know when this happened, but. This. Is. AWESOME!
And that’s just awesome number one for me, as of late 🙂 I had a great 40k game yesterday against the guy that tabled me last time – still lost, but put up a very good fight! My new ankle-and-foot art is healing up beautifully, I just crocheted the most adorable hat, it’s a beautiful day outside… and for once in my life, I’m cool 🙂
Amazing how a simple compliment can just make your week. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go pay it forward and say something nice to someone else 🙂
Compliments are great!! Especially for being a geek/gamer. I remember when people used it as an insult. lol
Glad to hear your kids think you are awesome too, because we already knew it!
It seems society is finally realizing that being passionate about something is just fine, the nerdly arts are starting to become more popular. I wonder if this is because of the internet, when these people see there are more and more people like them. Add in all this TV stuff, where nerds are being portrayed less and less as the fat neck-beard and more like an everyday person.
I can’t say I’m happy that ‘nerd’ is going mainstream because of all the ‘gamer’ girls that suck at CoD and Halo but it’s always great to feel accepted.