Not Your Average Nerd

Monday, March 19, 2012

• Watched Red Dawn while shotgunning an energy drink and waiting for the maintenance guy to finish cleaning my bathroom fan
• Decided to start a new blog, despite being sober
• Spent nearly an hour debating new blog name
• Finally settled on “Not Your Average Nerd,” largely because it forms the acronym NYAN
• Spent far too long watching Nyan Cat
• Finally left to run errands
• Failed to complete any errands
• Bought a gun

As the title implies, I am not your average nerd.  That I am a nerd, there can be no doubt.  Far too many people have labelled me as such for me to argue to the contrary.  Also, there’s the Nerf arsenal, telescope, vacuum robot, and gajillion miscellaneous computer parts strewn about my living room.

But, sitting between the telescope and the matched pair of Nerf Maverick Rev-6 Revolvers (the Colt 1911A1 of spring-powered foam dart projectile weapons) is a bookcase crammed full of (real) bullets, various gun parts, a pile of cleaning gear, and a half-dozen or so pistols in various calibers.  On the shelf across the room, under the active file server which is dedicated solely to my apartment, is a small library of books on programing and web design, as well as a couple of Chilton manuals and a socket wrench set that has seen actual use on actual sockets.  (I’m kidding.  I know that the socket in socket wrench denotes the interchangeable wrench head used to loosen and tighten bolts, usually hexagonal in nature, of various sizes).  And sitting on my desk is a stock certificate indicating that I own exactly one share of the Green Bay Packers.

I don’t have a juxtaposition for that last one.  I honestly don’t know if it’s nerdy or not.  But I do know that it’s awesome.

Anyway, the point is that I’m not exactly what pop culture likes to insist all nerds are like.  True, I can cite scientific studies from memory and debate the merits of any given Star Trek series, but I can also hold my own in a fistfight, define whiskeys by taste, and punch a fist-sized hole out of a target at thirty feet with a .45 auto.  And that’s why I started this blog: because it’s about time for somebody to speak up for the nerds of the world that don’t act like the characters on The Big Bang Theory.

Even though I do find the show hilarious, I watch it religiously, and I’ve had many lengthy conversations with my roommate that sound suspiciously like they could have been scripted for the characters.