Hey there,
Nerdfighters!
Occasionally I get asked by a member of my congregation how I ended up such a huge geek. (I prefer the term geek to nerd. Maybe because in school I was called a nerd, and claimed the term geek. Who knows.) I laugh that I got it from my parents, but in truth it is a good question. How did my obsessions start... when did I attain my current fluency in them? So I thought I would give an autobiographical account of my various fandoms, or at least, the ones that really got me started.
Hey, I've been posting a lot about death lately, and this seems life affirming.
When I was very small, but old enough to remember, my mom read to me a chapter from the Chronicles of Narnia every night. When one would show on television, she'd also let me watch the BBC editions of the Chronicles won TV, which was a big deal. (My TV watching was limited to two hours a day, the block on PBS that encompassed Mr Rogers Neighborhood, Sesame Street, 3-2-1 Contact, and Square 1 TV) According to Mom, every time we were in a house that had a stand-alone wardrobe, I would check it out, just in case. I can affirm this continued until junior high.
Apparently, on my second day of kindergarten, I wanted my mom to ride the bus with me, like she had done on the first day. She told me that I needed to ride on my own, now. I looked her in the eyes and said, "Mommy, if you don't get on that bus you are going to regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, and for the rest of your life." I have no idea where it came from, but I was dropping movie quotes at a VERY early age.
Also around this time, my parents let me watch the Superman movie starring Christopher Reeve. Though I was apparently upset that people could be as mean as Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor, I loved the idea of Superman, and even got an "S" shirt of my own, which my mother (at my insistence) embroidered to read "Super Danny." Super Danny actually became well known around the apartment complex, as I would stroll around as "Mild Mannered Danny McCurdy" and, when I saw someone in trouble (like needing help with groceries) I would hide behind a bush and take off my over shirt, put on a red towel cape, and come to rescue shouting; "This sounds like a Job for SUPER DANNY!" Sure, the cosplay was weak (Mom never did buy me red underooos) but we're talking real hero stuff, here.
This was also around the time my Dad got an Atari for the house, along with a bunch of games. Among the games was Empire Strikes Back, where you piloted an airspeeder and fought AT-AT Walkers. When I learned it was based on a Movie, I demanded to see it, and thus was introduced to Star Wars, which quickly became a part of my personal mythology.
It was a year or so later that I noticed that, around bedtime, my Dad would watch a weird show. All the people talked funny (kinda like the bad guys on Star Wars) and they rode around in this big blue box that was bigger on the inside. I ALSO learned that if I sat quietly next to Dad during the show and asked questions during commercials, I could stay up a whole half hour past my bedtime. This was the reason why Tom Baker is MY Doctor.
When I was in third grade, and my brother in Kindergarten, my Dad had us watch a funny cartoon movie called the Hobbit, and then read it to us. It was funny and silly except sometimes it was scary, but I loved it because Dad was so great at reading it. Then he asked if I wanted more, and hell yeah I did. Sometimes the chapters went long and we could be up WAAAY late, and then I'd sit up in bed thinking about the stories he told us.
He started every reading session by reading the Poem. "Three Rings for the Elven Kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf Lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, but One for the Dark Lord on his Dark Throne, in the land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to Rule Them All, One Ring to find them, one Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them... in the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie."
I was hooked. I read the Silmarillion on my own. Dad bought me a video game based on Dune, which lead me to watch the movie, which led me to read the books, which is absolutely the right order to do it in (this way you can enjoy all of it.)
How did I become a Geek, you ask? Simple.
My parents raised me right.
Occasionally I get asked by a member of my congregation how I ended up such a huge geek. (I prefer the term geek to nerd. Maybe because in school I was called a nerd, and claimed the term geek. Who knows.) I laugh that I got it from my parents, but in truth it is a good question. How did my obsessions start... when did I attain my current fluency in them? So I thought I would give an autobiographical account of my various fandoms, or at least, the ones that really got me started.
Hey, I've been posting a lot about death lately, and this seems life affirming.
When I was very small, but old enough to remember, my mom read to me a chapter from the Chronicles of Narnia every night. When one would show on television, she'd also let me watch the BBC editions of the Chronicles won TV, which was a big deal. (My TV watching was limited to two hours a day, the block on PBS that encompassed Mr Rogers Neighborhood, Sesame Street, 3-2-1 Contact, and Square 1 TV) According to Mom, every time we were in a house that had a stand-alone wardrobe, I would check it out, just in case. I can affirm this continued until junior high.
Apparently, on my second day of kindergarten, I wanted my mom to ride the bus with me, like she had done on the first day. She told me that I needed to ride on my own, now. I looked her in the eyes and said, "Mommy, if you don't get on that bus you are going to regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, and for the rest of your life." I have no idea where it came from, but I was dropping movie quotes at a VERY early age.
Also around this time, my parents let me watch the Superman movie starring Christopher Reeve. Though I was apparently upset that people could be as mean as Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor, I loved the idea of Superman, and even got an "S" shirt of my own, which my mother (at my insistence) embroidered to read "Super Danny." Super Danny actually became well known around the apartment complex, as I would stroll around as "Mild Mannered Danny McCurdy" and, when I saw someone in trouble (like needing help with groceries) I would hide behind a bush and take off my over shirt, put on a red towel cape, and come to rescue shouting; "This sounds like a Job for SUPER DANNY!" Sure, the cosplay was weak (Mom never did buy me red underooos) but we're talking real hero stuff, here.
This was also around the time my Dad got an Atari for the house, along with a bunch of games. Among the games was Empire Strikes Back, where you piloted an airspeeder and fought AT-AT Walkers. When I learned it was based on a Movie, I demanded to see it, and thus was introduced to Star Wars, which quickly became a part of my personal mythology.
It was a year or so later that I noticed that, around bedtime, my Dad would watch a weird show. All the people talked funny (kinda like the bad guys on Star Wars) and they rode around in this big blue box that was bigger on the inside. I ALSO learned that if I sat quietly next to Dad during the show and asked questions during commercials, I could stay up a whole half hour past my bedtime. This was the reason why Tom Baker is MY Doctor.
When I was in third grade, and my brother in Kindergarten, my Dad had us watch a funny cartoon movie called the Hobbit, and then read it to us. It was funny and silly except sometimes it was scary, but I loved it because Dad was so great at reading it. Then he asked if I wanted more, and hell yeah I did. Sometimes the chapters went long and we could be up WAAAY late, and then I'd sit up in bed thinking about the stories he told us.
He started every reading session by reading the Poem. "Three Rings for the Elven Kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf Lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, but One for the Dark Lord on his Dark Throne, in the land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to Rule Them All, One Ring to find them, one Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them... in the land of Mordor, where the shadows lie."
I was hooked. I read the Silmarillion on my own. Dad bought me a video game based on Dune, which lead me to watch the movie, which led me to read the books, which is absolutely the right order to do it in (this way you can enjoy all of it.)
How did I become a Geek, you ask? Simple.
My parents raised me right.
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