I feel like I have to admit something; I haven't always been a nerd. Well, okay that isn't entirely true. I was a nerd but I didn't know that word, I didn't know there were people like me and I didn't know there was an array of culture I was missing out on.
I didn't see Star Wars until I was about 13 even though my parents went to see the first Star Wars movie when they were dating. Sure, they showed me some of the classic movies but none of the nerd movies. I sought most of those out on my own. The main reason why I never saw Star Wars, Star Trek, Back to the Future, Stargate, Fifth Element or anything else loosely related to these movies is apparent when you go to the video store. In any given trip to the video store, you will hear my mother utter the same phrase at least three times, "Is that a SciFi movie? I don't like SciFi movies!" That kind of makes things difficult...
But as I said in the beginning, I've always been a nerd of one sort or another but I just didn't know there was a word for it aside from "bookworm," or "four-eyed freak." I have been a book nerd since I was able to sit up-right and grasp things. A great deal of my baby pictures feature me "reading" or being read to. In elementary school, one of my best friends was the school librarian. I spent most of my recesses in the library helping her file books, make "Reading is awesome!" posters, reading to the younger children and generally helping around the library in exchange for free books. I adored the library and everything about it. I would have spent more of my time in the library if it hadn't been for my classmates. On several occasions, I remember groups of my classmates barging into the library and literally dragging me out onto the playground to force me to play with them. I think my mom may have had some influence over that.
I have always felt that books are the best friends I could ever have. As an only child, they hung out with me so I wouldn't be lonely, they made me feel safe when I was scared, they reminded me of home when I traveled, they took me to fantasy world when I was sad. The first SciFi/Fantasy series I ever read and inevitably fell in love with was the "Lost Years of Merlin," series by Thomas A. Barron. This later led to the "Dragonlance," series, "The Young Wizards," series and many others. When I was a kid, there really wasn't a word for a girl who wanted to wear a suit of armor, wield a sword and ride on the back of a dragon.
I know it seems inevitable that I would love the "Harry Potter," series right off the bat but to tell the truth, this just isn't so. My grandma bought me the first three books at Costco because she knew I liked those sort of books. I resisted reading the books for a long time mostly because they were popular and I didn't want to have anything to do with a popular book because I knew kids my age were mostly stupid. I guess I was a very tiny hipster. The first time I broke down and read, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," I was on a three-week road trip with my family around the county. I had brought about fifteen books with me to read in the car including the first three Harry Potter books. I was only about a week into the trip and I had finished all my other books and I was reluctant to dig into the popular series. The problem was that my mom wouldn't let me buy any more books until I had finished the ones I had brought. Through my reluctance, my heart was melted and those heroic wizards have lived in my heart ever since.
When I was about twelve or thirteen, I had my introduction to the world of movie nerdy. I went to summer camp in Susanville, CA and I met my dear friend Daniel. He is a second-generation nerd. He learned of Doctor Demento and Star Wars from his father and then passed this knowledge on to me. As is apparently standard for me, I was reluctant to join the club. Daniel and I made a deal at the end of our summer camp session. He would listen to some bands I recommended if I would watch any of the Star Wars movies. I ended up buying the original trilogy box-set at Goodwill.
Through my explorations in nerd cinema, I became very well acquainted with an old friend; my library card. The public library is a place my dad could never refuse to take me. How could any parent knowingly say to their child, "No, you can't go to the library today." I mean, I wasn't asking to go to Disneyland every weekend, I just wanted new books, new music, new movies. I think in a lot of ways, my discovery of nerd cinema bonded my dad and I together. We would watch these movies together before my mom got home from work and my dad would say, "Oh yeah, I remember this movie... This is a great movie." Usually when he said thing like this I would ask my dad why he hadn't shared this movie with me before since it was from his era and admittedly, quite good. This probably all goes back to my mom's distaste for SciFi movies. So movies like, "The Blues Brothers," "Animal House," and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," were in constant rotation, "Back to the Future," and "Star Wars," never stood a chance.
I have often felt the most passionate about things that I have discovered myself. The anticipation and the excitement that I first gain upon discovering something amazing never seem to fade. This is why I know I will always be a nerd. I may not have always been a nerd but I know I always will be and I'm proud.
