NERD FIGHT!!!

            OK, first I want to say I've decided to do a single weekly post instead of trying to do daily. Well, unless something pops up super-strong and I can't hold it back. I can think of a few analogies, but they're not for kids. So no.
    Anyhow. For your weekly dose of Bleach, I'm gonna talk about Nerdliness.
    I have a great deal of it. I am a nerd. Always have been. Geek too. I am a nerdy geeky Nerd Geek. I'm into Star Wars AND Star Trek. I love Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams and Spielberg and Lucas and comics and action figures and all kinds of weird shit.
    Not everyone feels the way I do. That's always the way, isn't it? However, I am not like other nerds. I am not a typical geek. Neither are many of my friends. We are not your typical nerdy geeks.
    We are Dark Nerds.
    It's kinda like an evil genius, but...not. We have tattoos. We have piercings. We get laid on a fairly regular basis. Yet we still have comic/sci-fi/gaming/fantasy/tech debates and arguments and act a lot like the guys on Big Bang Theory. Most of us are more like Leonard than Sheldon, but I can honestly say, as a 4-year member of the Milford Talented And Gifted Program, that I have known a few people who were very Sheldon Cooper-esque.
    The reason I decided to focus on this is because something interesting happened to me yesterday. First, I went to a aprty for my friend and his wife. I saw a guy there I hadn't seen since grade school. When I was in eighth grade, I randomly hit this guy in an attempt to start a fight so some of the In-Crowd Kids would think I was cool. I got in trouble, of course, and got lectured by one of my teachers who gave me the "being part of the Cool Kids isn't that important in life." I don't remember if I ever apologized to this kid, but I'm friends with him on FaceBook these days and though we don't really talk-talk, it's good to be in touch.
    Later last night, I went to a local comedy club with E and AlleyMac just to get A.M. out of this funk she's been in and to just plain do something different. At the door as we entered was a guy I have literally known my entire life, and when he saw me he smiled, gave me a hug, and we shot the shit for a few minutes before he took off. He's one of the regular performers at this club and has also performed at some pretty decent venues. Good for him.
    The funny thing is that this guy was one of my bullies way back in the day. I had more than my share. Being short, fat, smart, and Jewish was a perfect recipe for the Popular and Insecure to find things to pick on. There were more than a handful of times my parents had to come to my rescue as a child, and more than a few times I went to the principal's office as a result of defending myself, or even taking preemptive action against them. See, that's what I think differs me from a lot of nerds:
    I FOUGHT BACK.
    Oh yeah. I know my mom's gonna see this, my aunt, my cousins, I DON'T CARE. I fought. I started some of em. Yeah. Deal with it. I've known a few people who have done jail time who have said that if you ever wind up inside, seeks someone out, start a fight, win it, and nobody will bug you the rest of your time in. OK, so that was AFTER all my fights happened, but the principle is the same: I started a few fights to avoid having future ones. I chewed on a couple guys. Literally. They were following me home, so I spun around and tried to eat a couple of them. It worked. They stopped bothering me. I slammed a kid through a locker my freshman year. Got two days suspension. Folks never found out because I intercepted the letter and erased the message on the machine. Kept me my lunch and lunch money, though.
    Anyhow, this guy at the club last night never got physical with me, but words can be as vicious as fists and you don't see those kinds of bruises. YEARS this guy tormented me, and he was three years ahead of me, which made it worse. I dealt with his cuts and jabs all through grade school. In fact, he was one of the ones who started calling me CHEWBACCA when I was younger. When I got to high school, it started again, and this time it stuck. But this time, I kept it. I made it mine. Fine, I'll be "CHEWY." What are we gonna do with this? End of freshman year, I went out for football. I did it to get girls at first, I figured the jocks got the girls.
    Yeah, no.
    So this guy was ALSO on the football team. Of COURSE he was. Playing the same position I was going for. Of COURSE he was. I had no idea what I was doing, so idea how to play, I was NEVER very athletic, so of course I wound up getting hurt a couple times. When the other guys started accusing me of faking it, I got mad and played through every injury I had. You know, except the one where I had to wear a neck brace the first week of sophomore year, or when I broke my toe doing shot-put and was on crutches at the end of sophomore year, but anyhow... I wound up going up against this schmuck during practice on a regular basis, and all these years of aggression and rage bubbled up and I plowed him into the ground at least a couple times. One day after practice as we were both leaving, he came up to me (I had been especially aggravated that day and had knocked him on his ass at least three times,) and he said something like "I know I busted your balls for a long time, and you kicked my ass today. What say we're even?"
    I was good with that.
    So I found it a little amusing when I got a hug and fond memories from him last night. It made me think of all the other geeks and nerds out there who didn't have the chances or the ability to fight back the way I did. Maybe it's my nature. Maybe it's my DNA. I'm not sure. What I find encouraging is that as I grow older, I find more like me: nerds and geeks who bucked the system and eschewed that stereotype. People see us and they're frightened, intimidated. I can't even tell you how funny that is. Think about it: you see a guy who's kinda hulked up, big earrings in his ears, wearing all black leather, shaved head, covered in tattoos, looks like he hasn't shaved in a week or so... people move to the other end of the street, lower their eyes and cease conversation as they pass us... an then we resume our Kirk vs. Picard vs. Janeway debate, or how the movies versions of comic movies fare, and who our casting choices in the next Joss Whedon adaptation would be. It's incredible how the times have shifted, how years ago people would have laughed themselves into diapers if they had been told that we would terrify people ten years down the line. Really? Afraid of freaks and geeks?
    Yeah, bitch. Fear me and my Alice In Wonderland and W.B. Yeats tattoos. Be afraid of my Star Wars t-shirt collection and my autographed Kevin Smith Buddy Christ Figure. Be afraid of my mint-in-box action figure collection. Quiver at the sight of my Star Trek Sheets.
    OK, so I don't have Star Trek sheets, but I DO have G.I. Joe and Transformers t-shirts. And I change my ringtones between the theme from FIREFLY, GAME OF THRONES, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, and MEGAMAN 2. I used to walk the dogs with my Harry Potter "Mad Eye Moody" wand in my pocket, just in case I encountered Dementors. I owned an Anakin Skywalker lightsaber until I had to sell it to pay a bill. I. AM. A. NERD. I know it. But you know what? I'm also proud of it. ALmost all my friends are also nerds, and let's be honest: most of them are incredibly hot. We are sexy geeks. E is always telling me how hot I am, and I love it. And we rule the world now. Serious. Think about it. Where would you be without us? You realize cell phones are just Star Trek Communicators that work, right?