The Beauty in the Geek

Okay. I admit it. In some points I consider myself a geek. Not a nerd but a geek. Believe it or not there's a difference between the two.

I found out that 'NERDS' are your usual unusual dressers who choose to go to Star Trek conventions over parties. They have above-average IQ and devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits with few gifts at small talk and ordinary social rituals.

On the other hand, 'GEEKS' are "people who have chosen concentration rather than conformity; they pursue skills (especially technical skill) and imagination, not mainstream social acceptance. And that they are neophiliac in nature. Which means they get easily pleased, excited and aroused with new things. They won't stop until they have extinguished the burning fire of discovering, learning and mastering something, anything. From Nintendo family console, to Gameboy, to computers and internets. Name it! They hacked it!

Pop-quiz # 1. Is it a nerd or a geek who has a stash of assorted pens and pencils as a collection?

I have fetish for pens and pencils. I go to a bookstore or a supplies store just to marvel at the array of pens and pencils in racks after racks after racks. To touch them and smell them and try them all out is a total experience. And paper too! I would buy ream after ream of colored paper, parchment, linen, bond, board and so on. Not to mention books! A bookstore is like an oasis that rejuvenates me every after visit.

Being a geek and loving it. I wonder if Bill Gates, the richest geek alive, started his empire by fixing transistor radios and re-cabling telephones like I did. I love fixing things. Opening them up and putting them back together. With 60% success-rate, I'm not that bad.

Nerdy-geek? Geeky-nerd? I don't know! Whatever category I fall into, I hope to put a whole new meaning to being different. To standing out. For whatever you choose to do or choose to be, what matters is that you are happy!

Written: Sunday October 28, 2007 - 03:16am