The Original Nerd: Steve Urkel

There may or may not be others out there who know what I mean when I say I’m a selective nerd. But suffice it to say that I’d like to better inform those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, and to call out for reinforcements from those who are like me. If you know me and weren’t aware of this aspect of my being, I apologize for being so closed mouthed about the situation. This post is to rectify that oversight.

What is a selective nerd you ask? Someone who has specific things they like that are most often deemed ‘nerdy’ but prefer not to be shoveled in amongst all the true nerds — as they would then be exposed to ridicule for not knowing who the Silver Surfer is (or any of those other obscure facts that defines the true nerds).

Selective nerds tend to know many facts about specific subjects within the nerd realm. Many of my friends and general acquaintance know how much of a book nerd I am. I’ll choose books over concerts any day of the week — the fact that my brain is incapable of remembering more than 3 musicians and the songs they sing at one time has forever relegated me into being a habitual nerd. Rare is the day where I’m not carrying around a book I’m currently reading, and now that I have a kindle app on my phone it’s now virtually impossible cause I always have my phone.

In addition to being a book nerd I consider myself a selective nerd because I truly do enjoy Star Trek. However I am selective in my liking of it. I don’t watch episode after episode, I don’t know the plots backwards and forwards, and I definitely don’t speak klingon. I do however really like the Star Trek The Original Series, Star Trek The Next Generation and Star Trek Voyager. I haven’t scene Star Trek Enterprise or any of the Star Trek movies and I can’t stand Star Trek Deep Space Nine (although perhaps I haven’t given it a fair shake as I haven’t watched all the episodes, but there you go).

Other than books most of my nerdiness comes from what I watch. I own a few things pertaining to those things that I love, but I’m not an avid collector. Those things that I love boil down to five main things each with a few subsets. They are:

1. Sailor Moon/Anime (not all anime, in addition to Sailor Moon I watch/watched Digimon, Card Captors, and Escaflowne) – On any given Saturday in my childhood and for 3 months straight in 2009 I had Sailor Moon episodes traipsing across my tv and my computer screen. As a child I even invented a side-story/fan-fiction in my head where I was another Sailor Scout. Who knows maybe I’ll write it down as a short story or graphic novel someday. Revisiting my love for Sailor Moon is the reason why it took me almost 6 months to write chapter 3 of my novel Lasera. 😛

2. Power Rangers – as a kid I’d watch Power Rangers side by side with Sailor Moon. Along with me being a Sailor Scout, I also invented a Purple Power Ranger. I watched the original series as a young kid and then got back into the series a lot right around Power Rangers in Space. I used to record the episodes (yes with a vcr and vhs tape) well into my teen years. I stopped watching when they hit Power Rangers Light Speed Rescue –again showing my selective nerdness– I didn’t like that the Rangers were no longer teens/young adults but adults with professions.

3. Everything Star – This includes Star Wars and all the afore mentioned Star Trek Series. Star Wars was one of the best things that happened to me for the science-fiction/fantasy imaginative side of my brain. Plus I couldn’t help but love the kick butt Captain Janeway.

4. Lord of the Rings – To all my friends and family that put up with my LOTR obsession all through high school, thank you for your patience. At the time, if anyone asked me any named character in the Lord of the Rings movies, I could tell them the name of the actor or actress who played them. I also performed three scenes from Lord of the Rings for my drama class (two of them in Elvish) and for my 18th birthday I watched all three extended edition LOTR DVDs marathon style (11.5 hours without all the appendices). My selectiveness with this aspect? I draw the line at owning hobbit feet.

5. Superheroes – I love X-Men. I love Spider Man. (Oh and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine? Heck yes!) I loved watching the Justice League and the Avengers. Smallville is a show I’ve loved for a really long time. I do however tend to show my selective nerdness all too often when speaking to others about it. I really like the stories and who they are and the plots are wicked cool, but alas I’m no where near as obsessed as my true nerd counterparts. My knowledge of Superheroes is limited to movies, animated series and what I slowly retain from online resources. Sorry, never read a comic book — hence my selective nerd status in this.

When it comes to these subjects and ideas I happily proclaim my nerdness. But I empasize my selectiveness about it. This post is a good look into the craziness that is my brain, but I hope that if there are other nerds out there (true nerds are welcome but most especially selective nerds) stand up and be counted, cause I’m here to say it’s more than ok to be a nerd.
***If you want to know more about any of these subjects visit the Fun Stuff page. 😀

Cheers!

~Danielle