Remniscence about an instance where your nerdiness was actually seen as being cool

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In college, I had a friend who would secretly watch Antiques Roadshow while talking about it on the phone with her mother. One day, I walked into her room during one of her Roadshow seesions and could tell she was completely embarassed. But before her mouth to make up some excuse why her television was tuned onto such elderly nerd programming I squeeled about how much I loved Antiques Roadshow. Then I noticed that the appraiser that was on-screen at that moment was Leigh Keno, who I have some strange crush on, and started rambling on about the naughtiness I would do to him if I could get him in bed. Then not a moment later, all these other kids from our floor (including the HOT guy) heard me scream on about Antiques Roadshow and invaded the room and started going on about how they loved it as well. An impromptu party started then and there, where everyone gathered 'round the television, drinking forties, and speculating on the value of old furniture.

who'da thought?

aynone else have any experiences like this?

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

actually I've had similar experiences that also involved Antiques Roadshow.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I had an experience like this involving Neverwinter Nights and Warcraft III.

Oh wait... actually it was just me and two coworkers excitedly talking about armor classes while everyone else walked up to us, muttered "Oh God..." and walked away. RESULT!

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Pretty much every day at the college radio station.

― NA (Nick A.), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

ditto, and also being the part-time music writer at humdrum mid-sized daily.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:33 (twenty-one years ago)

I wish this would happen to me, but I don't think it ever has.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:34 (twenty-one years ago)

i picked up a finnish girl by impressing her with my knowledge of the finnish-russian wars.
not so nerdy if you knew it from school - totally nerdy if you went to a trade school and learnt about it on yer own.

― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Freshman year of high school, in my "everything I wear is made out of metal, leather, or denim" phase, got into an argument with my social studies teacher about the left/right political spectrum and whether a two-dimensional model was worth a damn, and after class one of the other kids said, "Dude, you are the smartest fucking metalhead I know."

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:38 (twenty-one years ago)

was that meant as a compliment¿

― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:40 (twenty-one years ago)

My experience: I'm here, aren't I?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

man, I wish my nerdiness could be more than just a hinderance.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I wish this would happen to me, but I don't think it ever has.
-- El Diablo Robotico (nicolew1...), May 6th, 2004.

did you go to college? all aspects of nerdy and cool go ass-backwards...unless it's one of those state schools where everyone has a sports scholarship

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

omg! i have a weird inappropriate crush on the kenos, too! sadly, i've been told by a reliable source that they're total assholes.

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

when I convinced the foxy girl I'd followed into a comic book store that I was worth her time because among the dozen CDs I'd bought and was showing her was a Patsy Cline best-of.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:45 (twenty-one years ago)

matos dude, do you try and chat up girls by just showing them your CDs?

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:46 (twenty-one years ago)

how is that nerdy, Matos? If it was a Bear Family seven-disc box of radio rehearsal tapes or something, that would be nerdy, but a best-of? Strictly pedestrian.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:47 (twenty-one years ago)

From the standpoint of a fairly musically literate female, any wooing via cds is incredibly, incredibly dorky.

That being said HE FOLLOWED HER INTO A COMIC BOOK STORE HELLO.

― Allyzay, Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

because her eyes would probably glaze over with anything more complicated than a patsy cline best-of.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:51 (twenty-one years ago)

There was this really odd moment or three in high school when random bystanders would watch us kicking hacky-sack with respect and admiration for our craft, and even applaud at the occasional super-tricky stall or save.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

If he had the Cowboy Bebop remix cd, she would've married him.

― Allyzay, Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

omg! i have a weird inappropriate crush on the kenos, too! sadly, i've been told by a reliable source that they're total assholes.
-- lauren (jaguarrid...), May 6th, 2004.

that's a shame! i've even done some googling to see if leigh is married, and it looks like he isn't (i'm not so into lesley)....i've been tempted to visit Leigh Keno Antiques on the upper east side just to check him out in person. but he's an assholes?!?!!? this is very disappointing. i still wouldn't mind a romp with him though--as long as hit personality doesn't get in the way of his prowess in bed.

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I did attend university -- but it was just one of those things where I am pretty shy and my geekery just never worked to my advantage.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I have been tempted to talk to cute girls in comic shops, you know being on home ground and everything.

from now on, I am carrying the following CD's wherever I go:

Poison - Greatest Hits
Best of Heart
Weezer - Pinkerton
Journey - Escape

Expect wedding invitations soon.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:54 (twenty-one years ago)

i never thought of going by the shop! good idea. i can't remember if i was told that both are jerks, or just one. assholishness or not, they fascinate me. i wonder about their home life. what kind of parent in this day and age thinks that it's a good idea to call twin boys leigh and leslie?

― lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 6 May 2004 17:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Heh, in junior high I would make homemade stickers for classmates on my Apple IIGS and Imagewriter II printer (*color* dot matrix! hell yeah.), and they would be strangely thrilled at receiving these address labels with the following phrases printed on them:

"Huey Lewis and the News - Sports"
"Impeach Reagan"
"Genesis" (in that angular font)
"Pink Floyd" (with a small crude rendering of the prism rainbow thingie)
"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (with a crude rendering of the lips)
...and some others I can't remember right now. Come to think of it, I think I actually *sold* some of these feeble stickers.

― Ernest P. (ernestp), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

ha, I was a comic book fan who started a zine and ended up as a comic book editor - that made me cool in that super-nerdy world.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:03 (twenty-one years ago)

i read their bio on pbs.org....they're definitely WASPs who grew up with an obsession for antiques (god, i find it so hot how nerdy they are!). maybe their ancestors came in off the mayflower.

it also says they had their own band. leigh played drums....and so does my boyfriend....and so did many other men i was involved with. i'm normally not into WASPs--maybe it was the drummer vibe that's drawing me in.

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)

was that meant as a compliment¿

I'm really not sure -- in high school, I dropped out of all the honors nonsense, and ended up with a reputation as a troublemaker for a couple of reasons, so people tended to forget I was smart. But "smartest metalhead," well, you know.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

ha, I was a comic book fan who started a zine and ended up as a comic book editor - that made me cool in that super-nerdy world.
-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), May 6th, 2004.

i think once you show you can profit off your nerdiness, it becomes cool in many people's eyes...or maybe that's just my silicon valley upbringing showing through.

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

uh, bill gates /= cool.

― dyson (dyson), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

A bunch of times involving me quoting some obscure line from Farscape, Star Trek TNG, Preacher, or the like in order to make my girlfriend swoon.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

bill gates isn't silicon valley--he's soooo seattle!

i'm talking more about steve jobs, the google guys, and....er....all those other people whose names have been erased from memory ever since i moved to new york.

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Steve Jobs isn't cool, he's deranged!

― VengaDan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:26 (twenty-one years ago)

plus, i didn't say those billionaires tech-geeks themselves are seen as cool....but that attitudes towards having the knowledge of computer/internet technology have become more positive.

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

10 years ago there was a guy who hated me because I was American, and then I remarked on his Noam Chomsky book and he invited me out to see some "bangin techno"

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

wow, i would never associate chomsky and "bangin techno"....that's pretty fuckin sweet.

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Does Chomsky consider bangin' techno to be the Universal Grammar of music, perhaps?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)

hmmm and maybe....

Deep House is the deep structure of--

....ah shit. nevermind, it sounded clever two seconds before i started typing.....

― waxyjax (waxyjax), Thursday, 6 May 2004 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

hahaha HOW 1994 IS THAT SHIT.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 6 May 2004 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

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