The last 24 hours have been quite unsettling for me, as I have come dangerously close to being branded a nerd, geek, or some other derivative thereof, on two separate occasions. And not necessesarily in a negative context, either! The first was implied, and the second, was rather heartfelt. But be that as it may, I'm now having somewhat of an identity crisis.

Nerd. Oh, how loosely I've thrown that term around in days of old. I remember in high school, where studying for one test for even half an hour would result in me announcing with equal parts pride and shame, "I feel like a total nerd!" to which David (Fenton) would enthusiastically respond, "me too... I even studied!" ...We were so naive.

These days I attend the University of Winnipeg, where I take great joy in schooling the heck out of some of the first years whom I attend classes with. I don't think my effort-to-output ratio has really stepped it up much since high school; I was a slacker then, and I'm a slacker now. Of course, there are others who school me with their work ethic and sheer nerdlike research methods. Am I becoming one of them? And if so, is there any hope?

Dictionary.com defines a nerd as:
1. a stupid, irritating, ineffectual, or unattractive person.
2. an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit: a computer nerd.

Now, for all my life I've rested easy with the assumption that this term could not practically, literally, operatively apply to me. Even if I were to skate the edges occasionally, there is no way that I could ever really, truly be a nerd. However, the events of the last few days have made me question my own judgement.

Yesterday, I was hanging out with a delightful new friend in the InterFaith room, and MySpace led to YouTube, where I introduced said friend to the numa numa video parodies, which, I must say, I was shocked that he had never been exposed to before, given his penchant for watching silly videos of that variety on YouTube.

After which he explained to me about a board game called "Diplomacy," which is sort of a mix of Risk, Settlers of Catan, Poleconomy(?), Survivor(?!), and civilized negotiations. In this game you consult and negotiate with other players about strategies, alliances, etc, before taking your turn. Then everyone submits and executes their moves at the same time! You can either hold true to your promises and negotiations, or you can take advatage of the trust and priveledged information to work your own dastardly schemes. The game appealed to me for its political and, let's be frank, Survivor-like factors, so I expressed interest in playing sometime, with the stipulation that there would be other girls playing, as it always sucks to be outnumbered.

To which my "friend" insinuated that I am a nerd.

Alright, alright, what he really said was that when you're getting into a game that nerdy, females are few and far between. (Or something to that effect).

Which I took personally, until he pointed out that I happened to be wearing my "I HEART Nerds" t-shirt that day. To which I had no defensible argument left. (P.S.- It's a SUPERMAN shirt... Clark Kent is in the HEART. So what I'm really saying is I love nerds- with super powers!)

So what do I do? Admit defeat? Am I a nerd? Or just nerdy by association?

To make matters worse...

Yesterday, on the bus ride home, I was chatting with another wonderful new friend I've made, and at some point he began explaining to me his recent trip to The Source (which I shall forever call Radioshack), to pick up this converter that translates coaxial input into RCA output, to which I butt in, "Oh, an RF Modulator?" Said friend was incredibly impressed (but confused) that I knew what he was talking about, so I told him I used to work at Radioshack. This sort of shock and awe look flooded his face as he said something about how unusual it is to find a girl who knows what she's talking about in regards to tech stuff.

I groaned. Inwardly, and outwardly. I told him I was a little sensitive to "nerd" association that day, and despite his obvious complimentary intent, I wasn't feeling any better about it.

So I've been thinking on it. And I think the matter is out of my hands. Does interest and rudimentary knowledge substantiate nerdiness? Have I crossed over to the dark side? And is there light at the end of this dark season of the soul? (Yes, I know I'm mixing metaphors.) This is a question better left in the hands of my (three) readers. Please, be honest, be brutally honest. I can take it! It's better to know now and face the truth than to live a lie! So please, leave your comments, your opinions, and your pronouncements here.

With hope,
~Kelly