Welcome to Geekdom level 6

I am a geek. This is not news. I'd say there are many aspects to my geekiness. I am a complete nerd when it comes to films (armed with an encyclopedic knowledge of who was in what and when), and suffer from a not insignificant obsession with all things culinary. However, this post is referring to the more classic definition of a geek as the evidence in support of the aforementioned is overwhelming. This post is highly biased towards what came to mind when I was writing it, so therefore I am using the Steph Geekiness Scale (TM) to assess myself. This scale can be applied to others, but I take no responsibility for the results...

Today I feel I progressed up the geekiness scale by a level. I have moved from being the kind of person who borrows graphic novels off other people, to someone who buys them. Yes, I impulse bought the first Scott Pilgrim graphic novel this morning. Splendid. Like the abundance of people who've recently bought it (thus making it out of stock in most shops and meaning it'll take 2 weeks to arrive), I became aware of it through the upcoming film adaptation currently being directed by Edgar Wright.


So what other evidence supports my level 6 status...

1) I read xkcd. I understand at least 85% of the jokes. I have this and this stuck up in my bay at work. Enough said.

2) There are other 9 webcomics on my GoogleReader subscription list (Scary Go Round, Questionable Content, Cyanide and Happiness, Bunny Comic, A Softer World, Exploding Dog, Amazing Super Powers, Pictures For Sad Children and Tiny Ghosts). Feel free to suggests additions to the list. I own t-shirts making references to the aforementioned webcomics.

3) I use Linux at work. I am fluent in 2 programming languages and can get by in about another 3 or 4. Plus, I know regular expressions...

4) I subconciously make xkcd references.

5) When my mp3 player broke recently, my first response was to take it apart, replace the battery, and when that didn't work, go down to the lab at work and start probing around with a multimeter. I didn't find out what was wrong with it, but it was fun.

6) I've read enough graphic novels to need two hands to count them (Watchmen, Ghost World, Persepolis, Sandman 1-3 and Atomic Robo).

7) I can successfully have an indepth conversation about Cryptography after consuming several glasses of Sangria.

8) There was a geek test that went round work a while ago. One of the questions was, "Are you female and taking this test". This instantly upped your geek rating by 10%. *sigh*

9) When I tell people what I do for a job, 60% adopt a confused glazed eyed smile and nodding approach. The other 40% make a perceptive comment about how not many girls do that. Really? I hadn't noticed...

10) I'm a bit of a nut about sci fi and fantasy stuff. Terry Pratchett, LOTR, Battlestar Galactica, Nightwatch, Firefly, John Wyndham, Star Wars (the original ones)...

11) Steampunk stuff makes me happy...

12) The last computer game I played was called Crayon Physics. It was awesome. I appreciate the delights of a computer game where objects obey the laws of gravity and motion.

13) The King of Kong was one of the best documentaries I saw last year, even though I've never played Donkey Kong.


My defence of not yet being a level 7 geek is as follows:

1) I still don't understand 15% of xkcd jokes. Mostly the ones about Python. And I'm happy about that.

2) I don't own a soldering iron or multimeter. I feel I am letting the electronic engineering profession down, but nevermind.

3) I don't need to use my toes to measure my graphic novel tally. Yet.

4) I don't have linux installed on my home computer system. My sister and I don't have our computers networked. It's all ok, the world hasn't fallen apart.

5) I've never played WoW. I do however know what MMORPG stands for.

6) The last time I played a computer game (see point 12 above) was over 6 months ago. It wasn't mine. I don't own a console.

7) I'm so up to date with buying the latest gadgets, my tv came from freecycle and I still have VHS tapes and a player.

I rest my case...