The Foundations of Geek: A Blog Challenge

I love a blog challenge and Jason Vey at The Wasted Lands posted a geeky one: http://wastedlandsfantasy.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-foundations-of-geek-blog-challenge.html

I've always thought of myself as a geek.

My uncle Scot (who's more like a big brother than an uncle, only being 7 years older than me), was a geek. In my early years he was my biggest influence. He read comic books, watched GI Joe, and had all sorts of action figures. Though he doesn't consider himself that much of a geek anymore (he's more interested in Fantasy Football), he planted the seed. I still remember how excited I was collecting all of the Reign of the Supermen comics with him. I think this is why superheroes are still my favorite geek thing.

In third grade I was put in a Talented and Gifted class once a week and that's where I met my first best friend, Chad. He was a year older than me and totally nerdy. We hit it off really fast. It was through Chad that I learned about D&D. His older brother played and we used to sit and look at the books. We even "played" D&D. And by that I mean we made up D&D stories and used our action figures to act out adventures. Well, less than year later Chris had taught Chad to play and then Chad taught me.

Also about that time I watched the original Hobbit cartoon. I can remember the following Monday heading to the library to get the book (and a copy of The Three Musketeers). This was when my love for fantasy was really cemented. After that I devoured every fantasy paperback I could found (especially the Dragonlance books).

The special edition Star Wars flicks were released when I was in 7th grade. Yeah I know that everyone hated the changes, but I was excited. I liked Star Wars, but had never had a chance to see them in theaters. That was also, the year I moved from Ohio to Oklahoma and honestly I needed those movies. I wasn't happy with reality at the time so Star Wars was my escape.

In 8th grade I moved back to Ohio and met Wirty. He was Chad's new friend. I was amazed to find out that not only did Wirty play D&D, but so did his mom, dad, and one of his little brothers (the other would later play, he was just really young at the time). We played lots of D&D and shared in many geeky misadventures.

In high school we added Josh, our fourth man, to the mix. We played lots of D&D, White Wolf, and homebrew rpg's. We're still all good friends and try to get together to game once or twice a month. It was also during this time that I developed my love for monster and horror flicks (which I still have to this day).

One of the geekiest things I've done is skip my one and only prom to go to a Star Wars convention. My friend James and I were single (go figure) and we'd talked his mom into taking us to Indianapolis for the weekend to attend Star Wars Celebration II. I had a great time.

The last important event in my life that is flavored by geekiness is the birth of my one (and only) child. My ex-wife was a bit of a geek herself and agreed to let me name our son after my favorite comic book character. On March 24, 2009 we welcomed Grayson into the world. He is my little boy wonder.He's not even four yet, but he loves superheroes and nerdcore rap (plus he can recognize the word Mjolnir and knows what it is). He plays with my action figures and looks through my books. He always wants to "play dice" when daddy's friends are over gaming. 

So that's why I'm geeky. How about you?