What makes you geeky?

[Acquana]

I went to college to get a degree in comic books.

 

[Desdichado]

Ooh! That was on my Christmas list but no one bought it for me. How is it?

It's phenomenal. I really like it. Brilliant work. It's diametrically opposed to Colin Renfrew's theories, and in fact, Mallory makes no secret of what he thinks of Renfrews theories (although always in a professional manner!)

As an aside, I've found the author to be a very friendly and approachable chap as well. We had a short email correspondence after I looked at some reviews on Amazon that called his book out of date. I wondered if I was out of touch (possible; I don't have easy access to a good academic library anymore) or if these were just Renfrew groupies (turns out it was the latter; Mallory says mainstream archeology/anthropology/linguistics still goes with Gimbutas' kurgan theory).

I also highly recommend the book Mallory co-authored with Victor Mair on the Tarim Basin mummies. Again, the Amazon reviews call it dry and too technical, without making enough spectacular speculation, but that was a point in it's favor in my opinion.

 

[barsoomcore]

My geekiness is far outweighed by my goofiness.




I mean, my roguish charm.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

My number one hobby is reading science fiction and fantasy novels

I used to get get dressed up and go to a place where we would go on live adventures (beat each other up with weapons made of PVC pipe wrapped in foam). Praise to St. Muckley!

My friends and I still hope to one day be rich and open up a new place like that - complete with castle for having a siege and dungeon with modular walls for varying layouts.

 

[IronWolf]

I play D&D.....

 

[Turanil]

I tried to convince my wife to name our first child after my current character.

Deplorable!!

 

[BiggusGeekus]

I also highly recommend the book Mallory co-authored with Victor Mair on the Tarim Basin mummies.

Victor Mair signed that book for me. I played D&D with his son back in high school. No lie.


Why I am a geek:

* When I go to meetings, I use the margins of my notepad to make characaters using the standard array for attributes.
* I am currently in the middle of watching all the commentary clips from the LotR RotK EE.
* I use phrases like "LotR RotK EE" around people knowing full well that I don't have to spell out the anacronym.
* I have played video games multiple times if I know they have different endings based on what you do rather than just downloading a patch that lets me crack the game and see the 10 second clip for myself.
* My wife vetoed naming our daughter "Galadriel" and then went on to tell me that "Arwen" was also out even before I got to ask her. I'm proud to say "Eowyn" made her think a bit.
* My wife has come to recognize that "Are you going to watch Firefly all night" is a stupid question in our household.
* I would rather attempt a computer repair for myself even if it takes three weeks rather than consult one professional for ten minutes.
* I have purchased the entire Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander for my daughter so we'll have it when she's old enough to read it .... in about ten years.

I'm a strange, sad little man.

 

[fusangite]

Well, here's my hastily-composed list:
1. I do not have a proper job (I'm a graduate student).
2. I have been single for 9 years.
3. I prefer to model D&D combats using lego figures.
4. I play D&D.
5. I weigh over 200lbs.
6. There is no discernable difference between what I read when I'm studying and what I read for fun.
7. I study religious history.
8. I hate all sports and any form of exercise other than walking.
9. I do not know how to drive.
10. I keep the D&D core rules near the computer so I can argue about them with people on ENWorld.
11. My family and friends felt they understood me better after watching Adaptation.
12. The other graduate students consider me to be exceptionally geeky and eccentric.
13. I am arhythmic.
14. I squeal with excitement when people tell me little known and obscure facts.
15. I painstakingly taped Dr. Who episodes for 10 years on a local cable station, edited out the commercials, put the 25 minute episode breaks back in to assemble approximately 220 hours of tape comprising nearly every episode of the show ever aired in its 26 year history.
16. I own my own 17' multicoloured scarf.
17. One third of a newspaper article covering my retirement after 13 years in politics was a description of my character in Teflon Billy's Mutants and Masterminds game. When one opens the newspaper to that page, one is immediately confronted with a picture of me and a blown-up quote stating "My character was a giant 9' tall bear with a tungsten carbide skeleton who could shoot deadly laser beams from his eyes."
18. If I get drunk, my friends sometimes bait me into reciting all the postal codes I have somehow memorized and what area they correspond to. (V0R 1T0 is Denman Island)
19. The last thread I started was an attempt to argue the pressing relevance of the philosophy of Aristotle to D&D.
20. I still lust after Carole Cleveland.

 

[Stone Angel]

I am not a geek!


The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[Tanager]

...with a copy of In Search of the Indo-Europeans by J.P. Mallory, that I had bought because I liked to reread it so much.

And of course, my fascination with linguistics was directly inspired by reading Tolkien long before anyone had thought of making the movies.

Just out of curiosity, have you read Calvert Watkins How to Kill a Dragon (Aspects of Indo-European Poetics) ?