January 22, 2009

• Ode to Supernerd.

  Today I was looking at a picture from my 2007 escapade to Los Angeles, for one of the biggest Star Wars conventions ever held - the thirty year anniversary party, if you will. The picture is of a balding, middle-aged man in white tube socks and dark brown Jesus sandals, with his dark brown Jedi robe (looking conspicuously like a cape) draped proudly over his slightly hunched shoulders.

  At first, I just grinned. "Typical..." I giggled, "supernerd."

  But then I thought... I wonder what he's like. I took his picture from behind on a palm-tree-laden Los Angeles sidewalk, but I don't know his name. Maybe it's something cute and slightly amusing like Lenny or Kevin (Spongebob & jellyfishing, anyone?) or, best of all, Luke or Ben. Or maybe it's something classic like Charles or William or Richard.

  Maybe he lives alone with a huge computer that's tricked out for online gaming, and the newest Xbox 360 (or Playstation 3, whichever you prefer), with every game he loves stacked on his shelves. Or maybe he works a 9-to-5 to support his lovely wife and two beautiful kids. Maybe he named his son Anakin because he liked that it's actually been adopted as an American name that means "Warrior". Or maybe he named his daughter Annie - a perfectly innocent and non-embarrassing name that would only be made embarrassing if he gushed about how he named her after Darth Vader in his younger years.

  Maybe he writes fanfiction, because his job is unfulfilling and he always secretly wanted to be a novelist. Maybe he shares his childhood action figures with his kids because his father bought them for him, because his father loved the movies first and passed on his passion for the saga to his son.

  Maybe that makes him silly or goofy, or abnormal.

  But it also makes him a dreamer.

  So here's to us. The geeks, the gamers, the nerds and the losers. The outcast and the superhero. The forgotten and the found.

  Because our hearts are still dreaming.
  And our head shots are flawless.

   

  

  • 9:38 pm
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