Early Evidence That You Were A Nerd

[Emher]

Yeah, I was kinda self regulating about that stuff as well. But more about movies to be honest. I was really afraid for a lot of stuff in films for a long time. Then I saw Jaws and Starship Troopers at age 13, and it was downhill from there...

[Grey]

Wow. Reading through this thread, I can safely say that being really smart and gifted is not one of the reasons I knew I was a nerd. I was a pretty average kid, intelligence-wise.

I guess I'd say I knew I was a nerd when it became apparent that I was socially awkward and preferred my interests (video games) over trying to impress anyone. Which is good, because I would have impressed no one!

I spent all my time wishing there were such things as devices that would allow us to play playstation games in our hands, TVs built into cars, the internet. And then when I got older I had an anime/manga phase, which morphed into a general animation/comics focus, which is where I am now.

Comparatively speaking, I am late to the Star Trek party. But better late than never!

[Ulva]

Emher wrote:

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I'm fascinated by buildings in general.

I realised a bit late in life that I really like architecture, both housing and landscape. In school I never seemed to grasp maths, but when I started studying landscape engineering and had to calculate mass and strength for durability, I realised I didn't have any issues with maths. I had issues with teachers. In hindsight I am disappointed, because I would have loved to study architecture, had I realised it wasn't me being a maths illiterate, but someone not being able to catch my attention. I should have known, because had no problem with physics, as long as it was astronomy or nuclear science. Electricity however, they could keep. I hated every second of it.

Grey wrote:

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Comparatively speaking, I am late to the Star Trek party. But better late than never!

So was I. Which isn't strange since TOS aired only in 1977 during 8 weeks and then we were supposed to be done with it. I remember it vaguely. TNG started airing here in 1994, and then I was the right age and in the right place, because I'd had my first child 1½ months earlier and was home all the time and had the telly on. A friend of mine who was smitten by the Star Trek fever when TOS aired, got all fired up when I mentioned I was watching TNG and after that, things were never the same again. I was bitten.

[Sigokat]

[QUOTE=Ulva;7729291][QUOTE=Emher;7727059 A friend of mine who was smitten by the Star Trek fever when TOS aired, got all fired up when I mentioned I was watching TNG and after that, things were never the same again. I was bitten. [/QUOTE]

This made me think about something similar that happened to me, but not with Trek.

Last time I was in Iraq a friend was helping me move my gear from one living quarters to another. He saw that I was currently reading Ender's Game and got all super excited and started asking if I was going to read the rest of the series so he would have someone to talk to about it.

I told him that while I was enjoying the book I didn't think I'd continue with the series as my other friend that had lent me the book told me the following books got a little strange.

He looked so heartbroken when I said that.

[iguana_tonante]

Kestra wrote:

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What's some of the early evidence that you were a nerd?

I did the encyclopaedia reading thing, and when I finished them all, I branched out to dictionaries.

[Emher]

Ulva wrote:

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I realised a bit late in life that I really like architecture, both housing and landscape. In school I never seemed to grasp maths, but when I started studying landscape engineering and had to calculate mass and strength for durability, I realised I didn't have any issues with maths. I had issues with teachers. In hindsight I am disappointed, because I would have loved to study architecture, had I realised it wasn't me being a maths illiterate, but someone not being able to catch my attention. I should have known, because had no problem with physics, as long as it was astronomy or nuclear science. Electricity however, they could keep. I hated every second of it.

I just don't have a head for numbers I would have loved to have gone into studiying geography (another love of mine) at the university, but you needed Maths C done for that. I barely finished Maths B.

[Finn]

I did the encyclopedia/textbook thing too. Also, being able to explain the characteristics of a mammal at the age of three probably would do it.

[Deckerd]

I didn't read encyclopedias and I only rediscovered ST when I was in my 30s, although I remember being addicted to the original series when I was a child. Nerd credentials = 0.

[Pingfah]

Yeah, I used to occasionally catch TNG at 6pm on BBC2 and had seen the original cast movies and a few TOS episodes, but I didn't really get into Star Trek until after DS9 had finished its run.

Sci-Fi has been more of an adulthood discovery for me, I was more of a horror fan when I was a kid. I used to love prosthetics, and always had an issue of Fangoria on me.

[trampledamage]

I didn't read encyclopedias, my addiction was the big National Geographic Atlas of the World that my mum owned. I loved looking through that thing - I still love maps. My sister credits my first desire to move to Canada to the time when I read the population density statistics in the atlas

I grew up in a sci-fi household though, so that was normal for me. I remember trying to impress my dad with my reading and saying "I'm reading books by Harry Harrison, have you ever read any of his?" - his reply being "read him? I've met him."

[TorontoTrekker]

trampledamage wrote:

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I grew up in a sci-fi household though, so that was normal for me. I remember trying to impress my dad with my reading and saying "I'm reading books by Harry Harrison, have you ever read any of his?" - his reply being "read him? I've met him."

Nice. (I never met Mr. Harrison, myself. I'm sure we were probably at the same con once or twice, but our paths never crossed.)

I don't remember this clearly, but I know that my parents took me to a child psychologist who recommended that they send me to a private school that's run by the University of Toronto, but they didn't do that. I was probably about 4 at the time, so there was clearly a perception that I was of above-average intelligence.

I do remember that when I was about 5, my father started taking me to meetings of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. I still own a pretty good reference book about the constellations that has "Christmas 1973" written inside the front cover in my father's handwriting (I was 6 at the time). That was probably one of the earliest hints of my geekiness.

Around the same time, I was building dinosaur models with a friend who lived down the street. He later lost interest in geeky pursuits, and in fact, he contributed to making my life a living hell later, in high school because I wasn't one of the "cool kids" that he preferred to hang out with. (I ran into him about ten years ago at a theatre event, and he apologized, and we've kept in touch over Facebook.)

Around that same time, I was also reading a lot - I remember having an anthology by Roger Elwood that I read several times over, which included stories by Lester del Rey, Poul Anderson, Barry Malzberg, Robert Bloch, Dean Koontz and Philip Jose Farmer. I also read a fair bit of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke back then - Bradbury from the library, and Asimov and Clarke from my father's book collection.

It was probably around that same time that I first saw Star Trek - "The Devil In the Dark" being the first episode I saw, and "A Taste Of Armageddon" following shortly thereafter. I didn't really get into it in a big way until the summer between grades 7 and 8, when I turned 11.

It was probably inevitable, but if you'd asked me back then whether I thought I'd ever be friends with any the people who created this stuff, I would have told you to stop being ludicrous.

[Nerys Myk]

I did the read the encyclopedia thing, too. Glad to know I'm not the only one. I blame that on my parents always telling me to "look it up". After a while I was reading it for fun. Guess my parents go their money's worth out of that set. I also loved reading through the sets of books on American History and Science they bought for us. Another favorite read was a collection of myths and legends. My earliest nerd moment was wondering why the Thor in the comics wasn't like the Thor in the myths. I was big reader, always getting gold stars for that in school. Once I even checked out the book the teacher was reading to us, because it was taking too long. Now I have to read, its like an addiction. I read, billboards, road signs, cereal boxes, bumper stickers. Anything with words on it that's in eyesight. Also, I tend to comment on what I read, which drives the wife crazy.

Art was another nerd thing. I was always drawing. Superheroes were a favorite subject and I started making my own comics. I still have a drawing pad in my car and will draw at lunch when the mood strikes.

I sucked at sports, too. Funny that I had the eye hand coordination to draw but not to throw a ball. The only sport I was decent in was swimming. That was the result of watching too many movies where Tarzan fought crocodiles.

Oh yeah, and I watched a lot of Star Trek.

[1001001]

Okay, I have to admit to this Encyclopedia thing as well.

That's a really interesting phenomenon. So many of us have mentioned it, it must be a solid predictor.

[RandyS]

1001001 wrote:

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Okay, I have to admit to this Encyclopedia thing as well.

That's a really interesting phenomenon. So many of us have mentioned it, it must be a solid predictor.

Okay, I guess we'll have to add me to that list. I use an encyclopedia every now and then too, and have for decades.

I honestly didn't know THAT made me a nerd.

I guess I should turn in my pocket protector, huh?