The Little Things

Since becoming a Nerdfighter, I've defined the difference between geeks and nerds. Sometimes the words are used interchangeably, but I believe they are very different indeed.

GEEKS: Geeks are people who excel in some area, like math or science (although it could be anything else). They can be social outcasts simply because no one relates to their love of their craft. They realize that they are geeks, but they don't love and appreciate it about themselves. They might be self-conscious about it.

NERDS: Nerds are like a awesomer version of geeks. They don't have to excel in anything in particular, though they often do (even if it's just a voracious appetite for reading). The difference is that nerds realize that being a nerd is awesome and they embrace it. Being a nerd is something you love, whereas being a geek is just something you are. Nerds really like stuff.

Being a nerd, as John put it, is allowing yourself to unsarcastically like stuff, and I think it's also letting yourself do things you like to do, no matter how unusual, simply because you like them. After that if you really love doing things that are unique and special and weird, that makes you aNerdfighter. Sense?

Now for the categorization...

First and foremost, I'm a book nerd. I love to read and discuss books. I love characters. I love stories. I love good books. I love Harry Potter. You two both expanded on this so I will brieflydivulge my Harry story:

When I was sevenish, my mom and sister were reading Harry Potter. I wanted to as well, because anything my sister did was something I wanted to do. My mom said they were a bit advanced for me and set a goal: when I finished all the Magic Tree house books, she and I could read HP together. I agreed. I then went on to devour the remaining twenty books in two weeks. Looking back I wonder what would have happened if Harry Potter hadn't lived up to my expectations. But it did. So I read the first four on my own and fell in love (reading with my mom was way too slow seeing as she had four kids and was pretty busy). I waited for the fifth, and then the sixth and then the last. In between (and after) I re-read the books multiple times. It's sort of embarrassing to me that I've read Deathly Hallows so many times I've lost track. I used to fall asleep listening to the audiobook on my iPod. For years I would talk about HP constantly. Whether Snape was good or evil was a conversation my family revisited every week. (I knew he had to be good)

Apart from Harry, I like reading Jane Austen, simply to have read Jane Austen and I think I will set a goal next year of reading one classic each month and then blog about it.

And then there's the other wonderful book series and authors like John Green, The Mortal Instruments, Sarah Dessen, Suzanne Collins, etc.

I think it's the little things, too, that make me nerdy, I wrote this blog post yesterday about that.

1. I like to make lists.
2. I love to dance (even if there's no music).
3. I love musicals.
4. I love making obscure references.
5. I love to laugh (even when no one said anything funny).
6. I love to play dress-up.
7. I like to skip down sidewalks and hallways.
8. I like to stand in the pouring rain.
9. I like to run the last bit home.
10. I like to watch foreign films and documentaries.
11. I like waving signs at the side of the road.
12. I love bumper stickers.
13. I love dropping spare change.
14. I am an environmentalist.
15. I'm an activist.
16. I like to be informed on global issues.
17. I like to talk in an English accent.
18. I like riddles (even though I'm terrible at them).
19. I like knock knock jokes.
20. As Rena said, I'm a Nerdfighter Nerd (I love being a Nerdfighter.)
21. I blog.