Confessions of a Nerd, Volume I

Originally published in the Righetti High School Legend, September 2008

As the name of my column implies, I am a nerd. I sleep with a dictionary and a thesaurus by my bed. I had the name of my favorite element on the periodic table (antimony) custom embroidered on the back of my Converse high-tops. I have a 93-volume collection of graphic novels and I freak out if any of their pages get bent. Heck, I=m in the school marching band, carry an inhaler and wear glasses. That just about seals the stereotype.

It=s not easy being a nerd. One need only watch a bit of T.V. to see how often we get mistreated. Nerdy characters get ostracized and beaten up by other characters. And to add insult to swirly-induced injury, mainstream television writers tend to portray anyone with glasses or a penchant for chess as an unappealing snobbish mouth-breather with little or no redeeming qualities beyond intellect.

But nerdiness has an upside. School is infinitely easier when one actually enjoys learning. If there=s a secret to getting straight A=s, it is probably enthusiasm. And as one spends the majority of one=s young life in school, liking school seems the sensible option for staying sane as well.

For me, now that I=ve overcome the intensely awkward days of elementary school and junior high, I=m enjoying being an overachiever and I=ve come to terms with my tendency to obsess. I=m reclaiming the word Anerd@ and made it a part of my identity.

Possibly it is another mark of my nerdish nature that when writing an introduction to an entertainment column, I produce a small manifesto. This space will feature life as seen through my bespectacled eyes, in words and pictures. Watch as I get lost on campus (in my senior year), blunder my way through installing an ipod, and flounder to meet deadlines.

I had also planned to also do a comic strip for The Legend, but only did one for the first issue. It's based on a true story:

Note: The "Old Sport" t-shirt on my self-portrait is a reference to The Great Gatsby. If you got that on your own, I applaud your nerdiness!

"College-Level Insight" or something like it:

God, I love meta-commentary. Here goes.

I think this little column (they got longer and longer as the year went on...) still stands as a strong piece of work, surprisingly. I'm usually harsh on my old writings. In the two years since I've written this, I have done what I set out to do -- fully embraced being a nerd. I have also found other communities of nerds with similar intentions: All hail the Vlogbrothers and Nerdfighteria! I joined that community as well as the ultimate nerd commune: The University of California, Berkeley. There is so much ambient nerd-ness on that campus that I felt, well, out-nerded. But even there, I've found my place. And added a bunch comic books to that ninety-three volume collection. I don't even want to know how many I have now.

By the way, I absolutely SUCK at chess. My ten-year-old brother routinely trounces me.