Ruminations on Geek Chic-ary from 2005

At CnC last night, Mr. Penny and I started talking about computers
again. The conversation was peppered with such terms as “Texture and
Lighting”, “SLI”, “3D Marks”, and the fondly remembered “3Dfx Voodoo
______.”

Anyway, it got me thinking about how these days it’s actually cool to
be nerdy.  (I actually came up with a term for this… but
apparently I’m not the first one.  Who cares… I’ll use it
anyway.)  Yes folks, geek chic is running rampant.  I think
it’s funny because only a half decade ago, no one would have openly
admitted to playing Starcraft sun-up to sundown… and sun-up
again.   Things are much different now.  Now, video
games are in the mainstream and being tech-saavy is a desired
trait.  Hot topic carries apparel adorned with your favorite
8-bit, sprite-based, heroes.  Cybercafe’s have sprouted up all
over the place. Everyone and their momma’s playing WoW now.  I get
complemented on my ringtones.
There’s even an entire TV station devoted to all things geek.  Oh
yes, we’ve come out of hiding.

I wonder what started it all.   Maybe it started with the
advent of Gamepro and EGM…or perhaps New Wave.  I’m sure most
people would say that it started with the internet becoming available
to the masses.  I, however, prefer to believe that what gave
geekdom it’s fateful shove through the “door of coolness| was that
somewhere along the line, geeky became associated with celebrity.
This is where Bill Gates comes in.

Basically:
Bill Gates=geek=Microsoft=Money=richest man in the world=fame=newsworthy=celebrity.

My only real worry is that it all has to end sometime.  I mean, by
now, mainstream culture has covered the majority of the geek aspects:
video games, computers, sci-fi/fantasy.  It’s only a matter of
time before the public gets tired of us and we are discarded like
boybands of yesteryears.  How long will it be before I crawl back
into my physical hole where I
crawl into my digital hole…where threre once lived a hobbit?

All I know is that until that day, until the day the geek chic runs
out, I’ll hold my head up high while I walk down the street sporting my
Link shirt playing my NES Classic GBA SP.
And then I’ll get home and cry about what a fake, fake, life I lead..hahaha.