Guess which one's the nerd?
My wife gave me a
wonderful gift a few weeks ago. We were
attempting to cool off near our window AC unit on a particularly annoying
August summer day. Neither one of us are
summer people, and the will to go and do and be and live eludes us until
mid-September or so. She asked me: “What are your favorite TV characters of all time?”
For some people that
would be an inane conversation starter, but for me, it is something that could
keep me occupied for hours. You, see, my
wife is married to a nerd. She, herself
is not a nerd, nor is she nerdy. But after
a few decades of living with one, she understands the potential that having one
around can present.
I don’t want to detail
the aspects of a nerdy person, or the difference between a nerd or a geek, or
the fact that just because you liked Iron
Man doesn’t make you anything special or not special. To be completely
factual, I’m only part-nerd. There are many aspects of pure nerdliness
that I lack, or have abandoned. I know
when to let stuff go. I know how to pick
my battles and avoid arguments over irrelevant horseshit. I know that this is a
world only partially based in logic; that human emotions, relationships and
traditions factor into everything.
My wife knows that I’m
into stuff. That is a universal nerd
attribute. We are passionate. We have an emotional attachment to a wide
array of stuff. She knows that tossing me a question about putting some
arbitrary metrics to a list of my own opinion and design will begin a
discussion. We’ll also find some fun in it.
It’s as if I am a dog and she bought a new chew toy. I have to rip into it. I can’t let it just sit there. I need to round out my top ten, AND I have to
help her round out hers.
She boiled my
nerdliness down to a few personality details.
I have a good memory. I am full
of references. And, I like the stuff nerds like. I like fiction, I like sci-fi, time travel,
superheroes, and I get all excited about all of that stuff. That’s about
it. There’s no math involved, there is
no dressing up, there are no fictional languages spoken. Pretty average nerd-cred.
For the spouse, I am
the entertainment center. It’s a deal we
made a long time ago that seems to be panning out okay. I try my best to get her hyped up for things,
but it’s usually a losing battle. I can say for certain she was on board with
the Lord of the Rings movies and all
the Harry Potter stuff before me. She
was responsible for sending me down those rabbit holes. She picks and chooses superhero stuff. Yes to Avengers,
no to Superman. She does not give a damn
about time travel, which was a tough pill to swallow. But I keep trying, and I think that’s the
whole point.
Unless you have another
nerd in close proximity, you are left to your own creative devices to play with
nerd stuff. The internet is there, but
it’s not the same. Too many angry nerds
out there who don’t know how to have fun.
So, when the Mrs. throws me something like rating my favorite TV characters
you know damn sure I’m going to deliver.
And, I will be honest. This occurred
on a weekend. If this had happened
during the week, when I clearly had a bunch of work to get done, the list of TV
characters would be first and foremost on my mind. I remember my old drone jobs; frittering away
in front of a computer. When the
opportunity came to make a list or solve a puzzle, all work stopped.
As it should, if you
ask me.
So I am thankful to my
wife for feeding this undying beast.
Good luck in your endeavors to satiate the nerd in your life.
For the nerds, here’s
my final list. I stuck with TV dramas only. I kept it to one character per
show, and in no particular order:
Frank Pembleton – Homicide: Life on the
Street
Desmond Hume - Lost
Omar Little – The Wire
Josh Lyman – The West Wing
Jesse Pinkman – Breaking Bad
Raylan Givens - Justified
Alice Morgan – Luther
Malcolm Reynolds – Firefly
Helena – Orphan Black
Sherlock Holmes – Sherlock
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