It's not always easy being a geeky girl working in an office of apparently normal people. While I may be proud of my geek status when conversing with others who share my fondness for Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Mass Effect, I find myself less confident when surrounded by relative strangers who, for all I know, have never even heard of commander Worf, a TARDIS, or the Protheans. It's not that I'm ashamed. I decided long ago that people who would judge me for loving Star Wars were not worth my time or effort. Unfortunately, there are some aspects of geekdom that are just not socially acceptable for a woman almost in her mid twenties. Example: I have recently been playing through Pokemon: Soulsilver for a second time. I had wanted a gameboy and pokemon blue way back when gameboys still cost over $100, but with an allowance of $1 a week, I never managed to save the capital necessary to fulfill that desire, especially when I was also spending significant portions of my money on pokemon cards - I was the only girl on the playground whose collection rivalled those of the boys'. Imagine my delight when, last year, I discovered an extremely inexpensive Nintendo DS and Pokemon Leafgreen for the gameboy advance! I have since beaten every generation of pokemon save Diamond/Pearl (that's for after Soulsilver) Unfortunately, while children can play pokemon in public, it is really not socially acceptable for a young woman working for an investment management firm to pull out her DS and start running around Johto looking for Entei (seriously, how does he run away while asleep??) I get weird looks on the bus, so I can’t imagine what I would look like to the CEO whose office is directly behind my cubicle.
Another problem arises when I reference things that nobody else understands. For example, on someone’s birthday in the office, we got cake. The cake was not picked up until fairly late in the day, so people were starting to make jokes about how we were never going to get cake, and I piped up “The cake is a lie!” All I got were weird looks, while I stuttered “Portal- er… it’s a quote… never mind.” The same sort of reaction occurs if I mention “Gotta catch em all” with reference to spelling errors in something I’m editing, or the time when I accidently let slip lolspeak or, heaven forbid, “I’m Commander Shepard and this is my favourite store on the Citadel.” Nobody gets it. At best, I get awkward laughter. At worst, I’m forced to explain that I’m quoting from a video game, which leads to a whole new round of judgment. Clearly I need to work in a geekier office. Unfortunately, I’m a geek, not a nerd, and am therefore incapable of things like computer programming or… y’know… science stuff or other career pursuits that would lead me to an office full of people who would understand why I need some time to myself after finishing Mass Effect 3. (No spoilers, I promise, but if anyone wants to talk about it, drop me a line) Alas, I shall have to content myself with laughing inside my head and joining forums on the internet.
Until next time, live long and prosper, my fellow geeks. And fear not. You aren’t alone.
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