When I was a kid I had a huge crush on Wesley Crusher, now it's just Wil.
But when I knew was probably when Data died. I sobbed like it was the end of the damn world. Oh wait! When I was in debate club and I had joined just because it was "Kirk vs. Picard", I was for Picard and I fucking wiped the floor with that other douche [not Kirk, the guy I went to school with who's only argument was that Kirk was first to there-fore better], or maybe anytime during the Star Trek class, yes a full class about Trek.
so somewhere between all that I guess...and I swear I don't only care about ST..

I don't remember when the first time was but i remember the last time.I have over 200 board games and last weekend decided to build a dice tower. When my wife saw what i had built she said "so you built something to help you do one of the few exercises you do?"

I felt like the biggest nerd in the world then.
(btw she was kidding,shes as much a nerd as the rest of us.)

Hmmm, yes. I'm not sure at what point I fully realized it, but I think a definitive point would be in the 4th grade when I voluntarily stayed inside during recess with the kids in detention to read a Michael Crichton book. Probably Jurassic Park or Sphere. One of the kids asked what I'd done to deserve detention and the teacher watching over us replied that I had chose to stay inside. I don't think that was a concept comprehensible to any of them.

I knew I was a nerd the second I saw a superhero statue and got an erection.

The first time I said "Woot" out loud at work and everyone looked confused.

When I first moved out to Regina from Ontario, I went into a local comic shop that has game tables and people play Magic:TG or WoW or etc. there.
There's a huge anime/manga section and it's two floors of awesomeness. I walked in and one of the guys behind the counter said hello, and I asked about starting a file there for my comics.
Him: "Okay, and the name?"
Me: "Kayla, , and I've taken the liberty of writing down the ones I collect and read... if you can't get any of these let me know."
Him: "... This is for you?!"
Me: "...Yeah. Is there too much per month?"
Him: "But you're a girl. You've got tits and stuff. Shouldn't you be, I don't know, cheerleading or drinking cosmos or something with your "besties"?"
Now, I'm no prize. So this was awesome. And a patron in the place did the "You're one of them ladies" line from Kevin Smith's Q&A -- and I totally hit him back with, in my best British accent, "Who wants to buy this, I've rubbed it on me bum."
Patron: "You are my nerd queen."

I AM the nerd queen. That's pretty much the moment that I knew for sure. I mean, one can go out for Halloween as a D20 and etc. when they're in elementary school but no one ever called me a "nerd" or a "geek."

In year 6 the teacher asked us to write our ambitions and what we wanted to achieve by the end of the year.
Other kids were writing about how they wanted to be a doctor or fireman. I realised that something was different when I wrote that I wanted to write a Basic D&D module. It made me wonder if I was aiming too low for my life...

When I've read Topless Robot's list ''THe songs only nerds know to sing'' or something akin to that name. Number one was The Lumberjack Song and, since I know the lyrics, that was confirmation... :D Jokes aside, I think it was during the summer of 1999. I was at my grandma's and playing Castlevania on NES, the Console, didn't had a PC then... After what was months of trying I've finally defeated the Frankenstein/Igor Boss and I've called my brother to brag, even though it was around 2:00 in the morning. And his response was just a ''So what?'', btw... :-/

I knew I've always been a geek, my mother-funded atheism drove me to science books since I could read.

But I guess I finally realized there was no way back was when I used the word "runeology" in class for a north/south/west/east word-building exercise in 6th grade (the really geek part was reading the word in a Dragonlance book).

The moment I finally embraced my inner nerd was when a friend and I went to a comic convention and I had to bum the money off of him to purchase the leatherbound edition of THE COMPLETE FRANK MILLER BATMAN. The next day I dropped out of a college math class and sold the textbook to get the money to pay him back. Who the hell needs college algebra when you've got a leatherbound edition of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS?

Zdenko, I was wondering what I was going to write for this one until I read your entry and the memory came flooding back, like the blood falling out of the Overlook Hotel's elevator...

Calling a friend to brag about a video game accomplishment, only to be met with indifference. That, plain as day, made me self aware of what I was, without any possibility of argument.

I got chewed out in fourth grade music class for reading an Anne McCaffrey book I had partially hidden under my desk.

Probably when I realized in high school that not only was I in band and a fan of video games, but I had no friends.

I was on my peewee hockey team, standing in the player's bench and waiting for my turn to go back out on the ice. I suddenly realized that one of the (probably many) reasons why I was never all that good at the game, was that instead of thinking about things like where the puck was or which side of the opposing defense looked weaker, I was mostly just staring at the scoreboard and inventing math problems with the numbers... "If the opposing team continues to score about one goal every five minutes, and we continue score one every twenty, then what does my goals per minute average have to be for the remaining two minutes if I want my dad to think I'm normal?" ...I gave up hockey for Shadowrun just weeks later.

When I put a Monty Python reference in my e-mail adress.

I was five when my Dad brought home my first console system, NES. I never did anything to defy my parents until that system was brought home. I would sneak out of my room just to play the same levels of Mario World over and over again. I then found out that there was a green character named Luigi and from that point on would play two player games and just kill Mario so I could play through the game as Luigi. I've been hooked on video games ever since.

I was so happy Game Boy made it into the toy HOF... So many good memories!

After video games it just progressed... Comic Books, RPGs, Sundays playing board games, card games, HeroClix, and TR is my latest Nerd addiction =)

The moment I realized I was a nerd was during elementary school when I would play chess and Magic: The Gathering with the other nerds, and all the girls would ask me to do their homework.

I think it was when I was in 6th grade and instead of recess, I'd stay inside and read the 3rd Harry Potter book over and over again. Well, that wasn't the worst part- the worst part was that we weren't allowed to stay inside and read- so they kicked us outside, where we sat on the jungle gym or the swings and read. And got mocked terribly for it. When I kept on that reading thing in spite of all the mocking, I pretty much figured out I was a nerd.
Also: Hell, what kind of school doesn't want the students to read? Still grumpy about that.

Lets see... Going pretty much legally blind due to astigmatism around 6..

Having my sport-ish dad try to get me to play soccer, baseball; he finally gave up when he got laughed at and flatly refused by the football coach.

Staying inside during breaks to read the Encyclopedia Brittanica

Penning my own completely homebrewed D&D style game based on a book (Deaths Gate series)

Falling madly in love with an ICONS lightsaber

Not getting kissed until college

Owning a working Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Dreamcast, PX1, PS2, Game boy, GB Color, GB Advance, DS

And, of course, reading and posting on sites like this.

i realised when no one would go out with me...

I was relatively popular (hate that damn word) in my youth (prom court, Senior class president, played the foolsball)but I would sneak off on the weekends and play Magic and D&D, always loved videogames and Star Wars, collected comics and collectible cards, etc.

Not many people knew of my nerdiness and I guess I was in a denial of sorts...and then it happened.

I was 16. I took this lovely and beautiful young lady that I had been crushing on, on a date.

Trying to be a pimp and not do the standard dinner/movie thing, I took her to the zoo.

They had an exhibit on dinosaurs. There was statue of a dinosaur with ram like horns. I quickly, without thinking, said "That looks like a tauntaun!"

I couldn't use a lightsaber reference or some common Star Wars piece. Nope.
Tuantuan.

She looked at me all wierd and asked "A what?"

Yeah...that didn't workout well for me.

Hope that wasn't too long.

When I was 12, I used to try to assume the "Void" from the Wheel of Time -- it's how Channelers (magic users) tap into the One Power (magic). Essentially, you imagine yourself, your emotions, thoughts, physical sensations, everything that you are and will be into a flame, growing and growing. What remains, the titular Void, is your concentration so you can succeed at the task at hand. I did this, so I would improve my jump shots during girls' youth league basketball practice. It worked actually. Probably scared my team now that I think about it.

Double plus good answer because we all know Rob hates Robert Jordan with a passion?....

For me? It was the day I turned down the volume and realized I could recite The Nightmare Before Christmas. Not the original poem. The entire damn movie, word for word, from beginning to end. Sadly(?) I can't do that anymore, but still.

I don't really have an interesting story, but I certainly had a moment when I went: Oh, crap, I'm a huge nerd. - or a geek, I'm never really sure about the definitions, but I have been called both since that moment - I never really thought about nerds or geeks before. I don't have nerdy friends, but none of them teased me about it, or even mentioned it. It wasn't until my sister showed me the "wordless geek test" when I was about 16, and I laughed. She pointed at me and screamed "Ha, I knew it!" and that was that. It left me rather speechless to be honest.

the moment had to be when i tuned in to the power rangers episode where Kimberly (the pink ranger) and Tommy (the green ranger) first kissed each other. up until that point i was defending the show saying that even though i was kinda old for it, it was the only daily outlet for ninja fighting i had. But the moment i realized i was excited that they finally kissed, after so many episodes of them alluding to it, i knew i was a nerd.

Me, when I was ten and I was officially overweight. I developed habits for video games a lot more than before. I also developed addictions for Totino's Mini Pizzas, soda, and anime in 9th grade. This year I actually taught my computers class for one day and many told me I was better than the teacher (our teacher sucks at teaching though, but he does give me and my equally nerdy friends lots of anime and other Japanese goodies, so I can't complain.)

When the first Spider-Man movie came out and I went to the bathroom at my high school to put on some free temporary tatoos that came in a box of Eggos with my Spider-Man loving friend who was not early as excited by this idea as I was.

I'm pretty sure my 'crowning moment of geek' came when I decided that playing Warhammer 40k wasn't 'cool enough' for me anymore, and declared to the local Games Workshop toadies that Roleplaying was way cooler, and Wargaming just 'wasn't cool' anymore.

I think I pretty much felt like an ubergeek at that point. However, I did lure a lot of my friends into RPGing with me from the lure of GW.

I realized I was a nerd when most, if not all, of my Christmas presents were Star Trek based (I believe it was 1993). There was a "Everything I need to know I learned from Star Trek" poster, several Star Trek books (including a Best-Of-TOS compilation), and my prize and joy until I bought my Klingon dictionary: a 36"x72" hard-back, wall mounted, annotated cross-section of the Enterprise D. The poster included a smaller cross-section of each of the previous ships in the line, including information on her captain and time in service.

When I was in fourth grade I started playing red-box D&D with my friend. We even moved up to the expert box set by the end of the year.

Instead of going out for recess we would stay inside and organize sessions with other classmates, teaching them all about it and running them through modules.

Well one day my teacher walks up to me and my friend and tells us he has nominated us for leadership awards. Confised, we asked why. He told us for organizing our board games with other students.

The following week we went to a district wide ceremony where we got up on stage with other students from the district. We stood up there and accepted our leadership awards... for playing Dungeons and Dragons.

As far as the audience of hundreds knew, we were bound to be great leaders in the community. But looking back on it, it was the first step of my journey into nerdom. It was my birthright... my destiny.

Much like you I had thick glasses since the 2nd grade, was always the "smart" kid in class, and spent most of my youth playing NES/SNES. But I always maintained that "Well I'm not THAT guy" attitude. I had a smug sense of superiority over the real nerds who went to conventions, argued over trivial issues, and wore stormtrooper armor/star trek uniforms/etc. Then I discovered anime and soon enough found myself dressed up in a hand sewn, labor of love costume of my favorite character at my first con.

And then I realized that I was indeed one of them.

Heh, I got you beat. I was a nerd by heredity. That's right, I was BORN a nerd!! How? My mother was/is a Trekkie (one of the original ones, not one of those half-assed ones that came along with TNG) who was part of the original letter writing campaign to get Star Trek brought back for it's 3rd season. Heck, she has stories from when I was too young to even walk of taking me to sci-fi conventions, and ending up being carried off by a few members of the Star Trek cast and crew (and her constant lament at not having a camera for it). Yes I was returned, but she noted I changed hands among the cast at least 4 or 5 times that she could track down.

I'll even take it a step further and bring D&D into this: My mother had a bi-weekly D&D game she was in (Back when it was AD&D) and would play right on the dining room table!! Dad would always mysteriously vanish during the games, but me, I'd sit there and listen raptly to the whole thing unfold. When life got in the way and my mom had to give it up, she literally handed me her old books and taught me how to play.... at age 11.

I think full realization that this wasn't the norm came about mid-way through elementary school tho, as I was far more excited to see "Empire Strikes Back" then whatever film the other kids were going on about... to the point that I literally hid a bad report card until AFTER we saw the movie. Yeah, I got bad grades. I was one of those "outsmarted myself" types who thought the dumb kids had it easier, so I'll just do poorly and skate through school the easy way.... I wasn't just a nerd, I was a LAZY nerd!!

Oh, and as far as music goes; I wasn't a band geek, I was an ORCHESTRA geek. I played a Violin from the 6th grade up into High School (I quit my Sophomore year). Amusingly enough, my kid sister picked it up after I quit. Guess it really DOES run in the family. ;)

- Polecat

I was 11, ditched at the local KB toys while my mom shopped for shoes. I looked at the GI Joes. I looked at the He-man stuff. I looked at the giant jar of M.U.S.C.L.E. men.

None of it really did anything for me...and then I saw it. A softcover book, nearly buried in the morass of coloring books and sticker packs. On it's cover, a badass looking warrior on the back of a warhorse - spear in hand. I picked it up, and was immediately intrigued by the stylized "Forgotten Realms" front and center above his head.

Being as someone had liberated it from the rest of the boxed set, the counter guy let me have it for a mere 4 dollars.

His name was Lashan of Scardale, and his picture was what ushered me into a lifetime of nerdery, funny dice, and scantily clad elven women.

If the Lich hadn't imprisoned him on another plane, I'd shake his Neutral Evil hand...no doubt a moment before being either skewered or sold into white slavery.

My friends and I were having a discussion on the impracticality of legged transports such as the AT-AT (as if the discussion wasn't nerdy enough) and I brought up the example of the ED-209 from Robocop. My friends sat there and looked at me stunned, I guess because I remembered the letters and numbers title given to the insignificant protagonist from Robocop. Having this group of lesser nerds be amazed at my nerdy knowledge is when I knew I was a nerd. Now, these same friends call me and ask "What was the name of that little dude who was Jabba's pet?" and I inform them: Salacious Crumb. These days, I wear that referential knowledge as a badge of honor in my online name.

The moment I first new that I was a nerd was when I wore my boy's ninja turtle shoes to school, and instead of taking them off because some cool girl made fun of me, I told her she was stupid. I was in kindergarten.

I don't think I ever "became" a nerd so there wasn't a moment really that I realized it. I came out of the womb a nerd. My dad is a member of Mensa who grew up a gap-toothed geek watching Star Trek TOS and collecting robot trading cards, was never a jock (too small) and is one of those people that would fuckin kill at Jeopardy, solely for the amount of random knowledge stored in his brain. I grew up watching Star Trek reruns and Twilight Zone reruns at his knee with a wooden spoon as a phaser and a Matchbox Car in my ear, trying to imitate Uhura. I distinctly remember in 2nd grade, all the kids has these multiplication sheets and I was the first one done so my teacher gave me a more difficult one.... and then a more difficult one... until finally I was doing multiplication at a 7th grade level and all the kids were gathering around me like some kind of magic show. When I went home and told my parents that my dad nearly cried... and then bought me a set of encyclopedias as a reward.

When I was 7 I had a cartoon crush on Link (Legend of Zelda fame of course) and for my 7th birthday I asked my mom if I could have a cake with Link on it. So my mother being the awesome lady that she is, went to our local Dairy Queen and ordered me an ice cream cake featuring Link fighting and Octorok. I was a happy, happy nerd girl.

For me, it was definitely in 4th grade when the whole class had to fill out a survey of all their favorite foods, TV shows and the like all to be published in the yearbook. When the yearbook came out at the end of the school year, for the question "who would you most like to meet" everyone had answers like Jim Carrey, Michael Jordan or the President. However, my answer placed me into the nerd-hall-of-fame: Kelsey Grammer. What can I say, I thought both Cheers and Frasier were really good shows...

I always kind of knew that I was a nerd, I was jealous of the kid who was the 'uber-nerd' in my class who had an electronics play set where you could make different things like a lie detector; but what really pushed the point home was after I had my bachelor's, and went back to take calculus just to prove that I could get an 'A'. I had changed majors from engineering to finance because I couldn't pass calculus, and I blamed the teacher. I took his wife's class and did better, but he took over when she gave birth, failed both times; when I took it the third time I aced the course and found a great girlfriend! She is also a nerd.

I seem to have those moments of realization on a regular basis. There have been plenty of conversations that I've brought to a screeching halt by a nerdy reference. There have been plenty of weird looks from so-called "normal" people. But here are the moments that really sruck me:

5th Grade: "The Hobbit" became my favorite book for life. I taught myself to write in Dwarvish. I also stayed inside during recess to play Risk with a few other nerds.

7th Grade: I impress my extended family with my vocabulary (which I developed through extensive reading) and aggravate my mother by trying to apply the scientific method to the baking of chocolate chip cookies (any pussy can follow a recipe).

Just out of college: I alienate myself from my co-workers by openly reading a biography of Albert Einstein - for fun.

Last week: At a party consisting mostly of people I don't know, I make a reference to "Firefly" with the typical nerdy belief that what I'm talking about is common knowledge. I subsequently leave the party early.

Many more moments are yet to come.

In junior high, being part of Student Council, I was in a group to plan an end of the year party. The topic of entertainment came up and we decided to have a boom box so we would all bring tapes from home to play during the party.

People started naming things they had in their collections that they would bring. When it came to me I wanted to be helpful and even though I knew it wasn't like the albums from the various artists of day that were being added to the list (Bell Biv DeVoe , Guns & Roses, DJ Jazzy Jeff) I meagerly offered the only musical tapes I owned:

The Great Masters - Their Lives and their Music.
A set of 18 tapes that gave biographical information and a musical sampling of classical composers. I guess no one else thought the way to celebrate the end of 6th grade was to learn about Johannes Brahms' time in Hamburg.

The day i realised i could recite Monty Python and the Holy Grail nearly word for word.

I was 7 years old. I read the encyclopedia set in my class. All of it. In a week. Because I was bored.

Then they put me in a class with the 'freaks' because they thought that meant I was anti-social. It was that I already KNEW everything they had to teach me at that grade, and I was bored!

I was probably about 11 when I stayed up all night reading Jane Eyre on my bedroom floor. I read the entire thing cover to cover and didn't go to bed for hours. And when I finally finished, I fell asleep in that giddy calm you have when you've had a really great day. And as I fell asleep, I realized normal people don't stay up all night finishing hundred page books. And I also realized that I never wanted to be somebody who WOULDN'T do ridiculous shit like, say, watch an entire season of Buffy in one day?

I have always been a nerd. But the moment I realized that I became self-aware as a nerd was when I was a missionary for my church. Missions in the LDS (mormon) church are pretty intense. They are for two years. Outside of emergencies you get two phone calls a year to your family in order to prevent homesickness.(It works.) I could check your email once a week because I wasn't supposed to be goofing around on the internet I was supposed to be doing missionary work. From 9am to 9pm, it's missionary work. Walking from house to house spreading the good word and in my case I was in a foreign country. And a poor one at that. The Dominican Republic. Which according to the CIA is poorer than Serbia.

Anyway, every month we were given an allowance for food and other necessities. Which was fine because it taught me to budget and live within my means.

But, for about 3-4 months I would set aside a portion of my meager allowance in order to buy imported copies of that month's Wizard magazine. And because the Dominican peso was so weak, those freaking magazines were expensive. One month I actually ran out of money the last week and had to subsist solely on ramen noodles because I had purchased a Wizard magazine earlier in the month. So, I was reading my magazine and I was freaking hungry. When I had that moment of clarity. "I am reading a magazine about comic books that I bought with money I was supposed to use to buy food. I'm not even reading a comic book. I'm reading a magazine ABOUT comic books."

So, I came to two realizations right there. That I was a colossal nerd. And that if I can't actually read comic books, Wizard is kind of stupid and pointless.

I realized I was a nerd in junior high school (early 90s), but by then I didn't care. Watching Star Trek reruns was a family activity, my tenth birthday present was the D&D red box basic set, and I got into comics something fierce when the first Tim Burton Batman movie came out in 1989. I'd never really been all that athletic and my parents were big on encouraging me to read.

Of course, none of that really mattered before junior high hit. Kids were just kids. In junior high the social stratification began. My friends and I went to school in an Apple Lighthouse District so our computer labs were fully networked and stocked with the most recent hardware. The computer teacher used to let us stay after school to play early versions of Netrek and Bolo. It was awesome and none of us noticed that we were becoming less socially integrated beyond our little group.

Unsurprisingly, it was a girl who first told me I had become a nerd. I had just gotten an X-Men shirt in the mail (white shirt with a black all-over print of Jim Lee's inked pencils from the cover of X-Men #1) and was fully stoked on wearing it to school. During homeroom, the girl who sat behind me asked me "what are you wearing?" in a tone that carried something akin to disgust.

"An X-Men shirt. Isn't it awesome?"

"No. It's ugly. Ugly and stupid."

"No it's not. It's got Wolverine and Cyclops and Colossus and like everyone else. This shirt is awesome." Now, you have to envision my pointing to the various X-Men as I say their names. Knowing who was who would help her realize just how bitchin' this shirt was.

"Oh my God. You're lame. A lame nerd."

I thought about it and realized that she was right about me being a nerd. My favorite things were comics, books, role-playing games, computer games, and Star Trek. I damned near worshipped my high school aged brother who was into all of that as well as being an officer in both the chess and debate clubs. It didn't phase me, though. I had good friends, an older brother with friends who were into awesome nerdy shit, and was having a blast. Having fun with all of it has been my attitude toward nerdery ever since then.

It was when my nephew and I after watching an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation and it being the Christmas season decided to write our own version of "The 12 days of Christmas" but of course with a Star Trek theme. It was great, I thought.

The year was 1986. I was 12 and in the little rural town that I lived in, the interests of boys were supposed to be geared toward things like riding bikes, fishing, playing NES, or stealing Playboys and marveling at what girls would turn into in a few years. I did these things and enjoyed them, but unknown to my friends, I had a dirt little secret. A secret shame that could easily destroy me if it were ever discovered.

I still liked toys.

TOYS for christsake! I was 12, in junior high, and I still loved toys. "Big deal," you say. It was a big deal in the redneck area in which I lived. Liking toys was tantamount to being a cross-dresser, a communist, of punting the baby Jesus.

Whenever we'd go to the store, I was both excited and terrified. Excited to see what awesome new plastic treasures I would find and terrified that one of my schoolmates might spot me. It was always a dicey situation, as the sporting goods department were always next to the toy section. At any moment, one of my classmates, or worse, an older kid, might spot me and then my life would truly be a living hell.

Sadly, the fear usually won out. I would walk through the toy department on my way to go "look" at baseball bats or skateboards and cast longing sideways glances at the childhood treasures held on the shelves and pegs.

It was one of these times that something caught my eye and so enraptured was I by these fascinating toys that I risked being outed with nary a care.

What captured my attention were a selection of small figures--armored anthropomorphic animal warriors that were packing some gruesome fucking hand-to-hand weapons. The blister card read Battle Beasts and I immediately looked at the back of the package to get the lowdown on these little badasses.

Apparently these guys were split into the three warring factions of Fire, Water, and Wood whose battles were decided ala a Rock-Paper-Scissor-style combat system.

Cool figures that were also a game? The money that was going towards a now-forgotten skateboard instead bought me my first group of combatants.

After I got home, I marveled at the little guys. There was a bat with a hook for a hand and some sort of mechanical eye patch or scope. A tiger with a shoulder-mounted laser or missile launcher. An elephant with a fucking sledgehammer for a hand. Baaaad ass!

In fact they were so bad ass, that they deserved better than some cheesy Rock-Paper-Scissor rip-off to determine who would win in their ferocious battles.

So I started to look at each figure and assign it relative numerical strengths based on what kind of animal it was, what weapon it was carrying, and if it had any weird cybernetics or molded-on weapons. I'd meticulously record each figure's stats in a notebook, such as how fast it could move, how accurate its attacks were, and how much damage its different attacks would do.

When battles got boring due to the static nature of stats, I took a die from a Yahtzee set and rolled it to add a random element to the Beasts' battles. Then I started stating up other toys I had so that the Beasts could have other things to fight or ally with.

So in a weird example of parallel evolution, I as a bored kid with interests that no doubt would have branded me as an outcast, invented my own form of Dungeons & Dragons.

It wasn't until three years later when I was introduced to D&D by an exceptionally nerdy kid that I realized I too was a nerd--not just for liking toys, but for making my own role-playing game... especially when I had no one to play it with.

So on the opening week that Star Wars came out on DVD I had just started dating this girl who is now my wife and was also the first naked girl I had seen live in years. This is all in the same week. So she's over at my apartment and we decided to watch Star Wars in bed together on my laptop and it takes until about the time that Luke meets the droids on Tatooine that I notice that she is entirely naked. I always guessed I was a nerd but never had a true nerd test to validate that hypothesis. Then I knew for sure.

I realized that I was a nerd on my fifth birthday. I got a shiny new Sega Genesis packaged with Sonic 2. I had actually been gaming for a while on my uncle's old Master System and NES and had become a raging Sega fanboy. My aunt on my mom's side (twelve at the time) ran in while I was playing Sonic and yelled "Ooh, a Nintendo! Can we play Mario!?" I immediately thwapped her with a Genesis controller as if it were a mighty flail and started cursing Mario and her for mentioning him in the presence of Sonic.

From the age I was able to form memories until I reached my early twenties, I was obsessed with all things Superman. I had Superman themed birthday parties, complete with Supes cakes created by my wonderful and patient aunt. My grandmother got me a large package the year I turned 5, filled with great and worthwhile presents, the only one I remember being a Superman action figure. I'd had several before, but they were all broken or missing essential pieces (I accidentally slammed one of their heads in a door on the way out, which caused it to pop off. Many tears and a dab of superglue later, and Mom had fixed it right up). In order to get me to take baths, Dad would promise to comb my hair "Superman style" when I was done - slicked back with the trademark 'S' curl in front.

My mom posited that my obsession stemmed in part from the fact that I shared first names with Christopher Reeve, which helped me relate to the character he portrayed. I let her think that.

Then came the fateful night during the Holiday season of 1992. Because I grew up in a very small town, I didn't have ready access to the exploits of the object of my obsession. It was on the local tv news that I heard: Superman was dying. Killed off by the House that raised him. Some monster no one had ever seen before was going to destroy The Man of Tomorrow. I couldn't believe that was I had to find out Superman was dying like this! From the news! I couldn't have been more shocked and saddened if they'd told me my uncle had died in a fire.

I was eleven years old, and I cried longer and harder than I had in years. Mom did her best to understand, but my brothers didn't. They ridiculed me and taunted me. Didn't they understand?! A major figure in my life up to that point was going to be killed off...for profit! The world was not right!

No one I knew cared as much about The Death of Superman as I did. I didn't know why. That's when I realized I was a nerd...when I recognized that others didn't care about fictional, super powered characters as much as I did. I was at first ashamed, but later learned to embrace my inner nerd.

Oh! And my Name/email address references an invincible and unbeatable video game villain that a friend and I created, which we wanted to randomly slip into all video games.

Lastly...I read Topless Robot every day.

Wait a minute... Being into this stuff makes you a nerd? I'm a NERD?!?! OH, GOD! OH, GOD, NOOOOO!!!

*i guess this was my moment*

i asked my elementary school principal if i could be a playground detective - to make sure no crime was happening. i sat perched on monkey bars at all recesses waiting for ne'er-do-wells to commit some crime....a la batman. fast forward many many years to buffy the vampire slayer series....i would stumble home from bars CONVINCED vampires were everywhere. so i would practice my best slayer moves all the way home....or hide under bushes while eating burritos so i couldn't get bitten while i was eating. i guess i also realize what a nerd i am everyday, when someone at work wants to look at (ie:pick up) my carefully arranged robotech (mospedia) toys...

October 2nd, 1987. On this day, I entered the world. It's been down Nerd Hill ever since.

My moment occurred when I was sitting in class learning about Ancient Greece. The professor was discussing mining and said the word smelting. I got all excited and told my friend sitting next to me that I know smelting through World of Warcraft, as a dwarf I smelted a couple of times. Luckily my friend was also a nerd so I was not shunned.

I've always known i was a nerd but it really showed when my girlfriend and I were watching the new hulk movie on dvd up in my bedroom.

halfway through the movie things start getting a little hot, heavy and intimate. And no im not talking about ed norton transforming into the hulk. When all of a sudden in the movie abomination smash's Sterns lab apart and the hulk blood drops onto his open head wound and he starts his transformation into the Leader. I then stop my girlfriend from what she was doing and told her the back story of both Abomination and The Leader. Needless to say guess who didnt get laid that night.

My second Nerdiest moment is telling my girlfriend that im using that story to win a t-shirt with a topless robot on it.

My nerdery pretty much became clear when I had to explain to my wife why she should be keeping an eye out for a ToplessRobot T-shirt in the mail...(my wife is not a nerd)

My nerdery pretty much became clear when I had to explain to my wife why she should be keeping an eye out for a ToplessRobot T-shirt in the mail...(my wife is not a nerd)

I guess its a choice between me

Naming my childhood cats after one of Frank Zappa's kids (Dweezil) and one after a badass british comic character (Nemesis)

and passing notes to a girl when I was at school in the grammar of Yoda, even though she hadn't seen any of the films (a stud that made me)

My moment occurred when I was sitting in class learning about Ancient Greece. The professor was discussing mining and said the word smelting. I got all excited and told my friend sitting next to me that I know smelting through World of Warcraft, as a dwarf I smelted a couple of times. Luckily my friend was also a nerd so I was not shunned.

In 7th grade, I was completely ostracized by my class because I was smart. I didn't have a single friend. It really bothered my English teacher to see that happen to me, so one day she gathered up every girl in the class and made them sit in the hallway with me and talk to me.

For a few minutes it went great. The ice was broken and we were talking about boyfriends and normal 12-year-old girl stuff.

Then one of them brought up this leg hair removal product that had been playing commercials incessantly that year, some sort of electric tweezer that claimed your hair wouldn't grow back for 5 years. We were all talking about how weird it was, and then I said something like, "Yeah, it sends a signal through your nerves to your brain to tell it not to grow hair, how creepy is that," and EVERYONE silenced and stared at me, jaws dropped open.

I don't know if that's how the product works, but that's how my 12-year-old mind assumed it. Apparently that was just too nerdy an explanation for everyone to handle. Needless to say, they stopped talking to me again and I had to drop out of that school within a few months from the ostracism.

I've always known i was a nerd but it really showed when my girlfriend and I were watching the new hulk movie on dvd up in my bedroom.

halfway through the movie things start getting a little hot, heavy and intimate. And no im not talking about ed norton transforming into the hulk. When all of a sudden in the movie abomination smash's Sterns lab apart and the hulk blood drops onto his open head wound and he starts his transformation into the Leader. I then stop my girlfriend from what she was doing and told her the back story of both Abomination and The Leader. Needless to say guess who didnt get laid that night.

My second Nerdiest moment is telling my girlfriend that im using that story to win a t-shirt with a topless robot on it.

While this isn't exactly the first time I realized I was a nerd I figured I'd share it anyways since Topless Robot was involved.

I was telling my friend Sarah that together we had won an honorable mention in a contest for worst geek argument for our embarrasing discussion on what heroes character we'd have sex with, the answer ended up being Parkman, but I felt a little unsure she'd accept how nerdy this made us sound. After all, she might not appreciate me telling all the students around us that she had an award on a site called topless robot. Only later did I realize this was completly pointless. We stood facing eachother, her in a Darth Vader shirt and me in my TIE fighter shirt. Needless to say, I didn't worry about our level of nerdiness again after that moment.

In 7th grade I was asked outright- are you a nerd?

I responded, defiantly, "Yes, I'm a nerd, and I don't give a damn".

The guy who asked me started howling with laughter.

That's when I knew.

I realized I was a nerd when I was the only kid in my grade (Grade 3) who knew who Boba Fett was.

I guess this is more like when I knew I was destined to be a gamer. When I was 4 my cousin was about 2-3 and He wanted to play Legend of Zelda on the Gameboy. However he couldn't read so I sat behind him on the couch reading out the entire game to him. It's been downhill from there.

I was watching an episode of "The Drew Carey Show. A couple of nerds were hitting on his friend, Kate. The first said, "You're even cuter than Emissary Dax!" The other said, "Oh yeah, well Seven of Nine couldn't even hold your diodes!"

What made me realize I was a nerd was that I knew the first guy was wrong... It's LIEUTENANT Jadzia Dax. The "Emissary" on the show is Sisko...

7th grade, we were talking about characters and literature. We played a game where everyone described a fictional character and the rest of us tried to guess who it was. Turns out no one else had read Dune. It was frustrating for everyone involved as my classmates simply could not identify Vladimir Harkonnen as easily as Harry Potter or Garfield. Eventually the teacher asked me to have a seat and we ended up doing worksheets instead because I ruined the game.

I was nerdy from conception, but I spent the night in line for tickets to The Phantom Menace. I played Risk with other people in the line, passed out drunk in the middle of the night, a friend came by to check on me and covered me in a blanket, and later, when we saw the opening scrawl, I leaned over to my other friend in the next seat and said, "This is about a tax issue?". Little did we know about Jar Jar.

I realized I was a nerd when I was 13 and my English teacher began waxing poetical about Dr Who. The rest of the class was laughing about the abbreviation 'TARDIS' as calling someone a 'Tard' was the biggest insult at the time. I piped up and said "Actually, TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimensions In Space, its a time machine." The room went silent for a while, I blushed and the teacher was dumbstruck that someone knew what he was talking about.

There was a Friday night, I think about 10th(?) grade, where I was sitting at home, psyched for a Twilight Zone Marathon on The SciFi Channel. I had my popcorn ready, a cup full to the brim of Hi-C Fruit Punch(my beverage of choice), I was lounged back in the world's most comfortable recliner...everything was perfect.
It was then, about 15 minutes before the first episode was about to start, when the phone rang. It was my father, calling to offer me tickets to a Celtics game that night. He would have asked sooner but the person he was going with canceled last minute.
I began to suspect I was a nerd when I paused to think about his offer.
I began to accept it when I turned him down.

It started when I was about four and I was reading the World Book encyclopedia for fun, and I had to be forced to go outside and play.

Well, my defining moment that I finally accepted my nerdy role in life happened about two years ago, up until that point I had happily been living my life denying my nerdiness, despite all the evidences of it, see I'm a fairly popular guy, and didn't want to be a nerd since their usually unpopular, (or so I thought) yet, I larped,, read obscure books that everyone else thought where boring and nerdy. Not to mention my love for the computer and video games, loving all the sci-fi movies and animes and things. Plus learning to READ off a titanic article in national geographic at age 4. And after that always reading, understanding and enjoying NG. Plus much more nerdiness I won't go into here. So anyway, even with all this nerdiness under my belt I denied my nerdom. People would call me nerd or geek but I would just rebuff them or ignore them and mention or mumble "I'm not a nerd."

Anyway, I finally came face to face with my inner nerd when two years ago, we had a evaluation (My dad's a teacher and does evaluations for homeschoolers, he's a huge nerd too) The kid was, in my opinon a nerd. He was 13 and was talking constantly about computers and his xbox 360, after awhile of this he asked me if I loved xbox 360 too, I said: "Well, I do like it a lot, But I prefer the older stuff mostly." He said "Oh, like xbox 1 games?" This surprised me. So I replied "Well, no, like Atari, NES, N64, even the Dreamcast is old enough to be considered a classic now." then, and this is the moment I suddenly had to accept my nerdiness, (Don't ask me why, I just suddenly realized it.) He looked me straight in the eye and said: "What are those?" HE HAD NO IDEA OF ANY CONSOLE OLDER THEN XBOX. I was flabbergasted, so I showed him and he said the games where boring and had "bad graphics" Ever since then I've resigned my will to be non-nerdy. And been much happier with my life since. Except for FFF.

Nerds are not made. They are born. My father loathed science fiction and fantasy, and when it came to fiction, my mom read nothing but horror. One day, my mom flicked on the television to distract my sugar-addled four year old mind. It could have been Barney. It could have been Mr. Rogers. It could have been damn near anything. But it wasn't, it was a re-run of the ever-classic 1966 Batman series. I was captivated by the garish colours, the oh-so brilliantly (hey, I was four)choreographed fight scenes and just the entire superhero premise, really.

I watched that show every day. I wore a Batman costume (As I recall, it was one of those really cheesy ones with the plastic face-mask) out and about, no doubt getting weird looks from every passerby. Spider-Man TAS and Batman TAS fostered my growth. Then, at age six, I walked in to my first comic book store. It was magic. And half an hour later, I walked out, with Amazing Spider-Man #258 under my arm.

I can vividly remember one of the first days of Kindergarten. The teacher asked the class.

"What do you want to do when you grow up?"

"A hockey player!"

"A fireman!"

"An astronaut!"

"A comic book writer!"

Silence. And I knew.

i figured i was truely a nerd when i was bout figure 7 or ten and wound up trying to make my frined give me his star wars figures for keeps instead of just playing with them for a while.that was when i relized that i was a true nerd to stoop down that level to have to covent another fans stuff.

When I found out that I would rather PLAY VIDEO GAMES than read fantasy/sci-fi books. How much lower can I get?

When I felt horny watching an anime.

Let me preface this by saying I'm a girl, a blonde and guys look at me and tend to think I have the IQ of a toaster. It's satisfying to not only prove them wrong, but to kick their ass at computer games, too.

My elder sister taught me "the big three" - William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley when I was five years old. Because of this, in grade 2 when asked to write a short story, I tried to transcribe Spock's death scene from The Wrath of Khan. Ashamed, (but not sure why) I ripped it up before the teacher could see it.

In high school, two of my teachers realized I liked Star Trek (when I tried to draw the Starfleet arrow in Graphic Design) and we traded VHS copies of TNG and DS9 - yes, with my teachers. Luckily I had a really great group of friends who were (and are) all alternative in their own way, so nobody really bothered us.

In year 10, I did my big personal choice assignment on Star Trek. Painstakingly researched with my Star Trek Encyclopedia (this was before the internet) some of the teachers photocopied the finished product for themselves.

When my class graduated high school, in the leaving address at our Leaver's Dinner - in front of the entire graduating class, my name was mentioned with - "Who's going to talk Star Trek with Mr.Snare and Mr. Fenton now Kes is graduating?"

That is when I realised. I'm a nerd girl. A sci-fi chick. I love it and I wouldn't trade being a nerd for anything.

Back in 2001 when my HOT slutty classmate asked me if I'm available after class to "hang out" and I said "Nah, I gotta hone my magic skills." She got interested (I saw it in her eyes and smile) and asked "What 'magic'?" "Magic: The Gathering, girl."

I am stupid. Because I later realized what "hanging out" with her truly means.

It could have been when I was seven, and sprained my ankle trying to use The Force to do a backflip off of our back deck, complete with a tin-foil-and-plastic-sword lightsaber my mum had constructed for me.

Or it might have been when I was nine and spent my entire allowance at the used bookstore every single week.

Perhaps it was when I was twelve and chose "Dr. Yoda Scully" as my first Internet moniker.

Then again, it could have been when I got to college and got the nickname "Mara" due to my overwhelming love of Star Wars and my red hair.

But I'm fairly certain it was when I was in high school and realized that whenever I accidentally startled someone, my standard reponse was "NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITION!"

Nobody ever knew what the hell I was talking about.

For me it was waiting years for a (insert sequel/prequel name here) film and putting every other thing in my sad, pathetic life on hold... then when I was disappointed in it because it hadn't managed to exceed my insanely high expectations my first instinct was to post shit about it online... mainly because my friends no longer took my phone calls.

Yeah.. I had friends in the real world.

Back in high school, probably 1983. I was one of the huge brutish jocks (Defensive Tackle/Wrestler)that probably made a lot of nerds lives hell. I did approach a group of gamers I found at school that were less nerdy than most and after much convincing, got an invite to play in their group (with the rules that we still did not socialize at school). I had phys ed for my last period of the day with no practice to follow on this certain day. I was supposed to go over to game with the gamer guys right after school. I had to plan ahead on this. I didn't dare pack my stuff in wither my book bag or my jeep since I didn't want the football guys finding out (and believe me, we didn't even respect each others property), so I narrowed everything down to my character sheet folded up in the pocket of my jeans and a d8, d12 and d20 (for which I could also use as d4, d6 and d10).
So we get done with PE and showering and I'm putting on my pants and I hear the d20 hit the floor and bounce a few times. Nobody else seems to notice for a moment and I'm committed at this point to just let it go, when my buddy Frank looks over and picks it up and looks back at me asking what the hell this this is? Without missing a beat, I reply "I don't know what the hell it is, but I took it away from those nerds in the library!" at which point we proceeded to throw the die at each other, until it was lost.
Not the nicest story, but it is funny how far I went to secretly play AD&D.

My nerd moment involves John Wayne. John Wayne?!? Not Star Trek, D&D, or Star Wars? Well, when you're a thirteen year old boy in 1989 and are obsessed with The Duke, you're not winning any popularity contests. 1959 - good to go. 1989 - total nerd.

O.K. the story:
I'm on a class field trip that involved a stop at the mall and was assigned to be in a group with the hottest girl in 8th grade. In other words, this girl was forced to hang out with me for a full two hours. Rapture! Somehow we end up in a movie memorabilia store where I spot a life size card board cutout of you know who. The owner of the store must have noticed me staring slack jawed at this magnificent display and offered to sell it to me for the low, low price of $40. I took about 2 seconds to think about it and agreed.

I will never forget the look of horror/disgust on hot girl's face when she had seen what I had bought. That horror and disgust turned to embarassment when she quickly realized she would have to walk around the mall with this gigantic dork carrying a life size cut out of his hero.

So we're walking around the mall and I first I kept my distance because I could see she was uncomfortable. The more I thought about it, though, the more pissed off I got. How dare she shun me? Doesn't she know how awesome The Duke was? So I told her about his various films: Sands of Iwo Jima, Comancheros, Stagecoach. I could see she was unmoved so then I went into the plot of The Quiet Man. Surely she'll be intrigued by the story of a man and a woman in love despite the obstacles they face.

I wasn't ready for what happened next.

She turned around and screamed, "John Wayne is so stupid now leave me alone!" Then she snatched the cut out from my hands and threw it into the big water fountain - all right in front of mall security. We were escorted to some little room and the teachers were located. After the whole story came out hot girl was forced to apologize and her parents had to write me check for $40.

After the dad handed it to me he said, "her mom doesn't like John Wayne either."

Probably when I was in maybe fifth grade, and tried to assert my non-nerdiness, with a Ghostbusters reference: "Well, I don't collect spores, molds, and fungus." So did not make my case for that one.

Looking back, I have multiple signs of nerdery at an early age, but wasn't aware. I had X-Men/Power Ranger sweatshirts that I rarely took off, I made references to things no other kid my age had a clue about... But I think when it actually hit me that I was a huge dork was in late Elementary school. We played Oregon Trail sometimes in class, as it was the only computer game we were allowed to play that didn't involve math or spelling, and I was the first in my entire class to beat the game, and beat it almost flawlessly. I remember it made the whole class get up and ignore their duties to come see. As everyone gathered around the black and green victory screen, I was told by my teacher that he didn't recall ANYONE beating it, much less do it so well. It clicked in my head that, despite lacking most hand-required skills and math comprehension, I was able to keep virtual people alive from diseases I never knew existed, as well as gun down an entire forest of pixelated animals without wasting a single bullet... And when you can do something 50 times better in a virtual world than you can in a real one, you truly are a huge nerd.

Well, learning how to talk from watching Star Wars over and over and over again, and then learning how to write from the subtitles off of taped Doctor Who episodes with bad sound quality kind of sealed the whole nerd deal for me. I was the only kid in kindergarten who could spell 'Tardis' and 'Millennium Falcon' correctly but couldn't tie their shoes.

Also I'm currently in a fucking bar right I could probably
go and talk to friends but they ask what have I been up too. Reading fff playing pokemon and harvest moon. And I'M in a skywalking bar. Reading about other peoples nerd stories. What the hell? And I love pretty much all of you. Make me feel so much better and kind of make me question why I have friends. But then they're all pretty much nerds themselves.

The time I was in grade nine english and my teacher said something and I piped up "ooh, like that time on star trek when..."...and a sudden hush came over the classroom and everyone turned and stared at me. Including the teacher.

Easy man, it goes like this:

I love Dr. Who, by golly I do, but for some inexplicable reason I have a great undying love for the Ood, this love is so strong that I found myself searching the dark foreboding bowels of the internet for an Ood costume, after a month of searching (yeah you heard me) I finally found a website that was selling replicas of the costumes used on the show, and, in turn, an Ood mask.

Upon finding the mask I let out a little involuntary gasp, not unlike someone having a spontaneous orgasm. Yep. I had a quite literal Nerdgasm.

However the story does not end there, oh no, after reading through the details concerning said mask, I discovered that it was not to be worn, that furthermore if it was worn the wearer would be essentially blind, and that it would end up costing me $800 AUS

This made me so sad I didn't get out of bed for a day

that is when I realized i was a nerd.

Viva la Ood

Even though I was making weekly trips to the comic book store to feed my late-blooming X-men addiction in college, I don't think I really realized how dorky I was until my best friend made my very own Little Wooden Boy from The Tick for Christmas and it was the best present ever (seriously, I almost cried from laughing). I still have him fifteen years later, and he sits on one of my bookcases. In return, next year I made him a pair of Sifl & Olly sock puppets.

I have always known what I was. My first real memory that I have was when I was about two years old. I was taken to the local store and bought a bear claw and a DC Blue Ribbon Digest. This one in fact...
http://cgi.ebay.com/BEST-OF-DC-BLUE-RIBBON-DIGEST-23-YEARS-BEST-1982_W0QQitemZ360167767626QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item53dbabfe4a

To this day I am fat and a nerd. Ahhh memories.

My brother and I both played video games. However, since he would hog the TV and NES, I found myself relegated to the fancy IBM 80286. That's right, I did more than just type up school reports on that monster, I LOVED it. I knew all the DOS commands, the ins and outs of Lotus Magellan, and would do exciting things like: make a fake newspaper, install a mouse, organize all of the files on the computer (a habit I still carry over to all my start menus), take typing tests, and play games that required "thinking" as opposed to those flashy NES games.

Amazingly my brother never wanted to trade to play a four color game (black is too a color), or have to type out what the character should do (King's quest rocks, telling Graham to "remove clothing" is ALWAYS funny).

I think the moment I knew I was a nerd though, was when I was getting tech support for our 14.4 kbaud modem at age 11, and the guy asked me if I "had a parent he could talk to" and I just shook my head sadly and said "Oh, you don't want to talk to THEM, they're CLUELESS!"

I then went on at age 12 on Prodigy to pretend to be 22 and convince older men to "meet me" and then send them to an address to meet that usually corresponded with a gay bar or something else to giggle about for the week with my friends.
Bit me in the ass when I ended up falling for a guy online years later and marrying him. Ugh. :)

It took me a while to realize that I was a nerd. I honestly had no idea until I noticed that I began using the word "frak" regularly. One time I used it in my nursing clinical and my friend actual stopped what she was doing and looked at me. I asked her what was wrong and then she told me. It was then that I knew that I was a nerd.

But it was all my Grandmother's fault. She introduced me to Sci-fi early in life. One of my first clear memories as a small child was watch "Aliens" at her house when I was four.

The day I reached this conclusion I was about ten years old. I was rewatching "Labyrinth", having just gotten home from trick-or-treating as Zaphod Beeblebrox. I had my super cool Pokémon pajamas on. Then I paused the movie because a Stephen B. Hawking special was on TV. As I dashed over, eager to learn about more about physics, the realization of my nerdiness hit me like a ton of bricks.

Frankly though, I love being a nerd.

With my parents and my friends, being a nerd was so normal, I have no idea when I realized other people were retarded. By high school I suppose?

The pinnacle moment, the moment I realized when I would forever be an unabashed nerd, without any hope for any sort of reversal, occurred during a desperate time when I wrote for the high school newspaper, and when I announced my "nerdom", I did so in front of the entire damn school.

From a young age I'd felt that I was... Different. While other girls my age were on the brink of discovering makeup and boys, I was discovering Pokemon cards, anime, and the Twilight Zone. While they wrote love notes to boys, I worked at a furious pace on fanfiction. I was awful at sports, once getting hit in the face with a hockey goalie NET.

While they had pictures up of N*SYNC and Backstreet boys lining their walls, I had the Beatles, Lupin 3rd, and even a Red Dwarf poster on my ceiling. Whenever I have a rough day, I look up at Arnold Rimmer and know tomorrow will be a better one.

This built up, and over time, I became even more nerdy--The anime collection got bigger, I branched out into SciFi, I slowly became the residential tech geek for my family, and also the family spell checker, sometimes taking calls for someone looking for the correct way to spell "potatoes".

The same year I made editor-in-chief for my school paper I was science club president. This has little to do with the fact, though, and it was around the same time I assumed the role as school paper kaiser I was given the assignment to write whatever I wanted. Fun, right? More like terrifying.

So I started to write what I know. I talked about different anime series, different Sci-Fi series, cons I'd gone to. Then it struck me.

Damn it. I was a nerd. And I hadn't realized it until that very moment. I'd been living with a lie that there was a possibility of normalcy--There wasn't. I could dance the Hare Hare Yukai. There was no hope for me.

I still ran with it, writing the article and having it in at the latest possible deadline. As usual high school tropes should have followed, I should have earned a world of ass-kicking. Or at least being shoved in a trash can (the lockers were much too small). Instead the result was... The polar opposite. More people came up to me to confess their own nerdom. Cheerleaders who were Trekkies, "Thug-Life" looking kids who also played Yu-Gi-Oh. It was surreal.

I'd come to realize I was a nerd, and I was all right with that. Today I drive a car that proudly displays my nerdom, with Invader Zim, the Punisher, and FLCL stickers. I draw fan art. I had to make an assignment for a college flash animation class, and made it of anger angered Captain Kirk screaming "KHANNNNN!". My teacher is a nerd, and appreciated it.

I've come to accept that I'm not life everyone else, and I won't be. I'm a nerd.

And damnit I'm proud.

1st time i relized i was a nerd was when i was in the 6th grade and we were learning how to write persuasive esays and i was writing about how good and evil didnt exist and i used Anikin Skywalker as an example cause even though he was going to the dark side he thought he was doing it for the good and the real nerdy thing was that that was when none of the "new" movies were out so that means i read the books

pfft. You guys are lightweights. I was in preschool, and though I could build a time machine out of some old busted TV parts. But only after using them to re-enact some scene from the X-Men cartoons that ran in the early eighties.

My other favorite preschool pastime? Trying to re-enact the scene from the old Ultraman anime where they put him in a coffin, but then he busts out of it by growing to 100x his normal size. I did this by kicking my bedsheets around.

Or maybe it was when my dad and I watched fucking Eraserhead when I was like four. I thought those kinds of films were normal.

My preschool was run out of an Episcopal church. Man, those guys really ruined me.

When I put my sister's headband over my eyes and pretended to be Geordi La Forge. I was 5.

The first time I got left at the park during recess because 1 was too wrapped up in a book to notice everyone else was leaving.

I think I was 7.

When I discovered that I was a nerd? Second grade. I'd spend my time in classes not paying attention to the teachers because I was too busy answering the workbooks and all the questions at the end of each lesson on the textbook.
I tried to quit my nerdiness back in late 95'/ early 96' but Marvel Super Heroes showed up on the arcades... I was hooked. And there was an arcade on the mall behind my orthondotist's office. I spent a lot of time there. One friday afternoon I beated the game and I was excited jumping around the mall and doing Spidey poses. Unfortunately, I jumped and landed in front of a group of popular girls from my class while yelling "Spider-Sense is tingling!" It goes to say that I never got a date through JuniorHigh AND Highschool... And my nerdiness was confirmed.

Virgin at 27. That's the biggest sign. I'm pretty enough, I worked as a model all through college (nothing big time, just a couple of runway shows and photography). But I push everyone away, because cartoons are on. My nerdness became obivious in middle school when I discovered that I was the only girl in school still devotedly watching cartoons. Even more obivious in college, I'd wake up early as 5AM, sit close to the tv with the volume on low as to not wake my roommate while I watched Digimon.

I realised that I was a nerd, and it could be a bad thing in others' eyes, in 7th grade. I had recently changed school and the school it got to wasn't a really nice place.

Me and my some of my 'friends' were by our lockers when I told them that I thought it was sad that Darkwing Duck recently had been banned from television (the goverment in the scandinavian country that I lived in thought that Darkwing Duck taught kids the evil ways of ninja).

They - "So what? Isn't that a kiddies' show?"

Me - "Yes... but he's a superhero. He deserves better."

The looked at each other, smile awkwardly and walked away without a word.

The same month a got beat up by a gang of bullies and thrown out of a window. The good news is that the window was only on the first floor. The bad news is that the window was closes.

I always wondered if the two events were connected.

The moment I knew I was a nerd was the moment I realized that talking to your middle school Lit teacher about the latest episode of West Wing and actually liking it wasn't normal. I didn't have any friends in that class and I don't remember how it started, but one day I realized; normal 13 year olds don't like political dramas and they certainly don't talk to their teachers about them. Ironically, this was also about the time I started reading Dragonlance novels.

I knew I was "different" the day I went on a date with this very sexy guy. We got around to things we like and it just so happened that I was re-playing all the Final Fantasy games, ya know, for funsies. I went on to explaining why 10 was pretty great but 10-2 sucked, but I had to play it anyway because it was the game that had awesome dress-spheres. And that my tattoo was of a chocobo from 7, NOT 8! (I have three tattoos from the games, but the chocobo is deff. my fav!) I probably went on like this for, I don't know, 10 more minutes? When I looked up, his face was of utter stupidity and ignorance. He thought my tattoo was of a chicken! A chicken?! Anyway, needless to say he actually just left me there at the restaurant, he practically ran from me. I didn't even get to my Robert Heinlein collection yet. Men! Go figure. I now have an awesome man who realized I am better than him at video games but still wants to play COD with me online. Ain't he just a peach?

I fought it as long as I possibly could. All through high school and the following party years my love for comic books and toys remained my deep dark secret. My secret was entrusted to my two closest friends who were borderline nerds at best, I knew I was safe with them. I liken it to how a gay guy must feel in those formative years, the thought of a taboo love made public for all to mock.

Moving on...

I realized I was a nerd when I was forced to move back in with my parents at the ripe old age of 28. Humiliation aside I powered/shouldered through setting up shop in the only available space left, the dreaded basement. It would take a few weeks for reality to set, but one afternoon sitting there alone playing Silent Hill or something, surrounded by shelves full of nerdly trinkets, little plastic men and 30 long boxes it hit me, holy shit I'm that guy, the old nerd living in his parents basement. Sadly her I sit typing this, 6 years latter. My God what have I done to my life.

I realize that I'm a complete nerd about once a week, but I can't remember the first moment. Here are some of the best ones:

1. My "best Halloween ever" was the year I built a life-sized, mobile K-9 unit in the shed while pretending to be a mad scientist.
2. I was 17 years old, and I spent my Friday night reading about the split between the Catholic and Orthodox churches over the wording of the Nicene creed. For fun.
3. When, in 2nd grade, I was so obsessed with Pokemon that I spent recess pretending to be one.
4. My Harry Potter birthday party, which included a broomstick zip line, a 3-D snitch shaped cake, an elaborate potion logic game administered my my father (dressed as Snape, and doing the voice), a row of "shops" designed to look like Diagon Alley, that sold things like wands (that I made out of paper mache) fake Wizard money to buy the stuff with, and me spray painting my hair to look like a Weasley.

Now, I've been a nerd for a long time, but it really hit me how bad I was when I decided to name my 1st child (who is 6 months away) either Corbin Dallas if it's a boy (and yes I know this is not the correct spelling of Bruce Willis' character's name, but I didn't want to have the name 'ben' in my kids name, 'cause I don't like that one) or Majel Ripley if it's a girl.

I finished reading Stranger in a Strange Land in fourth grade and tried to respond to a question from a teacher with "I grok that", and thought I was cool.

I believe it was the day I wore my Wonder Woman swimsuit to school in kindergarten and pretended to be...well you can guess. Needless to say I got in trouble for coming to school half-naked. It was still a most awesome day. I spent all of recesses chasing kids around and generally making a menace of myself.

I'm pretty sure I was born one, but I first realized I was a geek in the 6th grade when we started studying genetics and no one else in my class knew who Gregor Mendel was. I had gotten a book from the library about him maybe two years before.

Now that I'm aware of it I realize it's not normal for little girls to get into fights over Star Trek either. Or beg for anatomy books. Or watch Star Wars over and over and quote large chunks verbatim. I still have trouble believing that kids don't all want body books for Christmas.

Also, for the record my first crush was Data.

The morning I had to explain to a police officer that my wallet had been stolen the night before by a stripper and the only thing of real value in it was my laminated MST3K I.D. card.

He put it in the police report.

I think it's been obvious I'm a nerd most of my life.

I read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea when I was 8, staying in the classroom at school to read instead of going out for recess. I read the first four Harry Potter books in the same number of days at the same age.

I debated Quantum Theory with a science teacher in Year 7, at the age of 12. I built my first computer at the same age.

At school, when asked who we'd like to meet, most kids answered popular musicians, sportspeople, or actors. I said 'JC Denton, and if we aren't allowed to pick fictional characters, Joe Strummer.' No one else knew who either person was, or once I elaborated, who The Clash were or what Deus Ex was. Similarly, I was once nearly given a detention for talking about Deus Ex with a friend, because a teacher had thought I'd said 'gay sex'.

I once used the plot of Half Life 2 as an example in a history essay. The teacher was a nerd, and got the reference, so I got good marks. With the same teacher, I debated the virtues of socialism and communism for 45 minutes, completely disrupting the class.

I routinely correct salespeople on technical specifications.

Oh, and next Thursday I'm receiving Dux of my year at school.

But the point of realization was probably, when in Year 5, at the age of 10, I beat my university-educated teacher in a literacy test. It definitely took me a while to live that one down.

It was 1967,and being at the impressionable age of five I become a major fan of the tv show Mr.Terrific.Here's a link for those wondering what captured my young mind:
http://www.loti.com/sixties_TV/Mr_Terrific.htm

My Mother,God bless her seeing my love of the program set about making me a Mr.Terrific costume. My debut was set,and I proudly rolled out for my Dad and brothers to see. The laughter and ribbing I received from my middle brother in particular, was so severe and devastating that the costume was worn that one time only.

Though the term may not have existed then,I know now that I was a nerd before my time. Of course my obsession with Japanese monster movies was soon to follow so it just goes to prove: You can't keep a true nerd down.

Again, like many others, I was always the weird kid who read a lot, but I think one of my earliest defining nerd moments was in grade 3. Mr. Coverdale's class always did the school play, which he wrote, and that year it was "Star Trek: The Generation After the Next Generation". It combined TOS and TNG, so we had Captain Pick-a-card-any-card, Sprockali, and my own character, Dr. Beverly Flusher (I said grade 3, alright? this was funny). We had to watch Star Trek for background research, so I think of it as my gateway show- Trek leads to Star Wars leads to Buffy leads to Stargate leads to having no room left on my shelves for another show. I remember my personal introduction song- did I mention this was a musical? "I'm Dr. Flusher on this ship/ If you fall, spill, or take a trip/ Make an appointment to see me, in my medical laboratory/ When you see my bill you'll flip! (Da-DA!)" Eat your heart out, Shakespeare.

I'd prefer to believe that my nerd status is a result of consecutive events. When the first Harry Potter book came out, I read my copy until it fell apart. It took about 30+ reads. I nearly orgasmed when I discovered that Anime had a portable book counterpart called Manga. When my English teacher told us that "humbug" means "something intended to deceive" I asked him why they had them at Hogwarts feasts. When my Catechism teacher told us to ask him any question we have about religion I asked him why Catholicism has so many overlaps with Greek Mythology if it is a completely original religion like he claimed. I AM THE PRESIDENT OF MY SCHOOL'S FIRST AND ONLY ANIME CLUB!

Did I mention I am also a chick? :D

I began to suspect that I was a nerd in grade 5. While other kids would use their time in the library to look for easy to read books with lots of pictures for their book reports, I would go to the section that contained all the books that actually taught you something. That's where I learned all about Egyptians, black holes, volcanoes. Then, I would get in trouble in class because I would try to read those books under my desk while the teacher was rambling on about math I'd already been doing for two years...

When did I realize I was a nerd hmm.. Probably when I bought a 3-Day pass to Wizard World Philly instead of a ticket to the prom. I'm pretty sure all my classmates were getting drunk and laid in a hotel that weekend while I was waiting in line 2 hours to see the Kevin Smith Q&A haha. No regrets!

I realized I was a nerd when I began collecting. First it was pogs, then pokemon cards, video games, movies, comics.

My dad gave me the middle name "Aragorn." That is not a lie. My legal name is Joseph Aragorn McLauren. That's when I knew....

I have had plenty of geek moments. Plenty of bullies and the sort. I was always told that I was different, and most of my friends were used to it, so I never thought of myself as odd. Until one day...

I was 16 and working at a pizza joint. A gentleman called to make a reservation for his son's 4th birthday. I got all his info and then asked for his son's name. He said, "My son's name is Jor-El." Without even thinking I asked, "Is that hyphentated?"
He responded, "That's awesome. You know where that comes from?" We stayed on the phone and talked about Superman for another twenty minutes.

That was not the day that I knew I was a nerd. It was the next weekend, when my co-worker was setting up the party. She asked me if I spelled the name wrong. I said no and tried to explain how cool the name was. I told her about Kal-El and Jor-El and a lot about Superman. She just stared at me. She wrote down the name and said to me, "You're such a nerd," and walked away. She actually said it in a very playful way and didn't mean it as an insult. She was just having fun. But that was it. The moment I new I was a nerd, but not just that. That was the day I choose to embrace it and be the best damned nerd I could be. If a cute girl like that was cool with it, then why should I hide it. From then on I never hid the fact that I read comics and doo geeky stuff. It ended up being an okay day.

Just now.

My realization came when I was seven years old. At the time, I was into a lot of varied things.

One of my favourite pass times was to get onto my dad's old TI computer from 1982 and play this game called Tunnels of Doom, which was the time's equivalent of a computer based RPG. I'd been using the same computer since I was five years old and was getting to be an old pro at it. 5.25" disks, plug in cartridges to the keyboard, I could do it all without a fuss.

At the same time, I'd get my dad to help me to log into the CompuServe dial in server so I could look around and feel pretty thrilled about knowing I was connected to another computer somewhere else. I could even hum the modem sounds perfectly.

I think that was right around the time as well that I was jonesing on the first Wing Commander game. Gods, I loved it and that was the time where I ended up thinking up the handle that I would subsequently use on action style games, online and off, until this very day.

Last but not least, at the same time, my brother was introducing me to this really neat game called Dungeons and Dragons (which would become one of my obsessions).

It was right around then, when I finally acknowledged all the geeky shit I was into, that I realized I was a full blooded nerd.

One winter in the early 80's my school had a class trip planned to a place Museum Villsge. MV was a large area of land made over into an 1800's town, complete with employees in period outfits. They also sold souveneirs and offered lunch.
My parents handed me a whopping 20 bucks to spend on this field trip. I suppose the plan was for me to buy a snow globe, or authentic Davy Crockett hat. I had other plans.

Near the school was a conveinence store with a comic spinner rack. I stopped there for a bagel and soda before class every day.

As I looked at the spinner rack I became aware of an interesting fact. I did not have to put aside my second soda to buy 1 comic today as I normally did. I had enough money here in my pocket to buy EVERY comic on this rack!almost 60 comics IN ONE DAY!!!

I made my obscene purchase and hisd the bag in my backpack. The trip was paid for but I now had no money for goodies, or even lunch.

I simply laid low at lunch, and no one questioned me reading Fury Of Firestorm #1 at lunch instead of eating or the terrible noise my belly made all day.

By the time I reached home I was hungry enough that it was making me ill. My mother made me som soup and sent me to bed early to "recover" from my upset belly. I rwad about a third of the books before falling asleep and spun the sick belly into a sick day the next day. I spent the day home reading the rest of the books.

That is when I knew I was....different.

When at the tender age of fifteen, I stepped up to do an oral presentation and the whole class groaned. The project was design a website advertising a location; I chose the Ghibli Museum.

The moment I knew I was a nerd? I can't really say that there was one fantastic KABOOM where I realized "ZOMG, a nerd, I am!" It is a gradual process, I agree.

I recall a particular birthday party, where my friend was turning 8 years old. I was reluctantly invited, but mostly had an okay time. Cake was eaten, and then presents were opened. Her mother saved the biggest present for last: A brand new Sega Genesis complete with Sonic the Hedgehog. Birthday girl stared at it for a moment, then looked at me. "Here, go put it in my room." I was in awe. Once I was behind closed doors, I quickly found myself ripping open the box and hooking the cables to her small color TV. I played it for 4 hours solid. Nobody noticed I was gone. Later, she broke off our friendship, because she claimed that I would rather spend time playing a game than spending time with her. My response?

"There's two controllers, you know."

It's really kind of hard to pinpoint when I knew I was a nerd. Somewhere between the birthday present of the Watchmen graphic novel when I was 13 to when I discovered the sheer joy of reading A Game of Thrones in 9th grade.

This may be a bit underwhelming compared to many of these, but I've known since the first day of preschool when I was reading instead of playing with the other kids. Not just books on the level of "Dick and Jane" or "The Ugly Duckling", but chapter books intended for kids three or four years older than me... at four years old.

I didn't even understand the concept of 'nerd' or 'geek' yet, but I clearly was one anyway and something inside me told me that it was right. So, no, I didn't actually have a moment of discovery, I just kinda have been since before I can remember.

It was two defining moments.
First time during the trip to Amsterdam I was not smoking weed like everyone else but sitting all day in comic book store (I'm from Poland and there are no comic book stores at all).
Second time when I turned down opportunity to have sex because I was finishing my first mod for Mount & Blade.
Way to spread my genes.

In 5th grade my mom bought me a Jurassic Park t-shirt because I loved the movie and it was badass. I didn't know any better as far as what were cool clothes, so I wore it to school and was ridiculed. That was when I KNEW i was a nerd. Before that I just liked video games, comics, sci-fi movies, and not talking to girls. So I went through several periods of denial through middle school and high school before I re-discovered PS2, Marvel Ultimates, and Adult Swim in college. That was when the acceptance happened. Now I have a display on my bookshelf with original GI Joe figures standing next to their 25th anniversary counterparts and I AM PROUD OF IT.

You say you hope the stories wont be super depressing but I'm afraid my story isn't full of hilarious made up antics of Nerdom.

No one knows they're a nerd until someone else calls you a nerd. That someone is usually a best friend or bully. In my case it was the latter.

When I first realized I was a nerd it was in the court yard in the back of my Jr. high school and I was showing off my X-men comic book collections to group of kids that I knew. As they flipped through the pages one very large girl who the neighborhood kids called "Taz" short for the Looney toon character The Tasmanian Devil. She snatched one of the comics from my hands and quickly looked at the cover with a somewhat disgusted look on her face.

She laughed at me and called me a nerd. I tried to grab it back but she ripped it up. A fight ensued and we both went to detention. When we were released the kids around the block laughed at me, they couldn't believe that I actually fought over a comic book and they called me a nerd too. After that day "Taz" became my usually school bully until the day we graduated. Actually I graduated she dropped out.

When I was 14 I set my email address to a h2g2 reference:

fordyoureturningintoapenguinstopit@etcetc.com

I still have the account, and have only just swapped to a real grown up one. I am 21.

But yes, try to imagine explaining and spelling that to banks and various institutions.

This isn't so much when I realized I am a geek, more when I realized I was truly a beyond redemption geek.

A guy in the Gaming and Anime Organization I was with in college came up with a game for our LAN parties called "So you think you know some shit". Basically massive nerd trivia game with its own point and difficulty system. You would be in teams of three and he would read questions, you write down answers and he gives you a score for the number of correct and what difficulty. Max score is usually around 150. He has run this three times. I haven't lost yet, and no team has ever come within 20 points of my teams final score. And both my teammates have admitted that I gave 90% of our answers.

It is so bad, that the guy who did this wants to run one, where it is everyone else vs me.

I won a library read-a-thon.
I was two.

9 years old. Fifth grade. Reading time. The teacher stepped out of the class. I was minding my own business enjoying my second read through of Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising...when the kid next to me, Graham, jaw dropped in awe and grabbed the book out of my hand.

Graham: You're reading this?
Me: Yes
Graham: That's like 700 pages!
Me (shrugging): I've read longer
Graham (to the entire class waving the book around): Look what he's reading! (sputtering in disbelief) FOR FUN!

Looking around I saw nary a sci-fi or fantasy book, certainly not a late 80's techno-thriller about WW3. The moment I realized I was a Nerd, was also the first time I felt that nerd-sense of immense superiority over mundanes for my taste in something.

I have a picture of the exact moment I knew I was a nerd.

The night before I started kindergarten, already forced to wear a thick pair of Clark Kents and more than a little self-conscious about it, my Mom tells me she has a surprise for me. Laid out on my bed is a shirt and a pair of pants. The shirt confused me.

"Why does the shirt have a 'b' and a 'd' on it?"

"Those aren't letters," my Mom laughed. "They're glasses!"

"Oh."

She'd embroidered the shirt. There's a picture of me, in front of our apartment, taken before I left the next morning, wearing the hated shirt, a pair of plaid pants and a rather pained expression.

Kids called me Six Eyes. It was awesome.

I was in 8th grade, and my friends and I were on the phone with each other every night during Star Trek: Voyager to talk about how hot Jeri Ryan looked as Seven of Nine. Then we'd stop and talk about timeline inconsistencies with the rest of the Trek universe. That's when I realized it.

I don't know how old I was when this happened.
These things let me know I was a nerd.

1. I gave someone a lecture about the unification of China.
2. I played Cyberpunk like it bringing sexy back.
3. I owned a sack full of dice. Many of them were 20 sided.
4. Nothing gets me excited like the Franks, Goths, and Visigoths. That's not true. I have a hard on for Greek mythology too.

I've entered already, but I just have nerdy anecdote for you all:

I was pretty young at the time, and already was really into comic books and art. I didn't read the newspaper, except for the cartoons, of course. Once I read the cartoon, and the caption read "The Osbornes at Christmas" with an illustration of a drunk and partied-out family. I guess it meant Ozzy Osborne, and his family, but at the time I read it, thought for a moment, then 'realised' they meant Norman and Harry Osborn! I chuckled, in a sort of "Those Osbornes are crazy!" way, and the sad thing is I really thought the whole word knew who Norman Osborn was. I didn't even get the joke, let alone which Osbornes they were supposed to be.

The first time I realized I was a nerd...was in middle school, I was fat, had about 3 friends, and every time I liked a girl I got looked upon with nothing but scorn. I was in a computer class writing about comic books for a project, we than had to trade with someone else and read their project or something. The kid I traded with suddenly spouted out "comics? comic books are STUPID!" My heart sank, this was one of them popular kids, he just said my love of comics was stupid...and than I realized it. Fat? Cant get girls? zero social skills? I was a big fat nerd.

For all those who are having trouble with the differences of Nerd, geek, etc. I present a Venn Diagram to explain it all. BEHOLD!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_kRd5fvMqXBQ/SqU66o25S9I/AAAAAAAACIA/TTl16pDoCYY/s320/nerd-venn-diagram-9420-1252236207-2.jpg

I didn't read all of these posts so this may be doubled but I realized I was different when I started using the cuss words from the original Battlestar Galactica in school. Something bad would happen and I would yell out "Felgarcarb!!" or "Frak-Me Sideways!!" I remember actually being sent to the office because one of teachers thought it was really foul language. I guess in a way it was.

29 Years old. Which is my current age. As sad as it may be, I hid all the things I was passionate about to fit in with the clique back in the day. I was a program kid, a SPED. So I became this persona who was a covered in tattoos, silently psycho, and all about getting girls...Which you can't do if your opening line is "So what is your favorite class to play in D&D?"
I started becoming the other person so much, I didn't know where it ended and where I began. I realized a month ago, I could be both. Its rough, but it was necessary at the time.

Back in the late 80s, I was was kinda dating a girl in high school--let's call her Natalie--but I really didn't have much interest in her. She was nice I guess but really boring and didn't have much of a personality. Her parents were really strict and wouldn't let her call me after dark, so she would call her best friend--let's call her Kris--and have her call me, to tell me important things like what she ate for lunch that day or what she saw on TV that night. Anyways, I actually enjoyed talking to Kris more since she had a personality and interesting hobbies, like collecting movie memorabilia. When she told me she had a lot of photos and autographs of movie stars, I asked her of whom, and she said, "Oh, nobody you know; people like Anthony Daniels." "C-3PO?" I asked. "Do you have Kenny Baker's autograph, too?" "Yes," she said shocked I knew who these people were, "and Peter Mayhew's and David Prowse's, too."

I dumped Natalie and, several years later, married Kris. And she still beats me at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, the last time when she knew who Jek Tono Porkins was.

I didn't realize I was a nerd the moment this happened, but looking back it was definitely a warning sign. When I was in third grade Pokemon came out for GameBoy. Naturally me and all my friends got the game (and sucked at it, as 8 year olds cannot understand the deep strategy that is Pokemon) and were so obsessed with it my school eventually banned even talking about Pokemon.
Anyway, as nerdy as that is what really happened was far nerdier. I had a little girlfriend back then, you know, holding hands, rarely speaking to each other, passing messages back and forth etc. She started to get angry at me because I would always be thinking about Pokemon and never paying enough attention to her. So, naturally, I broke up with her. I told her I really wanted to focus on Pokemon and she was getting in the way of my life. This, of course, being ironic as the: "I really want to focus on school/my career right now" being a mainstay in women breaking it off with adult guys.

Hmmm there's a few moments:

Spending all my free time in junior high researching Greek and Norse mythology and also learning how to differentiate between all of the different 'races' of dragons (thank you internet fantasy boom of the 90s).

In the early years of high school my "side job" was being a fansub vhs trader and distributor. I've finally gotten rid of most of my 500+ vhs tapes.

In high school and college I made quite a few AMVs. I've even turned in AMVs as digital editing assignments for classes.

I think the biggest moment that I knew I was a nerd through and through for the rest of my life, though, was taking a technical writing course in college and deciding to write a serious literary-scholar level analysis of the anime Shoujo Kakumei Utena. In forty pages I hadn't even finished analyzing the characters. Nothing is funnier than hearing a seventy year old woman trying to analyze just why this girl stores a sword in her chest and how it brings on the "revolution."

Wait. You mean I'm a nerd? This is a nerd site? Normal people don't drool over $70 bits of painted PVC? Or write horrible, soul-burning fanfiction? This is nerdery?

Huh.

I first realized I was a nerd when I chose to stay at home on a Saturday night and watch Star Wars, instead of hanging out with my friends.

It happened pretty recently: I was reading "American Nerd: The story of my people" by Benjamin Nugent and realized that I had either participated or had a close friend who participated in EVERY SINGLE ACTIVITY mentioned in the book: LARP, debate team, Renaissance fairs, video games, anime conventions, and scifi book clubs.

I knew I was a nerd when I decided all I wanted to be was a Veritech pilot. How disappointed I was when a giant space ship didn't crash in 99, but hey still a chance for stuff to go down with the zentradi in 09 right?

-Also reading star wars books before high school gym class started, hiding it in the bleachers during the warm up run and then just reading through the rest of the period didnt help, ahh Rogue Squadron got me through that hell.

I learned mixed-martial arts just so I could participate in a "Star Wars" fanfic.

There have been plenty of moments, but my favorite involves Twilight Princess.

My friend had just returned from a three-month training stint with the army and was hanging out. I am the type of person of person who believes Wii Sports to be exercise. So you understand the difference between us.

Twilight Princess arrived as a gift from my brother and my dad told her to not left me have it until christmas. Nerd-rage took over and I tackled her to the ground, punched her, and ripped it from her hands.

... yeah. I beat up an army sergeant because she wouldn't give me my copy of Twilight Princess. I have no idea if that's nerdy or not, but that sure as hell is something that normal people do not do.

Context: I'm 41 now. I saw Star Wars in the theater when it was news.

In Third Grade I got into my first Nerd Fight with another kid over the shape of Stormtroopers' eyes. He was drawing them round, and I was drawing them triangular. I corrected him, and the whole class got into the fight, with half siding with him, the other with me. I bet him $20 that I was right, and he accepted the bet. The next day I brought in a trading card (the figures weren't out yet I think) and showed him the truth.

Bastard still owes me $20 and he still has my LP of Adam Ant's Kings of the Wild Frontier. I don't remember how he got that though, but it must have been years later.

What's $20 1978 dollars in 2009 money?

2 memories stand out for me, personally I choose this one as the best example: at the tender age of 5, getting into such a riled-up tantrum state with my older brother for hogging all the Transformers toys that I dropped a large metal Tonka truck on his head, splitting his head open and earning me a severe smack from the parentals.

The second one certainly qualifies too though, and at least deserves a mention; carrying around a copy of Ender's Game so often at primary school that Ender became my nickname the last year or so I was there.

I am nerd, hear me roar!

It was when I was about 11. Every morning before my first period class, I would stand around talking to all my friends (I'm a girl, and they were all guys) about video games or scifi books or something equally nerdy. One day this girl (friend of a friend) comes up to me, physically pulled me away and told me that if I kept talking to these people, I would never get a boyfriend. Still not sure how hanging out with boys = never going to get a boyfriend... but still, as soon as I escaped, I went straight back to the boys to tell them about some new thing I had heard about the new Pokemon games. I would like to point out that the girl that tried to de-nerd me is now really creepy and slutty and to my knowledge, boyfriend-less. HA! Looks like I made the right decision after all! :D

I remember mine was in first grade. I was already the last-picked for any game, and I spent recess in the library after only a few months of the crude comments of my peers. However, my "epiphany" arrived during a end-of-school-year party at the estate of one of the kids (I forget who).

I was riding high on my first adult act--I kissed a girl (Stephanie, I'll never forget you). I was camping out in the humongus back yard with two other guys, Ian and...Scott, I think it was. Anyway, they decided to have a little fun at my expense.

I was at the point where I read more than my peers, but I still didn't know a lot. So they asked me if I'd heard about the recent Beethoven concert. I'd never heard the name, too young to know someone was conning me, and was eager to please and be "cool." So I said, yeah, sure, I'd heard about it. I didn't go myself, but I was close enough to hear it rattle the windows of my house.

And then, they revealed the con and laughed at me for what seemed like for-FUCKING-ever. The next two days, the entire summer, and for the next school year afterward at least, I was the gullible kid who believed there had been a BEETHOVEN CONCERT.

There was no turning back, no witty thing I could say to explain, and from that night on, I was a geek. Nowhere near cool.

Ian, you bastard.

I have always been a nerd, but I think my defining moment was when I saw my boyfriend's MENSA IQ test scores and I literally became aroused. "Ooh you're so smart, let's have sex".

Nerd Nympho.

It also could have been when I was 4... Playing Mario on NES... My older brother's friend stole the controller away from me. Bad idea. I promptly took it back and bashed him in the skull with it. He ended up with 7 stitches. Bastard. That'll teach you to steal video game controllers from 4 year old nerd girls. :)

I was 5 years old and knew how to read because my parents taught me. So I started to go to school and the teacher had these big cards with words on it. We had to read them. So everyone was: "aaa...tee...". And I said "attention".

I don't remember the exact words, but I nailed every one of them. So the teacher, instead of rewarding me, send me to the back of the class. Alone.

And that day I started being the lonely nerd for the rest of my life.

This story is not really about me, but about one of my high school best friends, so this entry might get straightly disqualified anyway. But his story is so off-the-nerdmeter for us, so I might just share it for you guys as well.

So it was the usual day in high school, me and the other boys were doing the "What do you want to do after high school / What do you actually want to be" kind of talk. Each one of us say the boring answer, you know, lawyers, programmers, businessmen, etc. And then when it was his turn, my buddy said "I want to be Megaman."

With a straight face.

We were like, "what do you mean, dude?" and he said, "yeah, I want to be Megaman. I will install robotics into my body, change my arm into a bazooka, that kinda stuff." Again, with a straight face. And we realized that HE IS NOT JOKING. HE DOES WANT TO BE MEGAMAN.

Now, I know he's into Gundams, robots and stuff, (in fact, that might be the reason why we are close in the first place?) but that was the moment when me and my friends realized for real that THIS guy... THIS guy here, one of our own classmates. He is THE nerd. You know, to want to be the fucking MEGAMAN. In the fucking HIGH SCHOOL AGE.

After he said that, we look at one another with unsure smiles, and just simply being quiet. Sitting around and being quiet.
We were speechless.

ps: he is doing robotics now. Oh, and he said he wants to build Gundam now. A real, functioning Gundam as a tool for war. And then he will destroy the world with it. No shit, that's really what he said.

Now I'm not sure if I should encourage him to be Megaman AND a Gundam pilot, or if we should STOP IT ALL COST BEFORE HE DESTROYS THE WORLD

There is one defining moment of nerdiness that stands apart from my other childhood memories more than any other. At the time, I did not realize how significant it was, but in retrospect, it is THE defining nerd moment of my youth. My obsession for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was peaking, and I was at the local corner store shuffling through their comic book rack for the latest issue of the horrid Archie-published TMNT comic. I was going to buy a copy of some GI Joe comic, but my mother (a closet nerd) had always disliked anything GI Joe related, so she skimmed the rack and picked out something with a different title that struck her fancy. It was called Excalibur. Excalibur #36, to be exact. That single moment of "Why don't you get this one instead?" my obsession with Marvel comics and all things mutant began. Excalibur #36 was perfect. It was a one-off story full of characters that, with the exception of Sand Man, I had never, ever seen before. There was comedy. There was tragedy. There was even a kiss. That one purchase sparked a comic book frenzy that would go on for about ten years and result in about one thousand comic books (safely stored in my basement now). Eventually, I got tired of Marvel's greed and moved on to some new obsession (if I recall correctly, it was D&D... until I got sick of Wizards endless stream of new editions produced to empty my wallet). Interestingly, my disenchantment with Marvel began when the moved Excalibur over to the X-Men marketing group. Once they moved out of the lighthouse, it was all down-hill from there.

When my mom read me LOTR when I was a baby.

Well I've been a nerd for years but it crept on bit by bit and while I was aware of it I didn't really acknowledge it.

The definative nerd moment came early this year.
To set the scene, I'm an 18 year old straight guy and a female friend was coming over to complain about her boyfriend and get very drunk. We had the house to ourselves.
(Don't worry, this isn't going to be a story like you are currently thinking.)

My room is full of nerd stuff, Pokemon zukans (scale figures), anime DVDs etc. (yes I had still managed to convince myself that I was still only a bit of a nerd and not fully blown nerd).

So we were watching the Breakfast Club and she was drinking alot of vodka and became very drunk, she was staggering around abit, but was being very flirty too.

I was liking the way things were going until she stumbled and bumped into my shelf of Pokemon zukans, knocking a few of them over.

Immediatly all thoughts of the drunken girl disappeared from my mind and I became instantly worried about my zukan collection and ran over to check them and make sure none were broken while having a mini freak out.

She left very soon after.

That was when I realised exactly how much of a nerd I have become.

Don't regret a moment of nerdyness though =)

Id didn't realize how much of a nerd I was until recently. Within my relatively short life, I have been a nerd from the start. It developed more in Junior High, and manifested in High School. Sophomore year, after watching all of the Star Wars films in one crazy awesome weekend, my dad decided to introduce me to Star Trek. That pretty much sealed the deal. I had seen most of all the TOS episodes twice within the span of a few months, and went to my first convention that summer (Las Vegas, 09! Woo!). I thought it was amazing, despite light jokes from friends and family. It wasn’t until early this semester I figured how nerdy I actually was though. I was blatantly mocked for my nerdiness in an art class, after talking about videogames, Star Trek, comics, Dr. Who, and wanting to play WoW. Apparently, these things aren’t cool. Not at all. Especially conventions.

It took me a moment to realize that this wasn’t the norm for 16 year old girls. Go figure.

My realization was slow to come, (much like Rob) I was never good at sports. In second grade we rented a game for the NES called 'Commandos' I think, and I woke up early for school and sat in my tighty whiteys playing the shit out of the game by myself and on the last level fighting the final boss my dad comes in and sees me glued to this game and says 'Hank you have to be to school in ten f*@king minutes why are you not dressed?'
'I looked at him and said I had better things to do. I can't talk much now dad this guy is flashing so I think I have him beat'
Later that year we bought punch out and my dad and brother couldn't beat E Honda (the first time you fight him)
We sat and played and I got really into it. We kept getting beat, I was so into it that my right eye inexplicably swelled shut.
Another example my father was the 5th grade basketball coach and I was on the team and in band
He made me choose the trumpet or the team, I chose the trumpet and he made me play basketball.
I was late to baseball practice all summer cuz of the X Men cartoon being on at the same time.
I got detention for DMing during study hall in 7th grade. The big one was when I found this site and realized I'm not a social pariah but your average nerd. It feels good to finally belong.

When I started reading Topless Robot. I have always loved sci-fi, I played the tuba in band starting in the 7th grade and have past my love of all things Star Wars to my 5 year old son, who is running around as I type this in a Darth Vadar t-shirt yelling at his 8 year old sister that he has her in a Jedi chock hold.

When I was watching Futurama, and Calculon asked Bender, "Do you have an extra 'goto 10' line, I said take a hike!" I was the only person in the room who got it, and therefore, the only one who laughed.

You know I was kinda disapointed because I don't seem anywhere near as nerdy (from now I'm using otaku) as any of these entrants (is that a bad thing?) and I didn't really have anything that could compete... Then I remembered and realized why my otakuness might be on par with all of yours... Rob you might like this one... During the school year of ---- I learned about anime fansubs, and I read EVERY anime wikipedia plot summary to make a list of all the 1s I wanted to watch. It probably took weeks or even months to finish and I still have the list to prove it...

***Anime

1106
492
300
=1898

afro samari
ah my goddess
ai yori aoshi
Kannazuki no Miko
Baki the Grappler
Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto
basara
Battle Programmer Shirase
black cat
black lagoon
bottle fairy
boys be
buso renkin
Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran
cheeky angel
chrono crusade
cowboy bebop
chrest of the stars
Demon Lord Dante
Devil lady
Devilman
Dirty pair
Elfin lied
Excel saga
Fang of the sun dougram
Fighting beauty wulong
Final approach
Final fantasy: unlimited
Fire emblem
Fruit basket
fushigi yuugi
GUNxSWORD
geneshaft
genshiken
Grenadier – the senshi of smiles
Great teacher onizuka
Gungrave
Gunslinger girl
.hack//liminality
Haikara-san ga toru
Hanbun no tsuki ga noboru sora
Happy lesson
Hataraki man
He is my master
Hellsing
Hidamari sketch
High school girls
Himawari!
Honey and clover
Ichigo 100%
Ikki tousen
Inukami
The irresponsible captain tylor
Kanon
Kare Kano
Kashimashi
Kiddy grade
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien
Koi Koi Seven
Kujibiki Unbalance
Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora
Lamune
Les Misérables: Shojo Cosette
Love Get Chu
Lucky Star
Maburaho
Madlax
Magic knight rayearth
Magical?Shopping Arcade Abenobashi
Maria-sama ga Miteru
Marmalade Boy
Martian Successor Nadesico and then Gekigangar III (maybe)
Maze (anime)
Mezzo DSA
Miyuki-chan in Wonderland
Modern Love's Silliness
Musashi Gundoh
My-HiME
My-Otome
Nagasarete Airantou
Najica Blitz Tactics
Negima!: Magister Negi Magi
NieA_7
Ninja Scroll: The Series
Nodame Cantabile
Noein
Noir
Now and Then, Here and There
Oh My Goddess!
Outlaw star
Peacemaker Kurogane
Peach Girl
Please Teacher!
Popotan
Pumpkin Scissors
Raimuiro Senkitan
Ranma ½
Rave master
Rec (manga)
Record of Lodoss War
Reign (anime)
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Rizelmine
The Rose of Versailles
Rurouni Kenshin
s-CRY-ed
saikano
sailer moon
saiyuki
saiyuki gunlock
saiyuki reload
sakigake!! Otokojuka
sakura wars
samurai 7
samurai champloo
samurai deeper kyo
samurai girl: real bout high school
samurai gun
sensual phase
sentimental graffiti
seraphim call
serial experiments lain
shadow star
shakugan no shana
shijou saikyou no deshi kenichi
shinigami no ballad
shonan junai gumi
shrine of the morning mist
shura no toki – age of chaos
simoun
sister princess
slayers
Sorcerer Hunters
Soul Link
Speed Grapher
Star Ocean EX
Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko
Starship Operators
Steel Angel Kurumi
Stellvia of the Universe
Strawberry Panic!
Street Fighter II V
Tenchi muyo!
Tenjho Tenge
Texhnolyze
The big O
The Third
The Twelve Kingdoms
The Wallflower
The World of Narue
This Ugly Yet Beautiful World
ToHeart
ToHeart ~Remember My Memories~
ToHeart2
Tonagura!
Tournament of the Gods
Trigun
trinity blood
true tears
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Tsuki wa Higashi ni Hi wa Nishi ni: Operation Sanctuary
Tsukihime
Tsukihime, Lunar Legend
Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase-
Tsuyokiss
UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie
Ultimate Girls
Ultra Maniac
Urotsukidoji
Uta Kata
Utawarerumono
Vandread
The Vision of Escaflowne
Welcome to the N.H.K.
Wind -a breath of heart-
Windy Tales
Witch Hunter Robin
Yami to Boshi to Hon no Tabibito
Yes! PreCure 5
Yumeria
×××HOLiC

***OVAs

3×3 Eyes
Advancer Tina
Adventure Kid
Alien from the Darkness
Android Kikaida
Anejiru The Animation
Animation Runner Kuromi
Another Lady Innocent
Appleseed
Armitage III
Ayane's High Kick
Baki the Grappler
Banner of the Stars
Battle Angel Alita
Battle Angel Alita: Last Order
Battle Arena Toshinden
Bible Black
Blame!
Blue Seed
Blue Submarine No. 6
Burn Up!
Buttobi CPU
Canary
Canvas -A Motif Sepia Coloured-
Casual Romance Club
Cleopatra DC
Clover
Compiler
Cool Devices
Cream Lemon
Crest of the Stars
Cyber City Oedo 808
Dai Mahou Touge
Devil Hunter Yohko
Devilman
Dirty pair
Dirt pair flash
Discipline
Doctor Shameless
Dragon knight
Dragon pink
Dragon rider
Dokyusei
Dokyusei 2
El-Hazard
Elfin lied
Elven bride
FLCL
Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle
Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf
Fencer of Minerva
Fight! Iczer One
Fire emblem
Fist of the North Star
Futari Ecchi
F³
G-On Riders
Gestalt
Gift
Girl Next Door (Vanilla Series)
Good Morning Call
Handsome na Kanojo
Happy Lesson
Heavy Metal L-Gaim
Ichigo 100%
Immoral Sisters
Iria: Zeiram the Animation
Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu
Isaku
Itsudatte My Santa!
Jiburiru - The Devil Angel
Kai Doh Maru
Kama Sutra
Kanon
Karas
Kashimashi
Key the Metal Idol
Kido Shinsengumi Moeyo Ken
Kite
Kowaremono II
Kujibiki Unbalance
Azumanga Daioh
La Blue Girl
La Blue Girl Returns
Lady Blue
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Naruto/fullmetal alchemist ovas
Locke the Superman
Love hina
MD Geist M.D. Geist II: Death Force
Macross Plus
Mad Bull 34
Magic Knight Rayearth
Magic Woman M
Magical Twilight
Maria-sama ga Miteru
Maze
MeiKing
Mezzo Forte
Midnight Panther
Milk money
Milk junkies
Miyuki-chan in Wonderland
Moonlight Lady
My-Otome
Mystery of the Necronomicon
Negima!: Magister Negi Magi
New angel
Ogenki Clinic
Oh my goddess!/ova
One
Osu!! Karate Bu
Otaku no Video
Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru
Pale Cocoon
Papillon Rose
Parade Parade
Parasite Dolls
Please Teacher!
Ranma ½
Read or Die
Rec
Record of Lodoss War
RG Veda
Rurouni Kenshin
Saikano
Sanctuary
School Rumble
Sentou Yousei Yukikaze
Shadow Skill
Shakugan no Shana
She and Her Cat
Sky Girls
Slave Doll
Space Battleship Yamato
Stainless Night
Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko
Sukeban Deka
Teacher’s pet
The Irresponsible Captain Tylor
ToHeart2
Tournament of the Gods
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
Twin Angels
Underbar summer
Urotsukidoji
Uta Kata
Utsunomiko

***Films

Air (film)
Air (series)
Akira (film)
Animation Runner Kuromi****
Armitage III
Art Of Fighting (anime)
Big Wars
Bleach: Memories of Nobody
Blood: The Last Vampire
Byosoku 5 Centimetre
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury
Cowboy bebop
The Dagger of Kamui
Dance Till Tomorrow
Dead Leaves
Devadasy
Devilman
Dirty Pair
The end of evangelion
Escaflowne
Evangelion: Death and Rebirth
Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle
Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf
Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture
Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
Fist of the North Star
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa
Ghost in the shell…
Gin-iro no Kami no Agito
Grey: digital target
Highlander: Vengeance
Jin-Roh
Kagen no Tsuki
Kara no Kyoukai
Kerberos Panzer Cop
Kerberos Saga Rainy Dogs
Lily C.A.T.
Millennium Actress
Ninja Scroll
The Ocean Waves
On Your Mark
Only Yesterday
Perfect Blue
Princess Mononoke
Rebuild of Evangelion
Revival of Evangelion
Revolutionary Girl Utena
Spirited Away
Steamboy(most epsensive)
Street Fighter Alpha: Generations
Street Fighter Alpha: The Movie
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
Tales from Earthsea
Tales of Symphonia OVA
Tekken: The Motion Picture
Tenchi movies
The Five Star Stories(metal lain)
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
The Vision of Escaflowne
Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo
Trigun X
Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
Twilight of the Dark Master
Uzumaki
Vampire Hunter D
Vampire Hunter D (1985 film)
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Van Helsing: The London Assignment
Wicked City (film)
×××HOLiC

I went aphebetically and got to the M's (I skipped around) before I burnt out and realized that fansubs were essential illegal so I should stop... Now, since I'm still poor, I cherry-pick from the master lists of free streaming anime around the web, but only watch the really good stuff. Anyway I guess I realized I was sort of an otaku when a friend and I were talking about otakuish things... But only NOW do I realize I could be on par with you all... Ohh and btw I learned about this site through that animenewsnetwork podcast you did.

The moment I noticed I was a nerd was in middle school two weeks after I purchased the strategy guide for Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo. What made this so nerdy is that I did not own Super Mario World, nor did I own a Super Nintendo. I bought the strategy guide because I had played the game so many times at a friends house I had the game memorized. By reading the strategy guide before sleeping I could enter a lucid dreaming state and play the game in my mind. This wasn't the first time I had become obsessed with a game. A few years before that, I was obsessed with Donkey Kong for the Gameboy. Every day I would start a new game, and play it for the 6-8 hours it took to beat it all the way through. By the end of the summer I could play all the way to the final boss without dieing once. Of course, I had to start taking breaks during play sessions because holding that giant brick of a game system would actually cause my hands to become more and more tingly until they were outright paralized. It never occured to my middle school mind not to play so much, and to this day my wrists make a funny clicking sound.

My moment of self-nerdish discovery is combined with a moment of realization regarding my own father.

To put it bluntly, I could read by age two. My parents didn't realize it til I was nearly three, as they thought I was just talking out loud while looking at the pictures.

Once they realized this, they started feeding my hunger for learning just about any way they could. My dad being in electronic mechanical maintenance, he built our first computer. Took about a month, since it was all pretty new tech at that point. Once he was finished, he taught me a BASIC program that created an ASCII choo-choo train that crawled acros the top of the screen, using the mono speaker to make the engine noises. The day that I realized that most kids would rather play baseball than write up a program to make a graphic choo-choo train run across a computer screen: THAT'S the day I realized that my father, and I, were both helplessly nerdy.

I started to suspect I was 'different' around 4th grade and the other little kids thought I was weird for buying comics instead of Barbies, toys or candy; I saved up all of my chore money (I didn't get an allowance) to buy the Archie Comics 'Sonic the Hedgehog' title for the next 6 years, which I kept in a Sonic binder/trapper keeper...thing. I didn'te realize I was a real nerd until around 7th grade, when I joined the science club, environmental club and was rejected by my peers for being @#$$! odd...why should a young girl be obsessed with fashion and acting cool when instead she can draw horrible fan art, collect anime figurines and pretend to be the next cool female character from capcom! Not much has changed in the past 15 years, except now I have more of a mouth and a Dragon Ball Z t-shirt collection that numbers beyond 75 shirts and counting.... the horror....

I went alone to a Star Trek convention in the early 90's to see Rene Arberjonois (Odo). I really only wanted to know something about a completely different show. I was sitiing in the all the way in the back (as I tend to do) during the question and answer segment when finally it was my turn to question. "Mr. Arberjonois,"I asked,"Considering the unfinshed finale to "Benson", is there any plans of making a made for TV reunion movie?" Suddenly all 400 plus Trekkies turned around in their seats and explosivly laughed at me! Imagine being ridculed by hundreds of Star Trek fans for asking about a show that had been canceled years ago. Now that makes me nerdy among nerds.

Summer Camp - week #1 (co-ed)
- High point: played with girls and lots of boobs.
- Low point: none

Summer Camp - week #2 (male only)
- High point: discovered Robotech, my first rpg.
- Low point: none

One year later

Summer Camp - week #3 (co-ed)
- High point: played Robotech
- Low point: Too busy rolling Robotech characters for all of the other male campers then to play with the girls and thier boobs.

In a nut shell my ah-ha moment was when I realized that I passed up real fun with girls to roll god-damn robotech characters. I could of had my hand on a boob when I was trying to explain what melee action was.

AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

When I was 13, I spent the better part of a week laying on the couch with my eyes closed and listening to the Jurrasic Park soundtrack writing a new movie set to the same soundtrack about a school for superheroes with a secret entrance in a national monument and a fight scene in a cave full of chains. Yes!

The day I found this site and started visiting it as often as a free porn site!

I've always known I was a nerd. I'm into everything one would consider "nerdy:" anime, manga, comics, sci-fi, etc. I thought in algorithms, finished most of my sentences with ";" and whenever someone (made the mistake of) asking me about something, I would explain it using any knowledge of science (mostly physics) and comparisons to nerdy topics (ie. Star wars, comics) etc. Heck, even when my friends are down or in need of "serious" advice, without a doubt I would take the prime examples of nerdery to explain things to them or try to cheer them up ("Even superman has his downs, but you gotta be like him and continue against all odds!").

However, it was during Summer school that I realized I've crossed the boundaries of a regular nerd into a Supernerd. It was that day that I realized that I'm the long haired, glasses wearing, electrode-using supernerd that Red encounters on his journey to reach the Elite Four. I was taking 2 classes, a circuits class and a differential equations class. Somehow, both teachers decided to tell a joke in the middle of class for no apparant reason. And somehow, I was one of the very few to laugh hard at both of them. The math joke was as follows: "I can prove to you that a Ham Sandwich is better than love by using Math. Are you guys familiar with the the Cummatative Property? (a

I proceeded to laugh, and then went home to tell everyone I could. Now, i have told the world (and by world, i mean topless readers). My life is now complete.

My big moment was when I was 12, my friends and I read during every recess, but when my friends moved away that just made me the outsider girl who read all the time, so my teacher and parents decided that the way to make friends was to not only to forbid me to stay in the classroom but to also ban me reading my own books (my mom would check).
I totally broke down in the teachers office, and cried for the rest of the day.
Before that I had just done the same thing as my friends, reading good stories, and obsessing about the characters like kids do. But suddenly it was a bad thing, and that is why I count my days as a nerd from there, it defines the start of my saga, obsessing over things my parents frown upon.
The worst thing is not that it took away the only shield against the hell my life was, with kids who probably won't ever read as many books in their life as I had then, but this has in long term ruined my relationship with books, I can read them, but I don’t think I will ever be as good a reader ever again as when I was able to read a book a day.
I am 20 now, taking an education which will enable me to continue to university should I wish so, and even my nerd friends never read for fun, while I prefer to read English books to Danish ones. Whenever I read a Danish book it reminds me that for 3 years I could not read in school.

I always knew, but it was especially obvious to me when I turned down a date from someone I was interested in because the guy in question misquoted Firefly while asking.

When I did the trifecta in 7th grade, went out (and kicked ass) for quiz bowl, got 2nd in a chess tourny and tried to play dnd.

I've always been that girl that hangs with the boys and that's perfectly fine with me since we all had similar interests. When I was getting my divorce I started to hang at the local bar with my little sister alot because she was also going through a breakup. She was always calling me a dork but I just attributed that to our age difference, I'm 33 and she's 24. The same way kids think their parents are lame, I thought it was just generational.

I also have to mention that I make friends at the drop of a hat, but have absolutely NO game when it comes to scoring. I never realize when guys are hitting on me and have to be several Yuenglings/Jagers in to hit on a boy. Yes, unfortunately, I am that girl.

One night, however I was talking to a guy and things were going well. He was digging me when I somehow got off on this tangent about how I never really bought that Chakotay was into Janeway because he was way hot and she kind of sucks when this guy stopped me mid sentence to say.."Umm... Yeah, I'm not really into Star Wars" and walked away.

Star Wars??? Really? I was pissed that I got dissed and by such a douche!!! Ouch. The reality of the dating world set in after that and I was seriously bruised for a while. Luckily I'm dating a boy now who loves Bruce Campbell as much as me. Iguess it's a start.

it was 1981 and i was 13. I insisted on a star wars themed bat mitzvah. HAD to have it. Would only agree to have a band that could play the theme music. Everything was black white and silver. The guys thought i was cool and my mom still gives me crap about not letting her have any flowers for the centerpieces. Its still my proudest moment... Being raised up on the chair as the theme music played. Oh yeah, that was classic.

I am not a nerd...nerds are smart.

BUT...I do have an extensive knowledge of the X-Men, a massive collection of comics-related action figures, the entire series of Robotech on DVD (collected well before they became cheap), multiple brands of technology with "Bat" before the name and a pink (well, fusha) Flash symbol t-shirt. This makes me a geek, and proud of it.

First true moment I realized I was a geek? Probably when I was selling my old G.I.Joe figures (I know, I know, don't hate...I feel bad enough in retrospect). I needed money because I was 20 and it was either sell the figures and make $400 bucks or get a job. As a lazy 20 year old, I chose to sell my childhood. So I got together all the Joe figures, lined them up, placed them with their weapons and accessories and took some photos. I then packed them in a duffel bag and brought them to the comic store that said they wanted them.
I went into the back with the owner (who looked a lot more stressed out than I thought he should given that he sold funny books and alien statues all day long) and set them up so he could judge them. He noted that some of them were broken (hey, what can I say? I played with the fucking things!) and then told me he'd give me $400 for the set. Keep in mind, this was 1999 and I thought that was pretty good. So why does selling my Joes make for the moment I realized my geekish leanings? Because when the guy offered me the money, I turned to him and said, "Throw in those two Star Trek model kits I saw out front and you got a deal."

Oh and then I went to see The Matrix. A grand Geek-Day indeed.

Well, I think I've always known, or at least never considered myself NOT a nerd. But one of the more concrete proofs of it would probably have been the first time my bookshelves collapsed under their own weight. It wouldn't be the last time, either, and I don't think I was even 15 yet.

My whole life was spent somewhere in the murky area at the edge of dorkdom. TNG was like church to me, but when it was over I was running out to go swim. I used the get in heated debates defending the Sega Genesis against Super NES nerds because it had far better RPGs than the Super Mario variety; but when they went physical, i won. I could read a a college reading level in elementary school, but had a new girlfriend as often as new sci fi novels. That definitive moment though, it came very late for me. I was twenty-one. I was enlisted in the Marine Corps, and was one of the more physically inclined of my platoon. This particular day, we were listening to some "motivated hard charger" talk about something that we were supposed to care about. My mind though was busy comparing the similarities and differences of The Foreverwar and Starship Troopers. When it came time for us Marines listening to the speech, everybody gave the usual guttural, monosyllabic grunts: Rah!, Urr, Yut!, Kill!, But I did not. Nope, not this guy, I shouted Woot! at the top of my lungs. It was only noticed by a few, and Understood by even less. To those who did understand even, it was worth nothing more than a slight chuckle, but to me it was a moment of realization. The nerd part of me had always been suppressed, but in that moment It was the dominant trait, It surpassed the Jock, the Ladies man, the chauvinist alcoholic. It was that part of me that shined through when I was pulled out of my subconscious. From then on I no longer fought those urges that welled up form time to time. I entered the realm of table top gaming, the world of Manga, and all of those things I had shunned for my early life. I had always been bubbling with thughts of Sci Fi and fantasy just below toe surface, completely hidden form the ocean of testosterone drenched normalcy that surrounded me, but from then on I embraced it, and I never looked back.

I was also never promoted again...

So the moment I figured it out was junior year of high school when I was telling my parents how busy I was, listing off the events in my schedule. Including, marching band rehearsal, choir practice, dnd with my friends, the comic book i was inking, and an ifgs meeting, followed by the performances of my school play. My parents looked at me like I was crazy. Dad asked when I was going to fit in time for my AP class coursework. I never questioned being a nerd again.

In middle school my group of friends and a group of my ex-friends had an all-out, fistscuffs flying, nerdrumble over the rules to a game we made up which combined the Star Trek CCG and the Star Wars CCG. We were all sitting in the office (except Jeremy Smith who was in the Nurses' Office because he lost a tooth during the fight) explaining to the DARE officer, the principal, and the school counselor what the gigantic, violent fistfight in the cafeteria was all about.  You could see absolute incomprehension in their eyes as we gibbered and yammered about B and C list star trek/wars characters and obscure fictional equipment for hours on end. I think they asked a lot of questions because they were trying to pin down exactly what drugs we were on or what they needed to ban.

Probably about the 6th grade after watching Revenge of the Nerds and realizing that, yes all I do is think about sex. It wasn't like I was hitting puberty or anything.

Back when I was a young'un, I didn't know that watching Star Trek TNG and listening to classical music wasn't normal. Or wearing anything other than a baseball cap. It seems that the hick public school in the middle of a cornfield (I'm not joking) that I went to had an overdeveloped sense of conformity, and I definitely didn't adhere to their rules.

I was in 3rd grade and we moved there in October. I knew I was a nerd a few weeks later when I wore a beret to school and was teased mercilessly. Incidentally, 3rd grade was the year I got glasses too. Over the years, they always found new things about me to make fun of, whether it be the frequency of which I had to blow my nose, or the music I listened to (it seems country is the only cool music in the world).

I even buckled under at one point and tried to fit in (thankfully, it didn't last long), but it didn't matter. I had few friends, and only two long-term. It got bad enough that my parents eventually enrolled me in a private school. Now, I'm 23 and have recently been released from a mental hospital. According to the doctors, I'm a pre-schizophrenic and now have to be on anti-psychotics. I'd be a liar if I blamed it all on my public school experience, but those years from grades 3-8 made me a large part of who I am today. It certainly made me a lot more stubborn and individualistic, which are two qualities that I value a lot, but it didn't instill me with a lot of fond childhood memories.

And dammit Rob, if that doesn't make me worthy of a t-shirt, I should stop taking my medicine, break into your house and steal one of yours, whether it's an official TR shirt or just something out of your dirty laundry. This is completely within the realm of possibility of someone who is CERTIFIABLY FUCKING CRAZY.

When I noiced that I was fapping to Legend of Zelda porn.

I first realized I was a nerd in 3rd grade, when everyday I would come into school with a bag full of action figures which I would then proceed to fill my "cubby" up with (which I continued doing until my Punisher figure was stolen). It was also the year in which got in trouble for reading an issue of Wizard during class and corrected the teacher when he said that Man-bat was a mutated Batman.

Sad but true... when I was five and in Kindergarten (YEA ROSSMOORE!!) I told my teacher Dr. Zaius from Planet of the Apes was my uncle!! Not the actor, Maurice Evans whom played Dr. Zaius... no no... but the damn dirty ape himself! I got to bring a letter home to my folks because of that!! Also there were jokes about a monkey's uncle but I didn't get those until much later!

hmm...i think my moment was when i was buying DragonBall Z mangas and actual glass dragonballs and other various merchandise online for my boyfriend. as i was waiting for them to arrive in the mail, i realized i was more excited for them than my boyfriend! or when we dressed up to go see Dragonball Evolution opening day XD just a couple months ago for my 19th birthday i had my mom make me a dragonball z birthday cake!

I know her in real life, and I can confirm not only that, but that she's become quite a nerd since she started dating Luke. She'd had tendencies before that, but he's definitely put a positive influence on her!

It's funny that you ran that Pokemon wedding story recently, because it reminded me of my geek epiphany. I was in sixth grade at around the time that the original (American) Pokemon explosion was winding down. I was still downright obsessed though (ex.: took a survey of my class for the first movie over who they thought would prevail and why: Mew or Mewtwo, as if there was any possible resolution other than hand-holding and feeling-sharing but I was young and idealistic; sue me), but because it was still faintly tolerable among my peers, that wasn't enough for immediate geek designation.
Around that time too, I had a huge crush on this popular girl. I was the shy, harmless, nice guy that every brought their problems to but was never really popular outside that. It so happened that one of the people who liked to lay it on me was that girls best friend. I don't know how we got as close as we did but soon enough we were familiar enough for me to shamelessly and constantly profess my (middle school) love for her friend to her/the pain of not being noticed/etc.; looking back it was pretty pathetic.
Anyway, one day in the library, after one of our school's book fairs, I was reading the shit out of the new pokemon guide book I got, and god bless her, when she saw how excited I was about it, she let rant for a good 40 minutes about all things Pokemon. I remember her asking me all the filler questions you ask when you don't know about something but want to appear interested. I'll never forget her leaning over and telling me that she thought exeggutor was kinda cute, and how she squirmed a little but still stayed when she saw some of her friends come in.
So after that convo, my feelings for her started to change and I began becoming attracted to her, while becoming less attracted to her friend. My moment of geek revelation was when I asked myself why they started to change. Turns out that Pokemon was a powerful enough force to alter my relationship with someone; the fastest way to my heart was not through the stomach, but Pikachu. And it was enough to make me bite the bullet and ask a girl out for the first time. We lasted about a year (an eternity at that age) and ended it amicably, as we remained friends.
What's more, Pokemon matured me romantically/sexually. No longer were looks alone able to make me fall head-over-heals for someone. There had to some hint of shared interest, a willingness to share interests, or at least some baseline hints of compatibility. This is why I can never look down on people from geeky love stories.

I knew pretty early.

My dad took me to see "Star Trek : The Search for Spock"

I had never watched an episode of trek, I didnt even see "Wrath of Kahn." But I knew who Spock was. I NEEDED to know where he was...and why he was missing. It was serious.

When It was all over..I turned to my dad and said "Im glad they found him...I missed him".

I was 6.

also more recently...

I paid a company $500 to dress up like Batman (keaton-style) to hang out at the cocktail hr of my wedding.

His only instructions...drink and mingle. If he was asked why he was there he had to reply "I know him, were friends".
Having Batman casually enter a conversation with a beer in hand bringing up "that time with catwoman" was epic.

Im also named my 1st daughter Ripley after the movie "alien".

(sorry for the multi post!)

I knew I was a true nerd when I considered buying a Star Trek uniform in the style from The Wrath of Khan because I couldn't fit into my Classic Trek uniforms any more. I realized my body no longer resembled the tv Kirk and had taken the shape of the movie Kirk.

I think I've always known I was a nerd(in the genes-my dad is a huge comic book nerd obsessed with the supernatural), and when I got glasses in the first grade and realized that the world wasn't fuzzy the rest of my peers and family(who didn't already know) made the discovery themselves.
Retroactively, it must have been the moment when I was 3 and showed my dad I was so proud of myself for being able to read(taught by a great aunt) that I read the first pages of a He-Man vs. Superman comic that he had bought for me(because I was into he-man and superman, expecting me to read it when I got older).
Many instances for this realization-when I was in first grade and my school put me in the second grade reading class(continued until I was in fifth grade)...
Going to a comic shop every week with my dad and being super disappointed when Marvel's "What the..?!?" wasn't in yet...
I made a parabolic listening device for my science fair project from a microphone, a metal mixing bowl, and a tape recorder from an old VIC20(or a TI-81, can't remember which)...
Pretending I was a hacker on an ultra-cool laptop on the aforementioned VIC20...

Beyond childhood, the most definitively nerdy moment of my life was being 16 years old, getting my first non-paper delivery job and using my first paycheck to buy a used Gameboy Pocket(the first gameboy I'd ever owned) just to play Pokemon: Yellow(i used a later paycheck to purchase a lime-green Gameboy color).
I've also found myself discussing Magic: The Gathering at work with people who played the game ten years ago in high school(i work at a casino). Me and a group of friends pantomimed iconic Magic card artwork while throwing around a miniature football behind a club(instead of trying to hit on hot punker chicks in the club). Also, telling people I started playing Magic when Fallen Empires came out and feeling superior to them if they started after me.

Not to mention my three years spent as a Juggalo, one school year of which was spent going over to my cousin's house after school and setting up his cd player in his mom's driveway while we danced around and threw water on each other pretending it was Faygo.
This was eighth grade, and I'm pretty sure I missed out on losing my virginity at 14 because of that.(i grew up in a slutty neighborhood, and those same sluts walked by us on a regular basis).

The year was 1988. I was a chubby three-year-old in pink My Little Pony feety pajamas. My brother had just entered the Terrible Twos and like many older children, I tried my hardest to get my parents to pay attention to me. It was tough going. It was even worse when my father brought home a magical glowing box that he would stare at for hours on end. Now, I do not remember the exact events as they played out, but it probably involved me tugging on his shirt a bit, inquiring as to what this very interesting glowing box was.
"This is a computer. This is DOS. It can play games, see?" And so he typed in a magical string to start up Chuck Yeager's Flight Simulator.
It was SO COOL. I could never get the hang of landing the plane, but crashing in so many marvelous ways provided hours of entertainment day in and day out. My father grew tired of me demanding he start up programs for me and so began teaching me DOS commands.
Being three, my chubby little fingers would often hit the wrong keys. The computer would then tell me, "Bad command or file name."
I thought this was the height of hilarity.
I didn't even understand what it meant, but "Bad command or file name" was so glorious I would apparently run around screaming it at the top of my lungs before shrieking with laughter. At that, my fate was sealed forever.

I personally realised I was a nerd from the second grade, when for show and tell I would bring in Ray Harryhausen movies I could find and we watched as many sinbad movies as possible. But my acts of nerdatry in my neighborhood were legendary even before this.

In morning care before school we used to turn the room into a zoo. Some where bears, some were foxes, I was Godzilla.

In kindergarden people used to play house in the play area with the gerbil and the fish tank. I played mad scientist.

Reading over these various testimonies, I realize I'm not much of a nerd. Especially when compared with folks who do things like read every Wikipedia summary of every anime ever made with an Aspergers-like attention to detail.

In high school, I was never cool enough to be part of the nerdy crowd. Once Sega Genesis went the way of the dinosaur I stopped playing video games, and had no interest in rolling dice.

What I did have, and still have to this day, is a fetish for nerdy guys. It took me years to figure this out. One day I sat down and realized that all the guys I've dated or crushed on have been obsessive about gaming, into computer building and programming, and slightly on the spastic or anti-social side of the spectrum. I love nerds. I can't get enough of them. My very first crush was on Egon Spengler of the Ghostbusters, and it just escalated from there. What can I say? Nerds are the best sort of people. They are passionate, awkward, exasperating, and beautiful. I'll take the guy sitting in the corner reading a book, or quoting Monty Python while flailing about like a loony over the standard frat boy or muscled jock any day. I love geeks.

It was probaly when my mom dressed me up for my first day of second grade in some church dress crap and I proceded to pretend play Dragon Ball Z with a bunch of boys. It could also be when I nicknamed all my Pokemon after Greek philosphers. There was also this moment in high school where I relized that about half of my friends were /b/tards. I also was a dedicated listener to the Dr Demento radio show from around 7 years old.

I recently got to dance to Kraftwerk playing "Robots" whilst Dressed as a Borg (at Bestival).

I am 50 and us nerds weren't cool when I was young.

A nerd is for life - not just for Christmas.

I studied philosophy at university. I caveat this to demonstrate that the following is not a product of academic immersion.

My long held suspicions of nerd-dom were finally confirmed in college after years circumstantial evidence when, struggling to sleep one night, I began converting binary, octal, hex and decimal.

Some people count sheep. I count base-n systems.

I come from a long line of nerds. My father is Star Trek loving engineer. I used to play D&D with my older brothers as a kid and watch tapes of the original Battlestar Galatica with my sister. This put me in sort of a "nerd bubble" where I never realized I was a nerd, since I lived with nerds and hung out with nerds at school. My computer skills made me a hero in High School when I networked the computers in the library and installed Marathon.

When I went away to college, I moved into a four bedroom apartment with three other roomates. One night in my first week there, I was in my room doing homework and one of my roomates was in the living room with his girlfriend. She made a comment about some ofthe comic books I left laying on the coffee table to which my roomate responded "Yeah, you gotta see this kid; he's a huge fucking nerd. You gotta see all the cartoons he has on DVD." (My roomate didn't know I was home and within earshot). He then made some other comments about the comics books and the Final Fantasy poster in my room.

I felt lke Louis, Gilbert and the rest of the Tri-Lambs and he was an Alpha Beta. My "nerd bubble" I was in had popped exposing me to what I was.

I should note that my roomate and I got along great once he realized how handy it is having a nerd around. (Constant stream of new video games/consoles and Starcraft LAN parties.)

I can't even remember not being a nerd.

I started being a nerd before it was socially accepted to be one. I was nerd baptized at birth, when my parents bought me the phantom menace you-can-read-and-write book. Painstakingly i tryed and tryed again to spell bantha. As a child i was different than my other kids my age. My friends liked to play sports, and i liked to stay home and create mass scale lego star wars battles. since then i have evolved my nerdiness. For my birthday i set up 8 computers for an epic warcraft 3 LAN battle with my friends. When i heard about star wars in concert, i rushed to order my tickets. During break at school, i go to onemanga.com and just read for the duration. I make Pokemon sprites as a hobby. My brother and I created created a game called "Super Hero Game" where we pretended we were a bunch of different super heros. We had like 300 different super heros. I cringe when people refer to AT-AT's as at ats. I once made a little child cry because i corrected him that darth vader cant use force lightning due to his cybernetic implants. I used to contribute regularly to wookiepedia. I read star wars insider. i have collected, with diligence, the entire New teen titans run that started in 1984.

In fifth grade, we had to write a poem. Three stanzas, four lines each, abab rhyme scheme, regular stuff.

I wrote ten stanzas describing in vague detail the evils of the Yeerks from the Animorphs saga, how Visser Three busted onto the scene (and I quote), "worse than a boll weevil," and the valor of Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, Tobias, and Ax.

I don't need to tell you that no one else wrote even one more stanza than was necessary.

can I get a woot for the Animorphs?

I had Digimon cards, when everyone else had pokemon cards.

The exact moment, and I mean exact moment, that I realized I was a nerd was 5:00pm Mountain Time, Wednesday, June 21, 1984.

I was in the summer between eighth and ninth grade and had taken my girlfriend to see Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, which had been playing at the local mall theater for a few weeks. Although I liked science fiction in general, up until this point I had considered myself only a casual fan of Star Trek Meaning, I watched it in syndication as a younger kid and knew all the major characters. That was about it. I remember seeing the first Trek movie in the theater and falling asleep halfway through and as for the seminal Star Trek II, I didn’t bother watching it until it was on HBO. So at this point in life, I walked into the theater to see Star Trek III considering it just another movie to watch (and possibly a place to make out with my girlfriend) during the summer. No more, no less.

So the movie was plodding along up until the scene where Kirk and his crew turned on the Enterprise’s self-destruct sequence before abandoning the ship to the Klingons. At the scene where the Klingons got to the Enterprise’s bridge and at the exact moment the self-destruct timer reached zero, by pure coincidence the hourly charm on my calculator watch beeped 5:00pm and then the Enterprise exploded. There was just something a little too visceral about my watch beeping at that exact moment, and I sat riveted to the screen for the entire rest of the movie, despite my girlfriend’s best efforts to pull me back down into the dark seats for more clumsy adolescent kisses. “Stop a minute,” I protested. “Oh my god…the Enterprise actually blew up! The Enterprise! Did you see that? And did you hear my calculator watch go off at that exact second?!”

“You sound like a big nerd.” She said in more than moderate annoyance.

“Yeah, I guess so. But that was the Enterprise! Kirk destroyed his own ship! That ship was famous. Is this gonna be the last movie? How can there be a Star Trek without an Enterprise?” I went on and on.

We eventually broke up about three months later, but I was hardly broken up about it because by then I was spending all my free time memorizing over the spec sheets for assorted Federation and Klingon vessels as described in my newfound hobby: FASA’s Star Trek Role Playing Game.

Looking back at that afternoon in the theater, all the warning signs of my ostensible nerdery were in place: The crooked smeared glasses, the semi-greasy hair, the calculator watch, the affectionate girlfriend I was ignoring and, most importantly, the intense emotional reaction to a major event in a science-fiction movie. All it took was the little confession for me to realize that, yes, I was a nerd, and I didn’t care one damn bit.

I guess it was a bit of a gradual thing, liking toys after everyone else had given them up to chase girls, hanging out at a comic book shop, playing 8-bit Nintendo games years after they were popular. At this point I still had aspersions of dating, smelling good and generally trying not to offend the Opposing Sex. Ah, youth. Anyway, I was checking out a Robotech book with some really cool technical art of transforming fighter planes I found on the gaming shelf, not knowing what gaming was except that only nerdy weirdoes played it. The longhaired gentleman in spectacles behind the counter asked me if I played. “Me? No! I’m out doing…sex. And stuff.” He invited me to a game night, and when they guys picked me up, he gave the book I’d been eyeing in the shop. (First taste is always free…) So next thing I know I’m sitting around a table full of nerdy freaks, wondering what the hell I was doing there. I’d brought my cousin, (just in case) and slowly over the course of the night we had more fun (and Mountain Dew) than I would have thought possible in a group of complete strangers. We made jokes that night that we still reference today. And even though my cousin quit going after a few weeks, it stayed with me, and I stayed with them. I still have fond memories of those guys, and those games, many years later. But it was one of those nights, that I realized it. Sitting around, making Monty Python Jokes, making references to subtitled Japanese animation, and angrily arguing over our characters, I realized this was it. I was Home. I never fit in anywhere before like I did here. All the things that I always hated about myself in the normal world seemed to make sense here in this little circle of friends. And now with the internet, I’ve found that there are more of us than I’d have ever guessed. And that can be home, where ever I go, as long as I can get on a computer.

I believe it happened the moment some asshole broke my glasses while showing how great a sportman he was by acting like a baseketball game in elementary school p.e. was the Final Four Championship game. I wasn't born a nerd, but thanks to p.e. and fascist sports assholes, I was created one...

My final varsity debate.
The motion was 'Special Needs Children Should Have Separate Schools'.
I turned it into a Mutant Schools vs the Mutant Registration Act debate.
I guess that's when I realised, even though debate was an integral part of my life, I'd rather be remembered as the one who knew which side the heroes took in the MCW than someone who actually knew the economic situation in Guatemala.
Thanks mum, for giving your daughter the right priorities.

This is one contest I knew I had to enter. I've had so many, it's weird to think of a moment that I wasn't one.

You probably meant the exact pinpoint moment in my life...but, like yourself, I can't remember the exact moment.

However, perhaps my earliest memory of outcastdom (I know it's not a word!) was watching "Tiny Toons" (and despite what the haters said a few months ago, the show, though undeniably flawed, is still awesome). One episode featured Fifi La Fume. As I watched (and liked seeing) her slink across the screen, it sort of became clear that fitting in was a pipe dream never to be fulfilled.

I was 21 years old when I played D&D for the first time. I was in the Navy, and stationed in a very remote place with nothing to do. My friend Sam noticed my slow descent into insanity, and suggested we play a game to pass the time. Out came the 2nd edition books, character sheets, and multicolored dice. Before you knew it, my 18/00 strength fighter was cleaving his way through ogres.

It's been a long time since then, but I've never gotten over the appeal of the pencil and paper games, and the worlds of endless adventure they opened up to me.

Ask a friend to play D&D with you sometime. They'll thank you for it later.

For sure? The time I got beaten up to save my GameBoy (the original version). I was 8 or 9, already socially awkward due to being shy and a girl who preferred playing with the boys toys to the girls (at least in the conventional way. One time I also made a female friend of mine cry when I told her I hated her because she wouldn't let me play with her brother and his cool Ninja Turtle toys.. I went home early that day, but anyway). I was walking through my school's playground on a weekend with my GameBoy, playing Link's Awakening and chatting with some "friends". This girl, twice my size and in middle school, comes up and reaches for my GameBoy. I asked why, and she said she wanted to break it.

She pushes me down and proceeds to kick me and tries to wrestle the GameBoy out of my hands. I valiantly defend the GameBoy, basically by curilng up in a ball to protect it while she tries to wrestle it out of my hands and not defending myself from actually getting beat on. And those friends? They stood back in a circle around us, and I swear they were laughing at me. Finally, the girl gave up, I think because someone thought they heard some adults in the area.

My parents didn't even stick up for me, I got in trouble for having the GameBoy outside :(

It was around my 8th grade graduation. There was going to be a ceremony and a dance afterwards. Leading up to the day everything was going fine until I learned that the day and time just happened to coincide with the airing of the series finale of Star Trek: TNG, my obsession for the last few years. You have to keep in mind that this was 1994. There was no DVR, no Hulu or torrents, and no way of catching this on a rerun until years later. All I had was a crappy VCR whose timer worked as well as sercurity at Arkham. By the time graduation ended I already missed the episode so figured I may as well go to the dance (plus it gave my parents peace of mind as to were my priorities were). I was so mad about missing the show and worrying about it recording that I couldn't enjoy the fact that I was slow dancing with almost all the girls. (I later learned that another girl was planning on telling me she liked me and I missed out on possibly getting my first kiss at a more decent age.)

Luckly I got home and found out it recorded just fine. I spent the next two days watching that episode over and over again. After that my friends and I spent hours discussing it and nitpicking the episode to death, from what we liked about it to the bullshit.

I may have graduated as a young man, but that is when I became a nerd.

I never had the chance to not become a nerd. My parents took me to the theater to see Star Wars at the age of 1. It's been over since the beginning. Years of watching Star Trek, and movies like Krull and The Black Hole with my dad. I didn't dress as a princess for Halloween, I dressed as Wonder Woman and Princess Leia.I played war with the boys during the summer, and was allowed to play He-Man at recess. Always being She-Ra of course. In my teenage years years I tried to hide the nerdiness, but I eventually gave up. I think I started admiting that I was a nerd in my early 20's. I am proud of my nerdiness, and I will admit that I can be a bit of an elitist jerk at times. But I a happy being a nerd. For Christ's sake I cried during the new Star Trek movie! (It's sad, I know). At least I know I'm not alone. I know all of the TR readers are out there. Now if I could just find a guy that's not intimidated by a nerdy chick....Ah, the search continues.

I was probably destined to be a nerd from the moment my parents actually considered naming their unborn daughter "Indiana Jones." My personal defining moment, though, would probably be teaching myself to raise one eyebrow on command when I was seven, because I wanted to be Spock when I grew up. The expected Vulcan-transformation didn't work out, but fifteen years later, I can still do the eyebrow thing. Actually, that--and acting out the battle on Endor's moon with my sisters in the forest behind our house around the same time--probably set the tone for most of my childhood.

hey rob,greetings from argentina, these are my nerd moments pick one:
1)high school, first year, i was an undercover nerd, so i was with the popular kids, one weekend we go out to hang out, the we cross a comic store and i go in and buy some comics for sale, then every one ask me D'YOU READ COMICS?? and I said yes and there goes my reputation...

2)finishing highschool we have a graduated trip to the mountains, one week alone with out parents and with schools from all country(it's a tradition) and I take with me my MAGIC:TG deck to play alone, so sad...

3)this is a nerd hangover:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=debor0CCJwA

I demanded to have my bedroom redecorated in a Harry Potter theme for my tenth birthday, and my grandma, who had taken me to go buy new bedding said, "But honey, Harry Potter is going to go out of style." The salesperson looked at me and laughed. I told him he looked like Draco Malfoy (this was before the movies came out, mind) and invited him to the party I was having to celebrate Harry Potter's birthday.

I have always loved comics and cartoons, etc. I think I had my first inklings that I was a nerd when I was about 8 years old. I was fighting with another kid about who knows what, but I was trying to establish myself as higher than he in the social pecking order by bragging (that is, lying) about who my father is. Now most kids would say their dad is a police chief or some famous rock star or actor. But not me. In my efforts to sound superior I distincly remember bragging 'Oh yeah? Well my dad is Mort Drucker!" Mort Drucker used to draw and write the Hi and Lois comic strip. Suffice to say, the other kid was nowhere near as impressed as I thought he'd be.

My solidification of Nerdliness was finally confirmed a few years ago when I appeared on Space: The Imagination Station and showcased my Batman collection, which occupies an entire room in my house as well as my home office.

At least the calibre of comic characters increased over the years.

When I first heard the definition of a nerd.

Yo, this is my first ever TR contest, woohoo!

Too many, but the the first time where it definitively stuck out was this one time I went out and got drunk. I started chatting up this girl by recounting "that my favourite episode of TNG was the one where Geordi reconstituted the dilithium crystals and Wesley snuck some anti-matter aboard a ship for a training exercise".

You'd be surprised just how much Star Trek is like sex repellant.

The day my 6yo daughter told me vibranium came from Wakanda and was used in the manufacture of Cap's shield.

I was talking to my girlfriend and said the words "eh, i just do it for teh lulz" out loud. That's when I knew I was beyond help.

For me, I knew I was fated for a life as a nerd in he fifth grade. We had to write an essay about what we wanted to be when we were adults. I wrote a nice essay on how I wanted to be, "A comic book drawer". I had no idea how it was done, or what, exactly, they did, but I wanted to do it!

My teacher felt I should have picked something else. I told her she was wrong. She told me she didn't think it was a good occupation to have. I disagreed.

I just began my own comic book company in December 2008...now my fifth grade essay has come true.

While I have worn glasses and been a "reader" since about the age of 9, played D&D with my brothers as a child/teenager (and as an adult), and love just about all sci-fi and fantasy, my moment came just two weeks ago. While sitting on the couch watching the new Star Trek, my boyfriend who is not a geek was asking me who these people were. Well, me being quite offended at this silly little question began reciting every character's name and history for him. From the original characters to the spin-offs, I had every ST character covered. To really get the full picture, he is 6'7" and I am a tiny 5'6" to his HUGE stature. He looks at me, pats me on the head and says, "You are such a geek, but I love you anyway." Swear to god, I turned so red I had to hide my face. So yeah, here I am, nearly 32, and the truth has finally reared it's ugly head. Thanks TR, you make it all worth while.

I think the next contest should be examples of nerd persecution you have experienced

I realized my Nerd-dom rather late in life. I was dating this really hot girl: 5'10, fake 36 D's, just an over all hot mexican woman. She told me, she'd never seen star wars..and she wanted too. So i got my dvd's and started with Ep1. we got to the end of ep4, Death Star trench, and she was getting...as i say, happy in the pants. I wouldnt have it. I wasnt paying any attention, i was completly focused on Luke and his X-wing.

After the movie was over...i realized what had happen. I sort of cried. I turned down sex for star wars...

When I argued that I wasn't cheating in class, I refused to accept a lose-lose situation.
I tried to relate the story of the Kobayashi Maru to my teacher, but he sent me to the principals office. That was fifth grade.

Also, when the other girls had Posters of the New Kids on the Block and JTT, I had Westley Crusher.

In 7th grade I decided to take wood shop because it seemed like an easy class (is this sounding familiar?). I showed up for the first day in my E.T. brand eyeglasses and Member's Only jacket and quickly realized I was in for a world of hurt. Over the course of the semester, every single person in that class kicked my butt. Girls included.

But the kicker was actually watching Breakfast Club later that year. And seeing that caricature reflected back at me. Think about it - Andy gets with Allison, Bender gets with Claire and Brian gets to do everyone's homework.

I already knew I was a nerd, but that was okay. So were my friends. Everything was fun and cool. The real tragedy of the experience was finally seeing what that life held in store for me.

Homework. And beatings.

I've always been nerdy, and my realization of that was relatively boring.

But, I just spent the past six hours reading through these, at work, flipping back and forth to the comics I have on my USB drive here. I can't believe the emotional connection one can have with stories like these. My nerd group from youth mostly got caught up in drugs and moved off to Harvard, so I've been without nerdy friends for years now, which hasn't been so bad, but reading these today has been like a massive dose of nostalgia. The potency of this sense of nostalgia has left me with a whole new lease on my nerdism.

Thanks everyone for sharing.

PS: Nerdiest action I've taken is probably naming my first son Kaiba (he was awesome in season 1, really!).

PPS: I also remember writing a parody song Federation Pie, to American Pie, wherein each verse was about a different destruction of an Enterprise. Search for Spock, Yesterday's Enterprise, Cause and Effect, Generations...I can't remember the fifth one!

PPPS: Or was it when a friend and I were volunteering at the library, and while reshelving books we came up with an entire Magic set (Legends had just come out) based on Arthurian legends.

PPPPS: Oh yeah, and when I first got a car, we went out to store parking lots with a stack of note cards, on which we wrote all kinds of crazy stuff, from Star Trek quotes to in jokes we barely understood ourselves. We'd put them on car windshields and watch the people from afar as they got back to their cars.

AND, later, when RPing in the World of Darkness, set in our real town, a player actually killed our game world selves for driving about like idiots and doing such things.

9th grade, up until then I did enjoy nerdy endeavors and thought nothing of it, figured everyone else was the same. I guess I figured even the jocks were working on simple programs on their Apple IIe computers, not like I really went to their houses to confirm. 9th grade, I join the math club. We decide that it would not only be cool to design and make our own math club t-shirts, but we also pick math termed nicknames to put on the back. I pick Denominator for my nickame due to the fact that it sounds like Terminator, but realize that it is more fitting because I am like Charlie Brown just the kid on the bottom...of the fraction.

I am six years old and it is 1988 and I love dinosaurs. I live dinosaur. I breath dinosaur. I become dinosaur.

My mum bought me a book of cut-out dinosaurs that you could stand up in flimsy little cardboard stands. (She only bought me the Cretaceous book, so I pleaded and begged until I got the Jurassic and Triassic versions.) There were dozens of these paper things, under the bed, in the bed, in my toybox. Being a grown up, one day my mother told me "Put them somewhere else tidy. Or I'll smack you."

I am six years old, but there are over a hundred children's books on my shelves. Mostly trade paperback size.

I carefully make a layer of books covering my floor. Next, I carefully place all the Triassic dinosaurs lying down on the books. They are extinct, so I place another layer of books over them. Fossils. Next come the Jurassic dinosaurs. Again, I fossilise them with books. Finally, the Cretaceous dinosaurs are buried.

MUM: Grrr WHY blah PUT them AWAY grrr!
Me: Look, they're fossilised in sedimentary rock! Here's the apatosaurus, or brontosaurus. See?
MUM:

I got a smack for my careful troubles, but the nerd lasted a lifetime :)

I was on the fencing team in high school and ended up meeting a few guys at the local fencing center who played a text-based RPG called Gemstone III. Needless to say, this game (and my newly created half-elf ranger) consumed my free time from that day forward, to the point where my boyfriend told me that I had to choose between him and the game.

Eight years later I still play, and haven't had cause to regret that particular decision!