Confessions of a Dabbler in All Things Geek by Karilee

Karilee is the newest NSCG reviewer. Below, learn what makes her a true Not So Closet Geek.

1. I enjoy, I may even thrive on, my title as geek.

2. I tell myself (and naturally believe), that people who consider the label “geek” to be license for them to mock us are merely jealous of our undeniable coolness.

3. I am, and probably always be, a member of both band and orchestra. Not only do I get the endearing title of Band Geek, but also the exceedingly awesome title Orch Dork.

4. Despite my uncontrollable love for listening and playing music, I have yet to be able to conquer and string instruments. Believe you me, I have tried. I have also failed miserably. I am what you may call string challenged.

5. I listen to classical music. I enjoy classical music. And I have also been known to “break-it-down” to said classical music.

6. I often use the word “said” when commenting on things that I had previously mentioned.

7. I also use lovely words/word combinations such as dapper, come hither, go thither, and (my personal favorite) FMaj7. The latter I used a replacement for the word face. Get it??? (an F major seventh chord is spelled F-A-C-E)

8. I am the master of all jokes, cheesy. For example: What do you call cheese that isn’t yours??? NACHO CHEESE!!! (No pun was intended when the cheesy joke I used for an example happened to be pertaining to cheese.)

9. I like to consider myself a cheese connoisseur. In other words, I am one of those rare cheese geeks. If ever I were to move to a different state, my number one choice would be Wisconsin.

10. I have a funky hat collection. I have an oh-so-lovely lobster hat, a hat covered in sequins, a smiley-face hat, a pharaoh hat, an Elmo beanie, and a knitted hat with tassels and a yarn puff on top. All I really need now is a cheese wedge hat…

11. I enjoy school just as much, if not more than, I love not being in school.

12. In school I particularly enjoy the math and sciences, therefore dubbing me a science/math geek.

13. I practically go nuts every time I learn to do something new and cool on my calculator. (I’m not even talking about the games on the calculator!)

14. I currently possess (and plan to acquire more) two science humor shirts. One says “Carol never wore her safety goggles…………now she doesn’t need them” and the other has a wonderful stick figure holding an Erlenmeyer flask and a calculator and says “STAND BACK. I’m going to try SCIENCE!”

15. I love math so much that I took two math classes last year. Both were taught by the same teacher. That teacher is now very nearly my favorite person EVER. My fellow geeks and I bought her a TI N-spire last year for her birthday. (For those of you who do not know, a TI N-spire is like the calculator of all calculators.)

16. Despite my lack of multi-cultural-ness I am a devout member of the multi-cultural diversity club at school. There’s just something about watching foreign films with all my closest geek friends.

17. I am trying to struggle my way through as many of the essential classics as possible. Too bad these darn young-adult books keep distracting me!

18. I have a very strong obsession for music. Not really rap or hip hop or R&B, but I’m a sucker for oldies, classic rock, alternative, and for weird stuff that people other than me rarely listen to. (such as screamo, hard-core techno) This obsession is so strong that, upon hearing merely the first tidbits of a bass line or the sound of the guitar or the singer, I can pretty much identify most songs by either: artist, album, title, or sometimes even year.

19. I actually have an album by the Carpenters on my ipod.

20. I enjoy musical theater, opera, and movies. I love it even more when movies become musicals or vice versa (for example: Sweeny Todd became a movie, and the lovely 80s movie 9 to 5 starring Dolly Pardon, is on its way to becoming a musical)

21. I have a great, great love and appreciation for the wonderful music of Mr. Andrew Bird. I have all of his albums (including the instrumental ones, and the Bowl of Fire albums) and my number one goal as of now is to one day see him in concert. (My love for his music isn’t necessarily geeky, but it does assert my former statement about liking music most of which most people have never heard.

22. I have a thing for leather-bound books. I don’t necessarily like to read them; rather I prefer to bask in their beauty.

23. I prefer to root for the under-dog. Maybe that could be because I’m always the under-dog...

24. I don’t actually need glasses (oh the joys of having 20-20 vision), but I would love to get a pair without actual lenses because I think they would make me look smarter.

25. It sincerely bothers me when people speak or write incorrect grammar. However, I often times make the very mistakes I criticize others for making.

26. Just in case you haven't noticed from my first review and from the rest of this post, I have been known to use and create some spectacular hyphenated-modifiers.

While I have many other geeky quirks, listing 26 is enough for Geekfest. So, to all you fellow Geeks out there, don’t ever let anyone make you feel like being a geek is a bad thing, and continue to flaunt your glorious geeky ways!



Sincerely,



Karilee (a well-rounded geek)