When did you first know you were a geek?

[bubba-mudd]

I'll go first: Mine was when my parents bought me a Commodore VIC-20 (with cassette-tape drive!) and I'd stay up late coding (literally copying programs from the Official Commodore magazine) - loving every minute. :)

I'm pretty sure I have that ol' Commodore in my attic.

[comhcinc]

i'm not a geek. i have never bite the head off a live chicken nor do i have any urge to.

[damnedeyez]

I'm not a geek...I'm a psuedogeek.

[comhcinc]

I'm not a geek...I'm a psuedogeek.
you bite the heads off of dead chicken? eww

[ugly-casanova32]

Who the !@#$ told you I was a geek? Was it billy? God I hate billy!

[damnedeyez]

you bite the heads off of dead chicken? eww

nope, I bite the flesh off of dead chickens...preferably after they've been cooked

[ryudo]

Mmmmm chicken.
Chicken >Beef

[gummo]

It took a long time before I applied the word itself.

But.. I guess 11. Around '95 when the internet started to make it big time.

Wow.

[laxaloot]

Ultima Online.

[masherscf]

I'm a geek?


Seriously, the first time I considered a VAX (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VAX) better company than any human.

[enemybrick]

first day of high school, i was 14, and i walked into my homeroom with a Pallet Town hat on, Pokemon bookbag, and TMNT belt buckle, the stares I got....

[potatohead]

When the cool kids wouldn't let me sit in the back of the bus because I had my gameboy playing Pokemon.

[rancidlm]

i was 7 years old at home programming a game on my TRS-80 nursing some riddlen my parents had given me.. and it hit me, (like a drunk husband beating his wife over a credit card statement!..)
"Why am i programming Space invaders!?"
i think it was that moment i realized i am a geek.. yea ..


or.. the time i was 5 and just finish watching a cartoon episode of superman.. i was to far gone on captain crunch and Flintstones chew-able vitamins to realize the reality that
a) i cannot fly
b) jumping off stairs and into a coffee table hurts...

i dunno take ur pick!

[darthender]

I dunno. I've identified myself as one pretty much for as long as I can remember. I've had a computer since I was, like, 6. Think I had an Atari 2600 around the same time. I've owned M.E.R.P. rulesbooks since I was about that age even though I didn't have anyone to play it with. I played Hero Quest and Battlemasters before finally getting into Warhammer. I watched Star Trek and Star Wars from when I was too young to remember anything else.

I think it mostly stems from the fact that my dad was into A. Computers B. Science Fiction and C. World war 2 miniatures. So when he went around persuing his hobbies, I got into them too(or similar things, in the case of the miniatures, I got into pnprpgs and warhammer from the hobby stores he went to for his ww2 stuff).

first day of high school, i was 14, and i walked into my homeroom with a Pallet Town hat on, Pokemon bookbag, and TMNT belt buckle, the stares I got....Wow. Yeah, that'd pretty much do it.

[lstone]

Probably when I got to jr high and realised that I knew and cared more about Star Trek then any subject I was taking

[diane]

When my son was roughly 2 years old. He was playing on his Leap Frog while surrounded by duplos and I was on the computer organizing my music while ripping my cds. I was watching Face the Nation. I had my hair in pigtails, was wearing a Strawberry Shortcake t-shirt and running shorts. I was drinking a pepsi and eating starbursts for breakfast. Anakin was in my Crow t-shirt (we were potty training so if we weren't going out I avoid pants but I didn't want his legs to get cold).

Anyway someone said something stupid and I started to talk back at the tv arguing about the misuse of statistics. Anakin then started to mimic me. I looked at him, looked at the desk cluttered with papers, magazines (Discover, US News, Wired, etc) and a stack of Terry Prachett books. I then looked at the computer and then myself.

All of a sudden, my earlier years started to wiz by and things popped out, drama kid, loved physics and math, my odd obession with statistical facts, my ability to process raw data and find odd patterns, my strange love affair with fighting video games, the fact that I made it my mission to read every book in the sci-fi section when I worked at WaldenBooks, my desire to marry Batman...

I realized I was a geek, and I was now raising one. Life got much simplier then.

[gonzooo]

There's never been anything dramatic about me realizing I was a geek. I'm not entirely sure I ever had that clear moment where I "realized" it.

I guess one pretty important moment was when my english teacher in 8th grade asked if anyone knew how much 7 feet was in metres and I pretty much ace it at 2.1 m, and the whole class + my teacher stare at me for a good 5 seconds. The story she actually was referring to was about a martian who had come to earth and infiltrated a school, and I think everyone felt like I was a martian that lesson.

The general timeframe it should've been obvious to anyone, though, is around the time when weekend LANs were the only thing I actually looked forward to in school, and the fact that we actually had them _every_ weekend with the occasional weekend without for what must've been like 1.5 years.

Also, if anyone had any doubts regarding my geekyness they would've thrown them all away when they found out I actually skipped classes in my first highschool year, but that with the "extra" time I didn't do anything cool, I sat in the school library reading about C++ programming.

[iggystar]

I've embraced the label for so long that I can't recall an exact moment.

I always hung with the boys, talked sci-fi, loved television, cared little for dolls and jump rope, would rather stay in the house and read...perhaps someone teased me and called me a geek before it became the acceptable term it is today.

Or was it nerd? In any case, when I first got my iPod I think I did a search on iTunes and found a place where other geeks liked to talk for hours on the subjects I love and the accompanying forum where the fans set up camp and it was the most natural thing in the world.

[iggystar]

Also, if anyone had any doubts regarding my geekyness they would've thrown them all away when they found out I actually skipped classes in my first highschool year, but with the "extra" time I didn't do anything cool, I sat in the school library reading about C++ programming.


Ha, you're not the only one.

I used to skip classes to go to the school library, my friend's study hall or to our orchestra rooms. During the later years of high school, I would skip with my buddies and go the the art museum or the local college.

Never once did we do anything like, go to the mall.

[gonzooo]

... perhaps someone teased me and called me a geek before it became the acceptable term it is today.
This sort of holds true for me too: Me and my friends were labeled "datanördar" (literally "data nerds", although the more appropriate word would be "datornördar" which translates to "computer nerds".) before we thought we were anything like that. Only after do I see that we actually were computer nerds, and I'm comfortable labeling myself as such (or a geek, just a nerd, something like that).

[serenity]

Probably when I was three and forced my pre school teacher to teach me how to read. I was never without a book after that. :D

TBH, I never really identified as a geek until I was a lot older. Reading was the geekiest thing I did.
" I was a party girl in high school. Not the night clubs and drinking kind but the bands and pot smokin' kind, into "metal" and never went to school. I was a bad child. >,<
So I guess I realized I was a geek somewhere around 28 or so.

[tamtamg]

I fixed my ipod on my own after having various apple store employees and tech told me it would be impossible. ohh, and i used a chopstick and super glue to do so.

[tnvwboy]

6th grade. My first 'girlfriend' (heh) broke up with me because "You're too weird." Shortly there after I got lost in the school and local library. Been a geek ever since. I really didn't accept it until many years later though. Now I totally own it.

[tokenuser]

I grew up in the pre "geek is chic" era ... so was labelled a nerd long before being a geek.

First inkling would have been when I was 12/13 ('82) and I got my first taste of Apple ... and Apple ][ running Logo ... then it was programming the BBC Micro in basic (I was a grpahics wiz :) ) ... then it was a drought. I took computer Studies in High School (years 9/10) on Apple //e's, and had my first introduction to the Mac, then the PC (IBM PC jr - the "peanut") ... then didn't touch a computer again until I was out of highschool.

I worked hard to supress the nerd image ... doing things like rock climbing, abseiling, caving, and (my passion) wind surfing. You could say I came out of the computer closet and proudly displayed my geek cred after I left high school.

[nlatimer]

Sometime in about 93 maybe, when I was in third grade, we got our first computer. Being a geek just came naturally after that.

[stringtheory]

when the highlight of my day was playing "Trek" on an Apple2 in computer class in grade 7.

[kickarse]

2nd grade I got thick rimmed, plastic framed glasses... I knew I was doomed forever.

[afflaf]

When I made friends with the guys I used to bully in primary school, friends to this day.

[assjacket]

My family had recently moved so I was starting 4th grade in a new school. The teacher handed out a photocopy of iron filings being influenced by a North/South magnet, and told us to write down what we thought caused the pattern. After about 30 seconds I wrote down my answer, having to do with the magnetic field acting on the filings, and handed it in.
The teacher looked at it and asked me if I had ever taken any science before, which I hadn't, so she told me to go wait in the hall. After about ten minutes (when everyone else was done) she came out and took me to the principals office where she explained to him that she thought I should be put into an advanced class.
School became much more fun after that day.

[heyseuss]

i was 7 years old at home programming a game on my TRS-80 nursing some riddlen my parents had given me.. and it hit me, (like a drunk husband beating his wife over a credit card statement!..)
"Why am i programming Space invaders!?"
i think it was that moment i realized i am a geek.. yea ..


I programmed 'pong' or 'paddle tennis' on a trs-80 when I was 7. Also the age I first ever shot a gun. Hmmm, apart from skirmish or air-rifles, also the last time I shot a gun.

[heyseuss]

I had my hair in pigtails, was wearing a Strawberry Shortcake t-shirt and running shorts.

Say that again, slowly and in a deeper voice please. *sighhhhh* HOT!

[taozoo4u]

Say that again, slowly and in a deeper voice please. *sighhhhh* HOT!


ummm wow... i can't stop laughing :D


anyway, i don't think i have done anything that made me go "woah i am a geek" as much as i always knew that i was one.

[heyseuss]

ummm wow... i can't stop laughing :D


anyway, i don't think i have done anything that made me go "woah i am a geek" as much as i always knew that i was one.

Me neither, I don't care about sci-fi/fantasy. I'm a "insert topic here"-geek, not an overall geek that makes me think I fall in that category. I've had too many girlfriends.

[bman]

We are geeks? WTF, when did this happen

[havalon]

I figured I was a geek about the time I beat Dragon Warriors I using a Bamboo Stick while my friends continued to ask "Why are you playing a game that makes you read?"

[diane]

Say that again, slowly and in a deeper voice please. *sighhhhh* HOT!

My hair in pigtails...


lol

[heyseuss]

My hair in pigtails...


lol

Pics or it didn't happen.

[taozoo4u]

Pics or it didn't happen.

tis the law of the internets

[diane]

Pics or it didn't happen.

If you were on the chat you would have seen it...

[bsherrod]

When I was in my Intro to Telecommunications class today and I knew more about TCP/IP then my teacher did. He even called Web 2.0 'Web Two Point Zero'.

[kronos6948]

Back OT....

I think the first time I realized I was a geek was watching Revenge of the Nerds for the first time...and realizing that I had a lot in common with them (well, a lot in common with Booger :D).

My first geek moment though, was when I got to see Star Wars in the movie theater. It's one of those things that stick with you. My dad took me (I was almost 3 at the time). There was a man dressed as Darth Vader who worked for the theater who scared the crap out of me. He asked me if I was a rebel spy. I remember saying "no", and hiding behind my dad.

[moneytime]

I knew in sixth grade when Nick Shealer told me I was. Well actually he called me a "nerd" and started saying that I must love to eat nerds candy since I was one.
I remember spending the whole night, with the help of my older brother, trying to think of a candy that I could tell him he must like. We couldn't think of anything, so the next time he said I must eat a lot of nerds I said he must chew a lot of "dumb-ass gum". I don't think it got to him the way I hoped, but it made people in my class laugh which was worth it. :D
After that It was easier to embrace my geekiness.

[heyseuss]

I knew in sixth grade when Nick Shealer told me I was. Well actually he called me a "nerd" and started saying that I must love to eat nerds candy since I was one.
I remember spending the whole night, with the help of my older brother, trying to think of a candy that I could tell him he must like. We couldn't think of anything,

Goobers

[diane]

Goobers

Hehehehe

[taozoo4u]

Hehehehe

thats a weird laugh you got thur i reckon mmhmm *spits*

[lnknpk04]

I'd say around 92/93. I was 6, we got our first computer (go DOS!) and I couldn't take my eyes off of the screen as my dads 'techie' friend showed us basic commands and how to launch some games off of floppy. Been fighting w/ my brother over computers ever since. Tinkered with computers all the time until one beautiful day we got dish network and this new tv channel showed up....ZDTV. I cant tell you how much my dad hated that channel :). We pretty much overtook the tv and my journey of geekdom hit a whole new level.

[enemybrick]

Wow. Yeah, that'd pretty much do it.

Yeah, I came back to school the next day, dressed like everyone else, claiming Eminem was the greatest rapper ever, just to fit in..but it wasnt me

[johnnysix]

Definitely in the mid-eighties. I was around six or seven when I got my Commodore 64. My Dad was an electrician and was getting into computers as a hobby. He bought me the Commodore 64 for Christmas. My brother was younger and well on his way to becoming a jock (brilliant junior Aussie football player) and I was struggling with who I was. I spent soooo much time on that computer. During my school years by mother would often say that I was addicted to the computer and threaten to ban me from it if my grades didn't improve, while my Dad would calmly be the voice of reason. My Dad took my to a local Commodore 64 users club one night and it was awesome, only I was the youngest person there by about 15 years. I reckon it was around that moment that I realized I was a geek. Anyway, I now work in IT and have a good reliable job. I will always look back on that Christmas with joy. Looking back, my Dad really knew me. It's funny how a single moment can probably define the rest of your life like that.

[mara11jade]

I'm a geek? what?

[iggystar]

I remember way back in the day, going to church with my grandfather and to a Sunday dinner at one of his friend's house.

The daughter had an Atari 2600 with every game you could think of. I would rush to finish my dinner and with a joystick glued in my hand, eyes glazed, for the next few hours I played video games. Missle Command was my favorite. I don't remember anything about that girl, but I remember her Atari.

I was such a geek as a child that you rarely saw me outside. My mother has lived in the same house since before I was born, pretty much the same neighbors. One day recently, I was going in the house and someone asked her who I was. She was like, "Um, that's Vicky, my daughter." The neighbor didn't know anything about my existence because I was always inside with a book.

[heyseuss]

I'm a geek? what?

...and a girl! Hahahaha *pointing* you're a girl, you're a girl!!



..wait, why are my pants tight?

[heyseuss]

(brilliant junior Aussie football player)

Hmmmmm., a conundrum.

[kilroyperrywinkle]

Pretty much after I looked in the mirror the first time and saw a pale pudgy guy with dark hair and eyes wearing glasses and knew no woman would touch me till after high school.

[heyseuss]

Pretty much after I looked in the mirror the first time and saw a pale pudgy guy with dark hair and eyes wearing glasses and knew no woman would touch me till after high school.

Hmmm, you sure you weren't supposed to be a serial murderer ?

[uvayankee1]

8th grade, when the computer teacher gave us an assignment to fill in the blanks on a BASIC program for the Apple II. I took the sheet home, filled in all the blanks, typed the whole program in the next day and ran it without a bug. The rest of the class hadn't even started, and they couldn't figure out parts of it. I was confused because it seemed so flippin easy.

[iggystar]

I was so horrible with programming in high school! I failed at that piece of geekery.

I think eventually I was able to pass my PASCAL class.

[taozoo4u]

..wait, why are my pants tight?

because of the bow chicka bow wow effect

[joedubbs]

I was around 6 or 7 when I was really hyped about going to computer class to use the Commodore 64. It's funny now thinking about it I remember my uber nerdy comp teacher. Whoever finished the assignments first got like 10 minutes on the only Mac we had. It was some coloring book-esque program but I remember coloring super heroes and it was so f-in rad. I always excelled in school, read a lot, played a lot of videogames and loved using computers.

[popltree2]

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Son," he said, "you are a geek. You may be too young to understand these words. You probably can't understand me at all. But the world needs people like you and I. We act as barometers to gauge the selfish, the maliciously-intended, the vane, and the self-important. Ones who are strong enough stand up for the meek, the tormented, the ostracized. You must do what you can to help, protect, love those that so wish it. I can already tell that, when you are born, you will be a geek. And a leader." What a pompous ass...

Okay, so none of the above is true. My dad, as far as I know, never said those things and is far from a pompous ass. I first realized I was a geek when my dad took me to his office and I played Battle Chess on his IBM clone. I was probably 7, so we are talking 18 years ago.