you are viewing archives from 2004

geek love

Last night was Saturday Night. Date Night, if you still ascribe to the Betty-and-Veronica (do people write slash about them? They really should. And why was Veronica always such a nasty bitch?) Rules of Living. Seeing as how I’m blissfully shacked up with dog (as opposed to married with kids), Date Night can be seven days a week. But Saturday nights are still special.

Ours found us reclining on our new Herman Miller office chairs (a present from A., and my back thanks him) in front of our respective computers playing Star Wars Galaxies. I wanted to earn enough Unarmed Combat Experience so as to make it to Novice Commando. A.’s character Veezor and his droid SV-Nine (along with my pet War Gronda Babar) guarded me as I unleashed another Screaming Squill move on a Mamien lair. I was doing 175 points of damage per blow, and the lair had 39,865 points of health. This was going to take awhile.

Why did you call him SV-Nine? I asked.

He smiled. SV? Satia Veezor?

You named him after us? I melted, just a little. Until an Elder Mamien leapt out of the lair and incapped me with single blow. Bastard.

We’re dorks, I told A.

Just a little, he replied.

I wouldn’t say that we’re the only people who have this sort of relationship, built on a firm foundation of mutual nerdiness, but I would venture to say that we’re the only couple that I know. While A.’s male friends all have their geek leanings, their girlfriends (who are fabulous and amazing and fun women) don’t tend that way. I encourage Nerd Nights with D&D and Halo. I build weekend getaways around Comic-Con. My heart does not yearn for a sparkly rock on the ring finger of my right hand, but a green laptop with a lightning-fast processor.

Some people might roll their eyes (like you, right now, don’t think I don’t see that!) and call us losers, because we’re not out on the town having dinner and fancy drinks, getting dressed up and dancing the night away, or at least renting a movie and hanging out at a friend’s house. That sitting at our computers in the same room playing an online game does not constitute a date. It doesn’t even constitute being social. But we can be social. We do go out and have dinner and fancy drinks, we do go out dancing, we do rent movies and hang out at friend’s houses.

It’s just that we also have a lot of personal weirdness, odd conversations and general mooshiness that makes people think we’re a little bit odd, a little bit off, and perhaps should have our own TV Show.

But we’d never play on primetime, especially now as I sit here stark naked in front of the computer, the inspiration for the closing of this article having hit me right as I was about to get into the shower. I ran, screaming and joyous down the hallway, devoid of all clothing, my focus only being to scramble for my glasses and get in front of the screen and to type as quickly as humanly possibly, repeating I’ve got it, I’ve got it, all the while A. cast an appreciative glance and responded yes, you certainly do.