Come and fess up to the ways in which you are really square/bit of a nerd

Crocheting was very big when I was a teenager, actually, a lot of us were keen on it!

Age ~13-17 I had a monthly subscription to a puzzles magazine: wordsearches, crosswords, number games, all that. I still think Sudoku is very obvious & nothing new.

I started programming in 1982 (age 15)

I first got on the Internet in 1987; Good ol BBSs. That's when I started hanging out with Geeks, but I know I don't merit that title at all. Just not geeky enough.

I have Butterfly map, Peters projection map, Transverse Mercator map and a Hobo-Dyer South-at-top equal area map (custom-made, cost me $200) map adorning walls of my home (I can tell you what those words mean, too).

In my 20s I made Cross-stitch things as gifts for friends & colleagues (science dept. at Uni), and bemoaned my lack of time to take up Morris Dancing.

I'm just learning to do Patchwork, the youngest by about 15 years in the class.

I can do very basic bike maintenance which flabberghasts all the other schoolgate mummies "I wouldn't have a clue!" :(

Maid of Honour from my wedding trumps you all, though. She did GM before anybody knew what GM was, programmes for a MMORPG for a living, carries spanners with her at all times & dressed up as a Darlek for last Halloween. Works in a male-dominated industry & gloats about the non-existent queues for the Ladies toilets at conferences.

KurriKurri

A perfect geek legacy from father to daughter.

Not that i am saying what you did was nitpicking, Abs.

absofcroissant

You are like me. I am nitpicking over certain things..

I was also too embarassed to tell my colleague that I know that 40% of Russia is covered in birch forest because, on Friday evening, I spent a happy hour reading an atlas.

maps being cool - tick - i taught dd1 (7) how to read a tube map when we were in london at the weekend and now she's hooked too.

scifi/fantasy/elves/magic/swords - tick

science geek - tick - almost wet myself with excitement on seeing watson & crick's model of dna in the science museum last weekend. the actual model they actually made their actual selves.

usually welded to a computer - tick

knitting/crochet etc - tick

I reached a new level of Geekdom yesterday, which was bad, even for me.

About three weeks ago, I was talking to someone who, in retrospect, has probably been permanently stoned for about 15 years, so not the most reliable. Anyways, during our conversation this person said that Tobago is a third world country "but we're coming up for review in 2020, and hopefully we will no longer had third world status". I was all "that doesn't sound right" and spent three weeks wondering about this. Last night, I checked on google (I finally remembered to do it) and was all " I KNEW it" and gave DP a long lecture about how the terms first, second and third world originated in the 1970s to describe the Capitalist/Communist divisions and you can't be "reviewed" to get out of third world status, as it's an informal term. Possibly stoned dude was referring to an OECD review. I LAWYERED stoned dudes ass.

DP was

All this talk of maps reminds me that my parents had this Reader's Digest Atlas when I was a child - I loved it, It was enormous - my dad would put it up on the table for me to browse through. And joy of joys IIRC it also had maps of the moon in it!

Also, - I lost my Dad fairly recently, and when we were sorting through his study we came across his collection of Ordinance Survey maps from the 1940's [not to mention every copy of Scientific American printed in the 1960's]. He was a physicist like several people on this thread - bless his heart

DD (6) raced into school this morning after chivvying us all out of the house ten minutes earlier than usual.

The reason?

We got a letter home from school yesterday about a new science club which was offering places on a first come first served basis.

She was the first to get her form in .

She does maths workbooks for fun.

She took in pictures of her daddy in the instrument hall of this place for show and tell in school last year.

She also loves Star Wars and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of female Jedi and a passion for K9 and Doctor Who.

She loves reading, words/language and history.

I'm so proud

DD1 has one poster of the French rugby team and 8 posters conjugating irregular verbs in French and Spanish. I love that she's wordy like me.

DD2 and DS are sciencey like DP - whenever I need malt vinegar and/or bicarb I check their room before the cupboard because they'll likely be being used in an experiment in progress.

I love watching pro wrestling The Undertaker is my favourite Kane is cool and I think C.M. Punk is sexy.
I play table top D&D
I love Star Trek TNG
I like Doctor Who
I listen to Radio 4
I like CSI, NCSI, QI and Mock the Week
I like computer games
I love the PS3
I enjoy reading most Agatha Christie books except miss Marple
Its nice to know I am not alone in being a geek

LaQueen

Long may they not care what others think regarding what they wear and enjoy doing.

Geeks are cool.

I am obsessed with cycling. I think about cycling ALL THE TIME. I dream about bikes. I look at sprockets on the internet. I bore on and on and on about bikes until the other person has fallen into a coma.

That is adorable, LeQueen.

My DH thinks you are all wonderful BTW after I asked him to read this thread. He adores clever, interesting women.

LOVE , love love, this thread, i will be sharing it with Geeky DD1 later she'll love it too, we'll feel right at home!

Harry Potter
Knitting
Doctor Who
Star Trek

to name but a few.....

Scuttlebutter my (and DH's) will not be complete until we have been to a compost clinic....sigh

As for your work gear....I have to be very careful in the vicinity of our allotment shed packing away the equipment when DH is around. He does so love an earth covered woman....

liveinazoo I have every copy of US 'Gourmet' and 'Bon Appetit' magazine from 2002 until a year and a half or so ago-'Gourmet' sadly no longer printed. I have them all catalogued and sticky strips indicating my favourite recipes. Have also compiled recipe/cooking books for each of our blended 5 children. Each one contains all the basic recipes, techniques, weight charts, nutritional stuff plus economy shopping guides, info on local eating (in respective uni towns)....I could happily go on...

I crochet
I have a sound knowledge of the healing properties of most herbs
An alphaebtised aromatherapy box
Love jigsaws
I adore cookery books
My copies of delicious magazine some of which are 7 yrs old are in date order on a shelf and I cannot bear to part with them.
Huge computer game fan. Skyrim anyone?

Dazr

Your DD sounds magnificent! A true woman-to-be of our times and antidote to the orange hair extended brigade.

Spent a wonderful time a few nights ago talking to a young woman (mid twenties) who had finished her masters in experimental psychology and was commencing a PHD looking into neuroplasticity. A real rocking role model.

Oh I forgot one... I love steam trains. Have been known to stand in the rain and cold waiting for one to pass under a local bridge.

Yes, think we have turned into the type of geeky family that I would have derided in younger years:

Lord of the Rings fans
Watch every episode of Dr Who and DW knows more about it than the DCs...
We have lots of computers
DS and DD are mega into their Lego
I like Pink Floyd
I do all the DCs 500-1000 piece jigsaw puzzles that they can't be bothered to do...
Using the word 'mega'
DW is keen on tapestries and cross-stitch....
Oh and we love watching University Challenge!

Oh dear, no marks in this house for being cool