Londoners Magazine

“I love comic books and video games.” The confessions of a geek by Chris Lo*.

No matter who you are, it’s always the same. There’s what you want to be, and what you are. Depressingly, they’re rarely the same thing.

I’m not what I want to be. I want to be a super hero, patrolling London’s skies looking for injustice, with the strength and speed to kick terrified bank robbers over buildings and then run to Beijing for lunch. I’d also settle for being a guitar genius of Jimi Hendrix proportions. I’m not fussy.

What I want to be might give you a clue as to what I actually am. An unbelievable geek. A nerd, a dork. Or, if you’re my high school bully James Parker: “A sad little dickhole”.

I’m not one of those stylish geeks, either: the kind who wear skinny jeans and call themselves uncool for liking Bjork. I’m a full on, comic book loving, videogame playing, fantasy novel reading geek.

When other kids were out playing football and experiencing their first sip of stolen alcopops, my friends and I would be closeted away in a living room playing Warhammer or Dungeons & Dragons into the early hours of the morning. Sometimes we’d even crack open a big bag of Doritos and embark on a sci-fi movie marathon. That’s right. We knew how to party.

I think the secret to being a successful geek (i.e. the ones who might just get a girlfriend one day) is to be unashamed. Closet geekishness will lead only to a life of hermit-like solitude, where you’ll be afraid to invite anyone back to your place for fear that they’ll discover your mint collection of Astonishing X-Men comics.

Being a geek shouldn’t be so shameful, should it? After all, if people can loudly discuss the offside rule or the latest episode of Hollyoaks, why shouldn’t I share my thoughts on how to survive in the event of a zombie apocalypse? Most of us are geeks about something, aren’t we?

London is filled with a frightening number of boring, well-groomed pricks. And if it came down to it, I’d rather share my city with a million Star Trek fans than a bunch of well-groomed pricks. No contest.

* Name has not been changed.

Photo courtesy of Library and Archives Canada