Nerds, geeks, dorks, dweebs...

... all are welcome here!

It seems to be the theme in the blogs I've been reading (must be a teacher thing), so I figured I'd do my share to make sure that everyone out there knows that I loudly and proudly proclaim my dweebdom.

On Ginny's blog, she talks about the dorky, random stuff she remembers. I, like her, am truly a warehouse of useless knowledge. I can recite the Preamble of the Constitution and a Robert Frost poem ("Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening"), I have old phone numbers and addresses memorized (mine and other people's), I still remember a large portion of the French vocabulary I learned in high school, and I can also conjugate several verbs in Latin (which I only took for a year). I can tell you the mnemonic devices used to remember things for science class (kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species - King Paul Can Order Fried Green Spinach) and math (parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, subtraction - Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally).

On Sara's blog, she celebrates her nerdiness. Oh, can I ever relate. My musical taste is eclectic, at best. While I listen to some kick-ass music (Coldplay, Radiohead, Ben Folds, Jack Johnson, Weezer), I also own Abba's Greatest Hits, Pure Disco, and the soundtrack from Grease. I can also sing you just about any song from any Broadway musical. I spend hours in a stationery supply store, watch "Jeopardy" faithfully every night, do my crossword puzzles in pen, and insist that my crayons be organized in color order.

On maestra's blog, she reminisces about her early days as a geek. I freely admit that I was like this as a child (my close friends can attest to that). I loved the Monkees in 5th grade - thought they were better than the Beatles. I used to organize my books by author, then by color (rainbow order!), and finally, in height order. (Now I just do it by author. And by height.) I wanted to be part of "Kids Incorporated," I wore huge glasses that were Coke-bottle thick (not my choice, trust me), and I considered myself a Tetris master - I once got up to Level 21, and it was the highlight of my week.

It's nice to know I'm not alone out there. :)

I may have denied my dweebness in the past, but damnit, now I'm going to embrace it! I'm proud of my alphabetized CD collection, my storage box full of scrapbooking supplies, my carefully maintained blog, and my mad skills in Trivial Pursuit. It really is much easier to be who I am, than to pretend to be someone else for the sake of looking cool. I just wish I knew that in high school.