Sheesh. I am soooooo tired of being gender-conscious with politically correct speech. I had an idea for a blog. Friend D just did a favor for Person C. D is all-around nice, helpful, upbeat, fun, smart, cuddly and a good friend. Person C – not so much. D did a BIG favor for C but I’d lay money down to say that had the positions been reversed – not so much. *grin* But this is NOT going to be about that. *laughing* I already got my point across. This was going to be about one of the reasons D said he was happy to oblige.
C laid claim to their mutual membership in the Clan of Geeks. Geekdom is indeed a clan. I’d love to be a geek. Really, I would. I know that typically geeks have difficult childhood and teenage years but then miraculously the rest of the world gets wise and appreciates them. Look – being a teenage girl who didn’t look like THE supermodel of those years was not so pleasant either. I didn’t grow up to be a geek, however. I have many fine qualities and talents (oh yes I do – don’t give me THAT look) but geekiness is not one of them. I hang out with geeks. Some of my best friends are geeks. *grin* I have a very very high geek-patience threshold. I WANTED to call this post: Geeks and the Women Who Love Them. How self-centered, right? It implies all Geeks are men. And that men are only loved by women. That would have been the implication. The true message was meant to be about ME. Of course it was – this is MY blog. I surrendered, however, to what I perceived as political correctness. No “Geeks and the Woman [sic] (yes Michael – I put that in for you. *laughing*) Who Loves Them”. Major hugs to Friend D.
I think I’m so fond of geeks and suffer such geek-envy because I am the daughter of an engineer. Oh yes, in their way engineers are EVERY BIT as geeky as computer geeks. Perhaps with the right teachers in my formative years, or better role models, perhaps I, too, could have grown up to be an engineer. A REAL engineer as we say in MY family – one who can take AND PASS the professional engineer exams. Because I DID grow up to be an engineer ultimately – a software engineer. Ahem. As the daughter and wife of engineers – nope, not the same thing. My SAT scores (remember those lovely exams?) were exactly even between math/science and english/literature. I told my initial college advisor I wanted to make a lot of money because I wasn’t at all sure I’d be happy in love. He pointed me to ceramic engineering. I lasted one quarter – 10 weeks – before realizing that there was no way I’d survive 4 years of engineering classes and the pre-med and engineering students that were in them. I called on my maternal heritage and switched to the liberal arts. My maternal heritage included a HUGE dose of theater (which explains many other things but we’re not going there today), which led to my OTHER desired title to explain Friend D and Person C.
There is a Brotherhood of Man. Oh yes there is. I learned this in my youth, courtesy of Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, J. Pierpont Finch and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Shows like this were something about which my engineer dad and my actress mom could agree. Ah, those were the days when we could sing about brotherhoods and men and not feel disenfranchised. *grin*. Yes, I’m being a bit silly.
It’s Thanksgiving here where I am. I’m thankful for all my family and friends, yes, even for my acquaintances like Person C *laughing*. I’m thankful for great music and song. I’m thankful for all the geeks and engineers and all the theater and music folk. C’mon – click the youTube link and smile. They might be singing about the great big brotherhood of man but you’ll notice there’s a blonde in a red dress and red shoes. *grin* Guess which role I want?
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