Geeks - from Mans Best Friend
Neon colors were out, brown was in. Levi jackets were out, flannel was in. Guns and Roses, Ozzy Osborn, and Metallica released albums that some would consider their most commercial. Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, were disrupting the airwaves. And nerds were still not cool.
To some nerds, geeks, and dorks are all the same. But there are many levels of gradation between dorks and geeks. One could consider nerds to be the general term, dorks and geeks are more specific. All geeks and dorks are nerds, but all nerds are not necessarily dorks or geeks.
There are the geeks which usually represented the technology based nerds. Computer geeks, science geek, electronics geeks or any other specialized group of nerds based on a love of science and/or technology. Dorks were often the hardest to pin down, they usually spoke in their own language that sounded like something out of the Lord of the Rings, or Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. They may obsess about some comic book, or movie, or were artistic in some way. They were often the strangest and hardest for non-nerds to relate to. All nerds fall in a spectrum somewhere between Dork and geek.
Today it is mainstream to be a nerd, but back then most nerds were outcasts. Few kids would ever revel in any of the titles. And they all just wanted to fit in.
Scott, Brandon, John and Alan were nerds. They loved the title of nerd. They wore it like a badge of honor, yet this was not always so. The four friends came together as their peers became more and more aware of their nerd-like tendencies. And even though the four of them came together as one complimentary entity, they were thrust together as they were left out of the other
The concept of “you had to be there” is a good way to describe nearly everything the four of them did. If one looked each individual idea or joke produced by one of the four friends, you would would laugh out loud both with and at them. However, much of what they would joke about were so weird you might wonder or why would anyone think of that. Well, they would. And when I say they I mean any one of the four boys or all of them together. Sometimes, with all four pistons firing, the level of stupid and corny thoughts would reach colossal heights.
Scott and John were friends well before the sixth grade. But Alan and Brandon joined them in that last year of elementary school.
Alan hadn't had many friends from the 3rd grade till Brandon moved into the neighborhood the summer before their fifth-grade year. Once sports became one of the more critical activities on the playground I fell into grade school obscurity. Alan wasn’t disliked by any means. And some of my other friends, who were more physically agile, would try to find ways to include him. But he was always picked close to last, or last. And while well-intentioned most efforts to keep him included often led to the equivalent of pulling punches, which gave Alan the opportunity to still compete, but not well. Alan knew what was going on and wasn’t dumb. He started retreating from his former friends and spent most of his fourth-grade year alone on the playground.
Brandon moved in in the fifth grade, and quickly became he and Alan became best friends. He lived five houses away from Alan, so their after school activities carried on from their playground activities.
In some way or the other, they each felt on the outside of the grade school society. That feeling which was hurtful and lonely at first, became what brought them together. And eventually became so much their identity that the four boys developed a pride in their status out of the mainstream.
But it turns out that they had so much more in common than just being outsiders. And stupid humor became the concrete that bound their little group together.The ultimate expression of this idea manifested itself in “Video Parties.”
Now video parties are not exclusive to these boys. But, no one did video parties quite like them. Most of the time they were held at either Brandons or Scotts house. Often there was one of three movies playing, Top Secret!, The Three Amigos, or Ferris Bueler's Day Off. Sometimes others, but always some of the silliest humor in all of cinema was represented at some point. With how silly and crazy these parties became one might wonder where their parents were.
The parties, which started innocent enough with Little Caesars, and coke, often ended in some activity that would make every mother cringe. Things like using a ceiling fan to distribute pieces of bread all over the room, couch cushion gymnastics, or many other stupid and fun, sometimes destructive, games. They discovered that at high speed and with just the right angle the food tossed into the fan would explode with just the right distribution. These were not parties you wanted to fall asleep at first. And if you did there was no telling what might be placed,spat, dripped, or drawn on you.
To some nerds, geeks, and dorks are all the same. But there are many levels of gradation between dorks and geeks. One could consider nerds to be the general term, dorks and geeks are more specific. All geeks and dorks are nerds, but all nerds are not necessarily dorks or geeks.
There are the geeks which usually represented the technology based nerds. Computer geeks, science geek, electronics geeks or any other specialized group of nerds based on a love of science and/or technology. Dorks were often the hardest to pin down, they usually spoke in their own language that sounded like something out of the Lord of the Rings, or Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. They may obsess about some comic book, or movie, or were artistic in some way. They were often the strangest and hardest for non-nerds to relate to. All nerds fall in a spectrum somewhere between Dork and geek.
Today it is mainstream to be a nerd, but back then most nerds were outcasts. Few kids would ever revel in any of the titles. And they all just wanted to fit in.
Scott, Brandon, John and Alan were nerds. They loved the title of nerd. They wore it like a badge of honor, yet this was not always so. The four friends came together as their peers became more and more aware of their nerd-like tendencies. And even though the four of them came together as one complimentary entity, they were thrust together as they were left out of the other
The concept of “you had to be there” is a good way to describe nearly everything the four of them did. If one looked each individual idea or joke produced by one of the four friends, you would would laugh out loud both with and at them. However, much of what they would joke about were so weird you might wonder or why would anyone think of that. Well, they would. And when I say they I mean any one of the four boys or all of them together. Sometimes, with all four pistons firing, the level of stupid and corny thoughts would reach colossal heights.
Scott and John were friends well before the sixth grade. But Alan and Brandon joined them in that last year of elementary school.
Alan hadn't had many friends from the 3rd grade till Brandon moved into the neighborhood the summer before their fifth-grade year. Once sports became one of the more critical activities on the playground I fell into grade school obscurity. Alan wasn’t disliked by any means. And some of my other friends, who were more physically agile, would try to find ways to include him. But he was always picked close to last, or last. And while well-intentioned most efforts to keep him included often led to the equivalent of pulling punches, which gave Alan the opportunity to still compete, but not well. Alan knew what was going on and wasn’t dumb. He started retreating from his former friends and spent most of his fourth-grade year alone on the playground.
Brandon moved in in the fifth grade, and quickly became he and Alan became best friends. He lived five houses away from Alan, so their after school activities carried on from their playground activities.
In some way or the other, they each felt on the outside of the grade school society. That feeling which was hurtful and lonely at first, became what brought them together. And eventually became so much their identity that the four boys developed a pride in their status out of the mainstream.
But it turns out that they had so much more in common than just being outsiders. And stupid humor became the concrete that bound their little group together.The ultimate expression of this idea manifested itself in “Video Parties.”
Now video parties are not exclusive to these boys. But, no one did video parties quite like them. Most of the time they were held at either Brandons or Scotts house. Often there was one of three movies playing, Top Secret!, The Three Amigos, or Ferris Bueler's Day Off. Sometimes others, but always some of the silliest humor in all of cinema was represented at some point. With how silly and crazy these parties became one might wonder where their parents were.
The parties, which started innocent enough with Little Caesars, and coke, often ended in some activity that would make every mother cringe. Things like using a ceiling fan to distribute pieces of bread all over the room, couch cushion gymnastics, or many other stupid and fun, sometimes destructive, games. They discovered that at high speed and with just the right angle the food tossed into the fan would explode with just the right distribution. These were not parties you wanted to fall asleep at first. And if you did there was no telling what might be placed,spat, dripped, or drawn on you.
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