*sigh*
Many things...

I'm so sad...

Okay, my friends would never play dungeons and dragons with me (at first), so at the age of 13, I would bury myself in the books, designing maps of epic dungeons and living breathing towns filled with npc's and events and plots and stories, I would create magical weapons and monsters...

and then I would lock myself away in my room... Roll up a party of characters and then 'play' the game with me as DM and also the elvern wizard, the dwarven warrior and the halfling thief... for about six hours straight.
It was great fun...

I now have a stack of roleplaying paraphenelia that reaches about waist high to me if stacked on top of each other (and i'm six foot three and a bit)... I also have a large jar of dice (including a d30 and a real d100)...

Oh, and I used to run around with an imaginary sword and fight off dozens of invisible orcs (in the playground).

Now, I've calmed down a bit and have real friends.

R.I.P Gygax (until I can get hold of that ring of regeneration for you).
(mr-lizard Hell's teeth man!, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 2:35, 4 replies)

A kind of geekery, I suppose...
I just wanted to post a marginally applicable story, namely the epilogue to my earlier post about Emmett's house. (I have determined that that was the proper spelling, having found record of him online and having found an engraved piece of jewelry.)

I went out there tonight- I hadn't really planned on it, but I had the opportunity so I did. I arrived there around dusk with a large flashlight in hand, which turned out to be needed.

I investigated the suits that still hung in his bedroom, and determined that they were beyond the point of saving. A shame, as he was a man with a definite sense of style- and his wife did as well, going by the evidence of the hats I found and the remains of her clothes. However, I did manage to rescue his ties. I have two shots of them in situ, as he left them- here and here. They're rather musty, but I intend to wash them. I removed them at the request of the Lunatic Artist, who wishes to do something with them- maybe a tapestry of them. Don't know yet.

It was well into dark by the time I was done with that task.

I don't know that I can really describe how it feels in that house. The roof has deteriorated to the point of letting the rain through so that the ceilings have fallen in through most of the house, there are old leaves all through the kitchen, the people who ransacked the house left clothing scattered all over the floors so that everywhere you step you tread on wet rotting clothing... it's depressing as hell, especially when you realize that when he died he was taken out on a stretcher and much of what's there now is right where he left it.

I haven't mentioned this before, but it feels like he's still in there. You know how you can feel when someone else is in a house without seeing or hearing them? I was sure I was going to turn around and find him standing there. In the past I've heard someone whistling and looked out through the windows expecting someone to be strolling around the property, and found myself completely alone. I didn't hear that tonight, but...

I stood there for a while this evening in that dark and rotting building and talked to him as I moved around. I told him that I was very sorry that his life had ended up in this way, that the only person who seemed to remember him at all was a white guy he had never met. I told him that the things I've taken from there were not taken in greed but out of respect- that I couldn't leave them to rot and rust and mold, that I needed to rescue what I could. It felt like he was there with me- an old man, sad, lonely, but grateful that someone was finally treating him with respect.

I have been in many abandoned houses in this area in the past month- I even went in one tonight that I had never visited before- but not one of them feels as sad as Emmett's house.

I will visit there one more time, as there are still a few tools and such that can be saved, and then I will contact his relatives to ask if I can try to save his pickup truck. But after that I will only make one last trip there- to talk to him one last time and try to help him move along. He needs that closure, and so do I.

EDIT: On talking it over with the Lunatic Artist, we've concluded that making a wall hanging out of the ties will be best. Then the question becomes: what do we do with it?

Anyone want it when it's done? Or is it going to be one of those really odd things that I store in my attic?
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 12 Mar 2008, 1:52, 9 replies)

Dungeons and Dragons
Every weekend my husband plays D&D and it's myriad forms (Aberrant, Exalted, Shadowrun, Adventure!, Ravenloft, etc.) for at least sixteen hours. In his spare time he writes on the online boards for said games, correcting others with his superior knowledge of the rules. The entire trunk and backseat of his car are filled with gaming books and figurines and well as a shelf in our house. We have two DVD cases full of manga and anime. He has encyclopedic knowledge of Marvel Comic plotlines. In his spare time he plays video games and discusses them with his friends. Despite all this he is incredibly charismatic, good looking and gets laid on a regular basis.
Is he still a gamer geek? Yes.
If for only these reasons: His band on "Rockband" is called "The Dungeon Crashers," his avatar wears bone armor and he yells "CRIT!" whenever he gets to the yellow "yell something" bar.
(Windy Shrimp "wuz heah", Wed 12 Mar 2008, 1:41, Reply)

Tea
What I made for tea last week.


( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 1:32, 6 replies)

I'm not so much 'nerdy' as 'obsessive and slightly unstable'.
This has, of course, made me quite undesirable to all the nerdophilic (and more mainstream) young ladies (and men) out there.

But I'm not bitter about it, oh no.
*twitches and plots deadly revenge on this vain, uncaring world*
(FUCK OFF, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 1:01, Reply)

When I first believed in love at first sight
Instead of listing out all the things that make me a nerd let me tell you about a time I fell in love at first sight.

I was sitting in a pub in Soho after work with 3 other IT bods and as usual when this particular group are sat around the same table the discussion turned to networking. Having just changed ISP I was having trouble getting my Cisco router working with the new faster connection, as we were sitting discussing the problem someone tapped me on the shoulder; I turned around to be confronted by a absolutely stunning brunette who says “That caught me out to, you need to configure the connection as a subinterface of the main ATM dialler interface” thanking her I began discussing this new revelation with my colleagues and it took me about 30 seconds to actually compute that not only was this girl my exact type but she also knew what the hell we were talking about.

Interrupting my friends I went looking for her to start a conversation with someone who was basically my dream girl. Unfortunately she was gone never to be seen again despite repeated visits to the same venue.

So that’s the story of how my dream girl walked into my life, corrected my Cisco config and left never to be seen again.

On the off chance she’s a B3ta reader, if that was you that night Gaz me & by the way you were right, it worked fine as ATM0.1

Bill
(bill, Wed 12 Mar 2008, 0:12, Reply)

I do not even know....
If I count...I can't do anything clever with computers and stuff - although I can install hardware and software if it's straight forward - and now I have slimtallgoth (who really is an uber geek) I kinda leave that alone...

But I do have a bizarre memory for numbers - I never remember car models,makes, colours - but I can recognise friends/acquaintances/family cars by the number plates (I only have to see them once) Likewise, I don't need the names of people in my phone book as their number is like a name to me (better in fact, as I'm useless with names and faces)

I recently started a new job (after the last place I worked for went down the toilet) and my weird ability is earning me a few strange looks.

Basically, I'm an accountant (heh, that should give me some nerd points at least) and my job is to track circa £100K machines in and out of the business (we buy and sell them) It involves a lot of boring (to you, not to me) analysis, and basically puts me in mind of the guy out of the Matrix where he's looking at the black screen seeing scrolls of green numbers running down it(though not nearly as exciting, and they won't let me wear my long leather coat to work) and he sees blondes, red heads etc - except my machines aren't sexy at all - but I do recognise them all by their serial numbers.

Wish I'd had the chance to do IT at school! I could have put this ability to so much more use!
( curvylittlegoth heard the voices in your head on, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 23:55, Reply)

I build my own PCs...
...including this one, and this one's nnnice ;)

REPLY@SAILORSPOON - I didn't say it did, and besides, I don't subscribe to such elitism. Have a minute.
(thatblokeoverthere not quite as much an arsehole as I thought, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 23:44, 5 replies)

Pub Quiz
On a monday my local does a pub quiz, trouble is there's a shit 'quiz fortunes' round where basically you give 4 answers to each question in a family fortunes style way.

Anyway.

A few weeks back one of the questions was "Name a relation" to which my response was an off the cuff "One-to-many". I honestly didn't realise for a few seconds why everybody on my table was looking at me funny.
(Just_Mister, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 23:34, 2 replies)

Continuing the Shipping Forecast theme from down there
I read "Attention All Shipping", and was disappointed that it wasn't more about the forecast and less a diary of someone's travels through all the Shipping Forecast areas.

Yet I still think it's cool thing to do. But, if I did it, I'd do Trafalgar properly instead of visiting a London pub.
( le brian, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 23:25, Reply)

Cats Eyes
Many moons ago i had a job where i spent a LOT of time on the motorways at night.


I used to drive so that the car wheels hit the cats eyes in time to the music.

I could do it from Oxford to nottinham.......
( ogwen69 has returned from Reddit, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 23:24, 1 reply)

I'm too nerdy for my shirt, too nerdy for the dirt, too nerdy for. my. quirt.
No one in my family will play Trivial Pursuit with me unless

a)it's 6 against 1 or

b) for every pie piece I win, I have to answer the category question AND two sports questions correctly.

Finks.
(TDub Nunc id vides, nunc ne vides on, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 23:24, 1 reply)

oh and...
i can play the mario bros theme on the bass guitar.

tbf, its not hard to learn.
(ladyintheradiator, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 22:47, Reply)

books books books
im an old fashioned nerd. its all about the library.
(ladyintheradiator, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 22:44, Reply)

Bill Gates Fangirl
If I could plan everything in my life on a spreadsheet I would, however I can't - I've tried. I get genuinely excited by excel VBA and create the most complex of procedures for the simplest of tasks..

Have been / am fanatical about
- Start trek
- Red Dwarf
- Blackadder
- Matrix
- Buffy
- Anime

I've written fan fiction and own/coded my own archive (going 6 years plus!)

handbags and eastenders .. who needs em !
(Nyanko I reject your reality and substitute my own., Tue 11 Mar 2008, 22:20, 1 reply)

geek girl
I can win pub quizzes single-handedly. I don't need no stinkin' team.
( cynfulcynner ...another American nutter, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 22:11, Reply)

Pokémon rules!
First post! W00t!

I'm a self-confessed Pokémon nerd. I have every single RPG ever released, the majority of spin-off games (I still need MD2, Channel, Dash & Link) and on the latest RPG (Pokémon Pearl version) well...

I have every single Pokémon (all 493 of them) arranged in a storage system of 18 PC boxes (if you've played Pokémon, you'll understand) including all 28 Unowns. I have every Deoxys, Gastroden and Burmy/Wormadam form. My monsters are overall mostly imported from the 3rd gen games.

What's more, every fully-evolved or unevolvable Pokémon is level 100, and has the 'perfect' moveset - according to hours and hours of research and painful conversations on Nintendo forums. Every pre-evolution is level 5 and bred from my lv100s, and every mid-evolution is at the level of evolution and also has the best moveset possible.

I like to go on wifi and rub my amazing Pokémon skills in other people's faces by saying things like 'i pwn u, n00b', and 'i win! i win! in ur face'.

I also like to sell my particularly rare Pokémon to more unexperienced players over the internet. You can fetch a lot of money for a shiny Shaymin you blagged off some guy who was giving them out for free on his forum just the other week.

The shame!

OH and I collect Pokémon game guides, have many collectable cards and figurines, and I have written much fanfiction in my time. And draw much Pokémon porn. Yes, it is true.
(Kristow bored as usual!, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 22:07, 2 replies)

Harry Potter
Does finding innuendo in Harry Potter suffice to be nerdy? Is it just me?

Alas, Yes! Though there are hundreds here is my favourite:
"I've had the Fiendfyre treatment, no more Crabbes!"

Please click "I like this" if you understand the genius of this quote to prove that I'm not the only one. More innuendo also welcome!

Length? Not bad I'll perform better next time I promise.
(Ginger_Whinger got in the newsletter!! =D, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 21:57, 4 replies)

lucas
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6584075.stm

i read this and got excited.
(suboftheday, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 20:52, 2 replies)

Languages
When my mate was at school, him and another kid created their own foreign language called Amarish. By the time I met him at college, he was quite fluent in it.

He also used to write new programming languages on the Speccy including 'Commander' and Bach.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 20:49, Reply)

This exactly \/
WOOT 1st post... ever...


That is all.
(Procrastinate now! It's not opposite day!, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 20:43, Reply)

Pulling
I got off with a girl the other night after telling her at length about Dyson spheres. She was drunk enough to find this very attractive.
(WarneMarsh My priority for frivolity begets quality jollity, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 20:36, 10 replies)

I can count to 1,023 on my fingers
AND i regularly use this ability.

Length? About 2 feet if you chopped them off and laid them end to end.
(achmeingott, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 20:25, Reply)

I need help
I nearly used a stats program to work out which DnD race had the best all-round attributes.

Me and my chap spent Saturday afternoon playing FFX and Oblivion - sat next to each other with two TVs and two consoles set up. Communication is so overrated.
( El Lazarus is calm now, Ish,, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 20:24, Reply)

I thought I was bad...
... until I read some of this lot. I admit to owning several Red Dwarf T-shirts, and I have all the series on both VHS and DVD. My car has a Starbug on the dashboard. I own several computers & consoles, the oldest being a Megadrive II (with Master System adapter following its death), Playstation, I own one of the first Playstation 2s officially imported and with the "welcome pack" and PCs which run Windows 3.11, Windows 98 and my current XP machine. I used to be able to solve maths problems without thinking about it.


Now? I have a house (and garden) full of parts relating to my collection of real life... buses. I own, or part own, a total of four which I am restoring. I am... a bus photographer. My already low standing on this board shall drop further now, I fear...



Length? About 36ft, with room for 53 seated...
(clearasmud, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 18:53, 2 replies)

Poke 36878,15
...ring any bells (or just make them louder?
(Mousy Tongue ...Generally bemused by life..., Tue 11 Mar 2008, 17:59, 2 replies)

Well my mates do call me Chewie
My mate got a new cat yesterday, and let her boyfriend name it, when she told me it was called Wookiee the first thing I did was check that he'd spelt it right.

I also get pissed off when people spell Chewie with a Y when they're talking about me/the actual character.
(cs192 is sucking on a Koala at, Tue 11 Mar 2008, 17:39, 2 replies)

Grandmasterfluffles' post on music geekery reminded me of this.
So one night just before Halloween I was downtown with a good friend of mine drinking at a bar with an outside patio (had to sit outside in October because Rob smokes), and three girls sat down in the booth directly behind me. As we sat there I kept hearing an odd whistling sound and finally quietly asked Rob what was making that noise. "They have some kind of whistle," he replied.

I turned around and addressed one of the girls. "Excuse me, what is that thing?"

She held up a little wooden pan pipe. "It's a birthday present." And she passed it to me.

I experimentally blew across the lowest four notes and recognized them as A, C, D, D#. Then I blew A C D A C D# D A C D C A. "Smoke On The Water," I announced, and handed it back to her.

Rob cracked up and the girl looked at me with shining eyes full of awe. "Are you with the band?"

"Nah, I'm just some random wierdo off the street." And we finished our beers and left.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Tue 11 Mar 2008, 17:10, 2 replies)