Kunkee has this thing about telling me that my nerd is showing... and that it's cute/hot/attractive/fill-in-the-blank-here. Now, this doesn't suggest anything romantic in any way, shape, or form. We have this sibling kind of relationship going on. But I like that he says things like that, because it's a fantastic boost to the self-esteem and makes me feel that it's great to be me. And that is a priceless gift. We all want to feel comfortable in our own skin, and it's a sad truth that, all too often, we usually don't. Well, my advice is to find friends who tell you so often enough that you start to believe it on your own. Because, if I've learned one thing this year, it's that everyone is unbelievably amazing in their own completely unique way, and somewhere out there is someone who will fall madly in love with you for exactly who you are right now. We should never feel pressured to change for someone else. I know it's an old maxim that's been quoted at us time and again, but I've really internalized how important it is to find someone who makes you feel awesome.
I've had it, and I still have friends who make sure I never forget it, and I'm forever grateful to them. They don't have to understand it completely, or be able to carry on long conversations about aspects of language with me (though that is a lot of fun). It could be something as simple and sitting down and enjoying a Shakespeare play (which, contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be an English major to think his comedies are funny, because they really are) with me, or making me watch the clean flicks version of V for Vendetta, just to watch my face when he launches into an entire monologue of words beginning with the letter V.
Things like that mean so much, and yet they're so easy to do. So I've been trying hard to share the love and do the same for others. After all, if such simple measures work for me, how hard can it be to find equally simple methods of pleasing others? We all have a little nerd in us, and I've always loved watching the nerd peek out in someone else.
For example, my friend Mike and I have had a pretty awesome friendship, and we were always pretty good about nurturing each others' nerdy sides. I'll never forget this moment when we were studying and he leaned over the table to talk to me, only to discover that the umbrella above created an echo. Completely forgetting what he was going to tell me, he stared up at it in fascination and said, "I wonder what the parabolic equation of this arc is..."
I had no idea how to go about helping him out with his musings, but the moment has always stuck with me as one of my favorite memories of him, because it so encapsulated everything I loved about his personality and how his mind worked.
We don't have to have the exact same interests as those around us in order to boost each others' esteem and make each other feel smart. We just have to appreciate that we all have something to offer the world. So let that nerd show, loud and proud, because I guarantee that someone will find it absolutely charming.
3 comments:
:-)
speaking of Shakespeare, I saw Henry V this summer. It was awesome. Up 'til now I was afraid of being bored to death by Shakespeare's 'histories' but it turned out great!
That is all.
Of the histories I've read, I think Henry V is my favorite. On study abroad we went to see Henry VIII (yes, that is one of the history plays) at the Globe in London, where we discovered that the Globe actually has rather lousy acoustics. I think it was mostly the location of our seats because we often had two or three pillars between us and the actors. If I ever go back, I'll try for a play I actually know because Henry VIII is a tangled mess in terms of story anyway.
:D Mike is awesome.
I love it when Michael "babbles" to me about composition. It lights him up! And I discovered a nerdness (yes, yes, it can be used as the way I used that word just now--sheesh, help me, Lynnae, is it adjective? No. Is it noun? No.).
We were on campus (I called you!!!) and in the little library place where Alyssa used to work (I asked about her!!!), and I saw a cart with ancient music manuscripts. Ahhh, said my eyes. A tag said they were free, take some. So I browsed. And I found a harp piece. My eyes bugged! I ruffled more seriously, and WHOA! THEY'RE NEARLY ALL HARP PIECES! NO WAY! I actually gasped and whispered to myself like some crazy person, saying the french titles aloud and trembling as I picked out piece after piece of either familiar or wonderfully new music. I sat there for about an hour, looking at each piece individually and then ceremoniously setting it in the stroller.
Don't tell though, because that experience totally deserves a blog appearance. And pictures. The music is pringle-colored, like all wonderfully old papers. I smelled them, I handled them, and I liked the fact that I ended up with paper crumbs all over my shirt and pants and the floor where I'd sat.
My nerd was totally showing.
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