Twenty years I was what was considered a dork or geek. I played chess during lunch breaks and in the morning in the band room during High School, played Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, and oh so much more. What kept me from getting any beatings was that I was also a varsity wrestler. Popular? Good lord, no. Enemies? Not really. Man was I uncool though - at least objectively speaking. Amazingly enough almost everything my friends and I were into in High School are now...well...you'll see.
- Liking comic books. Oh man were you considered a geek if you collected and read comic books in High School. Now it is a multi-billion dollar industry. Though if you point out how a movie is nothing like the comic book then...you are a geek again. I was reminded of this when the Rocketeer was on the other night and I remembered waaaaaay too much of that move than should be allowed.
- Vampires. A sexy vampire killing people? Man what sort of weird fantasy were you into? Oh, it is called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Naturally. Or un-naturally.
- Ghosts. If you even said you liked or believed in ghosts then you got a really strange look. Now you can watch Ghost Hunters, Haunted History, or a ton of other ghost movies on tv. I look forward to a show about Atlantis in the new 20 years.
- Statistics. Typical Boston conversation circa 1986. "Wade Boggs is terrible!" "Why? He gets on base all the time?" "He doesn't hit home runs like Jim Rice. He isn't a good enough hitter." "He gets on base 4 out of 10 times. Isn't the point to get on base?" "NO IT'S TO HIT HOME RUNS!" I blame this on Boston not sending kids to school during the 1970s integration crisis. It wasn't much better in 1991 either.
- Non-sports Video Games. Another past time that was for losers or dorks. Say the following to a lot people over 35: up, down, up, down, left, right, left, right, a, b, a, b, select start. If they smile they are your friend, if they frown they are the enemy.
- Flannel. Unless you were into grunge. Then it was okay. This comes back once every twenty years.
- Men Being Sensitive. This one comes in and out of vogue. Back in the day it was SNAG - sensitive new age guy. Or as I would say, "Likely to be upset after Bambi's mom gets shot."
- Saving Money. Using credit cards and accumulating debt seemed to be cool for a while. Heck, you could always pay it later. Couldn't afford it? That is okay there is nothing like an 18% interest! Yes, it sort of looks ridiculous when one writes in out. I saved money so I could go to movies with my friends and buy comic books.
- Video cameras. The only people who used video cameras were in the AV Club. Now everyone has a video camera.
- Diaries/Journal. If you told someone you had a diary 20 years ago they would have laughed at you and wondered why you would admit to such personal information. With blogs, facebook, twitter, whatever-social-network-device-du-jour it is now more common for people to give you a look if you are NOT giving out some sort of personal information.
- (Freebie) Dial up computing. I used to dial in to bulletin board systems on a 1200 baud modem and play Dungeons & Dragons. Even better I was a Dungeon Master for the online version. That is when I wasn't playing Space Wars. I even had a 300 baud connection to an 800 number for the Wall Street Journal for stock quotes. I wish I had taken better advantage of THAT.
Now excuse me while I figure out what I am doing uncool today so I can be ahead of the curve...
Wayne
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