This just in: I'm a geek.

Yesterday it was raining so I suffered through a Sunday gym experience (it's a totally different place on Sunday - much more about old guys hanging out than about people exercising) rather than a bike ride and then went to the local used bookstore. This bookstore is half books, half comic books (and related crap). It's about what you'd expect. The Comic Book Store guy from the Simpsons? Works there.

Also working there is an incredibly nice woman who is a classic-variety geek. She's gangly and plain and has many facial piercings. The entire time I was in the store, she was having a heated discussion with some trench coat-wearing dude about Comic Book Character vs. Other Comic Book Character. They went back and forth, arguing the strengths and weaknesses of the two characters and their related ass-kicking worth. All fictional, you understand. At one point, she said something about how her favorite character would never be fooled by [insert sci-fi terminology for hologram-like defense] and the guy retorted that she'd be fooled by a HoloDeck, right? She admitted that yes, a Holodeck was certainly realistic enough to be believable.

At this point I almost choked I was trying so hard not to laugh out loud. Hey, I was in a comic book store, (more or less) so it would be unfair to mock them on their own turf. Then it occurred to me that I'd just spent the better part of an hour digging through the used juvenile fiction and had a stack of books which included:

"The Secret of Nimh" movie picture book
"The Neverending Story" movie picture book
An Edward Gorey paperback

And was also seriously contemplating " Motel of the Mysteries". (ALL FOR EBAY PURPOSES, YOU UNDERSTAND. WHICH DOESN'T REALLY MAKE IT LESS NERDY, NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT.)

It also occurred to me that I knew what a HoloDeck was to begin with and that alone, right there, says something about my nerd quotient. Is this the place where I admit to once having a mad crush on Commander Ryker? Or that I used to read Wil Wheaton's blog? I mention this hypothetically, of course. But even so, who am I to be making fun of comic book geeks? Even though it's really, really easy?

To round out the experience I had a fairly detailed discussion about Harry Potter III, book vs. movie with the bookstore lady before I left. Hey, I may clean up real well on the outside, but inside I'm apparently still 100% pure geek. I desire a breakfast burrito and a Pog collection, STAT.

Hey monkeys, Go read the new Janet and Wayne review before you go. It's a good one, if by good I mean hilarious and awful.

9 chatty monkeys