True Geek Confessions

27

OK, everybody: this is a safe space to admit to the odd minutiae you're inordinately fixated on, the stuff that takes up way too much of your time, the obsessions that crowd out less important distractions like work and family. They don't have to be "geeky" in the conventional sense - you just have to be a geek about them. I'll start with these three:

Freaking BEAUTIFUL

Vintage retail ephemera. I have two Pinterest boards dedicated to nothing but (a) old photos of stores and (b) old magazine ads for furniture and other home decor. I might even be pitching a book about the latter. Right now in my office are several binders full of these ads and about three dozen old musty magazines waiting for the ads to be harvested from them.

The Clash. Any book about the Clash, I'll read it. Any movie about the Clash, I'll watch it. Any band described as sounding like the Clash, I'll check 'em out. And the live bootlegs, good Lord... my music library contains fifteen versions of "London's Burning" alone. I know they can be silly with their rockabilly guerrilla outfits. But they were coolest thing I'd ever seen when I was 15, and I'm helplessly hooked for life.

Baseball simulation. Not only do I use the good, simple, free Strategic Baseball Simulator to run all-star leagues of players from bygone seasons (I started with 1969 and I'm almost through 1975), I named the teams after imaginary baseball teams from the DC Comics universe. Double nerd action!

Whew! You have no idea how good it feels to get all that out. The shame, the paranoia that you people would find out my secrets... it was killing me. OK, now you. No judgment here. Show us your geek!