Monthly Archives: January 2012

I turned 30 today

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…and I couldn’t be happier! Oh mercy, my 20s were crazy.

Frankly, I’m glad they’re over. I learned a lot of lessons in my 20s. I was young and stupid for part of them, but then I was older and wiser in the last few years. I made some great decisions…and some not so great ones too, if we’re being honest.

I became so many things in my 20s, though, that I can’t look back on them and be gloomy. I became a writer in my 20s. I became a mother. I became a graduate student and a historian. I became a divorcee (okay, twice); I became an artist. I became a singer, a researcher, a published author. I became the girl who drives a bright yellow car. I became a home owner, and then I packed all my things away and became a gypsy. I became a teacher of history, and a student of life.

I grew into the woman I am today, at this very minute. I became confident and strong and sure of myself. I became overwhelmingly loved and cherished by more than just a handful of family members. I spent time as a small business owner, and ended my twenties working in a college, teaching students about history; my passion.

I have finally started to understand, just a tiny bit, what Henry David Thoreau meant when he wrote, “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…” 

I look forward to my 30s. They’re going to be amazing. Carrie Bradshaw (Sex and the City) once said your twenties are for having fun, your thirties are for making mistakes, and your forties are for buying the drinks. She got it wrong, though. Your twenties are for making mistakes…

…your thirties are for having fun!

Venturing into Geekdom

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Well, clearly, this blog has nothing to do with dating. I never share dating experiences here, and of course I would never even dream of writing a book on dating…

Oh.

Wait.

I have that backwards, don’t I? ::snickers sarcastically::

Well, this certainly isn’t a horror story by any means, but I just have to share this dating story with you because I think it’s funny. And it’s funny because I am the one to be laughed at here, and we all know how I like to laugh at myself.

You know that time in a relationship when you’re finding out all of the lovely things about the other person (and I’m being totally serious and not sarcastic here)? You know, the times when you reveal that you hate peanut butter, and that they used to be lifeguard in high school?

Yes of course you know what I mean.

Well, one such relationship discovery for me has recently been a trip into Geekdom that I never thought I’d take. I’m a bit of a geek myself, mind you, but I geek out over different things than the boyfriend. I make Star Wars and Star Trek jokes; will argue over who the best captain of the Enterprise (whatever manifestation it happens to be in) was.

Yes, I know they're dressed like the Beatles. No, this isn't a mistake.

I’m into Steampunk stuff; have read the Twilight books more times than I care to admit; I’ve seen all of the Lord of the Rings movies (a few times each), and I’d sooner sit down to watch a documentary on the History Channel than catch up on the latest 30 minute sitcom (unless it’s The Big Bang Theory, of course. That’s completely different.)

I’ve studied anime and manga in the undergrad degree, and I’m fairly familiar with geekery thanks to some awesome bloggers out there (thank you, Jen from Cake Wrecks and EPBOT). I like Chuck Wendig’s books because they’re a little dark and off the beaten path; I used to watch Buffy, and I can totally kill opponents in Trivial Pursuit. But I’ve only ever had a basic working knowledge of geeky interests, apparently, and you’ll see in a moment how I figured this out.

While spending time with my bf this weekend, I went into my very first comic store. Yes, I know. You’re either laughing at me for being deprived of such an experience for so long, or you’re laughing at me in disbelief over this phenomenon – or you’re just laughing at me because that’s what you do – depending upon your point of view in the matter. Regardless, my point is this: I felt like I was WAY out of my element. I mean, sure I know who Batman and Superman are. I have a bit of knowledge about the Green Lantern. I’ve seen the Ironman and Spiderman movies. But, WOW! I had pretty much no idea what I was looking at half of the time, or if I did, it was because I’ve only vaguely been exposed to it.

I was totally lost. It was funny. There was this white abominable snowman looking thingy, and these life-sized cutouts of people I’ve never even seen before. Random lunchbox-type paraphernalia, but ooh! ooh! some cute little Darth Vader stuff. I seem to have recognized a villain from Captain America on the cover of one of the comic books. But, other than that, it was like I’d entered a foreign land.

It’s just never been my scene, but to each their own, right?

So I’m learning about all kinds of geekery lately: Cthulhu, Dr. Who (though I’m still fuzzy on what a T.A.R.D.I.S. is and exactly how many doctors there have been [and are they all the same character played by different actors, or different actors playing different doctors, or what?]), RPGs, Munchkin card games (which was really very silly and fun), and various other geeky things. And I’m happy to learn it, if only to get on the inside of some of the jokes.

Segue: This was actually pretty funny – I made a joke this weekend about something *I* totally geek out on (Sheldon Cooper, et al.) and my bf had no clue what I was referencing but the rest of the crew in the car totally got it. So, it appears that I’ve got some things to expose him to as well.

Regardless, I’m sure there are several of you out there who jump into finding out what your love really loves, and sometimes you find out that it’s something totally foreign to you – like comics and various other concepts o’ geekery are for me. I don’t know that I’ll be embracing all of the Lovecraftian silliness and the new (to me) comic genre, but you never know.

The bigger picture here is that I went to the comic store with him. I don’t have to go, but I wanted to. This is what being in a relationship is about: you support each other. Did I know what half of the things I was looking at were? Nope. Did he walk directly to specific shelves because he knew exactly what he was looking for? You betcha. Did I feel left out when our group of friends, who went with us, dispersed to find their own comic-esque goods? Not in the slightest; it’s a comic store. I found plenty to keep my interest.

Best part: he knows comics and such aren’t my thing, but he appreciates my openness and my acceptance of his fandom regardless. I mean, he accepts my affinity for contact sports, so it’s only fair. And who knows, maybe one of these days I’ll actually figure out what that blue police box is all about…

The Keyword Shuffle

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Yep! It’s that time again: time to pull up the stats and see exactly how you crazy, er, perfectly sane and very pretty readers make your way to The Brainy Babe! Shall we get started? Yes, I think we shall:

internet stalker logo - Seriously? Like Superman’s logo?  I mean, I suppose the “S” could be for “Stalker”… Wow. On second thought, do you really need a logo? Or want one, for that matter? Correct me if I’m wrong, but don’t you like being covert about your stalkery behavior?

brainy thought for the day - Ooh! I like this one! I think I’ll start giving you a brainy thought for the day, every day!  Why not, right?  So, today’s brainy thought for the day is as follows: If Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet, shouldn’t it still qualify as a planet; you know, since the word “planet” is still in its classification? Discuss.

trophy wife - Ah yes! The trophy wife. Well, I haven’t exactly talked about the trophy wife so much as I’ve talked about the expired trophy wife, which is something different entirely. You know what the worst part about expired trophy wives is? They don’t know they way past their expiration date. So sad.

you’re not cool - Oh yeah? Well which of the two of us has a blog? Huh??  HUH???? Bring it on buddy. I’m so freakin’ cool I’m practically ice cold. So there.  ::sticks tongue out at screen in defiance::

dark demon cloud stalking me - Whhhhhaaaat??? There’s a dark demon cloud stalking you?! Quick, someone hand me a phone. I gotta get an old priest and a young priest…

brainy quotes about mistress - Um…huh…er…ah….hmm. Oh! Here’s one: “I don’t know who she is honey! I’ve never seen her before in my…” Oh, that’s not brainy at all, is it?? Whatever dude. Good luck with all that.

hire meg - Yes! Yes, yes, YES!! Hire Meg!!!!  Go look at her link list here. Hire her! Hire her! Er…me!

watch out behind, hunter! - Hmm… I don’t know what to do with this one. Song lyric? Movie reference? Obscure geekdom? Just watch out behind, you hunter person (thing?) you!

quick: top 5 musical crimes perpetuated by stevie wonder in the 80s - WIN!! Someone was searching for High Fidelity and found MEEEEEEE!!!!! I love High Fidelity. Almost as much as I love chocolate. And driving with the windows down. And clean laundry. And silly little cartoon platypuses…or is it platypi? Doesn’t matter. Point is: High Fidelity is amazeballs.

stalker tumblr - Yeah man, I think you’re looking for all the hipster stalkers. You know the type: the ones staring at you out from under their fedoras as they write poetry for you, even though you’ve never actually met them. Yeah, they’re not here. Move along.

mw squared - YES!! We’re famous! Someone actually search term searched (redundant “searched”??) for mw squared. WIN!!!!

 

So there you have it! These terms are all from the last seven or 30 days, depending. There are a boatload more terms that got people here, but these are the ones I found most amusing. Of course that was all fun and games until I switched things over to the terms for the quarter. Wanna know what the top three search terms are?

Stalkers

Trophy wife

Divorce Decree

Um…I might be doing something wrong here.

What If The World Came On A Silver Platter?

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What if everything just – I don’t know – fell into your lap? What if you didn’t have to work for anything? What if you could just jump into an industry and own it? What if there was no such thing as having to pay your dues?

I came across this graphic online today and I immediately stuck it on Google+:

I’m so glad none of us can jump into writing, painting, videography, photography, wallpapering, engineering, teaching, music-making and the like without fighting our way through it (See also: heart-surgeoning). Call it Creative Darwinism: only the strong survive. The rest are just posers who say they’re something, but don’t do anything about it.

The awesome Chuck Wendig (NSFW!!) has said that you can’t call yourself a writer if you’re not writing. You can’t call yourself an artist if your paints, charcoal, sketchbook, etc. sit untouched in a corner. You can’t call yourself a creator if what you did was years ago and you spend your days reminiscing on the good old days instead of producing something. And the only way you get better is to keep creating things; to keep pushing yourself.

I love the quote above, because it recognizes the artist’s eye involved in the creative process. So many people have the taste to do something great, but it takes tons of trials and even more errors for you to become what it is that you hope to be. I look back on some of the things I wrote back when I started this writing journey four years ago (almost to the day). Some of it is embarrassing! Not that it’s bad stuff; I mean, it’s decent, but if you compare what I wrote then to what I’m capable of scribbling down now, there’s a huge difference. I look forward to what the next four years will bring. I’m sure I’ll look back at anything published in 2012 and think, “I wrote that tripe?”

But, it comes from nothing but self-education, a lot of work, and a ton of fighting through the process. I have to continue to push myself. The artist dies when he becomes complacent. Along the way, I learned to humble myself and pick up some books on writing. I’ve recently started reading genres I’d never consider before, simply to expand my influence and to expose myself to new literary experiences (I’ve recently picked up Lovecraft). I share bits of books and pieces of poetry for feedback. I try to be better the next time. It’s all part of the process; part of paying your dues.

You know what would happen if the world came on a silver platter? The platter would tarnish, and no one would ever create anything worthy of an audience again. If you could just pick up a camera and shoot stills of a few trees outside and be revered as the next Ansel Adams, then no one would pick up a camera. It would be like tying a shoelace: you figure out the basic mechanics and anyone can do it, so why would anyone really go out of their way to do so?

Only the strong, only the fighters who Will. Not. Stop. Pushing. are the ones who make it. And, like Glass, I so wish someone had told me this four years ago. I had to sort of figure it out along the way. I’m still not “there” yet, but I’m a lot closer than I used to be. If you’ve got good taste and you want to create, use that taste! Cultivate your talent; push yourself. Don’t stop fighting for what you want.

Giving up is the only way you can lose.