GeekNerdSpaz

Imagine a job where you don't have to try. Imagine a job where you're really happy doing what you love doing. Imagine being paid to do something that you would do for free.

When I love doing something, I geek out over it, whether it's drawing, collecting baseball cards, watching Star Wars movies a hundred million times, playing the piano, computers, Googling, or writing long-winded passages that sometimes go nowhere. I've been called everything from a geek to a nerd to a spaz. Some people even tell me that I have too much time on my hands to be putting so much effort into what I do. It's been like this since grade school.

If I had listened to people who made fun of me back then, I might have stopped geeking out so much. I might have decided to ease back on what I thought was fun and intriguing and worked my brain, and instead spent more time trying to do what everyone else was doing. You know, the trendy stuff.

Of course, there were times when I felt like an outcast, and there were times when I thought other people were having more fun than I was because they were doing things that the people on TV sitcoms were doing, most of which were partying, wearing fashionable clothes, and gossiping.

I guess I didn't know any better, so I simply followed my bliss and just kept doing what was really really fun for me. The more fun I had, the more I found friends who also had fun doing the same thing. When it was baseball season, as well as playing baseball, we would collect, sort and trade baseball cards. When they opened up the first computer class in high school, my friends and I were the first ones to enroll. When we were able to save up some money, we bought and built model kits. When my college buddy needed help typing up his biology notes, I offered to do it, since I type fast, and don't ask me why, but I actually LIKE typing. It's therapeutic for me, just like playing the piano. See, this is why people call me a Geek, or Nerd, or Spaz.

But now that I'm much older, I'm absolutely glad that I didn't change my geeky ways. The time and energy that I spent sorting out baseball cards and studying the players' statistics now come in handy when I'm working on Excel charts. Being comfortable with statistics and mathematical trends (batting average, on-base percentage, etc.) helps me forecast what I need to do in the future for my and my clients' businesses.

The same enthusiasm I had dissecting and explaining the Star Wars Universe when I was a kid, I now bring that same enthusiasm to client meetings, to dissect and explain my understanding of the universe of their business. Allowing myself to geek out and immerse myself in my client's universe gives me a much better understanding of what they're about, and in return they appreciate the effort that I'm putting forth. In return, they hire me to do their project. Ka-ching.

As for typing up all those biology notes for my friend back in college, some years later I wound up getting a client who specializes in heart and lung surgery. After being hired initially to design their web site, I found out that the client also needed someone to research, write and edit medical text to add to their existing content.

I also do those things, I told them. How much more money do you need to do the other things? they asked me.

I used to hide my geekiness, but now I celebrate it every time I cash a client check. I used to be ashamed of being called a nerd, but now, especially with Bill Gates doing so many wonderful things with helping Africa and other poor nations, I don't feel bad about it anymore. As for being called a spaz, I have to remind myself about the first paragraph of this journal entry:

Imagine a job where you don't have to try. Imagine a job where you're really happy doing what you love doing. Imagine being paid to do something that you would do for free.

I'm very very lucky that I don't have to imagine it at all. No matter what anyone calls me.