Geek Chic

I had a strange moment last night. I was out at a hip "foodie"* type restaurant in San Francisco with S and SS. After we had been sitting for a bit, a young couple out on a date came wandering in. They were wearing the eclectic mix of clothes (it's hard to tell if it was actual thrift store stuff or from a trendy boutique) that I've come to associate as geek chic. It was very hip and clearly "put together."

It's a weird sort of disconnect to experience this, and living in the Bay Area I experience it pretty often. You see, I am a geek. I read LOTR (or Lord of the Rings for those not in the know) in middle school. I was a fantasy freak and can discuss the finer points of such author's as Terry Brooks and Guy Gavriel Kay. I've been to Science Fiction Conventions and attended workshops on BTVS (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and transgender characters in Science Fiction...I loved the workshop about science and religion in science fiction. I was voted the most likely to buy her clothes at a thrift store by my first volunteer corps house.

And the man that I am seeing is the epitome of nerd with a side of geek...brilliant smart, likes playing games on BART (as I discovered last night), is comfortable going out to a hip, "foodie" restaurant in a sweatshirt, cargo pants, and hiking boots (the only pair of shoes that he regularly wears). He still wears his winter jacket from high school - which is now "retro." He's geekier than Steven Buschemi. Is it any wonder that I'm head over heals?

But here's the deal...if geek is chic why did I look at that couple last night, then look at the three of us and still feel not hip. Being not hip is a condition I've lived in my whole life. I wore glasses (once even with tape holding them together at the nose bridge after a tragic sporting accident). I was fat. I read all the time. And now, when I'm supposed to be "chic," I'm still not.

Maybe I need to reframe that...Maybe my non-hip-ness takes me to a whole other level of uber-hip that is so far beyond the comprehension of the wider culture that they are blind to it - in denial of their worship of me. Yeah, that must be it.

What did we do after the dinner, you ask? We went to watch an aerial dance performance that was being done against the side of a building at the corner of 24th and Mission. That was actually quite cool and hip. I felt like a poser. Oy!

I'm going to go get dressed, then head out to Goodwill for some thrift store goodness, meet S and SS for lunch, do some research on single women at the psych library at CAL, buy a Terry Brooks book, and cuddle up with my stuffed animal when I get home. Definitely an uber-hip kind of day.

(Just so you are all aware...you are geeks too. The idea of having a community of friends connected through blogs is no longer strange, but it is still definitely geeky.)

* Foodies are people who are interested in the high art of eating. They like the new and the exciting. They are a bit snobbish about what they will eat when they go out to dinner. Presentation is as important in "foodie" restaurants as is the quality of the food.