A few days ago, Cortana pointed out to me that my poor, neglected oop-ack.com was linked by Boingboing, and I said "I'll put that in my checklist of nerdy things that have happened to me." Shortly after I said that, I realized that I'd said nearly the exact same thing at the Magic Pro Tour Qualifier, only in a less flattering conversation with Toby, a good friend and the head judge;
Dom: You know, making top 4 of this tournament may be the nerdiest thing I've ever done.
Toby: Excuse me? You're wearing a Final Fantasy concert t-shirt and someone recognized you both from Jeopardy! and from your webcomic.
Dom: Your point...?
Toby: What's in your backpack, Dom?
Dom: A package.
Toby: Containing what?
Dom: Review materials.
Toby: And you're reviewing what, for who?
Dom: ...manga. For Newtype USA.
Toby: The prosecution rests, your honor!
So I decided, in the wake of these two Nerd Events, to try and figure out what the Nerd List is, and what I have and haven't achieved. Here's my rundown of the various ways in which I have achieved uber-nerditude:
1: Academia
- Graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in "folklore and culture," i.e. comic books and movies
- Wrote scholarly papers on both Barefoot Gen and Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan
- Participated in the National Spelling Bee
- Appeared on Jeopardy!
2: Comics
- Been made a character in multiple comics
- Have had work published by multiple comic publishers, including Dark Horse and (soon) DC
- Signed autographs at San Diego Comic Con
3: Games
- Have had name listed in the credits of multiple video games
- Have written for GamePro magazine and actually have a right to put "ProTip:" in articles
- Learned Japanese from video games in order to play video games
- Made Top 4 of a Magic Pro Tour Qualifier (next step, play on the Pro Tour, I guess)
4: The Internets
- Have a blog with a large readership (sure, it's attached to a webcomic with a larger readership, but work with me here)
- Have had a page linked by Boingboing
- Have had a page linked by Slashdot
From this list, I have two questions. First, is there anything I should add to that that's reasonably attainable? Second, do I WANT to get even nerdier? I await your answers.
This is just a reminder to let you know that I'm leaving for Washington DC tomorrow morning to go to Book Book Expo America. Book Expo is the largest book publishing trade show in the US with over 2000 exhibitors and publishers. I'll be signing at the DC comics / CMX booth (#3939) on Friday at 2pm. Please note that in an earlier rant i said it was at 3:00pm, it actually starts at 2:00pm!! Doh. Anyways, if you are going to be at the show, please stop by to say hi. :)