It’s an interesting thought, to sit back, think in stereotypes and see which ones you can make fit yourself - or, if not stereotypes per sé, then at least social ‘expectations’ based upon personality, habit etc. I’ve decided to, in essence, psychoanalyse myself for whatever reasons… let’s just go through how I could be seen in society, and see what we find, shall we?

rnFirst off, we all need a nice, rounded physical description… to soothe the shallow minded. Let’s see. I’m 6” tall, have dark brown hair, brown eyes (think puppy-dogs), a red-brown goatee-moustache affair, and glasses - rimless glasses, with gunmetal colouring to be exact.

rnMoving downwards, I have a rather long, ‘gangly’ neck which normally terminates amidst some form of clothing. I have rather thin shoulders, which have a tendency to slouch, unless I can be bothered straightening them. My arms are… thin. Thins a good word. Also olive, olive-ish works. They wander along a bit until they reach my wrists and hands, which are even thinner (the wrists) and of course, ten fingers (yes, I know. Normal). My torso is also rather thin… skeletal at times. My stomach changes in size and shape depending on how long, and in what quantities, I last ate. My legs are also incredibly thin and long, my feet are a size… what… 9 Mens (Aussie sizes). I typically dress in darker colours (read: blackish), which almost always include long pants and a jacket of some description.

rnSo, what do we get from the above description? Hell, I’d post a photo, but I don’t really have much that I can use online… certainly nothing new. Ah well. Just imagine. It’s fun! ^_^

rnNow, for more personal tendencies… My favourite activities would have to be reading, the ‘net, writing, watching various stuff (read: anime first, other stuff second), sleeping, learning, listening to music… and that’s probably the major ones. I read like a machine, by which I mean I’m fast, methodical and I churn through books. Many times, if there ain’t anything new to peruse. I am probably a medium to high grade internet addict, wasting a lot of bandwidth to not much purpose. I enjoy a great deal of anime watching, as well as shows such as Stargate SG-1 and various sci-fi and fantasy movies - as well as immortal comedies such as BlackAdder and Monty Python.

rnI sleep not enough, I listen to a wide variety of music (focussing mostly on instrumental, love songs, some oldies and some j-pop) and, to jump around a bit, I read mostly fantasy fiction, with smatterings of other genres (notably sci-fi and crime) as well as of course dabbling in history, realism etc.

rnSo. Are we getting a picture of a typical geeky nerdy type of guy? Probably. From the physical, you’ve probably guessed that I don’t exercise as much as I should… almost never, in point of fact. The ‘net stuff is kinda geeky, the books are nerdy, and the anime just shouts otaku.

rnSo. First off. Geek. What’s a geek? I find the easiest way to explain this to people is to say ‘a nerd who loves computers’ - which is wrong, but it puts people in the semi-accurate frame of mind. I’d classify a geek as a person who has an obsession (or at least interest/love) in computers and related paraphernalia and spends a great deal of their time occupied in such an area - predominantly a male person.

rnDo I fit this mold without mold removal? Mostly. Although I don’t tend to spend as much time on a computer as a typical geek would, I’m not obsessed with using it as much as possible, I play little games, I don’t code (except in HTML really)… so let’s call me a peripheral geek. I’m a geek, but I’m a fringe geek.

rnNerds… now nerd is traditionally someone who studies, has no life, etc, etc. Brainiacs etc. Now… I’ll be the first person here to say that my studying is a little less then enthusiastic, although I’ve always been able to get good grades (when I really care enough to try). I’ll also admit quite freely that I have almost no social life - for reasons that I’m keeping to me’self for the moment… might rant about it sometime later. I also have glasses - typical nerd trait.

rnBut then I’m also not that much of a nerd in other ways… I’ve always managed to get on well with most people, although in most cases I don’t like socialising - I’m that weird kind of creature, the person who manages to get along with almost everyone with almost no effort, just prefers solitude. So I’ve got a bit more social talent than the typical nerd… I’m nowhere near as studious… so yeah, I suppose I’m not really a nerd. Just nerdlike, at times.

rnNow the third label I used there, otaku, is the badge that Western anime/japanese fans have taken as their label to signify their devotion to the media… in some ways I’d count myself among their number, but in others not. Despite the impression I’ve no doubt given in this journal, I’m not all that obsessed with anime. OK, sure, I watch it a fair bit, I do have currently nearly 40 DVDs of the genre as well as around 150 CDs full of fansubbed stuff - but it’s not like I’m on junk here. I currently have a brand new, unwatched DVD of Last Exile in my room - which I rather like. I just haven’t gotten around to watching it yet - because, although I like it, I don’t currently feel like it. I’ve got another two or three DVDs that I haven’t finished watching, not because I dislike them (else I wouldn’t have bought them!) - I just haven’t bothered yet. And, as to those 150 odd CDs, I’ve watched the files on less than half of them - due to both lack of time and lack of botherdness.

rnSo what do we have? A few other things - I’m rather arrogant (yes, I know - I really am that good ~_^ ), I occasionally appear to be plagued by multiple personalities (it’s all fun!), I’m perpetually single, I have a rather ironic sense of self and of humour, am intermittently depressive, amused at random things, I talk to myself all the time - out loud, and, the big weirdo, I hate soup - can’t stand the stuff.

rnSo. What do we think we’ve got here? A nerdlike fringe geek with some odd personalities quirks, a few strange social aptitudes, some random lukewarm obsessions, and a general insanity complex?

rnMaybe. I like to call it ‘Ben.’ Pleased to meet you.

rn -Andiyar