Feeling: silly
Listening to: the melodious strains of Auto Assault
Reading/Watching: The Grieving Tree

It started with my older brother Maffrew handing me a book entitled Sword Singer by Jennifer Roberson, saying "Just read the first paragraph, it's really funny!"

I think I was seven, maybe eight years old. I had taken off running from the second a book was placed in my hands (I had two older, cooler siblings to catch up to), and even though this one had some weird bearded guy on the cover, in a cape-looking thing, holding a big sword, it was a thick book, with chapters. I liked those; it took me longer than an hour to read them. Sure, maybe it was the size of three or four Babysitter's Club books combined, but that just meant it might last me longer than two days.

And then I started reading, and it was all about magic and fighting and riding horses and stuff- like Narnia, only more grown-up. All good things, in my opinion. I finished the series.

In fifth grade, my best friend dared me to read this gigantic book we kept seeing on the library shelf (nobody ever checked it out), called The Sword of Shannara. I picked it up. And then I finished that series, too.

After that I officially became a Closet Geek Girl. I tore through more Terry Brooks, the entire Xanth series, and eventually stole Puppy's Dragonlance trilogy, returning it to him only with the greatest reluctance. But it wasn't exactly "cool" to read fantasy books, at least not around the other girls in school (they were more into Seventeen, YM, and maybe the occasional Sweet Valley High), and as for the guys... well, the guys scared me. They were mean. I didn't know exactly what they read.

Eventually, my being a Geek Girl endeared me to boys in high school, because we could chatter for hours about whether Tanis was more the leader of the group, or Raistlin was, for being the anti-hero around which all the drama centered. It was like being a secret member of their club, because they didn't necessarily hang out with me outside of class, but when there was a lull, I was at least capable of talking about something worthwhile.

I should have known that this would eventually lead to being a lifelong, card-carrying member of Geek Girls worldwide. It was the reason I got to know the Air Force Boys: Bri and I weren't all that interested in video games, but the first time Satan and I started babbling about Dragonlance and shut her out of the conversation, she was quite... er, shall we say miffed (she later forbade me to become better friends with him than she was, if I remember correctly. Oh, the irony).

And then, of course, I fell in love with a Geek. And not one of those halfway geeks who also likes sports and cars... no, I found one whose face lights up when his friends talk about spending a Friday night playing D&D (I think that's what they did for the majority of his bachelor party. I am not kidding).

The upside of this is, I get to meet other Geek Girls. We are drawn together, out of sympathy for each other's plight, so that we have someone sensible to talk to when the "latest MMO" discussion starts. One of these Geek Girls is Persephone, who fell into the Geek Girl culture late in life, but now embraces it wholeheartedly. Another is Ray's fianc�e (calling her Katika from now on), who is visiting this week. Poor girl doesn't have a Geek Girl support group at home, so I think she's enjoying her visit among kindred spirits.

Many women would pity us, I think, because we have to sit, glassy-eyed, through extensive conversations about video games, online games, role-playing games, and so on (usually we get sucked in to playing aforementioned games, but there's still a limit to how much we can take). We know what it's like, when Mom is coming to visit, to search frantically for a place to hide his half-painted models, and highly conspicuous D&D rule books. Some of us have had arguments with him about why he is not allowed to hang his large, sharp, "decorative" sword or dagger or battle axe over the bed.

But you don't understand, non-Geek women. Our boys are not so bad. A Geek Boy is usually sweet, unpretentious, affectionate, a bit oblivious at times, but completely devoted. He can be trained to help with housework (although you may have to unplug the internet connection first), he's very imaginative, and once you pry the D&D book out of his hands, he's all yours. And sometimes, they're so happy to have a girlfriend that if you play your cards right, the gratitude can last for years.

Plus, most Geek Boys come with a passel of adorable like-minded friends, and sometimes those friends come attached to Geek Girls. And then you've got an instant support group. Because Geek Girls understand each other. We come from everywhere, but we feel your pain. We have hidden the half-painted models, too. We have "accidentally" thrown away the disgusting, white-gray-pink t-shirt with the dragon on it that he's worn every day since he was twelve. We remember the night you put on your sexiest lingerie and fell asleep waiting for him to finish playing World of Warcraft.

Geek Girls know. It's why we've got to stick together.

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