Of indulging geekery

After [Edrei]’s post about pretentious geeks, it got me to thinking about the geeks in my life. The ones I’ve been privileged to meet anyways.

The thing about geeks is that you can’t really spot them a mile away like you used to. Three years ago, you could tell a geek from a non-geek by the amount of gadget speak that came out of his mouth and even more rarely, by the gadgets he has.

Now though, people all talk about gadgets, but not that many actually know what these gadgetry do. Worse, they’re like the Apple fanatics. It’s not “Gotta catch them all” but “Gotta have it all now!” They are the new fanboys rich: buying things simply because they can.

A real geek, on the other hand, takes his time to decide what he really wants. Then when he does get it, he spends hours tweaking it to fit his specifications and his needs. He’s not afraid to get dirty. Most times, he prefers working with his hands.

You could, by that extension, call a geek the modern incarnation of the craftsman. They were men who perfected the art of their craft by learning it well, and then mastering it and taking their creations to a completely new level. They are not afraid to break things; if you can take it apart, you could put it back too.

This, I think, is the greatest mark of a geek. Men or women, male or female, a geek is defined by just how much they are willing to take apart a problem or even a solution, and then put it back together again. They aren’t afraid of messing with the system, cause they know they can fix it back later. Perhaps even make it better.

It doesn’t matter how much money you have. Doesn’t matter how many gadgets you have either. All that matters is that you enjoy the process of tinkering, and that you utilise your resources to the best of your abilities. After all, why get a smartphone when all you really need is a camera phone?

Ok, back to work. Time to see if I can’t break that site. 😀

PS: To all the geeks in my life, thank you for your patience in a noob who breaks her PC in many ways and freaks out too often. m(_)m

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