I Am So Cool

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echo "I wish I was Neo from "The Matrix" because then I could jump really high, and I would be able to learn anything I wanted in a matter of seconds. However, I'm not all that fascinated with learning about guns, how to fly a Bell 212 helicopter, or kung fu. I want to know everything there is to know about computers. Does that make me a nerd?

Unfortunately, I am not Neo. I am not even that lousy traitor, Cypher. If there is something I want to learn, I have to read a book. It took me all of last summer to get a really good grasp on PHP, the programming language we use for The Spectrum Online. My latest endeavor has been to install the Linux Operating System on my computer and pretty much master it. I'm well on my way. I recently bought a couple of big, fat technical books on the subject and I'm quickly absorbing all the info I can get from them. I am planning on buying a couple more very soon, which is tough to do thanks to my limited source of funds. Needless to say, I have been spending a lot of late nights in front of Maureen reading multiple books at the same time. Oh, Maureen is my computer's name. Well, if you didn't think I was a nerd before, I bet you do now.

Summer is quickly approaching, and I have begun to make my list of things to do during the open months. I figure I don't have to worry about getting an internship this year because I've already been accepted into my top choice graduate school. Thus, I plan to invest in a few more computer books and read them thoroughly. Although I do enjoy everything I am reading, I have ulterior motives. I hope that by learning everything in one lump sum now, it will give me the competitive, unbeatable edge to get a better and more enjoyable job down the line. In a nutshell, those are my summer plans.

In many ways, I am a stereotypical nerd. Obviously I've got the computer thing going for me. I always study for tests, and grades have been very important to me. I hardly ever miss class, except for a six-week stretch where I failed to go to my World Civ. lecture. But I was an architecture major at the time, and the reason I skipped World Civ. was so that I could work in the studio down on South Campus.

However, I go against the stereotype as well. For example, I love sports, particularly football and skiing. I hardly ever play video games. I love listening to all kinds of music and watching movies. I'm not a complete loner either, even though reading computer books isn't exactly the most social activity. I enjoy hanging out and going out with friends and family as much as I enjoy reading in solitude.

I'm very proud of who I am and I don't mind being classified as a nerd or whatever other nomenclature might be used. When I am doing some kind of computer work and I finally get something difficult to work that I have been working at for a very long time, I think to myself, "I am so cool!" I find that to be a very enjoyable experience, similar to how I think I might feel if I were a football player who had just scored a touchdown. I even do a little dance as well. Football players dance in the end zone, and I dance with Maureen when I finish writing a computer program.

Everybody is different. I'm sure that my computer stories would completely bore a large portion of the population, but there are equally exciting things that would bore me in a similar fashion. One example is NASCAR racing. You or your friend from North Carolina may love the "sport" and the "athletes" who push down on the gas pedal really hard so the cars drive faster, but I happen to find reading about Linux much more interesting. But that's what I enjoy, so all you NASCAR fans should be proud to say that you love car racing. If you like who you are and what you stand for, that is all that really counts in the matter of being cool; and I'm the coolest nerd I know.

Morpheus, if you are out there, come give me the red pill.";

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