land of a thousand geeks...

...give or take a thousand.

i think there were actually about 2600 geeks all at a lovely and very patiently staffed Sheraton hotel last weekend in minneapolis. on the 2nd floor in a very serene room, were my fellow girly geeks, the Galactic Geishas House of Tea...and A.

yes, tongue in cheek. we all wore kimonos of various origin (mine was acquired hastily at Ragstock in the mall of america on thursday evening, and embellished with beads on thursday night...) my dear friend tish made her own and a few more for others attending(she's quite the seamstress, and does her own renaissance festival outfits too!) she also cooked fried rice and egg rolls, and asian cucumber salad, which was all just yummy.

for a few moments on friday and even saturday morning, before heading over, i was nervous--just a vague, persistent uneasiness. probably all the people--i'm a hermit a lot of the time, at heart. anyway dan asked me at some point if i was nervous and all of a sudden i realized that i wasn't nervous, not one drop.

why, you may ask, this sudden lack of nerves? perhaps it was the dawning of comprehension: i would be a girl, dressed up pretty and with tits and a brain to boot, in the land of a thousand male geeks.

i would be a goddess, for one shining brace of hours.

i'm not being egotistical here--i know what i look like, and for the most part, am terribly self-concious about my looks. but the hotel would be full of people who thought the same way i do: geeky. nerdy. and in the strangest of ways, i think that makes them more accepting than a church group.

anyone can hide in a crowd at the mall, or downtown. anyone can pull up their hood or shove their cap low to disguise features.

but at con, everyone is on display, or in various stages of presentation. it's like a living museum, an exhibit in which all bodies partake.

it didn't matter that i was not as kitted out as the man dressed as Willy Wonka, or did not have a wild, gravity-defying foot-high blue and green mohawk. the whole day was a blur of sights and sounds, tastes--bright and shiny, a kaleidescope of humanity.

for a while i tagged along with a few friends and checked out the dealer's room. we ended up in a panel discussion as it ended: asians and minorities in science fiction. we were only there for the last twenty minutes of the panel; but it was interesting to consider.

i enjoy science ficton because it bends the mind, and allows for imagination to bridge off on different pathways that perhaps alone you'd not consider. it's a springboard. science fiction blends things--it's the combination of human and robot, the fact that superman can fly, the faery folk with gossamer wings. all these things make science fiction a universal and yet so very individual clique.

in the panel, the discussion dissected and branched from asians as the minority to encompass the gay community, and then hearing impaired people. the discussion posited that every community shares culture in a way that another community can never comprehend--ie, only another half-deaf person could completely understand my corner of the world.

for the most part, my friends all belong to this universe of geeks--they all know what i'm talking about when i say "World of Warcraft," and the importance of dice and clipboards and sunday afternoons.

mainstream media struggles with topics that i think many sci-fi geeks have an innate and intimate knowledge--the feeling of being the minority. if you were a geek in grade school, you were the minority. even now, at work, when i explained what i was doing last weekend, people got a little smirk on their face: "oh, a science fiction convention. nice."

no one would have blinked twice if i said i was going to the Home and Garden Show.

anyway, the point that i'm coming to is this: last weekend was fun. and it was an eye opener for me--to understand more fully and appreciate more fully the friends that i do have, for their geeky world.

being a geek is wonderful. it allows you to revel in your knowledge, to flaunt your Klingon makeup and toast Wonder Woman as she skips down the hall. there was no one who was not accepted--for race, for creed, for thoughts, for costumes...or lack thereof. (;

perhaps that is the best of show--not the art pieces or the weaponry on display, not the party rooms in all their creative genius. it was the fact that no matter what form you were as you shuffled through a hotel, you were accepted just as you were.

in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king, they say. in the land of a thousand geeks...well, cripes, anyone can be king, even if your name is Eleanor, you're 4'10" and you're wearing a t-shirt that says: "if you don't talk to your cat about catnip, who will?"