Outnerding the Nerds

After yesterday's talk of the "ring in the sour cream" incident, which, by the way, I would like to clarify was not intentional -- I really meant to hold Joe's rings, not toss them into the nachos -- I started to think about whether or not our story can be parlayed into a tale that I could write. You know, a mystical tale with virgins and quests and prophecies...okay well at least quests and prophecies. It would be the story of our union, but told via allegory. You know, like how E.T. is a Christian allegory. And The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a Christian allegory. And West Side Story is Romeo and Juliet, and A Simple Twist of Fate (the Steve Martin movie) is Silas Marner. Actually there are only about eight stories, we've just kept finding new ways to tell them.

But the only "ring" stories I could think of, well mainly Lord of the Rings, the item itself is evil. I didn't want to out-nerd myself by over-thinking this. I don't need to write an allegory at all, let alone riff on a tacky ring's plunge into a fatty Mexican dip.

That reminds me. While in Vegas, during set-up week it's only a smallish crew. Me and four guys (why do so many of my stories begin that way?) went to dinner. We're all five of us geeky in our own way, with a collective arsenal of geekitude that spans Trent Reznor, board games, karaoke, Star Trek, Rush...you know this is a group where the following exchange can, and did, happen.

Nate was in the middle of a discourse on some topic or other, when he declared that the official answer was "Orcs."

With total intensity and a dead-earnest expression, me and Jeff both went, "What KIND of Orcs, the Tolkien orcs or World of Warcraft Orcs?" There was about a five second pause while we two apparent Orc experts gaped at each other with a "did we just say that in unision" look, and Nate coolly regarded each of us in turn. Before soberly declaring, "I have just been way out-nerded. I'm humbled."

Laughter ensued. Then we probably argued about whether Snakes and Arrows was a worthwhile comeback record, and whether or not the next record is going to be as good as Counterparts.

It's nice when people "get" you. By contrast, in a DrawSomething match, I got "spock." I drew the best Spock I could (and I've got a decent pimp hand when it comes to drawing) only to have my opponent miss it, and message "I had no idea who or what 'spock' was, sorry.'"

See now, that just does NOT occur to me, dude.

It's just not logical.