What is the Dorkiest Thing You've Ever Done?

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define "dorky" however you want...

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 17:37 (twenty years ago)

Cared.

― 'Curt' Russell (noodle vague), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 17:40 (twenty years ago)

too many to count

― xavier mcshane (xave), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 17:41 (twenty years ago)

http://ilx.p3r.net/register.php

― gbx (skowly), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 17:48 (twenty years ago)

I think gib. wins.

― Df'nM (OutDatWay), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 17:54 (twenty years ago)

Law school

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 17:57 (twenty years ago)

We're gonna need a bigger thread.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:02 (twenty years ago)

hahaha

Flew to Minneapolis for the Mystery Science Theater 3000 convention (1994)?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:05 (twenty years ago)

vigorously debated quake clan match strategies over lunch with the aid of maps drawn on napkins??

― sleep (sleep), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:43 (twenty years ago)

My fiancee played Doom against Mike Nelson at that convention.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:44 (twenty years ago)

... disqualified for actually having a fiancee

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:49 (twenty years ago)

Oh, that has nothing to do with me, I'm just sayin'.

Does middle school D&D count?

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:52 (twenty years ago)

Drove to Atlanta (5 hrs. each way) for a Dave S!m signing.

― truck-patch pixel farmer (my crop froze in the field) (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:53 (twenty years ago)

I gave the cute guy running the karaoke night my number, written on one of the little song slips.

That was this weekend.

― elmo, patron saint of nausea (allocryptic), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:55 (twenty years ago)

Solitaired Napoleon's 1813 German capmpaign on the dining room table for three weeks.

― laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 18:56 (twenty years ago)

I had my first kiss at a national Latin convention. In Fargo, North Dakota. With a guy on my classics quiz bowl team. I think we won our division.

― Laura H. (laurah), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:01 (twenty years ago)

Laura, you are the treatsiest.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:03 (twenty years ago)

awww :)

― Laura H. (laurah), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:04 (twenty years ago)

There's like four levels of dorkiness going on there. Awesome.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:05 (twenty years ago)

I once tried to start a rotisserie baseball league for 10-12 year olds. I went to a baseball-card show and sat in the corner with a sign-up sheet. No one signed up.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:08 (twenty years ago)

(Lest you think I'm a crepe, I was like 11 at the time.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:11 (twenty years ago)

Joined the Archie fan club. It took a lot of work too. International money orders and whatnot.

― sunny successor (katharine), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:13 (twenty years ago)

I wrote to Anne McCaffrey, once, and she wrote back. The really incredibly dorky parts are a) that her address is something very rural and estate-y, like "Dragonhold, County Wicklow, Ireland", and b) that I remember her mailing address.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:14 (twenty years ago)

SS that's rad!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:17 (twenty years ago)

I wrote to Joel Whitburn, author of Billboard's Top 1000 Singles of All-Time, and he wrote back. His letter was pinned to a bulletin board in my room all through high school.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:17 (twenty years ago)

I have a letter from Jim Davis hanging on the wall at home in MN.

― gbx (skowly), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:20 (twenty years ago)

I wrote messages to ILX on chalkboard visible on a webcam in a computer science lab I was living in (2 weeeeeks!) while working on my senior project.

― A BOLD QUAHOG (ex machina), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:24 (twenty years ago)

i've seen two rush shows

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:25 (twenty years ago)

Once in college I waited to have sex until AFTER I finished a paper.

― Dan (Haw) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:27 (twenty years ago)

Dan, get off this thread.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:39 (twenty years ago)

The great thing is I've done exactly the same.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:42 (twenty years ago)

r'ggett

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:56 (twenty years ago)

(whoa, that was pretty dorky of me)

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:56 (twenty years ago)

hahahaha

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 19:58 (twenty years ago)

I'm glad I don't get that.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:03 (twenty years ago)

It's all about honorifics.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:05 (twenty years ago)

Oh my god.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:06 (twenty years ago)

Actually in keeping with the books it should be N'd but that doesn't really roll off the tongue. M'kieproof is amusing though.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:09 (twenty years ago)

Hahahaha okay, actually the dorkiest thing I ever did was spend an entire day trying to get my family to call me "D'niel". (This slightly trumps dressing up as my own version of The Doctor and play-acting a Dalek invasion in the woods behind our house.)

― Dan (But I Liked The Paper One More) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:16 (twenty years ago)

-my first girlfriend was on my 8th grade quiz bowl team with me

-4 years later, she was the co-captain of our high school quiz bowl team. she was dating the dorky guitar player of my best friend's dorky grunge band by that time.

-I turned the huge spinning cube on the Univ of MI campus(same kind of cube as in Astor Place) into a Rubic's Cube 9 years ago.

-had Jim Lee X-men posters on my wall when I was 13-14

-contacted Lord British after i beat Ultima VI(the game told me to!). He sent me a little "Congrats" note signed in english and gargoyle, which I put on my wall.

-oh yeah, and started this little thing

― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:18 (twenty years ago)

Hahahaha okay, actually the dorkiest thing I ever did was spend an entire day trying to get my family to call me "D'niel".

Oh man, you WIN.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:18 (twenty years ago)

Wait, didn't you make a potato recipe from a Dragonlance book once?

― Dan (Outing Friends) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:20 (twenty years ago)

No, that was JORDAN.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:20 (twenty years ago)

Proof.

My girlfriend has those recipes. Yeah, we made the potatoes, in the process going farther than EVEN NED.

-- Jordan (jordan...), August 9th, 2004.

Sir, I salute you. That is insanity beyond recall.

(Er, so were they any good?)

-- Ned Raggett (ne...), August 9th, 2004.

You can make the recipes? Where do you get vallenwood oil in this country?

-- nabisco (--...), August 9th, 2004.

"We made the potatoes" is the greatest euphemism ever.

-- VengaDan Perry (djperr...), August 9th, 2004.

"In a pinch, usest thou the liquid from the oil of the coconut."

-- Ned Raggett (ne...), August 9th, 2004.

You know, that really wasn't an x-post.

-- Ned Raggett (ne...), August 9th, 2004.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:22 (twenty years ago)

-shamelessly patronized Spencer's Gifts from 1988-1993, back in the "dancing coke can" days

― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:23 (twenty years ago)

Hahahahaha so now the dorkiest thing I've ever done is to attempt to shame one of my friends on the Internet by incorrectly remembering another messageboard thread.

― Dan (A Winner Is Me) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:25 (twenty years ago)

You know, I was seriously just about to change my answer to "posting on the ILE Dragonlance thread" before your post, Dan.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:28 (twenty years ago)

The internet never forgets. :(

(nor the interned)

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:28 (twenty years ago)

My apologies.

However, Remy might have us all beat:

I got kicked out of art class in 6th grade for drawing a picture of Tanis and Kitiara boning each other and showing it to this girl who had big boobs.

-- x j e r e m y (jcoomb...), August 9th, 2004

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:29 (twenty years ago)

reading LOTR, i cried real tears when gandalf "died" and had to set the book aside for a few while it sunk in.

that's certainly not the dorkiest in my long line of dorky exploits, but the dragonlance reminded me...

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:30 (twenty years ago)

never having read dragonlance, i am a WINNAH

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:31 (twenty years ago)

This thread has become a thing of beauty. Thank you, ILX.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:32 (twenty years ago)

A final potato note:

The potatoes were as good as any salty, peppery, oiled, Dragonlance-free oven-roasted potatoes that I've made.

("potatoes")

-- Jordan (jordan...), August 9th, 2004.

PHWAOR BRING ON THE TENTACLES

-- VengaDan Perry (djperr...), August 9th, 2004.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:33 (twenty years ago)

so dan--what was your imaginary dragon's name, and what color was it?

if you know what i mean

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:36 (twenty years ago)

I'm sure Dan ranked, oh, I dunno, a green.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:38 (twenty years ago)

I'm having a strange possessiveness about all these DragonWhatsit references, people. Those were MY favorite books, and here all of you are, exposing much beloved premises to public ridicule.

And THAT may be a new dorky high for me.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:46 (twenty years ago)

So you're saying that hadn't read the Dragonlance thread before, did you? Heheheheh.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:47 (twenty years ago)

at least you're not as old as those other dudes, who had to be pubescent at the time they read them! xpost to laurel

― A BOLD QUAHOG (ex machina), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:48 (twenty years ago)

i used to bbs on a bulletin board for local nerds called EXCALIBUR from 1993-1996 - and play L.O.R.D. religiously.

― POOP BITCH (Mandee), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:52 (twenty years ago)

who had to be pubescent at the time they read them

Hooray! But when did YOU read them? ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:55 (twenty years ago)

Nope, never read the Dragonlance thread. But then I never read the books, either. Ahhh the sweet, sweet taste of geek snobbery.

Just for the record, I probably read the McCaffrey books between the ages of 10 and 12. I know, because I had to get special dispensation to check them out of the library at that age.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 20:58 (twenty years ago)

I used to listen to prog-metal.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:00 (twenty years ago)

Nope, never read the Dragonlance thread. But then I never read the books, either. Ahhh the sweet, sweet taste of geek snobbery.

You could have both!

Jordan, why do you add the unnecessary 'used to' in your sentence?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:01 (twenty years ago)

Because that was in HIGH SCHOOL, Ned.

Although I did listen to a Mars Volta song last week.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:03 (twenty years ago)

gbx took my answer upthread. Past that I think the next dorkiest thing done would be chatting on IRC during episodes of the X-Files (first season). On my dial-up.

I've never read the Dragon books. I'm quite proud.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:04 (twenty years ago)

I read those books that were like choose your owb adventure books but had D&D type rules. Ian Johnson will know what I mean....

― A BOLD QUAHOG (ex machina), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:16 (twenty years ago)

I used to play a choose your own adventure-type text-based game on Apple IIs.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:19 (twenty years ago)

OK, I got engaged to a guy I met on the internet. At a They Might Be Giants gig.

What do I win?

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:20 (twenty years ago)

I used google to find this:

http://tecfa.unige.ch/~nova/img/geekchartbig.gif

xpost

TRAYCE, WHY WERE YOU USING THE INTERNET AT A SHOW?

― A BOLD QUAHOG (ex machina), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:21 (twenty years ago)

Laurel, I read every single Pern book ever. Even the dolphin ones. At some point during adolescence I made little fact sheets about EVERY SINGLE HOLD IN PERN and drew renditions of each of their insignias in colored pencil.

― Laura H. (laurah), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:26 (twenty years ago)

haha i luv u

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:28 (twenty years ago)

The Pern books ruled (at least up to a point). Mind you, I remember being terribly confused when I read The White Dragon and thought, "Wait, who are all these new characters who already seem to know one another?" Then I found out about the Harper Hall books...

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:28 (twenty years ago)

Hahah jon I realised I effed up the wording after I hit submit =)

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:28 (twenty years ago)

Okay, I skipped the dolphin ones -- or rather, they weren't out yet when I was going through the series, and I never went back for 'em. I think the last title I read was the one about the original colonists' landing and subsequent genetic engineering of the dragons.

XP: See, Ned, I started with the Harper Hall books. And I think I still like them better, but then I have a soft spot for musicians.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:29 (twenty years ago)

Well see, you're a freak. ;-) (I say this because I, probably like a lot of people, first encountered Pern via the Dragonriders omnibus. Thank you SFBC.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:31 (twenty years ago)

I'm embarrassed to know some of you.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:31 (twenty years ago)

i started with the harper ones too. damn firelizards got into all my shit.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:32 (twenty years ago)

I love how proud everyone is of their nerdiness, this is a treat.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:33 (twenty years ago)

I READ THIS THREAD. THAT IS THE DORKIEST THING I'VE EVER DONE. OMG.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:33 (twenty years ago)

HI JOHN.

― gbx (skowly), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:34 (twenty years ago)

OK, I got engaged to a guy I met on the internet.

Haha, the guy I am married to is about the only person I made friends with in real life after I discovered the internet! All my social circle are people off the internet! Is that dorky?

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:35 (twenty years ago)

I mean, I was going to say something like "Secretly have plotted out where I will stick all my Fatheads in my house" but, they aren't dragon fatheads, so I cannot compare!

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:35 (twenty years ago)

HI EVAN. You haven't done anything dorky ... yet.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:35 (twenty years ago)

I subscribed to both Dog Fancy and Cat Fancy for several years in middle school. That's only the beginning.

― The Milkmaid (of human kindness) (The Milkmaid), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:38 (twenty years ago)

pern? dragonlance? what are you people talking about? what happened to sweet valley high?

― sunny successor (katharine), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:39 (twenty years ago)

I'm embarrassed to know some of you.

-- jaymc

For shame.

― Laura H. (laurah), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:40 (twenty years ago)

Don't worry, Laura, he just misspelled 'proud'

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:42 (twenty years ago)

pern? dragonlance? what are you people talking about? what happened to sweet valley high?

I'm hanging out with sunny. I had several Babysitters Club books.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:43 (twenty years ago)

I bought a tone dialer in order to make a red box but ended up being too lazy to find/buy the new crystal. So now I still have a tone dialer sitting in a box somewhere.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:45 (twenty years ago)

Actually, the dorkiest I got with my junior-high reading material was probably these books that were all about alternate histories, like what would've happened if Germany had won WW2 or if JFK hadn't been assassinated. And baseball-themed mystery novels.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:45 (twenty years ago)

I'd read those alternate history books now.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:46 (twenty years ago)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000EZTR.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:49 (twenty years ago)

wrote fake autographs
on albums and posters like
'to my friend matt' ARGH

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:50 (twenty years ago)

also, competed
on the national level
in poetry slams

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:51 (twenty years ago)

HI EVAN. You haven't done anything dorky ... yet.

I used to collect comic books and nearly popped a boner when I found thtat Dragonlance thread.

Also, wait for it, used to COLLECT AND PAINT WARHAMMER MINIATURES.

― gbx (skowly), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:51 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, the book of Fatherland came out when I was 13, and I remember being interested in it, but then decided it was TOO geeky.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:53 (twenty years ago)

Sorry, this wins
wrote fake autographs
on albums and posters like
'to my friend matt'

― The Milkmaid (of human kindness) (The Milkmaid), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:53 (twenty years ago)

baseball mysteries sound pretty good though.

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:53 (twenty years ago)

Knowledge Bowl, scientific olympiad, speech team.....

― gbx (skowly), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:54 (twenty years ago)

wrote fake autographs
on albums and posters

OMG! I used to do this when I was about 11. One of my friends claimed she'd met a-ha and had their autographs. So I nicked her copy of the album and forged the signatures she had and claimed I'd met them too. Except obviously she'd totally made up the signatures on her copy and all I'd done was copy her fake autographs and it was totally obvious that not only had I not met them, I'd tried to one-up someone who was sad enough to pretend by being even sadder (and also gullible).

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:55 (twenty years ago)

the band chicago
and julius erving both
signed stuff for lil me

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

nearly popped a boner when I found thtat Dragonlance thread

I nearly popped a boner when someone started that Sierra computer games thread a while back.

Quiz Bowl, JETS team (Junior Engineering Technical Society -- but my specialty was English).

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

I absolutely remember the horrified look of one of my mom's friends from when i was 11 or so and she asked me what I was reading and then misheard "pern" as "porn".

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

Haikunym wins very very hard, I think.

― gbx (skowly), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 21:57 (twenty years ago)

Haikunym, one of my friends won at the poetry slam national level. I think poetry's. .okay. not neccesarily dorky.

― Miss Misery xox (MissMiseryTX), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:01 (twenty years ago)

Good Lord, I was able to find one of those baseball mysteries on Amazon, but only because I inexplicably remembered the name of the fictional minor-league team in it: the Providence Jewels.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0802776086.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:02 (twenty years ago)

Saul W1lliams is a DORKY DORK.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:07 (twenty years ago)

Fatherland isn't half as dorky as those "If the South woulda won..." books I see on the Used shelf at the bookstore.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:09 (twenty years ago)

i did the grand-slam of high school dorkiness: quiz bowl thingie, school band for 3 years, math team and model u.n.

(nb: i didn't even like math, my teacher hectored me into the math team by offering extra credit or something. which, i guess joining the math team for extra credit is pretty goddamn dorky)(but i did like model u.n.)

still the dorkiest thing i ever did was when, as a new kid in school, i was caught dancing in front of the mirror in the boys' room in 7th grade. i don't know why i was dancing or what song i had in my head, but the guy who saw me immediately told about 30 people, so then i was "the new kid who dances in the bathroom." that took about a year to die down...

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:10 (twenty years ago)

I brought ELO's
"A New World Record" to play
in our sixth grade class!

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:11 (twenty years ago)

(just kidding, I love ya Saul)

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:13 (twenty years ago)

I still have my red box even though you can't use them anymore!

I met Ian Johnson thanks to the internet.
I met my girlfriend through the internet.
Ian met my roommate through internets.

― A BOLD QUAHOG (ex machina), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:13 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I just remembered, one other girl in my class and I took extra maths classes after school round at my maths teacher's house because we loved maths so much. That's quite dorky.

I seem to have repressed all my inner dorkness, only to have it unleashed when anyone mentions, well, anything on this thread really.

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:13 (twenty years ago)

I played White Wolf games. At school. During lunch. I also cherish the Dragonlance thread and wish there existed a similar one for Forgotten Realms.

― adam (adam), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:22 (twenty years ago)

I can't remember which dragons were the kickass ones? Gold? Regardless, I had the top one in my imagination.

I also had about a bazillion imaginary fire lizards after reading the Harper series (which was actually better than the Dragonrider series). By the time the Dolphin thing came around, I'd decided that the whole series could fuck a hat.

― Dan (We Must Get Allyzay Some Dragonlance Fatheads NOW) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:23 (twenty years ago)

Attn: fatheads are on sale- buy one, get one free

― laurence kansas (lawrence kansas), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:29 (twenty years ago)

Actually apart from the b/f (PlauyfulPuppy, sometime lurker/poster here), who I met at a goth club (ahaha), I think everyone else I am friends with now I met somehow online (usenet/irc/ilx/lj). Jeezum.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:34 (twenty years ago)

I also wrote a letter to Smash Hits asking for pen-friends who liked bands like Geisha. If you're an aussie of my age, you will be cringing now.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:36 (twenty years ago)

oh i forgot, i also had the first 20 issues of elfquest

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:36 (twenty years ago)

Don't worry Adam, I'll talk about Forgotten Realms with you at Mardi Gras.

Or, you know, not.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 22:40 (twenty years ago)

I married a guy I met on the internet.
I arranged all the St Patricks day festivities at my school every year.
I was in the choir every year in high school and school band.
I was editor of the school magazine 3 years running.
I haven't been out to see a band or anything for 4 months, I stay home and tinker with my photos on photoshop.

― She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves... (papa november), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:18 (twenty years ago)

I was in the choir every year in high school

THIS IS SO NOT DORKY

and school band.

This, OTOH...

― Dan (Choir Snob) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:24 (twenty years ago)

Well in my high school it was considered incredibly dorky....especially when the song selection consisted of Waterfalls by TLC and A whole New World from Alladin and some shitty Vanessa Williams song.

― She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves... (papa november), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:27 (twenty years ago)

Okay, I was trying to help you out and you just had to go and ruin everything.

― Dan (Dork By Association) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:28 (twenty years ago)

Don't bother. I embraced my inner dork a long time ago :)

― She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves... (papa november), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:29 (twenty years ago)

band/choir dorks should not be judged by the music foisted on us by our dorky directors

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:30 (twenty years ago)

True! I pleaded for some latin 5 part harmonies but all I got was Mariah, Shania and Celine.

― She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves... (papa november), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:32 (twenty years ago)

OMG That is criminal.

I mean, yeah we did the Rutter Requiem but we also did some kick-ass Kurt Nystad pieces and never did less than 4 parts (and oftentimes 8).

― Dan (Woot) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:34 (twenty years ago)

I went to redneck school. I think I was kind of the Lisa Simpson of the place.

― She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves... (papa november), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:35 (twenty years ago)

Don't worry Adam, I'll talk about Forgotten Realms with you at Mardi Gras.

Dude, I have a whole Ravenloft/Dark Sun crossover campaign planned. Bring your dice and hexmap fool.

― adam (adam), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:36 (twenty years ago)

I went to redneck school.

I went to redneck shool, too! Ask gbx or John Justen!

― Dan (But We Sang Like Angels) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:37 (twenty years ago)

Redneck schools in America must have more culture than where I live :)

― She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves... (papa november), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:38 (twenty years ago)

I used to play Battletech, even tried gluing and painting the miniatures myself (which didn't turn out well, I don't have any kind of patience).

― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:38 (twenty years ago)

I got pantsed giving a speech to the senior class of my high school. That wasn't a dorky thing I did, though, since it was done to me. The dorky part was where I immediately started grinding like a stripper.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:39 (twenty years ago)

Nah man, thats awesome. If you'd run off and cried that would've been dorky :)

― She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves... (papa november), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:40 (twenty years ago)

It was here:

http://kcs2.knox.k12tn.net/kcs2/profiles/FMPro?-db=schoolprofiles.fp5&key=32798&-img

She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves..., I think you underestimate how dorky a skinny, pantsed eighteen year old grinding on a high school auditorium stage can be.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:42 (twenty years ago)

as an avid participant in national forensic league speech tournaments, i won 2nd place in the state of mississippi in the category of humourous interpretation, or H.I., in 1990, thus earning a trip to the national competition held that year at san jose state university, which i raised money for by selling jolly ranchers during break period. i lost in the first round performing ... are you ready ... crunchy frog by monty python. what do i win?

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:42 (twenty years ago)

omg, i really like this thread.

Latest dork thing: Reading the internet while eating expensive French bakery cake (so good) and drinking relative-to-student-budget expensiveish wine (whoo!) on my birthday and TOTALLY ENJOYING IT ALL.
(party to redeem dork-state starts later.)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:43 (twenty years ago)

what do i win?

I think you win the pantsing that Tracer got in high school.

― Dan (Bowing To The Master) Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:44 (twenty years ago)

Was this the bus that took y'all to Redneck School?

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/5504/rnbus3ng.jpg

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:45 (twenty years ago)

No I had to ride a bike my father constructed out of mismatched bike parts he found at the garbage dump.

― She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves... (papa november), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:46 (twenty years ago)

Theatresports

(only in highschool)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:48 (twenty years ago)

tracer, i'm reminded of a recent simpsons where milhouse is shoved onstage and after a moment of uncertainty busts out with "whuzzuuuuup!"

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:51 (twenty years ago)

Wait, "theatresports" = that's just improv games, right? But with two teams competing against each other and judged?

So as long as we're mentioning it, I was in choir two years in high school and two years in college. (Thankfully, I can't remember doing any terrible pop songs. Highlight may have been Carmina Burana with full orchestra in college.)

Not to mention: improv comedy all through college. And other bits in high school: National Honor Society secretary, International Thespian Society historian. I was even in fucking Snowball (anti-drug club) for a year. Ugh.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 23:55 (twenty years ago)

haha, IMPROV.
You know, I was thinking here that maybe I'm not really all that dorky (as much I really do respect all yr d&d-playin', fantasy-readin', highschool-band-being-in asses.) And then I thought, OH YEAH, GRAD SCHOOL.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 00:04 (twenty years ago)

I like how we all magically stopped being dorky after our formal education ended.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 00:05 (twenty years ago)

I like how I have absolutely no perspective on this, since I keep reading all of the posts about D&D and fantasy novels and being like "Helloooo, lame-o!" -- but then with most of my semi-dorky things I'm telling myself, "But really, that's kind of cool!"

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 00:07 (twenty years ago)

When I was little, I used to love books about wordplay, like anagrams and palindromes and stuff like that. I remember reading about Cockney rhyming slang when I was like six.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 00:14 (twenty years ago)

Palindrome is one of my favourite words.

"Perspective" - ah, but it's all kind of cool. I think.
xpost

Wasn't I talking to you, j, about this, about people being all "haha, I'm a nerd, ohwell" and enjoying that? And the word "nerd" becomes, really, "not-nerd nerd." Also, Formal Education is a bizarroland run by losers who tweaked the system so that what's actually cool became nerdy and what's lame became cool. And then once out of that system, nerds become cool again. Of course, there's a line. And that line is medieval mock-battles.

I am listening to Aerosmith. Stephen Tyler was totally a guitar nerd, I think.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 00:22 (twenty years ago)

I wrote messages to ILX on chalkboard visible on a webcam in a computer science lab I was living in (2 weeeeeks!) while working on my senior project.
-- A BOLD QUAHOG (dr_...)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/laurae55/hidereilx.jpg

― Laura H. (laurah), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 00:28 (twenty years ago)

in 7th grade i attempted to create my own videogame with my best friend sean, but we didnt know how to program anything so the software/book kit (i sold my 32X to pay for it) we bought was useless.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 00:51 (twenty years ago)

omg, i really like this thread.

Yes. And that pic Laura just posted is beautiful.

I like how we all magically stopped being dorky after our formal education ended.

No, that was just me. The rest of you merely follow in my wake. Ouch, stop hitting me.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 00:56 (twenty years ago)

FATHEADS ARE ON SALE??????

― Allyzay Rofflesberger (allyzay), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 00:57 (twenty years ago)

I had my first kiss at a national Latin convention. In Fargo, North Dakota. With a guy on my classics quiz bowl team. I think we won our division.

-- Laura H. (elemenopa...), January 24th, 2006.

awwwwwwwwwwwwww

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 01:06 (twenty years ago)

also in 7th grade, i had the highest score (in the whole school) on this school-wide quiz which qualified you to enter a geography bee, but i forgot to go to the competition when the time came.

not only was i a dork, but a total doofus, too.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 01:10 (twenty years ago)

I stay home and tinker with my photos on photoshop.

You use photoshop? ILLUSION SPOILED FOREVER!

― A BOLD QUAHOG (ex machina), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 01:42 (twenty years ago)

I just bought a book. (And I one my spelling bee in grade 6.)

― That I Could Clamber to the Frozen Moon and Draw the Ladder (Freud Junior), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 01:45 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I've ever made any secret of it Jon.

― She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves... (papa november), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 02:24 (twenty years ago)

"Is he being sarcastic?"
"Dude I can't even tell anymore"

― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 02:42 (twenty years ago)

Well yeah thats exactly it and so many people mistake me for Kate St. Claire that I end up always assuming people are having a go.

― She's been known to sleep on piles of dry leaves... (papa november), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 02:45 (twenty years ago)

I spent a week in the summer of 1985 (I was 14) dressed up as a medieval merchant's daughter, speaking the english of 1487, learning to spin on a hand spindle and eating strange 1487 food. Not in my bedroom in Fulham, I hasten to add, in a country house with 200 other people doing similar. Folk dancing and battle re-enacting took place in the evenings.

This was possibly the coolest thing I've ever done, actually.

― Zora (Zora), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 09:16 (twenty years ago)

When I was a kid, I was never grounded. Except for one time, when I had done something really bad (can't remember what it was), my parents said, okay, you're grounded for the next weekend. I was shocked by this. However, the previous Christmas I'd gotten this "Encyclopedia for Kids", which I read quite often. In it there was a lengthy entry for the UN's Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which I'd also read. I managed to find some chapter in it which I thought was clearly against me being grounded, so I showed it to my parents. They were so impressed by this they took back their previous decision, and the weekend was mine again!

When I was maybe 10 or 11 I'd read all the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton. When I finished the last one, I was like, "Oh my god, there aren't any more Famous Five stories for me to read!". I was really depressed for at least a day or two.

When I was 13 or 14 I wrote cyberpunk/sci-fi short stories with detailed sex scenes. Obviously I hadn't had sex with anyone yet.

At one point in high school (the 10th to 12th class in Finland) I used to write a "poem of the day" almost every day. After I'd finished them I'd give them as a gift to different school mates. One girl was so impressed by my poem that she made me give a detailed analysis of what was going on in it. I felt silly.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 09:46 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I used to read Dragonlance books too, though only the first trilogy (I never managed to finish the second one). Needless to say, I found the sex scenes between the half-elf dude and his girlfirend quite arousing. I also had the hots for the teenage princess in David Edding's Belgarion saga.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 09:50 (twenty years ago)

I went to Space Academy when I was 13. It was like Space Camp, only for junior high kids.

no tate donovan, tho.

or pesky frank welker droid.

― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 10:40 (twenty years ago)

I like how we all magically stopped being dorky after our formal education ended.

Ahhhhh, speak for yourself, Tracer. I still read fantasy novels right out in public where everyone can see me. DIsgraceful, I know.

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 17:51 (twenty years ago)

You regard it as a badge of honor, don't lie.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 17:53 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I never lie. It's too much work to keep the stories straight, and -- have I ever mentioned how lazy I am?

― Laurel (Laurel), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 17:57 (twenty years ago)

I appreciate your forthrightness. For I too am lazy.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 17:59 (twenty years ago)

Wrote band names (you know, the proper logos) all over my bag whilst at school. I was trying to get the girls to think I was cool. And to get the 'metal dudes' to accept me as a brother metalhead. Thing is I sometimes just took random names from Metal Hammer reviews, so I had "Gaye Bykers on Acid" and "Stryper" on my bag, eventhough I'd never heard them.

The 'metal dudes' were posh punks into the Dead Kennedy's anyhow.

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:03 (twenty years ago)

jel that's classic!!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:04 (twenty years ago)

things I never heard of until this thread - Dragonlance, Pern, Dog Fancy/Cat Fancy, baseball mysteries, Fatherland, fatheads, White Wolf, Forgotten Realms, Famous Five, Belgarion

you see, I am the coolest person on this thread

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:06 (twenty years ago)

however, I was in not only the Glee Club but also the Boys Ensemble (our repertoire was fantastic - Verdi Req, Mozart Req, Mass in Time of War (?), Carmina Burana, Chichester Psalms, etc.)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:09 (twenty years ago)

Dragonlance

oh COME on. You mean you never went to an american junior high school?

― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:10 (twenty years ago)

I did lots of jel-type stuff in 8th and 9th grade. Details are so unnecessary.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:11 (twenty years ago)

This flirting thread sure has a thinly veiled premise.

― The Milkmaid (of human kindness) (The Milkmaid), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:11 (twenty years ago)

where I went to school we went straight to 'high school' in 7th grade, actually

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:11 (twenty years ago)

I've heard the word "Dragonlance," but before this thread, if you'd asked me what it was, I wouldn't have known if it was a book or an RPG or what.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:13 (twenty years ago)

This flirting thread sure has a thinly veiled premise.

Heh.

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:13 (twenty years ago)

it's not the dorkiest thing i've ever done, but i'll mention that in 4th grade, my sister and I covered Falco into a Radio Shack cassette-recorder, except the song was about Mt. St. Helens rather than Mozart

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:14 (twenty years ago)

you see, I am the coolest person on this thread

So how are those Phish concert box sets?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:14 (twenty years ago)

warming themselves between Dave Matthews and Hootie!

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:16 (twenty years ago)

I also have a cricket bat that wrote band names all over, you can just about make out "the Almighty" (http://www.thealmighty.co.uk/) logo on it.

One day a fellow nerd grabbed the bat out of my bag, in front of this girl I fancied. I remember saying "hey! give me back my axe!" (it doubled as a guitar, you see). Oh brother.

Later, I painted "140" on the bat, which was my highest score from playing indoor cricket in my frontroom (er, by myself). I'd bounce the ball against the wall, and then have just enough time to adjust to play a shot. I had a board behind me, so you could be out bowled. Or you could be caught and bowled by the sofa. Or just caught by an armchair. You could ondrive the ball for 4 through the door, or if it didn't bounce that was six. Oh, and it I nicked the ball behind and it hit the sideboard then that would be caught by the wicketkeeper.

ILE, I bare my soul to thee.

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:20 (twenty years ago)

I've LARPed.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:29 (twenty years ago)

What's that?

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:30 (twenty years ago)

also, i've pointed out the title pun in a sierra game

― kingfish kuribo's shoe (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:33 (twenty years ago)

LIGHTNING BOLT!

― sleep (sleep), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:55 (twenty years ago)

That was you?

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 18:58 (twenty years ago)

i wish!

― sleep (sleep), Wednesday, 25 January 2006 19:07 (twenty years ago)

Hey, I've LARPed too, though only for a couple of times. I never liked most've LARPers though, they seemed to regard themselves better than all the other nerds and geeks and dorks. As if going into the woods dressed as the Elven King of the Enchanted Dippy-Doo Forest and swinging your fellow men with cushioned PVC pipe swords was somehow the epitome of cool.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 26 January 2006 09:34 (twenty years ago)

on further reflection, dan's imaginary dragon was obviously named . . . duluth

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Thursday, 26 January 2006 14:42 (twenty years ago)

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