Nerd Love

As the voters of American Idol can surely attest to re: there is nothing worse than a nerd who gets too proud to be a nerd. It almost never comes off right. Take, for example, Anoop "dog", aka Anoop Desai- the classic nerd-turn-idol hopeful on this year's season of American Idol.


Every other week, despite frigid warnings from the judges to keep his warmth and nerdy authenticity, Anoop curls his lip to the microphone in embarrassing displays of High-School-Senior-Esq sexual conquest. Needless to say, nobody responds well. However, when he does keep his authenticity, he does great and everyone just loves him!

My question of the day is: why not own the nerd identity?!

Lest anyone think this blog is a putdown for the classic nerd, please consider yourself mistaken. I just think the nerds are great as is. I for one, am deeply in love with a nerd, and I am proud of it. And, since work was slow today, I decided to draft a top 10 list of how and why 'Nerd Love' is the best kind: (enjoy*)

1. KNOWS A LITTLE ABOUT EVERYTHING: As a child, my boyfriend spent his spare time at Grandma's house 'b-lining it' to the Encyclopedia shelf- to spend hours absorbing information while his 6 siblings were happily playing games in the yard. This alone is one of my most favorite stories, and believe it or not really sealed the deal for me. Thus, his range of knowledge is thorough and complete, as is my happiness!

2. NO EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE: My boyfriend LITERALLY was more interested in rocks (to his credit- both picking up and climbing) than in girls for the entire duration of his 20's. Thus, there is no need to sift through a past of broken heart tragedies. The only rocks in his baggage are the ones he picks up at archaeological sites (which, he does frequently)!

3. EXTREMELY EASY TO PLEASE: Long gone are the days of mind-games and guess-work with the higher-maintenance boyfriend breed, along with endless hours spent engineering clever gift ideas. Give this guy a fishing pole, or better yet, a Barnes & Noble gift card, and he is on the express to HEAVEN!!

4. IS ACTUALLY INTERESTING TO TALK TO: Oh boy, this may be my favorite one. I can (for a limited time) hang with a guy who is interested in their car, truck, image, clothes, or even other girls...but oh, if there is no brain activity or intellectual conversation, the axe comes down!! Because my man is a total nerd, this enables our relationship to be intellectually stimulating. To me, here is nothing sexier than a genuine conversation involving merging of the minds!

5. MAKES ME THE STAR OF THE SHOW: In a world where I always seem to be matched with people who demand more time, attention, and emotional resources than me, I don't always end the day feeling like the princess. In fact, more often I feel like the maid that tends to the princess' or prince's every whim. The perk of being with a man who is nerdier than me, is that he gets excited just by merely standing next to me! And, since he is the wallflower/observer type, he never misses a beat when it comes to my feelings, because he can't help but pay close attention.

6. CAN FIX ANYTHING: OK, so perhaps Nate is not the tech-geek, but when it comes to random household tasks, he really is a know-it-all in a very good way. He can really fix anything- I've seen him do it! You can't always say that about the more image-conscious guys- they tend to be more interested in learning to fix their weekend with hott girls.

7. HONESTY OK: I am pretty sure that the golden rule to be honest is no longer rewarded by mainstream society. However, it is with my awesomely nerdy boyfriend. Before dating him, I used to spend agonizing hours contemplating what to disclose about myself and to whom, based on how I projected it would be received. The cool thing about my Nate is that since he spends so much time seeking out, sorting through and absorbing ALL MANNER of information, his tolerance for information about my thoughts and feelings is VERY HIGH- and he has no trouble listening to EVERYTHING on my mind. The good, the bad, and the ugly- it's all just information to him, and he just loves me the more for it.

8. LOYALTY FOR LIFE: My boyfriend is a particular breed of snob-nerd. Well, for that matter, we both are! We tend to be too proud to associate with others on the regular, and as a result, sometimes (due to lifelong patterns of exclusivity) he comes off as mildly socially-awkward (though easy to respect)- particularly when you include his plethora of interesting mannerisms/idiosyncrasies (sorry honey, it's true and I love you more for it). So, he's exclusive for one. For two, the man spent 10 years looking for me. Add these two factors together, and you get GLUE. He's stuck on me, and since I trust him, I'm stuck right there on him too :)

9. LISTENS WITH HUMILITY: You've heard the saying "The more you know, the more you realize that you don't know much at all." I have had more than my share of unfortunate run-in's with extremely dense men. However, the nerd I am dating values new information so much that he doesn't mind that the source of insight is coming from a WOMAN. That's right! He always says: "OHH, MY SMART GIRLFRIEND! I'M SO GLAD I HAVE YOU!"

10. SUPPORTIVE AND STUBBORN: These two things are deal breakers for me. I absolutely have to have both in a man, or we have no deal. There are obvious downfalls to being stubborn, but at least he is not too cocky to notice that I exist, like SOME people I know. The not so obvious plus is that there won't be unexpected changes that come out of the blue, which is a MAJOR bonus. I am so grateful I am in love with a nerd that understands my perspective and values it enough to be completely supportive, and will probably always be too stubborn to ever change his mind about it!

Altogether, this is why nerds are the BEST! No false pretenses, freedom to be imperfect, freedom to be intelligent, and all the love in the world, with extra love to spare. To Nate Miller, thanks babe, you are the best thing that ever happened to me!