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<editorsnote> Hi, I'm Jen Friel, and we here at TNTML examine the lives of nerds outside of the basements and into the social media, and dating world.  We have over 75 peeps that write about their life in real time. (Real nerds, real time, real deal.) Sit back, relax, and enjoy some of the stories!! </editorsnote>

 

 

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Thursday
May102012

#NerdsUnite: I can haz funny (one nerd's journey round the comedic circuit)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Brandon. We started talking on the Facebook not too long ago, and lemme tell you, this guy can throw in quite the few kneeslappers in his emails. Yep, see Brandon is a comedian who is here today to tell you the real deal on what it's like being "on the circuit." I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT BRANDON!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @BrandonComedy

I’m a comedian! Yay! Now what does that mean? Well for one it means I just left my house and won’t be back for a month, and am completely okay with that. It means that I have peopled saved in my phone as first name, and then city. It means that I get to go around making people laugh, with jokes I wrote.

I am in a weird spot as a comedian, I consider it my profession, but odds are you haven’t seen me perform. I’ve never been on TV, I don’t tour regularly with famous comedians, and I don’t have a CD you can buy on iTunes. As a matter of fact, if you see me at a show odds are I’m not even headlining. In my home club, the wonderful Oklahoma City Loony Bin, I am but a lowly (but frequent) emcee. A few times a month I get to do a few road shows, and there I get the awesome 30 minute feature slot, and sometimes I headline at bars, not often, but it happens. But even with the semi frequent touring and local work I have definitely been craving a bigger scene. I’ve done just about every show I can do in Oklahoma, I’ve played just about every venue, and I have decent name recognition amongst local comedy fans...

So what to do?

Pack up my shit and move to Chicago in a few months! I’m honestly terrified of moving, I have lived with family or roommates my entire life, now I am taking a plunge and moving to a massive city, where I only know 4 people. But if stand-up has taught me one thing, it is that if you commit to something, you CAN make it work.

I’m going to make it work. I can’t wait to take you guys on this journey with me! But first, I want to know what you guys what to know about being a young comic. I am by no means an expert on comedy (if such a thing even exists) but I am a guy who has analyzed a lot of comedy so I can at least talk about it at length. I can’t wait to hear from you, and sorry this wasn’t funny! Follow me on twitter, there are usually jokes there!

#nerdsunite

click here to follow Brandon on twitter & don't miss his blog over yonder!

Thursday
May102012

Fun with @MirrorReviews: Introducing the dude that took me out on a date to get startup advice

OOOHH the happy happy no joy joys of being used.

See, I am taking my 103 dates in 9 months and the fact that I have still averaged at least two dates a week for the past year (after the social experiment) and turning it into helping nerdy dudes get the girl. Rather than keep plugging my personal life (which any relationship blogger will tell you - you can't do forever) I wanted to shift into an advisor-ship role where I help nerdy dudes out. From their OKC profiles, to anything, I wanted to create a mock environment where we would sit and chat and I could help them figure out what their dating dilemmas were truly all about. FTR, I have absolutely no filter and a bullshit radar like NO other.

I heart helping people, and I can talk about dating and social dynamics for daayyyysssssss ... so this is helping me with my understanding of people tremendously, while at the same time, again, helping my nerdy fellas out. To make sure a transaction of some kind is exchanged though for my time (time is the most valuable thing ever), I have the guys buy me a beer and in exchange we will talk. 

So, that's what has been going on, and here is the latest and greatest ...

Introducing: the dude that took me out on a date to get startup advice

Last week I got hit up by this duderino on Facebook asking if he could be taken in the field for my mock dating. I was all ... great! I adore people that are brave enough to put themselves out there, and are willing to be transparent in the hopes of cutting out the bullshit and getting to the heart of something.

We then agree to meet up in the holly of hoods, and before I knew it the day was upon us.

HELLOOOO I say with a big hug as I see my mock date.

HELLOOOO he then says back as we cop a squat over at the booth in the corner.

SOO, tell me what's up, I say wanting to get to the heart of things. Tell me about your past dating history. 

He then tells me all about his previous relationship with his college sweetheart.

Wait, how old are you, I ask.

24, he says.

Ah, fuck, I think - I hate hate hate giving advice to people this young. (remember the dude with the sad eyes?) Your early 20s are all about trying everything and anything -period end of sentence. You need to go out there and date as mannnnyyyyyyyyy different types of people as possible to find out what you like and what you don't like. From THEERRREEE it is easier to break down the patterns and from an advisor perspective help you understand what patterns are present. The absence of patterns makes it very difficult for anyone to dissect (no matter how analytical they may be).

Dating, however, isn't really what I'm into right now, he confesses - I'm really just focused on my startup.

Every alarm in my head then proceeds to ring as I think, fuck, you're now using this time to get startup advice not dating advice from me. Clever, I think, but not cool.

He then goes into telling me about his startup - which I actually don't think is a bad idea, but was not the reason why I agreed to meet up with this dude.

FYI nerds, peeps don't dig being hoodwinked. I've actually met this kid before, and am obviously EXTREMELY grateful that he reads the site - but I very genuinely have this time specifically allocated for my mock dates. I DO give startup advice, however, that is given over lunch not drinks. If you want to buy me lunch to tell me all about your startup, great! I'd adore it as I learn so much from you all as well ... but please for the love of everything holy, do not ... DO NOT bring someone to a meeting under a false set of circumstances. Game recognizes game, so I wasn't mad at the kid. Heck, if Pete Cashmore was more available to the public I prolly wouldn't have had to crash the Grammys to meet him. I TOTALLY get and can TOTALLY resonate with where this kid was coming from, but it genuinely pissed me off.

The entire night I kept trying to steer things back to dating, and while he did open up a bit - it just wasn't cool, totally made me feel used.

<tangent> Coming from this space in general I have to thwart off peeps trying to use this brand morning, noon, and night. (Even the motorcycle/national geographic dude I went out with earlier this week was asking me about my connections in radio. It's like are you for REAL??) It makes you your own worst enemy!!! You work your ASS off to create something, and to create connections when in return 90% of people will only just try to use you for their own personal agendas. Why do you think I had to take my dating out of real time?? It. does. not. work. Guys want to be written about, so they'll message me, read about my past history discovering what I'm into ... what I'm not ...  just like that I get manipulated into liking them, and just like that boom - they break my heart so that I'll write about them. It sucks. And something I am always always always on the lookout for. </tangent>

I consider the time I allocate for these mock dates to be sacred - peeps confess their SOOOULLLLSSS to me ... the LAST thing I want to talk about in that space is startups.

No. Freaking. Bueno.

SOOO that happened. I then gave him some advice and politely excused myself walking back thinking it was cool that this happened since I didn't exactly have a bad night, but if anyone ... and I mean AANNNYYOOONNNNEEEE uses this space again to ask for help with their startup I will chop your balls off and publicly shame you.

I am ABSOLUTELY not even kidding either - I run with scissors and don't always play well with others.

Don't piss me off, man and more importantly don't waste my time.

ALLLLLL this being said, here's his review on Mirror.net...

His dateAbility:

 

annnnnddd for his review ...

Again, I didn't have a "bad" evening, but I was definitely lead to it under false pretences. If you guys want advice for your startup all you have to do is buy me lunch. Easy peasy! I ADOORREE talking about startups, just not in this type of setting and not when I think I'm going into something to give dating advice.

This kid will do well in business, but EVERYONE ELSE HAS BEEN WARNED. Put me in this kind of situation again and this is what you will get ...

#thatisall

Want to check out Mirror for yourself? Here ya go! And don't forget to like 'em on Facebook. 

OH! And here's how you write a review, and Mirror 101. Enough links already!! Shessshhhh

Do you live in LA and would you like to go out on a date to be reviewed? Hit me up!! JenFriel at talknerdytomelover d c. I wanna hear from you!! xoxo


Thursday
May102012

#NerdsUnite: Confessions of a videogame journalist 

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy John. We started talking on the twitter not too long ago, and then he reached out and asked if he could write for us regarding his journey through the nerdy realm. I was all DUDDEEE!! That's so raaaddd!! And now, here we are. Like right now, in real time, this is happening. Pretty cool huh? HIT IT JOHN!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's John Sollitto

There’s something about the phrase “Character creation” in a game’s description that makes our eyes go wild with joy and possibility. I mean, who doesn’t love putting a virtual version of themselves into a game and slaying a dragon or buying a huge house and throwing crazy parties in it?

The evolution of character creation was slow. Of course it started out in those pen and paper games we all love, and when PC gaming and console gaming came around, well there was just nothing stopping us. And it’s not just games where you fight hordes of monsters or save princesses.

I bought Fight Night Champions the other day. Why? Cause I like boxing and I like beating people up, that’s why. Don’t judge me. But I bought it and I was looking through the game modes and found out that you could create a little boxer dude and have him go through a career in boxing, fighting made up boxers and real ones. How could I resist?

So I made digital John Sollitto, seen here:


And off I went. Really the big thing about making a character for me is that level of immersion. It’s letting you do all those things you’ve always wanted to do but never could, to fully escape reality. It’s why people read books, or watch movies, except you’re inside of it and your decisions influence the outcome. It’s your tale.

Sports games do this all the time now and thankfully so because I am crap at some of the games in real life but by god can I catch ANYTHING in Madden or score six hat-tricks in a string of hockey games.

Of course you get people who are like, “Why don’t you go out and ACTUALLY play soccer?” Why don’t I do that? Because I’m terrible at it and I want to play in the FIFA World Cup one day and if I spend $60 I can go there in a second and be amazing and win, as opposed to training my whole life and maybe getting there.

Is it so wrong to live out a dream in digital form? Can’t we just escape reality and turn our volume up on max and watch ourselves score goal after goal in glorious succession to the roar of the crowd? Or what about seeing ourselves climb to the top of a mountain and defeat a dragon?

I literally jumped up and down in my house when I defeated Wladimir Klitschko in Fight Night. The dude is a MONSTER. He had like 7 inches and 20 pounds on me and I KO’d him with a straight crack to the face! IT WAS AWESOME. I mean look at him! He’s crazy looking! He’s like the non-blonde Ivan Drago.

What I’m trying to say is that video games offer us just as much of an escape as other forms of art and literature. Games are glorious and I honestly don’t know what I’d do without the little digital Johns running around in the video game universe saving worlds and winning title matches. They’re fun, what else is there to say?

I think the industry has finally realized that immersing the player in the game creates a level of investment that you honestly can’t replicate. It’s ingenious, it’s incredible, and I applaud game devs.

However, the more this happens the better the immersion has to be because if people feel cheated with a character they’ve created and feel that their level of freedom is cut off, then creating a character can backfire. We’re seeing that now with the Mass Effect debacle.

My favorite is when they tell you that the player has “INFINITE LEVELS OF CUSTOMIZATION” and what they really mean is “You can change the character’s clothes and weapons! And choose their skills! But you have to be the same character because that’s our story.” There’s nothing wrong with this, but there is misleading market speech when you say “character customization.” That phrase comes with so much expectation now that there should be more specificity to diffuse potentially disgruntled customers.

I’m so excited to see what the future of the industry brings, especially with so many cameras and facial technology coming to the front. We’re about to see a lot of our own faces in games, and not just the best recreations we can do. THE FUTURE IS NOW!

#nerdsunite

Want more from John? Click here to follow him on the twitter!

Thursday
May102012

#NerdsUnite: The Sarlacc Pit from Hell

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Aaron ... he's a writer, and goth nerd. For reals, he's got some crazzyyyyy ass stories from some of the peeps he's met online, and is now here to share those crazy ass stories with you all. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT AARON!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @aaronflux

I keep avoiding this.  The whole writing about my most recent ex.  I've been cheated on and lied to by most of the girls in my dating past and I've griped about them over the years, turning the stories into a nice little Larry David-esque stand up routine as if to make people laugh and pity me in the same breath.  It's a good coping mechanism I learned from a very young age: to make light of some serious bullshit in order to incite laughter from others.  Not sure why my Jewish brothers and sisters are so good at this.  I guess good comedy comes from pain and my people sure have their pain.

Ok. I'm still dancing around the issue.  I'm going to talk about my last ex girlfriend.  The one that I couldn't get unstuck from, as if her mere aura was some sort of sarlacc pit from Hell (as if a sarlacc pit itself wasn't enough...this one is from HELL!).  It's now roughly 5 years since I broke up with her and 10 1/2 years after we started dating and that blows my mind a little.  Seven years with a person, in a relationship as dysfunctional as mine was still to this day makes me shake my head a bit in disbelief.  Because now I'm mentally clear from the bullshit that came with that situation and all logic now points to moves I should have made but never did.  You can always think clearer when not buried in the middle of it.

 Anyway, let's get to it, shall we?

I met Sarah the last week of the year 2000.  I was stomping around on stage at the Goth/Industrial club I used to go to and she just sauntered on up to me in this plaid schoolgirl number, extended her hand to shake mine, and told me she thought I was adorable.  Leaving me with my mouth agape because that never happens to me, she smiled and said her name was Sarah before walking away.  I really think I stood there a good minute or two with my mouth open, not sure what to do.  Somehow, I mustered up the courage to follow up with her and got the digits by the end of that night.

 By February of 2001, we were dating.

 I felt that I had hit the jackpot.  She was one hot redhead and liked everything any guy would.  Music, video games, Star Wars...porn.  I mean seriously, I had never been with a girl like that.  It was a thing. I felt pretty accomplished.  Every guy's dream girl and she was mine.

 It wasn't too long after we started dating that I was introduced to Robert.  Sarah sat me down and seriously explained to me that Robert was just a friend and I shouldn't be intimidated or jealous by him.  Uh...okay....I wasn't sure why she was warning me about this but she in turn told me most people she tried dating had an issue in one way or the other with him because they were good friends.  Well, that seemed unfair.  Nothing wrong with good friends, right? Nothing at all, unless they are fucking and more than good friends....but more about that later.

And this guy Robert.  I mean shit, he wasn't much to look at.  He showed up to her apartment with a six pack of trashy beer in a torn shirt and was very unkempt. He was in his 30s, living out of a dorm for a college he didn't even attend, and was going nowhere with his life.  How appealing. She even acknowledged that to me, further stating how they were just friends. Uh huh....I was dumb.  REALLY dumb.

 I started to feel that something wasn't right, early on.  She didn't enjoy sex, ultimately, kicking me out of bed saying she wasn't ever in the mood.  She eventually told me this was due to her father molesting her at a young age and an ex high school boyfriend raping her in the high school's church.  Well, shit.  I really couldn't fight her on that.  And because I'm such a nice and understanding person, I stood by her and was patient in my attempt to help her work through her shit.

 Sometime in 2002, I went with her to her best friend's house where he was leading a bible study.  I'm an open minded person so when she invited me, I said sure.  I am not religious but I won't knock your beliefs as long as you don't shove them down my throat.  Her best friend, by the way, was a 30 something high school drop out that lived with his mother who modeled his appearance after a Mexican Dracula and absolutely would fuck Dave Gahan because he was THAT much of a Depeche Mode fan.  And this guy was leading the bible study.  I remember that night to be a bit odd as everyone there looked more like they'd fit in at a Vampire The Masquerade Party than a group praising the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.  Hell, after the preaching was done, I remember I got into a heated discussion with a guy named Mike who believed warlocks existed but not dragons.  I argued dragons had to exist.  He got pissed at such a preposterous notion.

These were her friends.  But still, I did my best to accept them as I have an open mind and am pretty awesome with my patience.

 2003 was when we first broke up.  I believe I said we should end it because at that time, she was having a hard time labeling us.  She didn't want to call me her boyfriend.  She kept pulling the molestation card.  She never held my hand and wouldn't kiss me in public.  Blaming it also on Social Anxiety Disorder.  Yet, when we went out in public, she found it quite easy to flirt with other guys.  In front of me.  2003 was also the year I believe my balls took a vacation.  

 We were split for roughly 7 months I think.  My balls started returning roughly around the time that she called me out of the blue excited about that year's line-up for Coachella.  And while not expecting to ever hear from her again, this one phone call pulled me right back into the trap that was dating Sarah.  Because technically, from her words, we weren't "dating".  Yet immediately following those words, she'd always tell me I was the only guy she was seeing.  So you explain that one to me.

That year, we went to Coachella. At the time, I was living with a roommate and he came along with us.  I remember she was really excited to introduce him to Robert, who lucky for me, was also going to be there. By that point, I had grown a bit sick of hearing this man's name.  "Good friends".  Fine.  I had nothing to prove otherwise.  I've been with girls in the past who have lied and cheated so maybe this was just me having an issue with a girl being friends with a guy.  I did my best to cope...even when she was telling my roommate Scott how hot Robert was with his newly dyed blue hair.  Oh yeah...I suppose I should also state Scott was gay.

That night, while Scott and I hung out in our hotel room, Sarah spent something like 2 hours on the balcony talking to Robert on the phone.  Whispering at times.  Being secretive.  She played it off though that he was just depressed since he went to Coachella alone and they were concert buddies.  Ok fine.  Makes sense.  

Balls? Vacation.

My friends made it very clear to me they did not like Sarah.  My best friend would constantly point out to me that any girl or guy a person is dating should at least be able to show affection to the other person involved in the relationship.  Her inability to call me a boyfriend or hold my hand in public showed him that there was something she was hiding.  But I couldn't hear it.  She was a molestation victim who was raped by an ex, who's mother died from Cancer, who's father was in prison for drugs.  I just read that last sentence back to me and that's one cluster fuck of red flags.  I was an idiot of the highest regard!

 In 2005, I got a job being her assistant at an internet clothing company.  Since she didn't know how to drive and I pretty much took her to work regularly, this seemed like a great decision.  We shared an office and both did our jobs well.  But let me just state, you need to be in an almost perfect relationship to work for your significant other.  That environment got a bit stuffy rather fast.  Although, our trips to lunch where I may or may not have gotten my fair share of road head were great at breaking up the monotony of the day.

 That same year, her grandmother passed away and she needed to fly back East to deal with the funeral and such.  That two week period, I had to take over and worked in the office alone.  It was around that time that a mutual friend of mine and hers started telling me that she wasn't being completely honest with me.  That she was dating Robert.  That I was being played.  But somehow, I couldn't grasp this.  I had been through that time and time again and couldn't be stupid enough to somehow go back down that road.  So I didn't believe him. Like he was making this up or something.  Because that would benefit him....how?

 During this two week period when she was dealing with family stuff, my work computer crashed and I had to continue doing my morning shipping tasks and emails from her computer.  And that was when I ran across some questionable emails from her to Robert, one of which said something to the extent of "I can't wait for you to bend me over and fuck me up the ass."

I sat there.  I stared at those words on the screen probably for a good 10 minutes.  My heart immediately began racing and I had this sudden feeling like I was going to crap my pants.  Doing my best to not throw the computer out of the window, I went outside and called her.  I suppose the worst time to deal with such things is when you're also stuck dealing with family and funerals and death.  But....what the fuck?  I needed an explanation like NOW!  The explanation I got, though, was this was how she talks to all her friends.  That it was an inside joke.  That I'm taking it the wrong way and there was nothing overtly sexual about it.  I remember screaming into the phone while pacing on the sidewalk, "Nothing overly sexual about bend me over and fuck me in the ass!?!".  She ended the conversation saying we'll talk about this when she gets back to L.A.

But I needed to know more.  This led me down a rabbit hole of sorts.  See, not only did I work with her, she left me her house keys to make sure her cat was taken care of and well fed.  Her keys...rabbit hole.  At the end of that work day, I headed straight to her place and snooped.  And it didn't take me long to find what I was looking for.  Her journal was just sitting there next to the couch and after flipping through some pages, I found this statement: "It's been years and Aaron still doesn't know the truth about Robert." And then, a very easy search on her computer and I found some rather revealing pictures of these two good friends doing what more than good friends do.  Meaning, I saw pictures of his penis visiting her vagina.

Well now I knew the truth.  That week was tough.  The day her flight landed, I was waiting outside of her apartment since she told me Robert was getting her from the airport.  And then she called me telling me hadn't shown up and asked me to come get her. Sure.  I will drive to LAX from Glendale to get you.  I need to unleash the fury upon you, bitch! 

Then, while on my way, she called again saying he was there and she'll talk to me when she gets home.  Sure, I'll turn my car around like an idiot and drive back to your apartment and wait.

For an hour or two.

Just pace, furiously, up and down the block waiting.

Well she finally came home and we sat down.  I laid everything out there.  She owed me money since not only could she not drive, she also couldn't be financially responsible to take care of basic things like paying her electric bills...instead opting to shell her money out on one expensive concert ticket after the other.  And as if she expected me to bring up the money, she pulled out an envelope of cash and gave me everything that was due me.  And instead of hailing down the storm of rage, I empathized with her.  I understood the behavior of a rape victim.  Of a molestation victim.  Of an addict.  I ended our relationship that night with her.

And that Friday we went to Las Vegas together...you know....because we already had plans to take a trip.  And hotel reservations. Yep, I have no excuse.

So it just continued.  Except now I knew the full nature of the beast. 

2005 was the year I earned the Idiot Of The Year Award.

Through 2006 and 2007, we "dated".  Our sex life got a bit better as now I knew the truth. However, the sex wasn't great.  She had an issue with letting me into her bed so we continued having shenanigans in my car. She told me that Robert was no longer in her life and she was working on her relationship with her father and her past.  And one day in an offhanded remark, she told me she had lied about being raped and molested.  It was spoken so quickly, like a little ninja tangent, that I forgave her almost immediately for lying about such things to me.  Again, behavior of a victim, I told myself.  

While not dating Robert at that point, she started hanging out with a girl.  She said they were friends.  But everyone else said otherwise, including the girl in question.  And this girl whose name was more a stupid adjective than anything, looked like she could pass for the brother of that bible study conducting best friend of her's I spoke of earlier.  They went to gay pride together.  They went to concerts and dinners and Sarah got to know the girl's family pretty well.  What the fuck was I dealing with here?!?

Also, her friends, at this point hated me violently.  I had never done anything to receive such behavior.  But after realizing that I could no longer go into her new place of business because everyone THERE hated me, that feeling had to stem from things she had told them about me.  It got to a point where I would drive her to work or pick her up from work and would have to park down the block so no one would see me.

But at the time, I didn't understand the she was actually talking shit behind my back.  In turn, she would talk shit about them to me explaining how horrible they all are.  And she would do the same about her friends who hated me.  Manipulative to no end.  But she told me she had begun a mission to get me back into their good graces by proving to them I was a good guy.  Hell, I had come this far in this ridiculous excuse of a relationship, why not try for the record and get the Idiot Of The Decade award while I'm at it?

 

So I went along with that concept.  But in the meantime, I agreed to go along with her lies around our mutual friends.  I was a secret to everyone.  All as a favor to her.  I wasn't even allowed to tell my closest friends we were together again and working on things.  Later, I found out that she had told them I was an ex who just couldn't get over her.  At this point, the sarlacc pit from Hell had all but swallowed me whole.  My balls were somewhere halfway across the planet.  I was a glorified chauffeur, really. And the obvious solution was to end it all and not look back but seriously, my powers of perception were so blinded that I probably wouldn't have known a whale was wanting me as dinner until I was sitting in that damn thing's belly.

In 2007, the plan was to introduce me as a good guy down at SDCC.  We were to meet near The Gaslamp District, her with her coworkers, and me...with just me.  Well sadly, there was some hotel accommodation mix ups and I was stuck without a room to sleep in.  Once she got in town, and I told her this, she sort of pat me on the shoulder and told me that sucked.  No offer to stay with her as she was staying with people who hated me.  Well, I quickly made their opinion of me quite worse as that was the night I unraveled.  The reality that I was stuck in San Diego without anywhere to sleep, while needing to put on a song and dance so strangers I give two shits about could like me, while watching her flirt with her ex boyfriend on the dancefloor at the post Masquerade Ball party...I just started to snap.  And when she told me to stop being a baby and to just sleep in my car, while Bananakin Skywalker pumped his light saber in the air to Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot"...I finished snapping and unleashed a bunch of nonsense at the top of my lungs at her in front of people she knew and a lot of people neither one of us knew.  

I remember it being close to midnight at that point and I told her I was leaving.  Sad thing was, we all had to walk back to my car because I was nice enough to let them store their luggage in my trunk.  Yep, I sealed their impression of me as the psycho ex boyfriend.  They left me at my car where I tried to sleep unsuccessfully.  And then at 1:30 in the morning, I drove back to Los Angeles.  I never got to fully experience the Convention and I didn't care.  I was beyond pissed and had a horrible taste in my mouth.  My balls....they had returned and were fucking choking me with rage.

I broke up with her that week.  It wasn't a hand holding pity party.  I gave it to her straight.  And in a triumphantly gut wrenching move, I got her to admit to me that for the full 7 year duration of our so called relationship, I was never her boyfriend.  I was the guy she was cheating on her boyfriend Robert with.  

Let that sink in for a second.

When I left her house that evening, I told her to be single for a while because she just didn't know how to be in a relationship. A week later, she started dating a friend of mine.

And a year or so later, he broke up with her because of Robert.

And the cycle, it repeats itself.

2007 was the year I began my successful ascent out of the sarlacc pit from Hell.  

And much like those who look back on near death experiences feeling bigger and stronger, it's quite safe to say I'm motherfucking John Rambo now.  

After ending the relationship, I realized I really lost 7 years worth of experiences and joy.  I needed to work on some things, work through some things, and build myself back up from the ground up.  And I did! I'm goddamn Rambo!

First Blood, Motherfuckers! 

 

Wednesday
May092012

#NerdsUnite: With love from Lillian & her food allergies

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lillian. She and I met at SXSW this year where she gave me this EPIC STRAW COWBOY HAT!!! I swear, I heart it so much it hurts. Either way, Lillian is a big food nerd with oodles and oodles of food allergies. She's here to talk about her life, love, and all things through her two sometimes four eyes. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LILLIAN!!!  </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @lilstestkitchen

I will never be “normal”.

This is heartbreaking. Even though I know that “normal” is boring. And “normal” is easy to find. And I am a super interesting unique snowflake! This fact breaks my heart.

I eat weird food that no one has heard of. And I get really sick if I eat the food that everyone has heard of. And to many people, that makes me weird. Heck, even to me that makes me weird. The things that I grew up expecting to be a part of my everyday life: pizza, beer, gum, bread, ice cream, cheese, butter, cheeseburgers, Italian food, Chinese food, gummy beers, fried foods, (to name a few) none of these things can be in my life if I want to be a healthy person. And so I will never get a pizza delivered to my house and eat it with friends. I will never get a ice cold beer at a bar (although they are making more and more gluten-free beers, so maybe I’ll try one. One of these days). I will never be able to go to an Italian bakery and order a cannoli. I will never be able to eat at a rest stop when I take a break from a road trip. In fact, I will never be able to not think about food. Every day, I have to build my life around it. Make sure that I have the right kind of food (for me). And if I don’t have it on hand, I have to make sure that I have access to it.

And I’m not telling you this so you feel sorry for me (please don’t), or so that you think that I’m a whiny baby (I swear I’m not). I’m telling you this because this is just how it is. Do I resent it sometimes? Do I wish that I could just not think about it sometimes? Of course I do. I want to be normal, just like everyone else does. I feel frustrated that I need to focus on my health like it’s my job (because it is). But then I get over myself. I get over my spoiled attitude. Because really, it’s simple:

I’m really, really lucky.

I don’t need surgery or chemo or any crazy drugs to stay well. All I need is the right food. And that is INSANE. I mean, how simple is that? When I eat right (again, for me) that is the difference between health and sickness. And not in the: “if I live off of McDonald’s I’m killing myself slowly” -kind of way. But in the: “If I eat the wrong food, I will have a reaction and be really sick for the next 12 days.” -kind of way. I don’t need a miracle drug. I don’t even need a pharmacy. I just need to not eat food that is poisonous. I’m really, really lucky.

But I still have the lingering desire to be “normal”. To do normal things like get an ice cream cone in the summer. It’s such a small, inconsequential thing and yet so it looms so large for me when my friends and I are at the beach and everyone can get one but me. But that’s just not going to happen. I am what I am. I accept myself. I’ll bring my own snacks, and make myself some ice cream when I get home.

The truth is that I’ve felt like I’m a little odd and don’t fit in my entire life. So it can’t just be about the food allergies. The food allergies are just what makes my oddness so obvious. I can’t hide it anymore. I need to accept it and let my freak flag fly. If I want to be healthy, it’s officially now my only option.

So, I stopped fighting it. I’m not even sure how it happened. I do know that I was tired of wishing I could be different than I am. So maybe it was just exhaustion. Either way, once I fully accepted that this is my life, it started to change. I stopped trying to hide it from others by only eating alone, or by taking unnecessary risks and crossing my fingers that it would all work out. And instead of letting my fear and shame keep me isolated, I started reaching out to others. I started asking for help and support from my friends and family. And when I ran into something I didn’t know how to manage, I asked people who know more than me about living well with food allergies. And as I learned more and became curious about the connection between food, joy, community, and how to have the best life possible within the restrictions I that have, I began to build a community of people that have been helping me do just that.

This is the thing:

I did I lot of stupid things when I was 13. I believe this is common. I’m pretty sure that one of the least controversial statements I can make is that being in middle school is terrible. It’s the pits. No one’s at their best when they are 13. We do dumb things and we’re mean to others who don’t deserve it. I was no exception. But the one smart thing that I did is this: I found my people. My friends were the ones who played punk rock (I sang. I did Joan Jett covers and wrote terrible poetry I tried to turn in to lyrics. Don’t ask to see them. You will never see them). We banded together around our shared awkwardness and our love of music. We did Battle of the Bands in our home town, and open mic nights in the city. It was exhilarating to be good at something together. It felt safe.

Those years were wonderful and absolutely, completely terrible. I wouldn’t repeat that time for all the money in the world. And even though we were all 13 and stupid, I learned a valuable lesson then that is still helping me enormously now:

Find. Your. People.

 So, you can’t eat gluten? Find some other people who can’t either. Have dinner parties. Throw game nights where everyone can eat safely. You’d be surprised how quickly a connection can be forged over a shared love of a thing or a shared intolerance of a thing. And it’s not just about food. For instance, I’ve made a lot of friends since I’ve moved to Cambridge through playing Ultimate Frisbee. The initial thing that draws us together is that we all love to play, but it turns out that Ultimate tends to attracts certain kind of people: really smart, nice people who love competition, silliness, and fun. And guess who else loves competition, silliness, fun and fancies herself reasonably smart and nice? That’s right, ME.

Once you find the people who have similar interests and who get you. People you want to learn from and who feel good to be around, you cease to be weird. What you are creating is a “new normal”. This is super important. It’s not just important in middle school, it’s important always.

Seek out the ones who understand you and appreciate what you have to offer. Not the ones who tell you how crazy you are. Seek out the people who have been there before and can help guide you through the thicket. Find people you want to learn from and most importantly, find people it feels good to be with.

Finding a community of people who are going through similar things has been crucial to my happiness. It’s been intensely stabilizing to be able to compare notes with someone about what is happening and talk about digestive or thyroid issues, or anything and everything else. The time that I have spent feeling misunderstood and alone was an unnecessary waste of time. I’m not alone. And while there’s no way that my everyday life would ever be considered normal, and there’s probably no way that I will ever be considered normal either. That’s okay. My friends don’t care. They’re weirdos too. Just like me.

 Case in point:

#nerdsunite

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