Being Geek Chic is the yammerings of a Midwestern nerd named Elizabeth Giorgi. My vision impairment is real, which is frustrating because I really would like to see a 3D movie.
Send questions, requests and ideas to [email protected]. Please put your complaints on a napkin and toss it.
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Note
1st November 2012
It’s NaNoWriMo!
I’m participating in NaNoWriMo for the first time. (National Novel Writing Month for the uninitiated.) Are you?
Actually, there’s a twist.
I’m doing NaMeWriMo. National Memoir Writing Month. (P.S. that’s not a thing. I made it up.)
I have long felt my life has been full of bizarre incidents and lessons worthy of chronicling. And I have been told on more than one occasion I have a weird humor about me. I know there are probably 6 people who care about the happenings of my life, but honestly, I need to write it down. Just in case. And so should you.
Here’s some reasons you should stop reading this and go write:
1. It’s therapy. Truly. I have worked through some of the hardest things in my life by getting it out, thinking it through and piecing it together like a story.
2. It’s perspective. The economy sucks, politics are nasty, food is expensive - but you know what? The feelings and memories we often choose to put on paper are the ones that matter.
3. It’s bonding. I am choosing to do NaNoWriMo with one of my best friends, but I have always had a habit of sharing my writing with my boyfriend, friends and family. There’s something about your emotions in Times New Roman that can share how you really feel.
Your still here? Did you hear what I said at the beginning of this list? “Here’s some reasons you should stop reading this…” remember?
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Note
25th October 2012
Dear 13-year old me
A few months ago I was sitting in a bar in downtown Minneapolis with Being Geek Chic intern Emma Bauer, brainstorming questions to ask potential Lady Geeks of the Week. The question that stood out for me that evening:
Q: What would you tell your 13-year-old self?It’s widely acknowledged in education and psychology circles that 12 is the age that girls lives go to pot. Among the reasons:
1. Their self-esteem plummets
2. Hormones, periods, bodily fluids
3. Eating disorders begin to develop
4. Increased peer pressure
5. New academic challenges (ahem, junior high)Some of this is applicable to both sexes, but for 12 year old girls, it’s different.
There’s undeniable, statistical proof that before puberty, girls and boys experience depression and other psychological issues at the same rates. Then puberty hits. Girls experience certain, distinct biological and hormonal changes that ultimately raise their risk or contribute to depression.
Twelve is hard.
And that’s why 13 is so important. By the time you’re 13, you’ve probably experienced a few awkward issues, whether it’s peer pressure or periods. RL Stine’s books start to collect dust and Poe becomes a literary form of acid. Everyone around you is transforming and you can’t even ignore it, because looking at all your friends just makes you realize that you too are getting tits and zits. Perhaps even more aggressively.
I never appreciated how important it was to go through that transition. The “It Gets Better” campaign was meant to help gay kids get through those awkward teenage years, but really, it’s like 3% of people who actually enjoy those years. Really, we all should have been told it would get better. That we’d find a bra that actually fits and someone to have sex with.
Those years of awkward change led me to writing. First, short stories and poetry and eventually journalism. By the time I got to college, I was making documentaries about aliens, but it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t turn inward and fight hard to maintain my sense of self when so many other influences were heckling my soul. Most baffling of all: I didn’t know I was discovering “me;” I just thought I was protecting myself. Turns out, they were the same thing.
Even though I know my junior high ass would have scoffed at the notion, I wish I could have told myself a few things…
Dear Elizabeth,
Everyone is still calling you that. And Dolly. A few years from now, you’ll lose the E and abeth and go by Liz. It’s hipper. And tougher.
You’re doing an incredible job. Really. You’re smart and you aren’t afraid of that intelligence. Soon, others are going to treat you poorly for that very reason, but hold onto that stubborn sense of right. It will be the thing that propels you forward even as you approach 30.
Keep writing. Someday someone is going to pay you for it and unlike athletics, which are of incredible importance right now, it will actually BE the ticket to your future.
Believe in yourself. If you won’t fight for you, who will?
And don’t worry, you’ll get better jeans in your 20s.
Love,
E
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Note
15th October 2012
Geeky at Home: Bed n’ Breakfast/Parisian chic bedroom update
Remember how I’m redoing my bedroom? My theme?
A Parisian woman moved to Ely, Minnesota many autumns ago and opened a bed and breakfast.
I know, not for everyone. But it’s coming together. Here’s how it looked before:
It was never really ugly. Just kind of basic. As I said when I started this process: it was the leftovers. Whatever I didn’t use in the rest of the house or whatever I had to spare.
Teej and I put in some long, hard hours…
Kind of… I mean, as hard as moving things around can be… and now the after:
We’re still working on a rather big wall project and the lamp I ordered is backstocked. I’m still going back and forth on the fox pillow. We want to hang a rather large piece of art on the wall to the right of the arrow, but once that is done… I’ll be pretty close to my vision.
The lamp, you may remember, is a bit of a DIY. We bought the bronze bottom from Target and I got the birdcage thing from a yard sale. I thought it might look kind of cool to try and make an open lamp shade from it. It was way easier than I thought. Here’s how we did it:
Teej took an old tapered lampshade and cut off the shade part, leaving us with just the wire structure that sits on top of the lamp base. Then, we simply superglued the circular top to the inside of the metal. Add a pretty edison bulb and woweee. It creates the prettiest reflection of light on our bronze-y walls.
You know what made the biggest difference of all? Cleaning the damn room.
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Link
12th October 2012
How to Use Your Nerd Cred to Land a Job
I’ve talked about this before around here in the form of resumes and cover letters. I’ve gone more in-depth for The Mary Sue. Go read it!
Are you leveraging your geek status as an asset to potential employers?
Think of it this way: being a geek comes with certain general character traits, which can be positioned to your advantage when looking for a job. For example, being a geek goes hand in hand with being knowledgeable and people often rely on other geeks as a resource for information. Every office needs a go-to person and very often, the go-to problem solver is the geek sitting in the cubicle to your left.
So here are two big questions: does your resume reflect your geek cred? And are you promoting your geekiness in your cover letters and interviews?
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Note
11th October 2012
My Grand List of Geeky Goals
Lots of bloggers have these things called “Mighty Life Lists” - which basically chronicle all the awesome things they would like to do in their lives. It all started with the incomparable Mighty Girl, whose list includes things like:
- Stay in the ice hotel
- Visit that church made entirely of bones
- Make butterscotch from scratch
Others, like my girl Sarah Von over at Yes and Yes, make lists based on birth years - so this year she’s doing 34 New Things and last year she did 33 New Things. Get it? Her current list includes things like:
- Go water skiing
- Read ‘The Sun Also Rises’
- Watch ‘Rear Window’
I am a fan of lists, so this idea is something I’m definitely drawn to, but I wanted to make a list that was more “me” and reflected my goals in life. And I also think that at my age, I probably don’t know everything I want to accomplish.
Therefore, I introduce to you:
My Grand List of Geeky Goals
- Read the entire Sherlock Holmes Anthology
- Attend San Diego Comic-Con
- Show a film at Sundance
- Show a film at SXSW
- Take the Leavesden Studio Tour
- Take a tour of Highclere Castle
- Back up (and continue to back up) all my writing and photos
- Create an ongoing animated series
- Go knock on the door at 221B
- Watch every episode of Doctor Who
- Build a piece of furniture, from scratch
- Watch every Pixar movie (including the shorts!)
- Write for Wired
- Go to an observatory and see some planets
- Get a pixie hair cut
- Visit NASA
- Buy a Leica Camera
- Watch at least 10 episodes of Star Trek
- Build a better portfolio site
- Read Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
If you had to make a grand list of geeky goals - what would you include?
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Note
4th October 2012
Snapping the VooDoo city
I promised more photos from New Orleans. And of course, I don’t want to be called a liar. Should you ever venture through the bayou, you may see some of these things…
In closing: visit the Garden District. It was easily my favorite part.
