Freaks and Geeks

I don't know how many of you caught this little gem back when it originally aired. However, thanks to Netflix you can do what Courtney, Gnu and I did and watch it all day on Sunday. I highly recommend it!

Spending five hours of my day watching this show has gotten me to think about what exactly it means to be a freak and/or a geek. I did the little quiz on Cindy's blog. I also was a total nerd...fine, I buy it, whatever. However, it still didn't answer the question as to what it means to be a freak and/or a geek.

This quandry reminds me of a little game my friends and I played one year in college. Remember when you were in elementary school and you would break into teams for dodge ball/kick ball/red rover (insert your favorite school yard game here). Then do you remember standing there hoping that one of the team captains would pick you to be on his/her team, desperately hoping and praying that you wouldn't be the last one standing there. All of this stress because the last kid standing there was automatically designated to be on the other team by the first team captain saying, "He's on your team." We all know what that meant and nobody wanted to be that guy. Well, the game we played was basically putting people on our friend's team. Chelsea's team got loaded up with people that we found at Six Flags--yes, let your minds imagine the types of people we found there. While Brynn's team filled up with all awkward guys--she hated us so much for it. In essence, we put the "freaks" in Chelsea's team and the "geeks" in Brynn's. In hindsight, yes, I was a total jerk and should have treated all of these people as children of God, please forgive me. Nonetheless, I was trying to define the definitions of what it was to be a freak and/or a geek.

Do we ever outgrow being a freak or a geek? I spent most of last week melting in Phoenix (seriously 115, it was horrible!!) and observing many alleged freakish behaviors. It would obviously be rude to take pictures, but I was able to pull out my notebook and write them down so as not to miss anything.

I saw a lady with a bejeweled denim jacket. I love bedazzling my clothing as much as the next guy, but this may have been a little over the top. Every color of the rainbow was represented in plastic shiny jewels stuck to the shoulder and upper back of the jacket. How is it possible to not have these things poking you while wearing a bag across your shoulder?

While on a ride along with my sales rep in Phoenix, we visited a paralegal who had a sequined blue shirt on. Completely sequined blue shirt that she wore to work in an office on a Tuesday. She also had feathered bangs and side bangs and straight hair in the back. I hadn't seen this look in years...okay, I'd never seen this look in real life only movies and tv shows on Nick at Night.

I ate lunch at an average restuarant that appeared to be a local hot spot. While waiting for the server to return with the check, I looked over and saw an older gentleman reach down into his cowboy boot to pull out his wallet. People actually keep their wallets in their cowboy boots...how awesome is that? I've got to get myself some cowboy boots.

I spent about a day and a half at our booth on the exhibit floor for the Arizona State Bar show. Usually, I don't tend to see too much odd behavior amongst attorneys, they tend to be an old conservative bunch. However, two people caught my eye. The first was a lady just walking around. Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to her, but I made a mental picture of her outfit that I will now try to describe for you. I'll start at the top. Her black hair was in a pony tail covered up by an American flag bandana. Then she wore a red mesh top over a blue leotard. Then she had on a pair of pink, blue and red leggings with pictures of Marilyn Monroe and James Dean on them. I got stuck on the leggings and have no recollection of the shoes. This outfit was a masterpiece. I wonder if she wears that in the courtroom? Next was a man going by the name of David Brown. I don't know if I can believe him because I caught him being dishonest about a few other things. First of all, he had a toupee on his head--can't be honest about the status of his hair. Second, he had the initals ADS monogrammed on his shirt. Where do you get ADS out of David Brown? How am I to believe such a man? He showed up the second day of the conference in the exact same outfit.

These people all had one thing in common. It didn't matter if they were a freak or a geek, they were happy. My observation and judgment didn't change they way they acted. Not one of them seemed sad or miserable or even cared about what I or anyone else thought about them. So, now, I don't only know what it means to be a freak or a geek, but I also don't know why it matters in the first place.

So, the doomed question. Am I a freak or a geek? Do I do things that make other people giggle and write about me in their blog so all of their friends are amused by my antics? Am I being placed on someone else's "team" in an effort to mock and torment that person? Are my friends therefore freaks and geeks too? Must it be that we all have a little freak and geek in each of us and the goal of life is to just let our freak flag fly?