Welcome to my newest internet abode! For those of you who know me from (un)Enlightened English, this is a departure from researching grammar and a space to be myself. I definitely am prone to geekhood. I remember my father playing RPGs on the SNES and me putting a shawl around my shoulders, grabbing a walking stick, and pretending to be a cleric (even at 5 I was Lawful Good!). My geekhood changed as I grew, becoming more bookworm-y and less role-player-y. Reading books quenched my thirst for adventure, and I took a turn away from gaming. By the time I was in high school, I passed up the books mostly for my own adventures in theatre, cheerleading, band, choir, dance and work.

By the time college came around, I became friends with some guys at a local college–a techie college. The type of place where fraternity brothers play Halo tournaments. Long story short, I dated a guy there (who became my husband) and was reintroduced to gaming, primarily MMOs. Guild Wars was my first, but it quickly became WoW, LotRO, EvE, FFXI, the other GW games, WAR and I’m sure several others that I’m forgetting. My husband and I started to get into gaming quite a bit, GMing two guilds (one PvP and one Raiding) on WoW. But when I finished my BA in English and still couldn’t find a job, I surpassed my husband in the realm of Geek and worked for Warhammer Alliance as Content Lead.

My time at WA cemented my desire to be involved in gaming in some way. I kept trying to push it away, but it wasn’t happening. Let’s be real, my desire to get a Ph.D. in medieval lit? I chose medieval to study the Arthurian tradition (which spans far beyond the medieval scope), which really is just the fantasy escapism I find and love in games.

So now I’m looking at getting a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric, having been largely influenced by a professor at my husband’s college (Gogo Intellagirl!). My options for jobs and my options of study are far broader with a Comp and Rhetoric degree. If I want to study language acquisition from gaming, I can. If I want to study role players and language, I can. It’ll allow me to mesh my love of all that is geek and my love of rhetoric instead of being a pendulum, bouncing between the two.

And that, my friends, is the birth of Geekoric.