Revenge of the Nerds

I heart nerds. It's true. And I'm not ashamed.

When I was a little girl, I dreamed about Kirk Cameron and Fred Savage and Tom Cruise. Then in high school I preferred cute jocks, and in college the semi-hippie seemed cool to me. But something in me always had a soft spot for the nerds.

My sister is trying to teach her daughter, who's in eighth grade, that the bad, popular boys will be the ones at the 25 year class reunion who will still have mullets and drive Camaros and work on an assembly line. Ok, well maybe not mullets and Camaros but whatever the cool thing is for them. It's the little nerd who hasn't hit his growth spurt yet, the one with the retainer and thick glasses and pimples, who will be in charge one day. HE will be the one with the cool loft apartment in New York because he will be an architect. He will have the latest and greatest computers and phones and surround sound because he will be the engineer who invents it. He will be the famous musician playing on your IPOD and Pandora because he stuck with his piano lessons. And this is the true revenge of the nerds.

So what plays on my IPOD occassionally? Nerd rock. Otherwise known as Ben Folds. I love his quirky sarcastic songs about suburbia, being dumped, and growing up. He has a song named "There's Always Someone Cooler Than You" that plays in my mind whenever I see someone trying a little too hard. But he also has some super-sweet songs about his children. The one for his daughter always brings me to tears, but has a little comic relief with him saying, "you'll be a lady soon but until then you gotta do what I say."

Clint and I made it a point to buy tickets to see Ben Folds last weekend -- our first concert in a very, very long time. We also saw him a few weeks after Mimi was born, which is a neat little coincidence. Anyway, we bought the tickets, booked the sitter, and bundled up for our night out on the town.

One thing that is fantastic about Chicago is public transportation. It's nice to not have to deal with parking and to not have to worry about who's not going to have a beer because we need to drive back home. It was fah-reezing that night, but I didn't want to overdress because I knew this little theater, which is small and standing room only like the New Daisy, would get steamy hot as soon as everyone piled near the front. Wrong. There was NO HEAT. So basically I was cold from the second we left the house until we finally stopped for a burger after the concert. We wore our gloves just so we could hold our drinks. So standing outside waiting for the train made me absolutely frigid and hopefully got me a little ready for what's to come this winter.

The concert was great. I got a kick out of seeing all the kids who were either high school seniors or college freshman going nuts over all the songs. They were indeed the nerds. Probably not the coolest kids but definitely not losers. You know, the Seths and Evans of Superbad. The ones you love to sit near during class because they have a really clever sense of humor AND know all the answers. They had so much fun dancing together and yelling the lyrics.

But then there has to be something for me to complain about. And she was standing next to me. A short little woman who thought I owed her my fantastic spot that I had glued myself to as soon as I got there. She kept leaning in front of me and shaking her head while she danced very Seinfeld Elaine-like. And then another couple tried to weasel their way in front of me, and this is when I lost it. "Seriously?!! I have been standing here since 6:30 and paying a babysitter $15 an hour, so I would really like my spot back!!" And this is how I was finally able to see and enjoy the show.

Because, after all, this nerd needed a little revenge herself.