What it means to be a nerd in today's society

I'm sitting one table over from a guy whose appearance screams "nerd" (not "geek," since a geek is generally someone who bites the heads off of chickens). He's wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with "Google" across the chest, chunky-framed glasses with rectangular lenses, and '80s style headphones that remind me of the headphones that one had to wear for the hearing tests that my peers and I were forced to take in the early '90s. His muscle definition, or lack thereof, implies that he has minimal physical exertion in his daily routine, and his hair is styled in the same manner that I am sure his mother brushed it into when he was a toddler. However, when he ordered his coffee, all of the baristas remarked how ironically cool and trendy his t-shirt and glasses were. I wouldn't be surprised if he bought his headphones from Urban Outfitters.

So has nerd become the mainstay of cool? Furthermore, is nerd's sudden popularity boost based on the millions made by Web 2.0 and the advent of the personal gadget revolution? Or have we all realized that smarter actually is better?

My theory is that people are actually just getting worse at hiding their inner nerd. It stems from the new trends of emotional purging and need for attention from strangers that have popped up in society as a result of the exposition of self provided by social media. People aren't as good as they used to be at putting up a facade and hiding certain less than desirable points about themselves. Instead they're been forced to embrace those points in order to avoid feel the pain normally associated with the inevitable mocking that comes with the territory. As a result, nerd has become commonplace, and companies now market to that commonplace nerdiness. Once there are multiple marketing campaigns geared at something, the public automatically assumes that it must be cool/trendy or the companies wouldn't waste money marketing to it.

I guess we'll never know until this period in time is taught in history courses.

You know you shouldn't be drinking when...

St. Patrick's Day is, hands down, the biggest drinking day of the year...especially when one lives in a college town. I saw people completely tanked by noon and girls running around in club gear. Hello, the cottage cheese thighs that aren't that noticeable on a packed dance floor in a dimly lit club are painfully visible in the daylight. Ew.

Certain law school students were no different than the undergrads. I had to take care of one girl that I barely knew because all of her friends had deserted her when she was too drunk to stand up. Last I saw of her was that she was going home with some guys that she knew. Now, I wasn't completely sober myself, but don't drink if you can't handle your liquor. A smart woman knows to nurse one drink over the course of an evening.

Sometimes I think that God wants me to be a trophy wife. At the end of the evening, I found myself having a lengthy and sometimes very odd conversation with another one of those rich brats who doesn't think that any girl is out of his league because he thinks that every girl has a price. He spent an inordinate amount of time trying to seek validation from me, as they always do, showing me the stuff that Daddy bought him and reminding me that he comes from an affluent background. Like that shit's supposed to make me want you. I'm too mature and smart to be a golddigger. Plus, we disagreed on music, so that's an automatic strike-out.

Only 11 more days until my last great birthday. Damn, I'm old.

Celebreality

I just want to say thank you to Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan, and to America's obsession with celebrity train wrecks. My life has been less that idea lately, but I haven't been arrested or had my career completely destroyed. So, really, my life could be so much worse. I could be Lindsay Lohan, constantly in and out of jail and rehab, or Charlie Sheen, with everyone abandoning me left and right while trying to say anything to make it seem as if I'm not completely powerless. I think that's why we, as a society, have always loved reading about the rich and the famous. Seeing their lives go crashing down in flames makes us feel slightly better about our own lives because it goes to show that we're better off in the end by not having as much as they do. Why else would the majority of the world only care about Demi Lovato's existence when she was shipped off to rehab, or only come to know about Vanessa Hudgens' role in HSM when the nude photos of her were leaked? I'm sure that many people have said at some point, "At least I'm not as bad as [celebrity]. I haven't [gone to rehab/developed a drug dependency/been arrested/flashed a paparazzo unknowingly]." They are a measuring stick for acceptable societal behavior because they are so well-known among the masses. So long as you haven't screwed up as royally as they have, you must be doing something right. So, once again, thank God for celebrity train wrecks, for making me feel a tiny bit better about my life. As bad as it is, it isn't as bad as a celebrity train wreck's life.