This image really has no connection to my post, but these cakes look awesome! I always wanted an orange one, but I think I’ll take a cake version instead…

What I’ll probably look for in a job is boring, parent-y stuff like a decent wage, benefits, and a boss that doesn’t make me want to shoot myself, although that last one can sometimes be a tricky one to predict.  But wouldn’t it be awesome if we could pick jobs based on the real factors that make us want to come to work every morning?

Objective: seeking a boring desk job with access to a computer, a lax attendance policy, a cool break-room with a huge TV and multiple video-game consoles, funny coworkers who like comics and cartoons, and awesome restaurants that deliver. Oh and a boss who is out-of-town a lot. Requested salary: however much I need to pay bills, plus $1000/month grocery money, free meals at previously mentioned awesome restaurants, and a running tab at thinkgeek.com

(I realize that aside from the lax attendance policy, which was my down fall, and the ridiculous salary request, I sort of had this job once…)

In all honesty though, one thing I’d really like to find in this new job is some people who share my interests.  Work is way more fun when the people you work with can keep up some enjoyable small talk.  I love my friends, but I think most of them still think I’m a little strange for watching cartoons and reading comics.

For those of you reading my blog from someplace other than Charleston, SC… (*sigh* I know I’m only talking to myself, but it helps to pretend…)

Charleston is a geek black hole.  We’re all underground.  We have to hide our geekiness from the rest of society like it’s a gross STD or something.  We exist here, I promise we do.  We even have a celebrity geek or two. We have a comic shop and we go to midnight movies and stuff like that.  But we can’t congregate the way geeks can congregate in other cities.  We have to quietly nod and touch our noses when we make eye contact with someone in a Blue Sun t-shirt.

It’s getting better.  Our comic shop is doing an awesome job arranging events. I know some local Sherlock fans who started meetup recently.  Attendance at midnight movies has gotten better over the past few years. But it’s still a group that’s largely underground.

Evidence that geeks exist in Charleston. Must be the younger, more energetic crowd. http://charlockians.tumblr.com

If I had any readers at all, I would ask you what kind of jobs you think I should look for that might yield a few geeky coworkers?  I don’t mean at all to stereotype, and if I expected any responses I would hope that my readers would avoid stereotypes as well.  I would just ask, from your personal experience, what jobs have you had, or have your friends had, that seemed to attract a geekier crowd?

And I would ask you, what do you suggest we do about the utter lack of pride and communication within the Charleston geek community?  Because I’d really like to know. I’m a self-starter who works well with others.  Add that to the résumé.

I look forward to your job suggestions non-existent but loyal fans.

RyBread had a nine-month checkup early Monday morning, and NinjaGnomes and I both magically got off of work, we had a long day of sitting around the apartment. Luckily many of the major E3 breifings were televised on Spike and G4 today! Squee!

Ahem – you’re at The Latent Geek. Did you expect us to recap the MTV movie awards?

If you’re new to the gaming world, E3, which is short for the Electronic Entertainment Expo,  is the big convention-like event where companies showcase their newest products – games, consoles, peripherals, and innovations – and sets the tone for the coming year in gaming. It also acts as a sort of reverse award show for gaming enthusiasts; the media picks “winners,” or superlatives of all the stuff released. All this sets the fiscal tone for the companies in the upcoming year since the whole event is advertising and the “winners” project what is going to make the most money.

I have to say, it felt really good to be able to geek out and watch some of these events live.  Now I understand how my mom feels when she watches the Oscars.
Did you catch any of E3? watch any recaps or read any announcements?  What are you looking forward to this gaming year? Let us know in the comments!

We watched the Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, and PlayStation events, but since there was some overlap (and since I’m too slow to run this like a news site) we’ll stick to breaking down the Microsoft and PlayStation events.

Some notable Microsoft announcements were Halo 4, a new development called SmartGlass, and emphasis on the system’s value in non-game entertainment.

• I’m not really a Halo fan, but some friends of mine are, and they seemed mostly disappointed in what they saw.
• SmartGlass is a new system that allows you to use your smartphone or tablet in conjunction with your Xbox. Seems cool, but like the kind of thing I’d only use once or twice.
• Microsoft showed us how you will soon be able to use your Kinect as a voice activated controller for non game content like movies or TV. You’ll also be able to use this in conjunction with SmartGlass. They also emphasized the new partnerships with The NBA and NHL, ESPN, and UFC.

PlayStation’s biggest announcements were a huge new title, developments with the PlayStation Move, and cross-play with the PlayStation Vita.

• The big new title, a PlayStation exclusive, is called Beyond and features Ellen Page and real-time motion capture 3D as its stars.
• The developments for the Move were so-so, but definitely make strides to push the PlayStation into the family entertainment world. Working with J.K. Rowling and Pottermore helps.
•  Cross-play with the PlayStation Vita will allow players to play multi-player games using both the PS3 and Vita simultaneously, will allow players to use the Vital as a visual controller like the WiiU controller, and to save games on one device and continue them on the other. Titles with these features are limited now, but future titles are sure to cash in on this feature.

Also notable were Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs, both by Ubisoft.

So, I’m not going to argue over which console is better.  They both have their merits, and they cater to different demographics. We welcome all type of geek here, so whichever console you prefer, or if you’re a PC gamer, or if you only ever played a Wii, more power to you.

In my house though, we’re PlayStation people. I am stoked about Beyond, I think it looks awesome, and in a few years, when all the bugs are worked out, I may think about a Wonderbook for RyBread. But what I’m really excited about is Assassin’s Creed III.
I get to drive a ship! Cannon fights! American Revolution! So excited…
They also announced Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation for the PlayStation Vita and it features a female protagonist!

Tuesday we both had to work, so unfortunately we didn’t get to watch any of the events.  But since I’m playing Skyrim, I did peek in on the info released about the new Dawnguard DLC. I’m kind of meh about the whole vampire thing, mostly because I haven’t really done any vampire or werewolf stuff in Skyrim.  I seem to remember NinjaGnomes mentioning how he really wished he could join the Vigilents of Stendarr, and one of the factions in the new missions is similar in that you’re targeting vampires, so maybe he’ll be more into the Vampire stuff.  I am excited about the new dragonbone weapons, new shouts, and the new NPC in the Ratway that can change character appearance. Unfortunately for me, there is no release date yet for the PS3, but the release date for the 360 is only three weeks away!

(I did have a paragraph more to say on the subject, but, depressing bullshit is depressing.)

So — to re-find my self, I’m going to do all the geeky, obsessive, crafty things I’ve always wanted to do.

I’m going to complete every quest in Skyrim.

I’m going to work on my novel.

I’m going to read every comic book and trade we own, which is a lot. (Ninjagnomes came into the relationship with about 5 boxes of comics and probably $20k worth of trades.  I’ve read some…) And catalog them.

I’m going to make a set of group costumes for me, Ninjagnomes, and RyBread for this Halloween (or maybe next Halloween…)

The point is, If I want to do it, I’m going to do it.

And I’m going to blog, dammit.

Welcome to the new Latent Geek.

I’ve been participating since 2005, but I haven’t won, not even once.  I blame academia.

This year is different, though.  Yes, I have a brand new baby.  Yes, I’m still in school.  But this year, I have a kickass story idea, motivation, and the smallest smidgen of time (RyBread still sleeps quite a bit). Oh, and FRIENDS.

I have a theory that a supportive group of like-minded, caring individuals is the secret to getting published…

This year’s NaNo story is… well…complicated…
All I can really tell you is that there are three main characters – Becca, Tucker, and Shannon – and the story opens with a bright flash that was probably some kind of explosion.  After they all wake up, they discover the power is out, there’s no radio or TV, and cell phones have no service.  The story is going to be their “adventure,” if you will, trying to figure out how to navigate the world post-technology.  I can’t really tell you what’s going to happen because only the characters know.

I’m really excited about it, and I’m constantly in their world, so I can wait to see where they are going to take me.  I have a few goals I’m trying to reach, but I’m really leaving most everything up to them.

So, this is probably the last time you’ll hear from me until after November.  Can’t be wasting words on blogging.

Happy NaNo-ing!

For as long as I can remember, I have loved words. I was the kid who read street and store signs from the backseat, annoying my parents and grandparents with a constant flow of billboard advertisements excitedly reproduced in a four-year-old voice. Words hold special meaning for me, even really random ones, like “moist” or “orange” have some memory attached to them, some connection to the makeup of my personality. My favorite word is “exsanguination,” (which is apparently not in the WordPress dictionary). The simple fact is, if you pulled a loose thread from my foot, and my outer shell completely fell away like Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas, then you’d find me completely composed of words.

So why is this at all relevant? Why is it even remotely interesting that The Latent Geek likes the sound of a gruesome word like “exsanguination?” Because, ya’ll, academia has totally stolen away my soul. A decade of college has reduced me to a single word, and I couldn’t even tell you what that word actually is.
Yes, Folks, I, TLG, have discovered the secret cure for that disease called “wanting to be a writer:” College.

More specifically, that devil called the English Major.

You would think all that reading of great literature and those classes learning that “reading of great literature” is passive voice would be helpful, encouraging to the fledgling writer. But you’d be wrong.

I could waste thousands more words complaining about the soul-sucking institution of higher learning, but I’ll spare you that. The real point of this post (besides that —>.) is that I need help regaining my soul, rebuilding my collection of words.

I can write mindless non-fiction, I can write criticisms until my fingers disintegrate, I can type and retype your work and edit it to a perfect, publishable state. But I can’t, for the life of me, get any of the millions of tiny tidbits and fragments in my head to congeal and become a solid idea. I’m not even asking for an award-winner, no instantaneous success, just something akin to that skin on top of Jell-O that’s been in the fridge for too long.

How do I regain my writing brain? I so badly want an idea, just something to occupy the little Bartleby in my brain that spits out those random phrases and inklings that get jotted down in a Moleskine. But every time I try to think of what to write, to refrigerate my Jell-O, as it were, I feel like I’m trying to lick my elbow (seriously, you should try it!).

Its getting a little easier since I’ve de-academia-ed my life a little, my Jell-O is turning out edible, but soupy, like maybe you should drink it through a straw. I did write one little piece of really useless, circular flash-fiction inspired by something my friend Matt said. But I felt mostly unsatisfied. Maybe it was clever, but it was very shallow and really had no action in it to speak of, unless you count queuing as action (I guess the late Douglas Adams would count queuing as action…)

But I’m still miles away from figuring out what to write, say, for NaNoWriMo, which I know is five months away, but that’s really not that long. I’d really like to spend the time between now and then hashing out the Jell-O skin idea into something closer to runny eggs before I hit November 1, not to mention all the real-life stuff going on between now and then.

So, I’ll wrap this up. Any ideas on what to do?

I thought I’d comment on the recent trend of “geek girl” posts that have been floating around the interwebs lately. Y’know, everything from the “Game of Thrones”  debacle to all the hub-bub surrounding this gathering of geek women.

If you couldn’t tell by the pink, I’m a chick.  I’m trying this whole thing out where I don’t make it the focus of the blog, and we’ll see how it goes, but its no secret. Sometimes, I’m as girly as they come, and I’m more than comfortable with that. Actually it took me a long time (and good man) to allow myself to be comfortable with it.  I wouldn’t say that growing up I was a “tomboy,”  but I wasn’t exactly going to admit to singing Dancing Queen into a hairbrush while dancing around in my pink pajamas…

I would say, for me, the only problem I ever encountered being a (pre-discovered) geek was not being taken seriously. No one ever took me seriously. People still don’t, most of the time.  I’m lucky to have a great group of friends, but even they find it difficult sometimes (I’m the youngest). When it comes to my individual brand of geek love, I admit that I’m relatively new to the Marvel universe, and I still get accused of playing “girl games” when I’m picking up a new title at the video game store even though the title in my hand might be some new thing I saw three dudes in line ahead of me with.  But is it because I’m a girl? (or a woman, rather…)

I have to say that I agree with the ComicsAlliance panel in that the natural gender dynamics of the universe play a role in the geek community just like they do in any community. I’m just repeating what’s already been said if I say that geekery (whether it be comics, gaming, etc.) is traditionally a man’s sport, and I do think there are still some mountains to climb within the geek community (boobs on superheros, for example…).

But, personally, I don’t think that the average woman in the geek world is, on a daily basis, faced with too much judgement or discrimination from male geeks. The Cons and events I’ve been to have never presented me with any significant amount of predjudice from males.  My local comic shop, although mostly guys, treats me with the same respect as they do my male significant other and Darius Rucker (oh yeah, we shop at the same comic shop…).

No, I don’t think its male geeks who are the end boss for geek women.  Geek women, I think, are the true end boss we have to defeat.  The Game of Thrones issue I mentioned?  Started by a woman.  The nasty critique of Jill Pantozzi? Started by a chick.  The person at the game shop who tells me I play “girl games?”  A female. Men, I think, for the most part, have gotten past the whole “OMG! a girl with polyhedral dice in her purse!”  phase.  Sure they still have their oft-referred to Olivia Munn‘s but honestly, who else would complain about a hot girl but a jealous girl?

So I say: Geek Women, stop being petty.  When those celebrity women act like poseurs and claim some hidden nerdy past, brush it off.  If some cosplayer you know has armor that’s a little too busty, let it go.  When you focus on some other geek woman’s shortcomings, you’re only making yourself look like a jerk.  I realize sometimes its annoying when a girl plays up her “girlish charms”  (read: boobs) in order to get ahead in the geek world, but they are the exception, not the rule, and by acknowledging them you’re only acknowleding that it matters, that you give a crap, that somehow those boobs posses some extra geek-cred. 

Which is just silly since everyone knows geek-cred comes from the size of your database of useless knowledge, not your boobs…