This is my awesome, alternate About page, created by @nerdsherpa who can also be found on his blog. If you want the About page I wrote it’s here.
1985 was a big year for nerds.
Michael J. Fox went Back to the Future and played werewolf basketball. The man who would some day be Sam Gamgee, Sean Astin, made his big screen debut in Goonies. Better off Dead, Clue, Enemy Mine, Real Genius, Commando, Fletch, Spies Like Us, Ladyhawke, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science… Too many awesome movies happened. Rolling Stone declared U2 the Band of the 80s, and this before they even recorded The Joshua Tree. The Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Mario Brothers arrived in the US.
4.8 billion people lived on the Earth, and Ruth joined them.
In high school, as both a nerd and a young girl with an old-lady name, she was an outsider. Things changed in college. Like many nerds, she discovered she was not alone. Others like her existed in the real world, not just on the internet. She began to realize that her old-sounding name was a match for her heart and she took ownership of it. At some point, she met and married “Professor X”, giving all nerds hope that there’s someone compatible out there.
Like many nerds, she knows that data is the currency of the future. Soon, she will begin a course of study in library science. It is the field in which she currently works, because helping people understand and catalog data is something nerds do regardless of their training. Some may think print is dead. They are almost certainly correct. However, libraries will persist because although the medium of data storage may change, there must always be people who understand the method.
I met her on the internet, as you are doing right now, and within a few short tweets I knew she was a Friend. She writes stuff on the internet, likes all the best in sci fi television, plays RPGs and crochets Cthulhus. Let me say that again. She crochets Cthulhus. Seriously, what more do you need to know? While it is probably clear from my digressions that I know few concrete details about her and in fact have never met her in real life, what I do know is this: Some day, likely the next time I find myself near her city, we will meet. I will offer Professor X a congratulatory high-five, the three of us will be instant friends, and we will go someplace awesome for hamburgers and beer. <-- and it totally happened. - Ruth
You’re already here, so read her blog.
I also strongly recommend you follow her on Twitter: @cthulhuchick
