Happy Pre-Labor Day!

This past week, as always, was spent spending money. I really shouldn’t as I have too many bills and other things I should be saving for; the problem with this is I am a geek on several different levels. I ‘m into music, video games, comics, movies, computers, technology, nerd-wear, toys, gadgets, etc. all of this combined means my paychecks disappear faster than they should.

I, like many of you, forego responsibilities on a constant basis just to be able to get a few more collectable things to add to my collections. To be honest it’s almost like a drug I assume.

Every Tuesday I end up at a movie/music store and end up spending $100’s of dollars just because something new and shiny came out. Whether it’s a re-released (again), a re-mastered (again), re-packaged (again), ultra shiny special edition of Halloween (1978), or any other movie or if it is just something to feed my nostalgia for another week while I sit back and watch episodes of “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” again and again.

Every Wednesday I am at the comic shop at 4pm sharp to meet up with Dom and Chris and all of my other geek friends (and comic shop workers) to wax intellectual about what went wrong with certain story arcs, or why a certain artist should work on every comic EVER, or why there’s not MORE statues and merchandise for Marvel Zombies. I pick up my regular stuff… beg Dom to order more Wildstorm horror comics for me and to help me find the old “Marvel Nightmare on Elm St.” books or any of the Innovision stuff. I pick up my 5-10 books that week and head home to read them.

Luckily nothing really comes out other days of the week too much – the occasional video game decides to be released on a weird day. Also don’t forget chain stores feed on your nostalgia and frankly it’s a wise choice. There are a lot of people like me. I walk into some random store and see their piles of “we know you want these” nerd shirts that I can’t help but to buy to make sure everyone knows that I indeed DO like to play old school video games… a lot.

I’ve tried in vain several times to curb this harsh habit. I just can’t. I guess, me being straight edge, is the closest thing I have to a drug habit and makes me understand alcoholism and smoking a little better as well. When it comes to paying rent and the major bills I don’t slack off at all and will even stop buying food and such to make sure I make rent and all of that on time… but if it comes down to paying off say… Local Taxes… I’ll put that off as long as possible so I can get the Blade Runner box set (for example).

I can stop spending money really easily. I can.

When I know I have $200 in the bank and a $108 bill coming out on the 29th of the month I don’t touch any of the $200 at all for 2 weeks without even batting an eye, BUT if I have more than $300 in my bank account at any time, I’ll spend until I can’t any more. It’s inane, insane, and obviously dumb on my behalf. The problem is – if I set aside $200 a paycheck or something – I *NEVER* miss it. Not once. It just takes a battle and a half to get that $200 out of my account and into a savings type place, or even into a hidden spot in my home.

I know quite a few people with this same problem… so what is it?

What is it that draws us who are of a geeky/nerdy nature to things like this so much? I can’t say its commercials or advertisements really that do this to me personally, though I’m sure it affects other people. I haven’t had cable or any television other than PBS for about 8 years now so commercials can’t do anything for me, the only ads I see are online or in print, and I forget those pretty easily because I don’t really give a fuck. So this brings us back to the original conundrum; what is it about a shiny cover, a re-re-re-re-release, a shirt with just a simple drawing of a game console or character, or a 3” statue of Spider-Man that makes us desire it so much?

Is it the same thing that makes us break our diets. Is it the same thing that makes us drive faster through a yellow light. Is it the same thing that makes us want to stab someone in the face when they say something so moronic that your brain can’t process the information properly.

Is it the unnamable; we can’t explain human nature as much as we wish we could. Sometimes things are just waiting in the 90% of our brains we don’t use. There’s more to humans than we may ever know, especially in our lifetime. Somewhere out there, there are scientists who are trying day in and day out to explain what Pac-Man does to our brains, or to figure out the meaning of fear while watching a movie. Every little stimulus means something, a stab of pain, a taste of pizza, seeing that rare comic you’ve been looking for, touching and holding someone you love.

So what is it?

Is it truly a Great Space Coaster?

1. You’re so gay for zombie Spider-Man.

   Posted by Tommy | September 3, 2007, 8:09 pm

2. Yea tommy your right, Im sure he would love to feel a bit of the old Spidey Sense tingling his boo berry.

   Posted by missalphatrix | September 12, 2007, 10:20 pm