Nerd With A Geeky Problem

[Gilgamesh]

So I'm spread way way too thin and don't have any true love for any one of my many geek paths. I'm trying to find something to deeply get into but I end up doing too much and barely having a passing knowledge of any of it.

My problem is pretty much that. I get into too many things and try to go deeper and end up moving on to something before I'm really latched on.

My current interests:
Comics (Green Lantern: Trying to learn the entire mythos) (The New 52: Trying to follow 12 different trades every month)
Gaming (Assassin's Creed, Everquest, Final Fantasy, FEAR, Tomb Raider, World of Warcraft and a few other games with 3+ games and sequels and tie in books and tie in comics etc etc etc)
Reading (Lovecraft books, Warhammer 40k, Pride Prejudice and Zombies as well as that whole series, old sci-fi series novels like Magic the Gathering, Everquest etc)

I try and do it all and end up doing none. It's killer. I was wearing my Green Lantern shirt out today and some guy shouted out the Green Lanterns oath to me as I walked by. That was awesome, that guy has a true love for the series. ThatNickGuy here is super into comics, he can tell you what to read for months on end. ScytheRexx can tell you the entire Warcraft mythos and how to level probably any class in the game etc etc etc. I'm just -good- at everything but no real -love- for any of it.

Tell me oh Halforums, what do I do?

 

[Frank]

There's nothing wrong with being a broad spectrum nerd.

 

[strawman]

Of the activities you mention, none appear to scratch the creativity itch. They are all acts of consumption, and not creation.

Some people are fine with that, I know someone that could spend all day, every day in a book store and never feel something is missing.

But if you are still left feeling like something is missing, look at the activities you enjoy, and see if there's a way you can create something that will in increase your enjoyment of the activity, or communicate your enjoyment to others.

This might be blogging, becoming a DM for an role playing game, writing book reviews, writing a book, or using your professional skills to enhance your enjoyment of an activity. A programmer might make tools to help them with their activities. A graphic artist might make mockups of scenes from books they've enjoyed. A marketer might make fake target advertisements for their favorite comic book character. A woodworker might make video game inspired furniture.

Share what you do with the world, and on the chance it's relationships or acknowledgement that you're missing, then this will still help that.

It might not be the act of creation you're missing, so if this doesn't tickle your fancy, check out Maslow hierarchy of needs, or one of the many similar thoughts on human satisfaction and happiness, and check off everything you already do, then explore those areas you don't currently dabble in.

Also, be aware that most geeks who appear to love one thing above all the others, at some point, either made a choice or were simply forced by circumstances to be closer to that thing than other things. Don't feel left out because nothing is particularly appealing to you now in the way you assume things appeal to other geeks, you are your own geek, and it's fine to choose to focus on one thing and let it be yours, rather than scattering your mind to the four winds and expecting sparks to happen when you hit upon something particular.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

Even though I'm super into comics, I don't know if I can help much with GL or the new 52. I've grown away from the "big two" comic companies and enjoy more creator-owned and self-contained series. So a lot of the stuff I enjoy are things like Elephantmen, The Unwritten, Atomic Robo, Chew, Criminal, etc. But I'll give it my best shot:

Green Lantern

It depends on where you want to start, I suppose. Personally, I started in the 90s with Kyle Rayner as the one and only GL, so I have a preference to that. I've never found Hal Jordan very interesting and honestly a very bland character (which is a product of the Silver Age, really). That said, I would say start with Emerald Dawn, which is like GL: Year One. There's several trades after that I could recommend that cover some of Kyle's story (and how Hal fell) that would help you understand when Hal returns to life in GL: Rebirth. Or you could jump right into Rebirth and just try to follow along. I don't think it's really very new reader friendly because it references tons of stories from the last decade or two, but it depends on the reader.

Past Rebirth, that's when writer Geoff Johns starts to go nuts with the mythos, which honestly I was turned off from after awhile. He started introduced different types of "Lanterns," starting with Yellow Lanterns, then branching out to Blue Lanterns, Purple Lanterns, Red Lanterns, and so on. It just gets ridiculous after awhile with a rainbow of different Lanterns. That's just my opinion, mind you. Others dig it.

New 52

The ones I really enjoy are mostly self-contained and usually feature the lesser characters. So I really enjoy Animal Man, Frankenstein, Demon Knights, and OMAC (cancelled after 8 issues). I was enjoying Grant Morrison's Action Comics for awhile, but I found it kind of hit and miss. While I haven't read it, I've heard endlessly great things about Scott Snyder's Batman. There's Batwoman, as well, though I would recommend reading some of the stuff that came before the New 52, first.

How's that?

 

[Bowielee]

The various lantern corps yielded the best GL comics ever made.

 

[Covar]

Geoff Johns Green Lantern: White Power! The guardians are evil, Sinestro was never that bad a guy, Willpower is an emotion, and John Stewart has a problem with murdering planets.[DOUBLEPOST=1344526653][/DOUBLEPOST] ThatNickGuy You should be reading Flash. Francis Manapul writes Barry Allen in character, and book is the best it's been since Rogue Wars, probably better.

 

[Bubble181]

I'm a bit the same, myself. I like games, and webcomics, and science fiction TV shows and books, and fantasy books and role playing games, and some music, and this, and that....

But look at what you want and where you want to go. Specializing as a nerd/geek has its advantages (being the King Geek on a specific topic can be fun in the right group). Specializing too much is problematic. Whether you're just really that much into Star Trek that you speak Klingon and wear a Starfleet uniform all day, or are so much into comic books, or My Little Pony, or whatever - too much is not a good thing.
Having a few nerdy interests is good. Switching hobbies often can be stupid or seem self-defeating (you'll never become the world's greatest guitarist if you play guitar for 6 months, bass for 6 months, piano for 3 months, cymbals for a couple of months, and so on and so on), but it really isn't, always. Having lots of different interests allows you to connect to more different people. Being "that guy" at work who can only talk about his one interest and is shunned by everyone else? Not good. Being "that girl" who can chat along with anyone about any of their interests, be it Steve's comics, Adam's music, Ellie's TV shows or Andrea's sports matches? Much better place to be.

Anyway,, if you feel you're missing something, of course, try to find that. If you feel you "ought to" be really into something but can't quite find the one thing you're willing to spend the next 10 years on... Don't, and examine your reasons first.

 

[Azurephoenix]

Dang dude... at least you don't have my problem with too many hobbies.

- Computer games
- Playing guitar
- Playing piano
- Playing drums
- Costuming
- Movie props
- Digital special effects
- Drawing
- Sculpting
- Reading
- Writing
- Movies
- Motocross
- Car racing
- Working on cars (mechanics)
- Painting miniatures
- Playing games with aforementioned miniatures

I'm sure I missed a few too. I'm above average at most of these, good at a few, really good at one or two but not great or amazing at any of them (and due to my thirst for new knowledge probably never will be). My skills fluctuate drastically over the years too as certain interests are pursued and others languish.

 

[Jay]

Dang dude... at least you don't have my problem with too many hobbies.

- Computer games
- Playing guitar
- Playing piano
- Playing drums
- Costuming
- Movie props
- Digital special effects
- Drawing
- Sculpting
- Reading
- Writing
- Movies
- Motocross
- Car racing
- Working on cars (mechanics)
- Painting miniatures
- Playing games with aforementioned miniatures

I'm sure I missed a few too. I'm above average at most of these, good at a few, really good at one or two but not great or amazing at any of them (and due to my thirst for new knowledge probably never will be). My skills fluctuate drastically over the years too as certain interests are pursued and others languish.

- Making more kids so that I can't play coop with Jay.

 

[Azurephoenix]

- Making more kids so that I can't play coop with Jay.

Damn, see I knew that I missed some important ones. I mean, I'm not as prolific as Stienman at this one but I get the job done .

Jay we should play some more killing floor once things settle down a bit for me here.

 

[North_Ranger]

There is nothing wrong with random fandom, as already stated. I myself am a dabbler: a little amateur theatre, but not year around; photographing cosplayers but not dressing up myself; enjoying movies but not getting novelizations and such; watching playthroughs instead of playing video games (ain't I a stinker? ); a little of column A, a little of column B.

Take the things you enjoy doing the most and put the rest on the backburner. That's what I do.

 

[Ravenpoe]

Damn, see I knew that I missed some important ones. I mean, I'm not as prolific as Stienman at this one but I get the job done .

Jay we should play some more killing floor once things settle down a bit for me here.

A floor for killing, you say? Assuming you can convince me to stop playing skyrim, I could help clear out the diseased and undead.

 

[PatrThom]

I have the same affliction.
I have no advice.
If you find the answer, please pass it along.

--Patrick

 

[BananaHands]

I think you need more on your plate.

Play Heavy Rain, it's on PS3.

 

[Gilgamesh]

There's nothing wrong with being a broad spectrum nerd.

While I agree with that sentiment, the times I've REALLY gotten into something (When I was deeply involved with EQ and WoW) I really enjoyed myself more than usual. The only downside was saying to myself "I spend all this time with this game that it prevented me from enjoying example, example and example". I sometimes envy a comic book geek that can just rant on and on about character arcs from his favorite series and how they've evolved and changed over the years.

Alot of great advice

I have done a bit of creating instead of consuming and while it was fun in it's own way, I really do like being absorbed into great universes and creations already standing. One example, as stated above, was my love of Warcraft. I bought all the novels, played the games, and lived the MMO. It was fantastic and I craved more and more for a very long time. Eventually I drifted away but I miss that dedicated level of delving into such a rich established universe.

Great comic advice

Part of my problem is that I don't seem to have the time to sit down and even read through a comic. Since the new 52 came out I've purchased 12 different series up to issue #12 and I think I've read most of them up to issue 7-8. It's kind of a downer to see them sitting there in my box and knowing that if I just sat down for a few hours I'd get through them. However once I start reading, about 1 comic in, I start wandering around and end up doing somethingelse for a few hours. -sigh-

 

[tegid]

Man, yo seem to be doing some of this things as chores! It's alright if you don't find time to read comics or you'd rather do something else. If what you want is to go deep into something, I don't think you should decide what it is beforehand. You buy this Green Lantern comic, maybe you like it, you get more and keep reading and maybe you get sucked into the mythos and become the expert. Or maybe not. Maybe when you were reading your second GL comic you got distracted by some AWESOME book and don't care about GL anymore but want to get all of that author's books now. Isn't that how it works?

I think your problem is
"I spend all this time with this game that it prevented me from enjoying example, example and example"
and
"So I'm spread way way too thin and don't have any true love for any one of my many geek paths."

Those are conflicting sentiments and you should try to get rid of both of them... Do whatever you enjoy, you have no obligation to broaden your spectrum and enjoy everything that's out there (it's impossible!), nor to become the supergeek in one specific topic.

(Something similar happens to me, except I try to ignore the feeling. I love videogames, but I love reading novels and comics, so much that I almost don't have time to play. I do feel I'm missing out not playing so many great games, but I tell myself I don't have time. Over time I've assumed more and more that VG are not so much my thing and I've 'specialized' a bit in other things)

 

[ScytheRexx]

It's okay to like a lot of things. I may be a WarCraft nut, but I also am a nut about a bazillion other things.

Besides, sometimes it's better not to love something too much. It saves you the heartbreak when you find out Michael Bay is making Teenage Alien Ninja Turtles.

 

[Gilgamesh]

I think where I'm going to start is just filing down each of the things I enjoy down a bit:

Comics: Go from the current 12 trades a month I'm trying to read down to 6.
Gaming: Dropping MMOs (WoW and EQ), they eat way too much time with little reward.
Reading: Dropping Warhammer 40k (Never really started but bought a few omnibus) and going to work on the "Jane Austen + Monsters" series as they're really fun.

So far the advice here was to keep the broad spectrum of geek love but focus a little more, I think that solution might work.

 

[Zappit]

Abandon the new 52! They just brought back the multiverse. A massive retcon is in the making, and who knows when it shall strike, making everything you've read...as if it never happened.

 

[Gilgamesh]

Well regardless of what they do the universe I really enjoy the GL trades (Red Lanterns, New Guardians, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps) as well as Wonder Woman and Cat Woman.

The other stuff I was just buying to buy really.

 

[Bowielee]

Well regardless of what they do the universe I really enjoy the GL trades (Red Lanterns, New Guardians, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps) as well as Wonder Woman and Cat Woman.

The other stuff I was just buying to buy really.

As I said, the "rainbow corps" yeilded some of the best GL stuff ever written. The Sinsestro Corps War, Rage of the Red Lanterns, GL corps, Blackest Night. GL is one of the few titles that was largely unchanged by the reboot.

 

[ThatNickGuy]

I dug the idea behind the "Rainbow Corps" first, but it's just all "Lookit all the pretty, different colours! All Lanterns! All the time! Character development? Psh, screw that noise, we got merch to sell! Here! Collect the whole set of rings! And action figures!"

Compare it with Johns' amazing run on Flash (the one he did with Scott Kolins), and it's disappointing. His run on Flash wielded some great character development, especially with the Rogues, and added some really interesting stuff to the Flash mythos in general.

But Hal has remained unchanged and the same dull character he always was. Ever since the Sinestro Corps, the only villains or anything at all that's been a focus on the GL books have been the various members of the Rainbow Corps. And it's just been war this or clashing colours this. All sizzle, no fizzle.