Greetings fans of Skippy.
Hi. My name is Michiel and I have been a friend of Skippy for about twelve or thirteen years. Basically we knew each other when neither of us had a gut or love handles.
Skippy has been wanting to have some other people contribute to his website, doctor and I am honored to be the first person he asked, check or at least be the first to accept. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Skippy for the chance to either wow or bore thousands of people every week. Not everyone gets that chance. How cool is that?
I wanted to make my first post some cool, cough funny story, but somehow I felt that an introduction is in order. So here is a little bit about me.
I have no interesting military stories. I never served and my dad was in the Air Force, which we all know barely counts as being in the military. At least that is what friends in the other branches of the military have told me, and I have to trust them, because I never served.
I am, however, a geek/nerd/dork or whatever you call it. Allow me to present my credentials.
I am thirty nine years old and remember seeing my first Star Trek rerun when I was about four and still in pre-school. I even remember trying to explain it to my friends the following Monday. Oh, and I prefer the term Trekkie over Trekker.
I was totally into Star Wars and saw it three times in the theater when it originally ran. To say that I was into Star Wars at the time was like saying I like to breathe air. And for the record, I will never refer to the original Star Wars movie as “Episode 4,” or “A New Hope.” It’s STAR WARS! (Do you hear me Lucas! Quit jacking with my childhood mythology! It’s STAR WARS and Greedo did NOT shoot first you bastard!)
At about age eleven or twelve I fell in love with the wonderful world of Dungeons and Dragons, and even dabbled in a couple other games. (Gamma World ring any bells?) My girlfriend thinks it is so cute that I still have the books and dice, but most of all, the little lead figures that I hand painted myself.
Around this same time, (this is early 80’s) I was obviously into video games much like everyone else. But I never had an Atari or an Intellivision. No, I had an Apple IIe. And I had lots of games on that. I bring up the Apple IIe to not only show that I was a nerd, but that I am at least second generation nerd, as this was something my parents chose to buy. I just wanted an Atari. But then again these are the same parents that let me stay up late while I was in pre-school to watch Star Trek. (By the way, the Apple IIe still works, and has a working disk drive, monitor and dot matrix printer, as well as a large game library. I might be willing to entertain offers for the whole package, but my inner dork says not to, even though I don’t use it).
From about age twelve to about seventeen, I collected comic books. I was a Marvel kid. All of you fans of DC and other companies can keep your comments to yourselves, I liked what I liked. If anyone is wondering, my favorite character is the Thing.
I was a major metal head when I was a teenager too. I discovered heavy metal and pot and promptly grew my hair to the middle of my back. Seriously, a couple bong hits, some Iron Maiden and a good comic book, and I was a happy boy.
In college, I majored in Art.
I was a major chess geek for a while and was really into four way chess for several years. If you have never tried four way chess, then you really should. That game will make your brain scream.
I was very much into Paganism for several years. We all know that Paganism, in all of it’s forms, is the nerdiest of religions, as it is the path that most resembles a live action D&D game. It was through paganism, that I met Skippy at a big nekkid pagan campout. (Oh, speaking of live action role playing, I have taken part in a Vampire: The Masquerade LARP, but that is a story for another time).
I carry a Discordian Pope card in my wallet. My Discordian name is Art C. Fartci.
I have done tech support for an ISP and a major computer company. Please hold.
At this point in my life my inner dork expresses itself by playing City of Heroes. I have played other games some, but I like COH and COV. It just picks on too many of my nerd weaknesses. It’s a video game, it’s role playing, and it’s super heroes. WOW can bite me, I can fly and teleport in COH and COV. Until I can fly and teleport in other games, this is the MMORPG for me.
I also have worked in haunted houses for about fourteen to fifteen years. I don’t think it is dorky or geeky or nerdy, but I’m sure it is anyway. The way I see it, why go see zombie movies when you can BE the zombie? Plus any job that will pay me to chase people with a machete and threaten their lives without fear of legal repercussions, that’s the job for me.
Finally, I also do stand up comedy, which is probably one of the nerdiest forms of entertainment out there. Seriously, most comics are social rejects of one sort or another.
So there you go, I am one of you. Love me.
P.S. By the way the only thing worse than fanfic, is furries. Commence flaming, now.
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March 27th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
Greetings!
“Until I can fly and teleport in other games, this is the MMORPG for me.”
Pre-farking-cisely.
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March 27th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Welcome!
“P.S. By the way the only thing worse than fanfic, is furries.”
What about fanfic that features furries?
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March 27th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Real life furries trump, fictional furries.
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March 28th, 2008 at 12:12 am
As a fanfic writer (I like to think I’m one of the good ones) I’m just happy to not be abused directly. :|
Anyway, welcome! Hope to see more from you soon!
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March 28th, 2008 at 1:26 am
Michiel, this is your dad. “If you don’t get a goddamn job by sundown, I am going to ship your ass off to military school with that Finkelstien-shit kid.”
Also the Air Force is real military, done smarter and safer. We kill and get back to base to drink and get laid while the grunts spend the night in a hole. You think anyone will know where the above quote about a job came from?
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March 28th, 2008 at 5:28 am
In response to Mike. It came from cheech and chong’s “Up in Smoke.”
This is my first time ever putting a message up here so skippy i just wanna say that you are the only reason i keep getting up and put on this monkey suit of a uniform. Thank you for your help in getting through mindlessly boring service i have volunteered for.
Michael, it was nice to meet you and hope to hear from you again soon.
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March 28th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
“We all know that Paganism, in all of it’s forms, is the nerdiest of religions, as it is the path that most resembles a live action D&D game.”
Wow, just when I think you’ve out-geeked me, BAM. Right in the religion. I would think Paganism wouldn’t be considered “geeky”, since it works so well as an excuse to run around naked for no particular reason.
As a fanfic writer, I’d be appalled at the way Skippy (and friends, now!) constantly trash us if I weren’t laughing so hard. If you think you know what you’re missing, you obviously haven’t found the good stuff yet. But if you think Furries are worse, you haven’t found the bad stuff yet!
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March 28th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
The Air Force is great, what other service do the Enlisted get to send the Officers off to fight. And Always Remember the old adage, ” Don’t Piss off your Crew Chief”
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March 28th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Dude, riding my bike to the local theater to watch ‘Star Wars’ – Good Times. What may be sad is I still have the original Album, with the movie pictures inside. Now that is a true legacy to hand down to my children!
But now you have me questioning my ‘life label’ (80’s metal, D & D, Star wars, Apple, etc…at least I got to also have the Atari) …I don’t want to be a nerd, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t!
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March 28th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
HA.. I had a commadore 64 and remember wishing I had the atari as well. Long time reader First time replying, the thing was cool… but THOR was the man. Between him and IRONMAN I was a happily adjusted boy.
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March 28th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Holy crap, you’ve just recited one of my best friend’s life story.
By the way, we now call ourselves “geeks” not “nerds.” Which is guess is the “African American” to “black” of the sub-culture, where “nerd” was reclaimed from the jocks but eventually moved to something without baggage.
Now I just need to play enough MMOs to get those 40 virtual acres and a digital mule.
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March 28th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Personally I prefer the term dork. Not sure why, I just do. But, I tend to use all the terms, including geek and nerd.
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March 28th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
AND the only thing worse than furries is furries who want to share… I served with one and he wasn’t allowed to talk to me unless it was about work…. ugghh… memories…
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March 29th, 2008 at 2:30 am
An old time Air Force story. 1966, Williams AFB, Arizona. Willie is now a closed AFB. Willie was a pilot training base. T-37 and T-38s. The base was also training foreign pilots and mechanics. Housed in one of the old wood frame WWII barracks was a squadron of Vietnamese mechanics and on the second floor a squadron of Jordanian mechanics. I was a medic at the base hospital and several of us wondered what that living condition would spawn.
I was working the emergency room one saturday When we were told to expect some injuries from that barracks, their had ben a riot. The betting started then and there. Who one the battle, the gooks or the camel jockeys?
Soon the injured arrived, knife wounds, blunt trauma, broken bones and minor injuries. Well, after 16 hours of medical repairs, the score Gooks 15 injured, C-jocks 27. I won $30.
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March 29th, 2008 at 2:34 am
Shit, I had a lot of typos and spelling errors in that last post. Sorry! Lesson learned, don’t drink and type at the same time :o)
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March 29th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Three times in original release? 86 including the summer re-release, kid. No one knew about VHS or DVDs in those days…
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March 31st, 2008 at 5:14 am
Hey you can fly and teleport in WOW, it just takes you about ten days of in game play time to get to 70 and get a flying mount that you can only fly on a certain continent. And WOW has a lot of little references to all the major geek things like Firefly, Star Trek, and Star Wars. And the whole game is a LOTR and Dungeons and Dragons reference. And the programmers do special things for kids with cancer. And yes Han did shoot first and I am eternally grateful that lucas released the original theatrical versions of the original trilogy on DVD cause the digitally remastered ones make me want to throw things. And Fanfic and Furries both suck.
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March 31st, 2008 at 5:55 am
Thats quite an introduction. It is a pleasure to meet someone with such high stats in nerdiness. I love meeting people who are as nerdy as I am.
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March 31st, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Nerd life forever!
I think, as a former member of my high school’s marching band, in addition to being a pagan, metal head, Star Wars loving, Sci-Fi watching player of video games and *gasp* CCg’s, I have you all trumped.
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March 31st, 2008 at 11:50 pm
***I have no interesting military stories. I never served and my dad was in the Air Force, which we all know barely counts as being in the military. At least that is what friends in the other branches of the military have told me, and I have to trust them, because I never served.***
Not at all a problem for those of us who have been there, got the T-shirt, and then threw up on it. You are not *poisoned by your experience* or locked into a way of doing things because, well, that’s the way it’s ALWAYS been done. Accordingly, your fresh view of such things gives us an outsiders insight into our sometimes inside-the-box way of doing things.
And, hopefully, your stories won’t outshine ours. Most of the time, anyway.
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April 8th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Geek: nerd with social skills
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April 10th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Finally made it over here to read you. Most excellent introduction, my friend. But then, I’ve always liked reading what you wrote. Now I have someplace new to do it! And personally, I think Dork fits you just fine.
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September 16th, 2008 at 7:10 am
Huh,
I’d wondered about the pagan thing a few years ago, just given the mentions of skyclad, 118. ‘revel fires’, woad, etc in the Skippy’s List (conclusive I know).
It’s true!
Dang dirt-worshippers, they get everywhere.
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January 30th, 2011 at 1:00 am
The first Star Wars released was RERELEASED (BEFORE the Special Edition) as Episode IV: A New Hope because George Lucas realized that he wanted to make prequels and sequels, so please get a grip! He is the only director/writer I know of to rerelease a film and add an ordinal/subtitle to the title upon planning to make more films in the storyline, which delights me because I wish that most people planning on making multiple films would at least put the number 1 at the end of the first film’s title (but I digress). My point is that all six movies and all related books, games and so on are Star Wars, and subtitles/ordinals help distinguish one thing from another. (Heck, “A New Hope” is not in the title of the Super NES game or on the box for the Special Edition VHS, but I still treat it like it is.)
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November 28th, 2014 at 3:42 pm
Michiel, I’m pretty sure I can out-geek you. I’m one of those weird people that stand by the side of the tracks and take pictures of trains. (Although, it is getting pretty hard to do that since the fricking PATRIOT Act was signed. I’ve had the cops try to take my camera from me several times! It’s an old Canon from my Dad, who got it from his dad.) I can identify what railroad originally owned a line by the color of the ballast (the rocks below the tracks), I can identify who made the locomotive and what model it is by ear, and I can identify what type of horn it has. (Yes, there are different types)
I also ride behind steam locomotives when they do mainline excursions, and have helped rebuild a few of them. (Pere Marquette 1225, of Polar Express fame, Milwaukee Road 261, Chicago @ North Western 1381, and a few others) I can fire one, and run one. And yes, I wear the bibs and hat.
I also have model trains in my basement, on a 24″ wide shelf that runs around the walls for a total length of 3 scale miles, or 182.7 feet.
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March 9th, 2017 at 8:34 pm
Thanks for sharing. Your post is a useful contuibrtion.
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May 16th, 2017 at 5:19 am
Sounds fascinating. I was a massive Enid Blyton fan, but admit I had a mega soft spot for her circus-themed stories. I also never really thought about her books’ cultural context so you’ve given me great food for thought!
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