I think I have the nerd infection
Dear Doctor,
I think I have the nerd infection. As I am writing you, I am in lobster pajama pants and an African bush prints t-shirt. I wish I had a pair of fish pants. I’m pretty sure I’ve had the infection for awhile, the Nerdicus contagium maritimus variety. I attended Zoo Camp at the Bronx Zoo as a child, and spent several summers at Seacamp in Big Pine Key, Florida.
I’m pretty sure I have been to seven zoos and 17 aquariums. In fact, I’ve seen the world’s only two live kelp exhibits (one at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, and one at the Two Oceans Aquarium in South Africa).
I am either a joy or a nightmare to take to an aquarium. If you want to learn, then I am your girl, as I can identify 90-something percent of Caribbean reef fish and know facts about many of them. If you like to speed through an aquarium….well, you would probably flee. My cousin is guilty of having done this.
In fact, I am definitely an aquarium bum. I interned at the Florida Aquarium, and logged over 270 hours in under 6 months. If I wasn’t at class, I was at the aquarium!
I have pet penguins, been spit on by a walrus, been grabbed by an octopus, and have had fish or shrimp and their juices in my hair, on more than one occasion. I’ve owned fish (freshwater and saltwater), hamsters, guinea pigs, frogs, lizards, snakes, cats and dogs….what can I say? I love animals.
Nearly every place I have travelled (Caymans, Grenadines, Fiji, South Africa) has been because of a desire to see the natural world of that country. All of the places I want to go (Tanzania, Great Barrier Reef, Belize, etc) are because I want to explore the environment there.
My bookcase speaks for itself:
In fact, I got so excited when I saw the “Little Book of Pandemics” book, I’m certain if there was video footage of that moment, the diagnosis would be very fast.
My TV habits also tend to veer more towards the sciences as well…CSI, Eleventh Hour, Bones and NCIS are my favorite shows! I have crushes on fictional characters from many of these shows….Greg Sanders, Dr. Jacob Hood, Timothy McGee. And I would definitely be friends with Abby Sciuto and Dr. Temperance Brennan!
My nerd-love extends into my real life too. I have developed crushes based on the fact that someone was a fish-nerd. Nerds are hot!!!
Please report back quickly, as I hope to be diagnosed as soon as possible.
Sincerely,
Allie Wilkinson
P.S. I think my friend Christie is infected as well. After all, she started this site.
Silent Spring + Gorillas in the Mist (isn’t Fossey just great?) = case closed. Although I would like to add that a distiction should be made between different groups of nerds . As you surely know, there are those of us who are more fascinated by an old 486 with an original version of Visual Basic 1.0 then by beeing grabbed by an octopus – although that sounds like a lot of fun as well…
You should submit your case study to Nerd Infection too! There are different types of nerds, and nerds with multiple infections. I also have a minor case of computer nerd infection, but it veers more towards the internet. I just had to look up what an old 486 with Visual Basic was!