I am a geek.
Cease your protestations that�it just can�t be. Let fall silent your proclamations, "But, Riki, you�re just too cool!" It�s true...I am a geek.
The term 'nerd' came into being while I was attending�Tarpon Springs Middle School�- oh, no, thank you,�Happy Days. It was applied to those of my ilk, but I had already been graced with a different moniker, a 'handle', if you will. At the time, my nickname was "Hamster." Judging from that, where do you think I fit in the sophomoric lunchroom caste system known as...junior high?
Although my geekdom goes back a long way to my early youth - scrawny kids often fall target to the verbal slings and arrows of their stronger more robust compadres - it wasn�t until high school that I truly began to manifest my appetite for the bizarre and Trek-like.�Star Wars�came out the year I entered Tarpon Springs Senior High School. I had already been watching�Star Trek�reruns on television for a few years, and I was a big Planet of the Apes nut even before the 60�s decided to turn into the 70�s. Before that was comic books.�Fantastic Four,�X-Men, even an�Archie�or two (but only when I was younger). These were my heroes - where ordinary, even geeky people lived larger than life, and saved the world on a regular basis. If you�ve ever seen the movie�Free Enterprise, with Eric McCormack from�Will & Grace�and Bill Shatner playing himself, then you will understand where I�m coming from. Yeah, it was like that. Still is, really...but a little more hip. No, really!
A keynote speaker...
A keynote speaker... ...okay, not so much
...okay, not so much Read the shirt! It's a funny shirt!
"You don't need to look at my chest.
These are not the breasts you're looking for. Move along."
Still not convinced that I�m a geek? What, and wearing tights for a living doesn�t count? Fine. Then let me tell you a little tale about how I came to work at Renaissance festivals. Maybe then you will be able to see me as the strange and unusual fellow that I claim to be.
Stretching the long path of my life down around "Lake Serendipity," I now have a career performing at Renaissance festivals across the country. And why? Because I went to church, of course.�Way!�You see, I had been attending the�First United Methodist Church of Tarpon Springs�ever since I was a wee tyke. I was very active in the youth group and choir, even going on tour with them for a few summers to places as far as Estes Park, Colorado and Ontario, Canada. Hell, I was even a camp counselor for one summer at the�Leesburg United Methodist Youth Camp. Go figure, but I digress.
Anywho, it was around my junior or senior year of high school that a new youth director came our way. His name is Paul S. Parzik, and he was only a few years older than I was. He studied religious philosophy and Christian history, was into weight lifting, and was just an all around cool guy. He taught us that it was noble to adhere to and stand up for our convictions - whatever they might be - and that you didn�t have to listen to dull music to touch God. With people like�Larry Norman,�Phil Keaggy,�Keith Green, and�Petra, Jesus had his own rock music now. Basically, he taught us that church, even with all its rules & regs, could be fun.
But that�s not all. There was one thing he taught us that some believed to have a darker side. What do you expect when the youth in your own church, and on selfsame consecrated ground where you worshiped no less, were learning to play...(Insert appropriate duhn, duhn, duh! music here.)...Dungeons & Dragons!
That�s right, Dungeons & Dragons, soon to be followed by -�oh, no, say it isn�t so�-�Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. (Because I was getting more and more proficient at being a geek.)
And it was through the playing of�Dungeons & Dragons�that I met a friend of Paul�s named Howard Koutney.
With friend and artist L.A. Williams
With friend and artist L.A. Williams If you don't save my 16th level cleric I'm going to sue your ass!
If you don't save my 16th level cleric I'm going to sue your ass! Me and long-lost FL friend Barlette Meeks
Me and long-lost FL friend Barlette Meeks
Howard told me about a festival that he had worked at for a few years, and it was loosely based on the same fantastical genre that we enjoyed dipping our creative feet into about once a week. The�Bay Area Renaissance Festival of Largo, Florida was where he played "Lute, the Satyr" - it sounded too intriguing to pass up. Time for the festival came around, and Paul and I took a trip, first to the Sarasota Medieval Faire on a Saturday in the Spring of �84, and then to the Largo faire - affectionately known as B.A.R.F. - on Sunday.
What can I say? We came, we saw, it conquered. Paul was even pulled up on stage by none other than Danny Lord, doing his�Rolo-Polo�show. By the next weekend I had spoken with the assistant entertainment director and even put a costume a costume together Thus, I became a part of Renaissance festival history...as "Eventine the Elf" (a name I borrowed straight from the pages of Terry Brooks��Sword of Shannara�series.
So, there you have it - my geekdom birth story. Still not convinced? Would it help to mention that I got my high school letter in Chorus? How about that I am currently playing in two role-playing games?
I haven�t 'gamed' (that�s what it�s called when you participate in a role-playing game - 'gaming') for a while before this, and I don�t like to play just for the sake of playing. The game must be intriguing and involve fun, interesting, and intelligent people who like to have a good time. Currently I�m playing in a�Dungeons & Dragons�3.5 game as well as a�Living Death�- an ongoing version of�Mask of the Red Death�- game. In the�Living Death�game, I�m playing a ghost-hunting German metaphysician named Akroyd Reitman (named after one of the actors as well as the director involved in the�Ghostbusters�movie). I�m also playing an Elven fighter/magic-user/soon to be spellsword named Wrath in the�D&D�3.5 game.
How �bout now? Think I�m a geek now? I believe that I�m beginning to convince a few of you. But, please, allow me to press on.
My first�D&D�character was named Valoric Kane - he was a fighter. Next was his brother Solomon Kane - a paladin - named after a Robert Howard (the creator of�Conan the Barbarian) character. After that a few of this and that, but my favorites were Thorne Blackrose - an Elven fighter with a first edition specialization in the longbow - and Grimson Fairfax-an assassin and later magic-user.
Convention security was tough!
Convention security was tough! Welcome to Justin's brand-new fantasy gaming store
Welcome to Justin's brand-new
fantasy gaming store Welcome to the Dark Side
Welcome to the Dark Side
So, what good has all this fantasy crap done me? Often it provided an escape from the real world, much like movies, but with more of a hands-on experience. Plus, it has steeped my creativity to the point where I have begun to write a book based on some of my characters, the characters of others, and their mutual exploits. Okay, I said, "begun to write." What I really meant was that over the last eight to ten years I have written over 750 pages. If only I could finish the damned thing. Then I could begin my rewrite, and quite possibly get this bugger published. (Any big-time publishers out there interested?)
[ download the video clip - "Geekin' Jef" ]
Well, there you have it, a bird�s eye view of the broad expanse-but not complete picture-of my geekdom. Convinced you, didn�t I? And I am not alone. Jef plays (less than he�d like to, but he plays), Ronn plays, yes we all play. Sometimes together, and sometimes with ourselves (don�t even get me started on computer games) - at home, with others, in motel rooms, in hotel lobbies, at fantasy conventions, at gaming conventions, in the back of buses, in our trailers - but we all play. Did I happen to mention that I recently spent a weekend 'geeking' in Columbia, Ohio at the�Origins Gaming Convention? Yes, I believe that I have won this argument. See, I told you so.
I am a geek.
With friends in the Tarnished Images Art booth at Origins
With friends in the Tarnished Images
Art booth at Origins Ruth Thompson's newest art piece
Ruth Thompson's newest art piece Jouster Boys of Yesteryear are now the Family Men of Today
Jouster Boys of Yesteryear are now
the Family Men of Today
