I like to say I’ve been a geek my entire life, and it’s not really that far from the truth. When I was small, my dad would read Lord of the Rings to me. I think this really helped mold me into the geek I am today.
I really started to embrace my geekiness when I was in high school. That was when I got into Star Trek: The Next Generation – I had a picture of the TNG crew in my locker and I started attending Star Trek conventions in 9th grade.
Going to college let me get even more geeky – I started gaming in college. I started playing D&D along with LARPing. I also was really into anime in college, though now I’m a lot less into it than I was.
I was out of college when I met my husband, who is geeky in his own ways. He’s a video game and movie geek. We are from Michigan though moved down to North Carolina a year before we got married. We had a Ren Faire themed wedding on September 30, 2006.
Because we had gotten married back in Michigan, we opted to wait until our first anniversary to take our honeymoon. We went to Walt Disney World for our honeymoon and started trying for a baby once we got back. 3 months later, I was pregnant.
Being pregnant didn’t deter me from my geeky pursuits. It was around this time that I started really getting involved with the Greenville, South Carolina, Browncoats. It was through them that I acquired the name “Chaos”.
There are quite a few people with the name ‘Mandy’ in the Greenville Browncoats. When I joined, there was already Good Mandy and Evil Mandy. So I asked who I could be, and Chaos was suggested. Thus, I became Chaos Mandy, and I rather like it.
After my daughter was born, I found that I had less time for geeky things, especially in the first six months or so of her life. Once we got past the early babyhood, I was able to do more. I had planned on returning to my job after my maternity leave was over, but I got laid off the day before I was suppose to go back to work.
I looked for a job for a while, but when we realized how bad the economy was, both my husband and I went back to school. I’m due to graduate in December. I’m also an aspiring writer – I really hope to have my first novel done by Christmas 2011.
So that’s who I am – college going, novel writing, technically stay at home mom to my 2 1/2 year old daughter who has been a geek all her life!
WOOHOO! A Ren Faire wedding! How awesome is that! Was it at the Michigan Ren Faire? I worked at the faire back when I was a teen… flirted with the knights and squires. Hung out at the glass blowers at night. Made shoes while my brother made swords. Dated a nomad… Now, we just go in full costume dress every year, including the kids. My geekery goes way back!
Nope – we didn’t get married at the Ren Faire – though it had been the right time of year.
We got married in Bay City, MI – in the church where my parents got married 😀