Being Wil Wheaton

I don't know how to say this so I'm just going to come out and say it. I have always felt that I have spent much of my life trapped in the wrong body. I'm not saying I have a pressing desire to wear silky bottoms or anything. My problem isn't one of sexual identity (I like innies, not outies), but rather one of expectations. It struck me recently when I was accused of acting macho simply by standing with my arms crossed (I have back issues so standing with my arms crossed helps align my posture into a comfortable position) that people see me as some oafish man-brute.  I am often called things like "Big fella" or "Hoss" (whatever the fuck that means). When I talk to people they genuinely seem surprised that I am a moderately intelligent individual. I think when people look at me they expect me to act something like this:

When on the inside I think, act, and feel more like this:

Seriously... I'm like a neck beard away from joining a LARP group! (No offense to my LARPing friends... I'm just not that far gone yet).

Take tonight for example: in my Intro to Psych class we were discussing cognitive abilities associated with learning and memory. The professor put a series of numbers on the board (1-7-7-6-1-4-9-2-1-8-1-2-1-9-4-1)  and asked us to memorize them and then moved on. At the end of class I raised my hand and recited them perfectly. He seemed kind of surprised that I remembered them. I said it was easy. As soon as I saw the numbers I recognized them as significant dates in American history, so I broke them down and remembered them as simply as this:

1776-Declaration of Independance

1492-Columbus sailed the ocean blue (and wiped out an entire native population)

1812- comma the war of

1941- The bombing of Pearl Harbor. 

To me, no biggie--a simple task. But the Professor seemed surprised. 

The moral of this story is that I feel like people look at me and expect some mindless slab of idiot-meat. My physical being does not reflect my mental being. I look like someone who should be out tailgating, "ahhh-guy'ing" about football, high-fiving my buddies, and chest-bumping over our sexual conquests. In reality I am a 5+ year subscriber to World of Warcraft with multiple max level characters. I love reading fantasy novels (WoT, Song of Ice and Fire, Malazan etc.).  I love video games, comic books, cartoons, super heroes, and movies about all of the above. I watch just about every sci-fi show on the Sci-Fi channel (I refuse to use their idiotic new moniker). And--brace yourself--I like Star Trek more than I like Star Wars. *ducks*

So basically what it boils down to is that I want be like Wil Wheaton. The man just makes geekdom look cool! 

...okay... maybe not THAT cool.