The Black Sheep... But, Like, Nerdy.

Howdy.
Sorry I've been gone so long. It's been quite a week. And by that, I mean, of course, that it's been a totally uneventful and therefore depressing week.
Anyway!
I've always been annoyed by some aspect of my family, and today I was finally able to identify it. It's more in reference to myself that the rest of my family.
I have two younger brothers close in age to me and two parents. A mom and a dad (as these days, that deserves clarification. Woo, equality!). One of my brothers goes to school with me, and is one of the so-called "jerkish popular kids." I feel mean saying that about my brother, but I feel it must be established, and honestly. Anyway, a lot of the kids in our school call me the "Black Sheep" of my family. Some say it in a good way, and some in a bad. Today, though, I realized that I am, in fact, the Black Sheep, and the reason why. I am the only NERD in my family!

Last night my mom felt bad for me, so she pretended to seem interested when I said I was going to watch Doctor Who. We watched Blink, which everyone knows is an INCREDIBLE episode. Despite my knowledge of this, I felt self-conscious throughout. I kept explaining things in a really defensive manner, and writing off potentially-lame aspects of the episode with comments like "it's not really like this anymore." Why? When I have just stated, with confidence, that Blink is freaking amazing?
I also find that I feel uncomfortable discussing other typically "nerdy" or "odd" things with my family, such as Discworld novels and other science-fiction-y books, Portlandia and other "offbeat" shows,  and even my own writing.
I don't like playing my music out loud in case something weird comes on, and I don't like watching most of my TV shows when other people are home.
I went to my friend's house a few days ago. She is a fellow nerd, but, unlike me, she comes from a family of nerds. And, to clear up any misconceptions, even though they like science fiction etc., they are still fully-functioning, socially-adept members of society. I walked into my friend's house and was greeted by the sounds of a Star Wars movie playing in the family room as a test of the new surround sound speakers. My friend's little brother, not much younger than my own, said "hey." He was clad in a Star Trek t-shirt, and asked my friend earnestly about a chapter in Fellowhip of the Rings. My friend's parents were sitting together in the living room, drinking tea and reading. I followed my friend around her house in awed silence. It didn't seem real.

Anyway, enough of that. My family is a good one, even if I do get a tad lonely among the cool.

-Susan D. Holmes

P.S. On a side note, my dear friend Alice Adler and I discovered a wonderful website while searching for each other's best-friend-day gifts (yes, we invented a holiday specific to us, more explanation to come). One of the tradition's of our holiday is to send each other an awesome t-shirt. However, no matter where I searched, I just wasn't able to find a satisfactory Doctor Who or Sherlock tee to send my dear friend. Then, I stumbled upon the website redbubble.com. This site is AMAZING. I typed in my searches, and THOUSANDS of witty and adorable designs popped up for my shopping convenience. The products, which are usually t-shirts or stickers, are very reasonably-priced, and ship within 24 hours! And you can choose any color t-shirt, and they will print the design for you! It's really quite lovely. Do check it out.

I adore this shirt!

This is irrelevant, but, when I was posting the picture, I accidentally, out of habit, clicked "paste" instead of "insert picture." What, you ask, popped up on my screen? This Doctor Who quote, which I must've copied at some point for some reason or another:

"She said that you were a Mr. Hottie...ness. And that she would like to go out with you for...texting and scones."

How awesome is that?