nerd voting

Today, early and bored at the airport (in Taiwan, they board planes in 5 minutes before scheduled takeoff), my family voted on who the biggest nerd in our family is. It's a topic we've discussed for the majority of my life. It started with stories my dad would tell us of his school days. Unfortunately for my dad, the response to most of his stories was, "Oh man, you were such a nerd." Fortunately for him, he couldn't care less if his thus far unsuccessful children think of him as a nerd.

Recently, though it's been taken perhaps a step too far. Since arriving in Taiwan, he purchased some "pants"* and had them quickly and cheaply tailored. As most people know, the problem with things/services offered for cheap is a lack of quality. Well. Dad's cheap tailoring led to his pants being about 3 inches too short when standing. Which translates to being 8 inches too short when sitting. It isn't particularly fair to question the tailoring before examining the other possibility: he is wearing his pants too high. However, the conclusion of either circumstance: he looks like a nerd. My mom has taken it upon herself to join in on the banter, "Oh, I see you are wearing your nerd pants today."

And this is where Dad drew the line. "Who do you think is the biggest nerd in our family?" It was put up for a vote. Three people voted Dad and one person voted Jocelyn. In a attempt to not earn the title Second Nerd, I attempted to convince the family that the Biggest Nerd shouldn't get a vote, but they felt that nerds deserve rights too.

Happy New Year from the eastern hemisphere. I spent it talking to my cousin, yelling happy new year out in the cabin (to which apparently my dad responded from upstairs but we heard nothing) and getting their dog way too excited and then giving her belly scratches.

*In quotation marks, as the cut-off length between pants and capris has been seriously called into question.