So, I'm marrying a Mac Geek. He hates that I call him that, but he is, and he knows it. So he can suck it up.
I never expected to marry a Mac Geek. I never expected to marry, period. I thought I'd grow up, become a rich and famous director and, spend my romantic life bouncing between hot actors and the occasional male model. Did reality figure into this little daydream? Not really.
How did I end up with John? It's a long story, but in the end I'm glad I did. He's changed my life in so many little ways that I never could have expected. One of them, one of the major ways he's changed my life, is that he introduced me to Mac computers.
Now computers are a BIG part of my life. I'm a graphic designer (waved goodbye to those dreams of a theater career in college when I was tired of working twenty hours a day, eating my meals standing up and one handed while I wielded a screwgun with the other), and a digital artist, and I spend most of my day sitting in front of one computer or another. When I first started out as a digital artist I was working on a borrowed PC that wouldn't run Corel Painter, and crashed if I opened Illustrator.
John showed me--pardon the expression--a whole new world. A world where the system doesn't crash if it's running two programs at once. A world where my computer can be as pretty and stylish as whatever I'm working on. A... well... you get the point.
I love my Mac.
Am I a Mac Geek? I don't know. If preferring a Mac to a PC makes me a Mac Geek, I suppose I am. But mostly my knowledge extends to: Look, I can run the entire CS Suite without it crashing and be online at the same time! Sweet!
But part of marrying a Mac Geek means that I get to be involved in his interests, and so every now and then I dip my big toe in the pool of Geekdom, just to see what's going on. It's not as smelly as I thought it would be. :)
For the last three years, he's been telling me all about MacWorld. Here's what I know about Macworld: It's big. It's full of all kinds of vendors hawking their MACcessories, and techno geeks who are quietly creaming their pants over the mere thought of an Apple developed phone. John speaks at it, and there are loads of classes and sessions, some of which might actually interest me. Anything new and interesting coming out of Apple is likely to go through Macworld first, and there's a very good chance that this year, I might be able to get Kevin Smith to sign his ass for me.*
Oh yes, and I need new shoes for it.
For the last few years, I've been unable to go, due mainly to my work schedule. But THIS year it's been scheduled and booked, and in a week I'll be getting on a plane with my Mac Geek and heading off to the biggest iOrgy in the country. I'm actually looking forward to it.
For one thing, it gives me a chance to meet all of his friends before the wedding; and since most of his friends are even more scattered than mine (I know artists from Florida to New Zealand), that's a good thing. For another, I've never been to San Francisco. For a third... well... a week in a hotel with your fiance doesn't suck.
And this will be my first real glimpse into the world he inhabits. I know there are more than a few people out there silently shaking their heads and making bets on how long I survive this experience, (or at least how long our relationship survives it). I'm not worried. I've been a theater geek and an art geek, and I've crossed the line a few times to explore the world of gaming geeks and comic geeks. I've been in the home of a couple that was so addicted to EverCrack that their floor was lurking somewhere beneath a thick layer of filth that clung to your shoes and threatened to adhere you to it permanently. I seriously doubt that Macworld can serve up anything worse.
I've been asked to write down my thoughts on this experience, because I'm approaching this with the trepidation and naïveté of the iVirgin. So I've set this up to be my chronicles. My witness. My evidence, if you will.
And for all of you taking bets? I'll put some money down that says I DO marry John in October of next year, and that no matter how hard I try, I will never teach the man to make coffee properly.
*I have a Silent Bob doll I got a few years back. :D