Anyway, for those of you who may not know, I was a band geek in High School. I was in the concert band and the marching band and I even played in the orchestra pit for the school’s musicals. If it was band, I was all about it.

That was until sometime in my junior year. At that point, I enjoyed it enough to finish out my high school career as a band nerd, but I wasn’t as gung-ho. Long gone were my desires of continuing my music career after high school. I was going to put down my saxophone at the end of my senior year and never pick it up again. And that’s just what I did.

My former high school band director, Mr. Snoeck, is currently battling Multiple Sclerosis. Darcie, being a fellow band director herself (she did not stop being a band geek after high school), has stayed close with Mr. Snoeck and they are now colleagues. She wanted to do something for him, so she organized this walk for him and he, along with other people I hadn’t seen since graduating high school in 1995, also showed up.

High school was not the best time of my life. It wasn’t the worst, either. But I didn’t really come into my own and become who I am today until college and the years after. That was when I finally stopped doing the things that I thought I should do, and did the things I wanted to do. I learned what I liked and I did those things. It’s how I ended up working in sports.

So being around all these people from my past was…weird, to say the least. Darcie and I have been friends since puberty, so we will always be friends. If you’re friends with someone that long, it doesn’t just go away. I mean, when I walked in the door of her house she was like “I love that it feels like we saw each other last week, and not like two years ago.” That’s friendship, right there.

But the rest of the people, well, they are all still kind of the same. See, they were already adults and teachers when we were in high school. So they are who they are. And they are into band and music and teaching. And I’m…..not.

I spent most of the walk with one of Darcie’s friends. Because when I had a conversation with one of my old band directors, someone I loved when I was in high school, it was awkward. She asked what I had been up to in the last 15 or so years. I filled her in – Arizona State, 49ers, etc. It was just so forced because I didn’t still play an instrument. I didn’t pursue band after high school. I got as far away from band and music as I could the day I graduated.

And well, that’s where the conversation stopped. I mean, I’m sure there is more we could have discussed. But we don’t have the same interests. And unlike high school me, I didn’t have to be polite and conform and be that band geek. Thirty four year old me wasn’t going to apologize for anything and is damn proud of who she is. So I just walked ahead and found something else to talk about.

First I would like to preface this by saying thank you to all of you who commented with your podcast recommendations on this post. I wrote them all down and downloaded them post haste.

I first started with Pop My Culture, which is really good. I highly recommend it. I think it got me through my first run of more than six minutes straight and I realized that people talking was the way to get me through running. And seeing as I’m up to running for 30 minutes at a time now, this was a good thing to figure out.

After that one, I was looking for more! There wasn’t a new PMC one yet, so instead of listening to an old one, I figured I’d try one of the other ones you all recommended. I tried This American Life, but Ira Glass’ voice bugs. Also, the subject was about human trafficking and the news clips were in Spanish and then I had to stop listening. I need funny! Snark! Not sad and somber stuff! I’m already sad and somber that I’m RUNNING.

I finally decided to give The Nerdist a try. I think a million of you recommended it, so I knew it would be good. But “nerdist”? Really? I’m not a nerd. I don’t play role playing games. I don’t have Star Wars action figures. I don’t really see how this would be for me.

OH BOY I COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE WRONG.

I am literally obsessed with Chris Hardwick and this podcast. It is fucking hysterical. I started with the Seth Myers one and then after she told me to go back and listen to the live one with Craig Ferguson, I did just that. And now I’ve gone back to the beginning of Nerdist time and am starting at the very beginning. And burning so many calories with the laughing.

These podcasts are amazing. Also, guess what? I AM a nerd! When one of the first things they mentioned was an internet meme and Twitter, I knew I had found my tribe. You had me at meme, Hardwick. You had me at meme.

The problem with these podcast is that they are hilariously funny. And when you’re walking along a crowded street, or riding a crowded train and you laugh out loud, repeatedly, at something, you get a lot of strange looks. Lately I seem to smile and laugh the hardest when I’m walking past a group of people and I’m pretty sure they think I’m grinning at them like a damn fool. Such is life, though. Such is life.

It also doesn’t hurt that Chris Hardwick is absolutely adorable. And an age-appropriate crush to boot!

Swoooooon.

They are touring the country and after many failed attempts, I finally found someone to go with me to see The Nerdist Podcast Live! with me this Friday. (You’re my hero DJ!) I realized that telling people it was The Nerdist garnered the same reaction I had when I first downloaded the podcast. It’s a comedy show, though! Hilarious! And yes, sometimes they talk about Dr. Who and quadratic equations, but they also make me laugh until my stomach hurts.

I cannot wait to see the show and my future husband live and in person!

My stepmom and her boyfriend are going on vacation for a long weekend. And yes, I realize all of you just went, “wait, your stepmom and her boyfriend?” Which, I didn’t realize was weird until a few of my friends were like “yes, that’s weird.” Well, they only said that because they didn’t know my dad and my stepmom were no longer together. They also didn’t know my dad was dead. But that’s neither here nor there.

So they are going away for the weekend and leaving the kids on their own. Except the kids are 19, 17 and 15. So, well, they might need some supervision. She is worried about them throwing parties, etc., so I’m there to throw the hammer down. Or call the cops on them and pretend I’m a neighbor because I’m not going to get blamed for that shit. I have a very long life ahead of me that I have big plans for. Plans that require me not being in jail. And plans that require me to sit my fat ass on my couch whilst watching TV and blogging at the same time. This? Is not capable from a cell. Although, wouldn’t it be nice to not have to worry about what to wear every day? And I would have no problems eating bologna sammiches all the time.

Any-hootie, this whole throwing party thing in high school is completely foreign to me. And no, not because I’m 30 and those kids think I’m, like, so old, and like, what not. It’s because I realize that my mom was so lucky that she didn’t have to ever worry about me throwing a party (in high school), or drinking underage (in high school) or doing anything more than what I’m doing right now – sitting on my ass and watching television.

I was a band geek in high school. It has taken me these 10-plus years since high school to actually admit that to people. Because while I had a good time in band and made a lot of good friends, it was also something I was ashamed of for so long. (Another story for another day.) 

My high school marching band was good. We took it seriously. We were more than just playing at halftime of football games. (In fact, we all HATED performing at football games.) We went to state, regional and national high school marching band competitions. Every year. We always finished in the top 10, if not the top 5, at nationals. (In fact we lost to a band one year whose winning program was the music from Sweeney Todd. And yes, the color guard carried around cleavers. Or maybe that was in my memory.)

Baiscally, we were nerds.

But a big reason why I was in band was because my brother was in it. And I was constantly trying to compete with my brother. And I had to do everything he did, hopefully better. (Band was actually the one thing I might have been better at than him. Band and writing.) I now know the reason I did this was because I was trying to earn the love of my father, who thought my brother walked on water. And figured the easiest way to earn his love was to be just like my brother. (Yet another story for yet another day.)

Like I said, I did enjoy band. Up until about junior year. I became tired of all of it around the end of sophomore year. The director wanted me to be drum major. I tried out, mostly because he made me, but literally went through the motions. Waved Flailed my arms around with my eyes constantly rolled into the back of my head. Because I could not be bothered to do any of that “directing” crap. I was horseshit. On purpose. I made it so there was no way he would make me lead the band on the field. Because that a) meant spending time with him, which makes me vomit in my mouth a little now, and b) that I was committed to band for all four years of high school. Which I wasn’t so sure I wanted. Looking back, come senior year, I was so done with it. It was a rare rehearsal where I didn’t get yelled at. Deep down, it was my nerdy way of rebelling.

I was a very good kid. I was a BAND GEEK for Pete’s sake. My friend and I spent our weekends at the $1 theatre. Where the most unruly thing we did was yell out the trivia answers at the screen before the movie started. Or cheer on Melanie Philpot, who was seemingly always employee of the month. Basically, we were obnoxious teenagers.

If we weren’t at the movies, we were at someone’s house, watching movies or playing board games. I think the craziest we got is if we drank caffeine late at night! Or went to the drive-in! *Gasp*

I did not go to parties. I didn’t drink. I didn’t do drugs. I was a square. But so were all my friends. I had plenty of friends. We spent a lot of good times together. I’m still friends with a lot of them today. I had a lot of fun in high school. And I’m glad that I did hang with such upstanding teenagers. Because I know, looking back, that in a battle between me and peer pressure, peer pressure would have won every time. He brought an undefeated record into every match.

Clearly, I have made up for it. I made sure, during one of my first weekends in college, to consume enough vodka to embarrass a Russian. But even in college, most of us were not big drinkers. I didn’t do most of my damage until California. Where I learned how to party like a single, 20-something with no responsibilities should. And I wouldn’t change a single moment. My liver might disagree, though. To which I threaten him with a weekend-long bender, and it shuts him right. Up.

But high school kids partying and drinking underage, without supervision, will always be a mystery to me. I blame some of it on the fact that I’m an old lady now. But I think a lot of it is because I never once had that thought in my head as a kid, so I assume all kids are the same. And that the world is full of band-geek squares who enjoy a good dollar movie.

Lord help me if I ever have my own kids. Because I am karma’s bitch. And I don’t think you can call the cops and pretend to be the neighbor when it is your own damn house.