On geekiness

This weekend I’ve taken two of my students (from school, not piping students) to participate in a chess tournament. I’ve never been to one before, and it’s been interesting to see what’s involved.

As the first round of games came to an end and players started collecting in the lobby of the hotel, I was reminded of a joke, a shaggy dog story, with the punchline being something about “chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.” I’ll wait for the groans to subside before I continue.

I thought several times about how many of the players appear to be pretty nerdy, since all they seemed to talk about was chess: strategies, players, situations they had encountered in games. After a while though I realized I don’t have any right to judge them for that.

I am indeed obsessed with bagpipes, but it doesn’t consume my being, and I am quite capable of carrying on a conversation with both pipers non-pipers about non-piping topics. No really, I am. But when there’s a bunch of pipers at a piping event, like a highland games or workshop, all we talk about is bagpipes.

Just like the chess nuts, pipers have a common connection, so it’s what we talk about when we get together. I retract my former comments about them being nerds and accept that they have the same level of devotion to a hobby that I have.

As they say, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones (bad pun on that cliche here). Or, as I prefer to say, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t walk around naked.