It was a Christmas morning that at first seemed like any other. I was overjoyed to receive all of the action figures and sports equipment I had asked for, just like every year. Santa was very good to my sister and I, rarely leaving our wishes unfulfilled.

This year, though, something WAS missing, something which I yearned for with my entire being. The fibers of my very soul all called out in unison, hoping desperately to receive the one item that would sate my deepest desires.

My mom was filming us again, which I never understood. She labored so much to record every minute of every birthday, Christmas and school function and never watched the videos afterwards. I figured she recorded everything in search of that one elusive moment, that one instance in time that would define a very specific point in our lives.

She was lucky the camera was rolling that morning.

You know, the lady that went and lived with all the chimpanzees to learn more about their behavior? My brilliant jokes are so wasted on you people.

Anyway, I went to my local GameStop’s midnight release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm on Monday night (even though I live on the east coast and the content wouldn’t be available until 3am) and I got to spend some time among super-nerds. There were only about 13 people there (a far cry from the over 100 or so who lined up at my old GameStop in California when Burning Crusade launched) but even though it was a small group, what I witnessed was in line with some of my previous studies of super-nerd behavior.

Now, I know it seems hypocritcal of me to be so analytical of people who lined up for the midnight release of a World of Warcraft expansion, because, hey, I was also lining up for the midnight release of a World of Warcraft expansion. The difference is I am awesome and in a prime position to pass judgement on other people.

I got this hoodie in the mail today. I wanted to wear it to the midnight launch of Cataclysm, and when I ordered it the estimated delivery date was between the second and the eighth. Today is the first. A winner is me!

Anyway, I thought tonight would be a good time to talk about gaming apparel, because really, who among us doesn’t have at least ONE gaming-related t-shirt? We, as gamers, are a passionate people, and we like to advertise our passion to the world. However, there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about clothing yourself in nerd colors, and I’m here to help!

One thing that I have always prided myself on throughout my formative years was that I was a nerd who was capable of blending in with normal people. I was never one of those guys you see at the supermarket buying Doritos and Mountain Dew by the case and you just KNOW that they live in their parent’s basement. Even if you DO live in a basement, you don’t have to LOOK like it.

So I started playing World of Warcraft again. Surprise! The excitement of Cataclysm was too much for me to resist. Christina is playing again too! We’re doing a pretty good job balancing that and other games, I think. BUT. That’s not what this post is about.

I don’t really know what makes me do it, but when I play MMOs I like to make up a backstory and personality for my character. Now, I don’t roleplay or anything. I don’t write it up or post it anywhere (except for right now). It’s really just for me, just stuff I come up with as I explore the world that my character inhabits. When there are games with existing worlds and I create a character that lives in that world, I really like to think about where they fit in. I guess it’s the writer in me.

So today I saw the new trailer for Poker Night at the Inventory, a game I’ve been looking forward to for a while, and when I logged into Steam (which I haven’t done in a LONG time) to pre-purchase it my friends list was littered with people I no longer speak to for reasons I’d rather not go into. After clearing out my friends list, I got to thinking about how I’m in a brand new stage in my life and I’m really happy with how things are going.

For one thing, we go out with other people more often and don’t rely on online interactions for our social needs. We’ve got some pretty cool friends we spend time with and while they’re not all nerds and into the same things we are, they’re very fun to spend time with and they don’t seem to mind that my wife and I are the nerds of the group. Having adult relationships is fun!

We’re back and we’re married! Things have been crazy around here for so long that we kind of forgot what it was like to have things be normal. We’re well rested and getting ready to go on our honeymoon in a few days, but in the meantime we’re relaxing and catching up on a lot of Wii games we missed out on.

The wedding was a great time and everything went off even better than we had hoped. I don’t want to talk TOO much about specifics because while I’m okay talking about personal things on the blog I don’t really know how my friends and family feel about it, I do want to share with you some of the really cool nerd things we were able to work into the wedding to really make it ours.

I’ve got zombies on the brain. Recently I went back and finished Dead Rising, played through Dead Rising 2: Case 0 and watched the tie-in film Zombrex: Dead Rising Sun. It is zombie mayhem in my head.

I am both fascinated by and scared to death of zombies. I’ve never been into monsters or anything (unless you count Pokémon) but for some reason, despite the sheer amount of jibblies they give me, I am drawn to zombies.

Dead Rising was the very first game I ever saw actually being played for the Xbox 360 (which also makes it the first HD game I ever saw) and it was really the game that sold me on the system (but Viva Piñata and Gears of War certainly helped). Not only was it how amazing it looked (I’m still blown away that you can see clear across the mall) but there were SO. MANY. ZOMBIES. You could use anything as a weapon against them, too! Gardening tools, potted plants, mannequins, and Servbot helmets. The game was unlike anything else.

It’s every guy gamer’s dream to someday find a young woman who is as passionate about games as they are, fall madly in love, and live happily ever after. It’s a fantasy for most, but for some lucky guys like me, it’s a reality. While it is super awesome and rad to the max, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t some things you need to be aware of before you start 2-player mode until death do you part.

I’m certainly not complaining; far from it. I’ve dated girls who aren’t into games and girls who think games are just okay, and dating (or in my case marrying) a girl who is a legit gamer is definitely the way to go. The point of this article, my dear brothers, is to bring some things to your attention that you may not have thought of.

We made shirts for the premiere of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World! We’re nerds so we like dressing up for things. We decided to do homemade band shirts for all the bands from the comic, and did them with fabric paint so they would have that real indie band vibe to them.

I went with The Boys!! and Crash! because I love how it completely disregards grammar rules (and AutoCorrect is giving me hell right now). It doesn’t come across very well in the picture, but you can see little extra brush marks on the bottoms and side of the letters from where I had too much paint. I think it makes it look pretty rad.