"You're sad, you are!"

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

My thirteen-year-old self would have married LotR if these books were a person. Now that I have a bit of perspective, I have been weaning myself off of my obsessive traits, because I see how damaging it is to be such an individual. I still love Tolkien, I still love Lord of the Rings, I still have a happy feeling every time I visit the Barrow-Downs (even though for a while I got no joy out of it), but I understand now why my family would look at me funny and feel ashamed for knowing me, and I wasn't even to the realm of dangerously obsessive yet. It is quite a thought. . .

Oh yes, I know about that one! But it's because Lord of the Rings are such wonderful books, this is what happens. You effectively discover another world.

It mellows eventually. Hopefully. If you are lucky, it never leaves you. I've now grown long in the tooth enough to be feel comfortable criticising Tolkien or things in his writing without feeling like a traitor and I think this is good. A pinch of cynicism is always useful. Heaping scorn on the things you love is weird though, and that's something in Geek World that does not tally with me.

There's nothing like a proper Geek Out though. Since coming out of the closet as Geek I love getting kicks from pure childlike excitement at a new TV series/book/film. I don't know why people criticise, I think it's jealousy because let's be frank, there's not a lot of fun to be had about a new range of mortgages or golf clubs or wines, or other such boring middle aged fare.