My Sci-Fi Confession

I have a confession to make: I love Sci-Fi. If that makes me a nerd, then so be it. I blame it all on my parents and the people I went to college with. I eased into it when Ian got me into Heroes when it premiered the beginning of my senior year. (The only reason I considered watching it because Milo Ventimiglia from Gilmore Girls was one of the main characters.) That was innocent enough. It was just a TV show once a week about people with supernatural abilities. No big deal.

At about the same time, Michal, my roomate, began prodding me to read the first Harry Potter book. "It's so good. You'll love it," she said. "I highly doubt it," I responded with an eye roll. This continued for months. Her then fiance (now husband) also joined in on the book's promotion. He was the one who got Michal into it. I ignored them until we had an ice storm in Bolivar that January. There was nothing to do. No electricity meant no TV, no computer, no lights. The only places open in town were Walmart and Dollar General. Kellee (who got me into Chronicles of Narnia) and I hacked through the ice on my car to make it to Walmart just to get out of the confines of our tiny three-bedroom apartment. There it was. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was staring at me. It looked innocent enough to give me some entertainment through the bout of candlelight living. I bought it, and finished it that night. The next day, I ventured to Walmart again and bought the second book in the series. To make a short story of it, I read the first four Harry Potter books in five days. Books 5-6 took a few months between them, and then came the long wait for Book 7 to arrive. I devoured that in a matter of days. For those of you that disapprove of Harry Potter, it is possible to still love Jesus while enjoying Sci-Fi (ever heard of Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia?).

I haven't really thought much about enjoying Sci-Fi until last night when I finished the first book in the Twilight series. (I read it in five days, with the last 14 chapters being consumed yesterday.) I always thought the enjoyment was specific to the series or movie I was partaking in, but as I look back on things, I realize that I am an uber Sci-Fi-loving nerd. I grew up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stargate, The X-Files, The Twilight Zone, Quantum Leap, and Mork and Mindy with my parents. All I really have to do is look back to some of the movies I've seen this summer - Wolverine, Star Trek, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - and it's confirmed: I love Sci-Fi.

Now I must get ready to head to Walmart to pick up my copy of the next book in the Twilight series. Call me a nerd if you wish. I now accept it.