My brother plays Settlers of Catan? Why I'm a little shocked.

I think my brother is letting his inner nerd out more often. It might be because he's now at a school where you can be smart and cool at the same time, not just a party school. But he's always had it in him, it's just nice to see it come out again. He was actually the one to first get into video games. Our aunt had received a SNES from her boyfriend (now husband) and wasn't into it, so passed it on to my family. From age two my brother would play Super Mario World for HOURS. From then all the way through highschool he was a huge video game fan. Nintendo has been our roots, and my brother was the one to completely embrace that. He was a serious Mario and Zelda fan. At the same time he was ridiculously into SimCity on the console, which possibly harbored his love of urban planning. Actually, that combined with of living down the street from a famous architect's home and studio are probably the reasons he even considered that line of work, when of course he's not laying down some ridiculously entrancing beats as a DJ. In college he still did play, more toward the Xbox, but he is not the hugest fan. He still plays the Civilization series like a mofo though. Not many other nerd pursuits, at least that I knew he did. Until today.

 His nerd cred has just recently grown. It was his idea this year to go to Medieval Times for his birthday. I don't know why, he just decided he was going. Fortunately, I live near it so it's easy to coordinate. I call him today to let him know I got the tickets and how we'll meet up and he mentions he's waiting to catch up with a friend so they can play Settlers of Catan. 

I was kind of taken aback. Settlers of Catan, if you haven't played it, is a nerd staple in the board game world. You establish rival towns and cities with your fellow players, managing resources and essentially making your country the best country ever. It can take hours with strategic people but is something that's really fun. My core nerd friends in college played it a lot.

So to hear my brother, who has kind've been the cooler of the two of us since high school, is actually anticipating to play this ridiculously nerdy game. I knew there was a bit of a geek in there for the longest time, but it's kind of nice to know that I'm not the only geeky sibling. Sure, my parents can be huge dorks, but different generations geek out to different things.

My brother was surprised that I was surprised. He just assumed that since he was a fan of Civilization that it was a given he'd love Settlers of Catan. Maybe that's on me, but I don't think I could assume he'd hang around with the kind of people who'd love to introduce that kind of board game to him.

At least this makes his birthday gift shopping easy. I'm getting him a board game of his own.

My Geek Thanksgiving Family

That's right, this is what my family would be like at Thanksgiving if fandom ruled the universe. This is no way based on how my family is set up, just how I think this would make sense.

My father: Jean-Luc Picard.

Really, who didn't see that coming? Through most of TNG Picard never really wants a family, you have to admit he is good father material. He'd be supportive, he'd always have a story, and maybe I'm biased because Patrick Stewart is bald like my father but that part doesn't hurt either. All that aside, I would love to see Picard carve the turkey as the family gathered around.

My mother: Wynne from Dragon Age

I'm going to be honest guys, this one is hard. I didn't want to get too obvious, which would've been another Star Trek character (or several). After playing more of Dragon Age last night the protective instincts of Wynne made her a strong choice. Also I'm hoping her studies of herbalism make the seasoning on the sweet potatos that much better!

My older brother: Riddick from Pitch Black

Riddick is a great choice because he's the older cooler brother that you know you'll never be as cool as, so either you try to fit in with him or your stop trying. Of course, I don't think I'd try too hard to be as cool as a murderer, but you never know.

My younger sister: Kaylee from Firefly

Cute, spunky and smart, Kaylee is the perfect choice as a younger sister. If you've seen the show you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you don't, imagine if car mechanics were mostly my little pony fans. Yeah, weird mix of cute and mechanically smart.

My cousin I would go on hijinks with: Vyse from Skies of Arcadia

Vyse would be the best cousin to have because he would always find something fun to do. Also, wouldn't it be great to be an air pirate on thanksgiving? At least in pretend when I'm 8 years old in a cardboard box as a boat sense.

My crazy Uncle: Solid Snake

Who doesn't have a crazy uncle talking about conspiracy theories to some degree or another? At least Uncle Snake could confirm these theories with his "to-do" list. I'm sure he'd be the best to carve the turkey too... with an assault rifle.

My Grandpa: Hari Seldon from The Foundation Series.

I know this one is probably coming from left field for some of you. If it is, go read Foundation by Asimov right now. Hari Seldon ends up inventing a science to predict the future of the masses. It's a combination of psychology and statistics called Psychohistory. The wisdom needed to make something like that has to be HUGE. I would listen to him talk while I was eating delicious turkey.

My Grandma: Princess Peach

I understand she is a lot younger than a grandmother is thought to be, but she has a lot of the same qualities of a grandmother. She's sickeningly sweet, ultra feminine, has huge hair and is pretty good with a frying pan from what I see in Super Smash Bros.

And that's my geek family. :D