Dorkness Rising***

The Alfreds have met their mirror-universe counterparts.  There is the more outgoing gamer dad, the quiet and shy mom, the quirky older son, and the effortlessly cool younger son.  They also have a few daughters, but I'm not going to try to have that many kids simply to make it a perfect match.


The good news is that there is a friend for everyone.

The bad news is that, since Jon has a goatee (the full beard is only for disguise the winter), I think that means that WE are the evil ones.  I hope we don't scare them off with our heathen ways.

It is the mirror-universe Alfreds that caused me to find myself in the local comic book/gaming store tonight.  We were there to get dice...special, geometrically-unique gamer dice.  Freaking EXPENSIVE dice.  Because, in an attempt to bond with my boys, I rolled (created) a character so I can play Dungeons and Dragons with them and the Mirror-Alfreds.  Plus, Mirror-Meegan is excited to play, so I'm functioning under a little bit of peer pressure.  Twenty years later than normal, but whatever.  My cleric needed dice.

More bad news:  I have a massive chip on my shoulder when it comes to gaming.  It's visible.  So when I found myself standing in the corner of the comic book shop, I couldn't shoot lasers out of my eyes fast enough to keep up with the curious glances of the pre-and pubescent clientele.  There aren't a lot of girls in your average gaming shop, so when a girl DOES wander in, it's like wild Africa when the lions see a wounded gazelle.  Even if the gazelle in question is carrying an infant and is in the company of two stepsons and her husband.

These are my observations of gamers, based on my time in the shop:

1.  Gamers are card-carrying dorks.
2.  You shouldn't be allowed to wear a Pokemon sweatshirt if you have a beard.  Then again, he was hispanic, so he could have been in middle school.

Then again, in fairness, I have to point out that:

1.  I've been to a Star Trek convention.  And once spent the better part of a night making a 3-D chess set with my friend. 
2.  I was wearing a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt at the time.  And my beard is thriving, due to my infant-induced grooming habits.
3.  I was the only one glaring at everything the moved.  Including my husband.

The moral of this story is that, yes, gamers are dorks, but they are nice, accepting dorks.  (Except for online gamers.  They are all trolls.)  I was the one with an attitude--the guys in the shop tonight were just there to have a little harmless fun--there is actually very little ritual sacrifice involved in DnD, unlike what I thought as a teenager (I'm sticking to my guns about Ouijii boards, though).  I would much rather hang out with them than a group of snooty intellectuals or overbearing jock types. 

So, armed with my fancy purple dice, I'm ready to play DnD with the Mirror Alfreds.  And have fun.  Especially since I snornked most of a package of Grasshoppers (the poor man's Thin Mints), which has put me in my version of drug-induced happy land.

Bring on the orcs.

***I can't take credit for this title.  It's a movie of awesome proportions about gaming dorks.  I laughed riotously the whole time.  Google it.