speak nerdy to me, please?

[nixe]

I was telling some old friends a funny story about an IP header, when I realized that they had no idea what I was talking about and frankly weren't interested.

I certainly can't hold that against them. It wasn't a very good story if you don't have a working familiarity with network protocols. I was surprised at myself for not thinking of that beforehand.

As the surprise faded, it came to my attention that I'm lonely. I have female friends and I have hardcore computer geek friends, but those sets do not intersect.

I never thought it would matter if all my geeky friends were guys, but I'm discovering that it does. The problem is, there just aren't a lot of girls in my field. In many of my classes I'm the only one.

Anyone else have this type of problem? I could use some commiseration.

(Ideas are welcome, too, but my schedule is so busy right now that I just don't have time for sensible measures such as joining clubs. I'm putting myself behind schedule just writing this entry. >_< I'm hoping a little venting will tide me over until exam season ends.)

Comments

[maryavatar]

I can relate - I work for an organisation in a female-dominated field. The office I work in is 90% women, and I get along well with them, but... my job is technical and theirs isn't. We don't have much in common. It's like a breath of fresh air when tech support comes by (male, of course).

Most of my female friends are people I've met on-line. Sci-fi nerds and science geeks - other women who spend most of their time feeling like square pegs. We meet up at sci-fi conventions and nerd out. I remember once, sitting up until 2am taking about sex, soil bacteria and javascript (I have a degree in biochemistry with microbiology, and after having kids I retrained as a web developer), and it was the most fun I'd had all year.

[nixe]

Ooh, that sounds heavenly.

My mood improved markedly this afternoon when one of the previously mentioned friends let me tell my story again, this time with visual aids, including a diagram of an IP header.

She is a good person.

She is also a biochem geek, so I think she understood my burning need to tell the story, if not every detail of said story.

I was afraid I had stumbled into a form of geekiness so extreme that I would no longer be able to express my excitement to any other type of geek.

I would still dearly love to find female friends who share my particular interests, but for now I feel a lot better.