A Statement of Purpose.

Most nerds never grow up. At least not entirely. Boy nerds, especially, even as we learn to speak, understand, and think as men, never seem to put away childish things. There are the collectors -- whose still-in-the-box action figures will always adorn every available surface of at least one room of their house. There are the gearheads -- a special kind of nerd whose affinity for all things gasoline-fueled seems more socially acceptable, but is no less consuming. And, of course, there are the gamers. (The older we get, the better the video games are, so why would we give them up now? Imagine the games we'll have in 10 years! And, my god, the screens they'll be displayed on!)

But life, as we're sure John Lennon would have said if he were around, is what happens while you're busy making plans for another Molten Core raid.

Eventually, for most of us, the rest of the world does intrude upon our carefully constructed Fortresses of Nerdy Solitude. We have to move away from the parental nest -- and, hey, more room for X-Men figures once we do. We have to get jobs -- and, hey, more money for after-market enhancements. And then there are the women*. Dear lord, the women*. If we're lucky, we find partners who will tolerate our nerdiness. If we're really lucky, we find partners who will indulge or share it -- but only to a point and, past that point, will remind us that there is a world outside of our nerdy obsessions that we should probably spend some time thinking about and doing things in.

So we take off our Metaverse goggles and move out into the real world beyond ourselves. We live among its people, learning their often-inscrutable ways so that we might one day rise up, overtake them and commandeer their toys. We work at their places of "business," we make "friends," and occasionally we are allowed to procreate, which is, dear reader, as terrifying a prospect for us as it must be for you after getting this far.

This blog is about the terrible pains and indescribable joys of that transition: from boys, to older, slightly taller and heavier boys, and maybe even to men, with (if we play our cards right) more money for our nerd hobbies, but probably less time to savor them. Most of us haven't reached the end of that road yet -- and we might never. But we're on our way there, and we have resolved to share some notes from the journey. We hope that these charts of our metamorphoses from nerdling larvae to full-fledged adult nerds may help others avoid some of the mistakes we made along the way, or at least appreciate the humor in some of those mistakes. We will also be providing some light reading material along the way. Expect some game reviews, discussions about technology and maybe a handful of societal examinations -- ultimately just whatever we decide to write about.

Please enjoy.*

* Or whatever