No Direction Home

This humble blog was started to document our travels around the country during the summer of 2006, We have opted to continue updating it due to the requests from family & friends. Enjoy!

Friday, December 14, 2012

Revenge of the Nerds



October 27, 2012

Photobucket Michael & Lee

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Photobucket Erin & Carolyn

Photobucket Rick & Bruce

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Revenge of the Nerds

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A new party on this year’s Fantasy Fest calendar is the Nerd Party, hosted by the Porch on the Thursday evening prior to the main Fantasy Fest weekend. This night, traditionally dominated by the Toga Party at Sloppy Joe’s with Duval Street blocked off and the hoards of out of-towners beginning to show up, marks the real start of the public mayhem that has marked much of the festival for the past few years.

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Photobucket Lee

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Looking for a fun, local friendly, somewhat lower-key party to counterbalance the craziness that is found on Duval Street, the folks at the Porch have used Thursday night as a chance to enjoy the spectacle without being overwhelmed by it. The last two years they have hosted a wonderful 1920s themed party on that night, but they opted for something new and different this year with the advent of the Nerd party. 

Photobucket Sandy & Lee

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Photobucket Esme

Photobucket Erika & Michael

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A nerd (adjective: nerdy) is a person, typically described as being overly intellectual, obsessive, or socially impaired. They may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, obscure, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical or relating to topics of fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Additionally, many nerds are described as being shy quirky, and unattractive, and may have difficulty participating in, or even following, sports. "Nerd" is a derogatory, stereotypical term, but as with other pejoratives, it has been reclaimed and redefined by some as a term of pride and group identity.

Photobucket Carolyn

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Photobucket Shayne

Photobucket Dan & Dan?

I think the reclaiming the term as a term of pride was what this party had in mind. After all isn’t there a little bit of nerdiness in each of us, certainly some more than others. The nerds of your high school years are now the successful, artistic, intellectually stimulating and fun people of adulthood, which many of the popular jocks and socialites are still trapped in their dreary existence in which their high school years were the pinnacle of their lives and they spend most of their time wishing they would return.

Photobucket Esme & Cayman

Photobucket Erika

Photobucket Suzanne

Photobucket Chris & Keith

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Not so for the group at the Porch, where life is for the living and enjoying and celebrating the very nerdy characteristics is now the best revenge. The party was wonderful and it was so cool to see so many friends dressed up in their nerdy best. Some went all out such as our friends Esme & Cayman who had easily the best costumes, but also stayed in ultra-nerdy character the entire night. They were fabulous.

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Photobucket Elena

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My friend Lee was down visiting from the University of West Florida and she showed up with her mother Sandy. How cool of a town and party is it when you can go out and celebrate nerdiness with a mother and daughter at the same party. I am not sure this is usual in many places, but in Key West, this sort of thing happens all the time and people don’t give it a second thought.  Barriers of age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, race and whatever else just don’t apply so much here and you will find all types enjoying most functions here. This is one of the reasons that we love it here so much 

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Photobucket Jennifer, Scott & Wendy

Photobucket Livi

The party was so fun and went late in to the night, It was a rare occasion in that somehow the Porch was able to get permission to serve alcohol stronger than beer and wine in the courtyard and so there was a new and added dimension to the fun. I must say the shots of cinnamon whiskey provided by our bartender friend Nick were yummy- like drinking red hots candy. 

Photobucket Jennifer & Wendy

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