Are you a geek? Today being a geek means being smart and passionate about certain complicated subjects like mathematics, programming, science fiction films, and fantasy books. That sounds cool. So why not join the celebration of Geek Pride Day on May 25th?

What’s a Geek?

Let’s first define who can be called a geek. According to Wikipedia, this term was originally used to describe "eccentric or non-mainstream people". Today the word typically refers to an expert or a person who is passionate about some hobby or intellectual pursuit. We usually use the word "geek" for someone who is interested in an intellectual or complex subject for its own sake. Are you a fan of math? Have you been programming since you learned to type? Do you speak Klingon? It looks like you can proudly be called a geek these days.

History of Geek Pride Day

The idea to celebrate geekiness originated in 2006 when Spanish blogger Germán Martínez organized celebrations for May 25^th throughout Spain. There was a huge celebration in Madrid that, among other things, included a live-action human game of "Pac-Man" with players dressed up as characters from the game.

May 25^th was chosen to coincide with the anniversary of the day the first "Star Wars" movie was released in 1977. But interestingly, this date is important not only for "Star Wars" fans but to some other fandoms as well:

• May 25^th is also Towel day, a day to show appreciation to "The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy" and its author Douglas Adams. Towels became the symbol of this day as they played an important role in the novel.
• This is also an important date for fans of the fantasy book series "Discworld" by Terry Pratchett. These novels take place in the fictional Discworld, which as you’ve probably guessed is a flat disc. In this world, people celebrate The Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May as a Remembrance Day to commemorate the end of Lord Winter’s reign.

In 2008, the Geek Pride Day reached the United States. It was accepted so well that in 2009 the Science Channel decided to join the celebration by airing special programming on May 25^th. By the next year, Geek Pride Day spread to other countries, including Canada, Israel, Romania, and Hungary.

Geek Manifesto

Do you know that geeks also have their own manifesto? It's a pretty cool document that outlines the basic rights and responsibilities of geeks. Thus, geeks have the right:

• to be even geekier;
• to not leave their house;
• to not like football or any other sport;
• to associate with other nerds;
• to have few friends (or none at all);
• to have as many geeky friends as they want;
• to be out of style;
• to be overweight and near-sighted
• to show off their geekiness;
• to take over the world!

Of course, the rights come with certain responsibilities:

• Be a geek, no matter what.
• Try to be nerdier than anyone else.
• If there is a discussion about something geeky, you must give your opinion.
• Save and protect all geeky material.
• Do everything you can to show off geeky stuff as a "museum of geekiness."
• Don’t be a generalized geek. You must specialize in something.
• Attend every nerdy movie on opening night and buy every geeky book before anyone else.
• Wait in line on every opening night. If you can go in costume or at least with a related T-shirt, all the better.
• Don’t waste your time on anything not related to geekdom.
• Try to take over the world!

How To Celebrate Geek Pride Day

Now we come to the most interesting part—how to celebrate Geek Pride Day? Actually, you have multiple options and you can choose the ones that are the best fit for you depending on how much of an introvert you are.

If you like big parties, here are your options:

• Festivals. There is a good chance that on May 25^th a number of geeky events will take place in your city. This could be a Geek Pride parade that unites all geeks together, or it could be different thematic conventions organized for fans of science fiction, video games, nerd movies, or TV shows. Don’t miss the opportunity to meet new people that have the same interests that you do.
• Meet-ups. If there is no event in your city for the fans of your favorite sci-fi book series, why not to organize the meet-up yourself? Social media and thematic forums are a great place to form a new fandom community, while the Geek Pride Day is a perfect date for meeting offline to celebrate your geekiness together.

If you like talking to people but prefer online communications, there are some other interesting options for you:

• Online communities. You could discuss the last "Avengers" episode with your fellow geeks; practice Klingon with other "Star Trek" fans; or give your opinion on any geeky discussion you can find online.
• Geek Pride events online. Join the relevant Watch party on Facebook or any other nerdy event you are interested in.

Finally, if the best celebration for you is to stay at home alone or with very close nerdy friends, choose your way to be a proud geek:

• Play nerdy games with your fellow geeks or online. This might be a perfect day to go back to a good old game of "Dungeons and Dragons".
• Watch nerdy movies and TV shows. Why not re-watch "Star Wars" for the umpteenth time?

Do you have your special way to celebrate Geek Pride Day with your friends or colleagues? Feel free to share in the comments. We all want to have fun that day!

Learn a New Geek Skill

Probably the geekiest way to celebrate Geek Pride Day is to learn something new and intellectually challenging. After all, geeks can have different interests and hobbies, but intellectual curiosity is something that unites all geeks from all over the world.

Luckily, today we have tons of opportunities to satisfy our desire to learn something new—we can learn to program online, or we can become a self-taught data scientist or business analyst. Ultimately, we can learn anything we want online. Make sure to check out the wide variety of courses we offer in Python, SQL, and R to be even more of a geek next year!

By the way, Vertabelo Academy is also joining the celebration, and to support all the geeks interested in learning new skills, we are kicking off a geeky weekend sale. So hurry up to take advantage of the special prices we offer in commemoration of Geek Pride Day.

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