First signs of nerd-dom?

[Captain Jacqui Sparrow]

What were the first signs that you were going to be a nerd/were a nerd as a kid? 

For me, it was when I was able to memorize all of the states, their capitals, and their locations that my parents knew something was up. Then, soon after, came my love of robots. I never wanted to be a princess. I wanted to be a cyborg with an arm that shoots globs of toxic plasma. I even started to raise my own army of robotic toy dogs lol. I was also addicted to web forums by the time I was 8. (thank you, Nick.com for that one!) and haven't changed one bit since lol. 

[Jazzy]

Humm.
Well, when other children my age had just learned to write one-page narratives about their trip to Disneyland or whatever, I wrote my first novel. Like, with chapters and quotation and conflict and mildly complicated plots and everything.
Also, when I was in I believe grade 3, the school tested my reading abilities with a book called "Tyrannosaurus Rex" that had all the scientific information on dinosaurs and was considered to be grade 5-6 level. They had no higher books to test me with, so I asked if I could read to them from Harry Potter.

[Rachel Spiegelman]

I wasn't allowed video games growing up so I'd go play N64 at my neighbors house almost every day. I got my first computer game at 8 (Playmobil's "Hype: A Time Quest") and it was all over.

[Anna Lestrange]

My decision to not be a perfect princess, but be smart and awesome, like Hermione Granger!

[Lt. Rebecca]

Wonderful!

[Riikka]

I think the first and most specific sign was when I had my third or forth birthday. It was unexpectedly warm September and we has a party at our allotment summer cottage and all the girls were dancing and playing outside. I mean all except me: I sat inside doing puzzles. :D In general I was obsessed about puzzles. I did them all the time.They did development tests with puzzles too and I for many years kept solving the puzzles meant for kids several years older than me.

My mom is definitely party responsible of my nerdhood. When me and my younger brother were little she used to read us books all the time and not only the typical childrens books (tough they were plenty too). She had a habit of reading us Russian classics (not the hardest ones, but Gogol and stuff like that) and listened to her favorite opera Carmen with us. She also used to borrow us audiobooks from the library and I loved those. I actually learned to read rather late and have always been fairly slow reader, but especially as a kid I listened hundreds of books yearly. I started from the children's department and continued to the adults books. I think I couldn't be older than 10 when I first listened Lord of the Rings. That is 94 cassettes divided in 6 parts...

And to sement my childhood nerdiness, the family of my best friend from childhood had NES and we were super addicted on playing all the games! Later on my brother got other consols, but still there is nothing like NES.

[Rochelle A. M.]

Ha. I also think my mom contributed greatly to my nerdiness. I remember when I was five she sat me down and explained to me that it was scientifically impossible for barbies to stand (assuming that they could stand on their own) because of their ridiculous feet and that I was never ever ever to try to be like barbie. Plus she's a scientist and I always wanted to study cells like her when I grew up.

[Ray Nerd]

Your mother's directness reminds me of a quote from my dad. When quite young he let me know that Santa Claus was, "the embodiment of the spirit of Christmas."

Hope that doesn't spoil it for anyone out there. For what it's worth, I still love the Rankin Bass specials, so he didn't warp me too much.

[Saraw]

I think I've always pretty much known I was a nerd, but what really solidified me into nerdiness was being homeschooled. My mother insisted on teaching me to read really early, and she and my dad read to me costantly. My dad is also a huge nerd, and for family nights we would watch Doctor Who, or play scrabble. But the biggest thing while I was homeschooled: I had WAY too much computer time! At around 10, I discovered neopets.com and taught myself HTML and CSS. I'm in school now, and I'm not a grade ahead or anything, but all my friends call me a nerd, and I have no problem with it :)

[Chip, A Former Ningmaster]

Haha I totally learned some basic coding because of neopets! I used to know a lot more HTML, but I've forgotten it all.

[Vivian]

Gosh, I've always been a nerd. My dad has a home video of me when we lived in an apartment (so I was maybe 2?) where he woke up one morning and found me asleep on the living room floor, surrounded by cracked eggs. I told him, "I was trying to hatch dinosaurs! So they could be my pet, like in Jurassic Park!" And my dad read from Harry Potter and Chronicles of Narnia at bedtime. When I was six, the thing I wanted most for christmas was a robotic Norbert

Christmas Morning!

[Candy Something]

Haha this is brilliant.

For me it was when aged 5 I came home from school and not only got excited about doing my homework, but also my older brother's.. :D

[Rochelle A. M.]

I believe my first sign of my nerdom was my love of insects. I mean, I was the kid who went worm hunting. When some one screamed "Ewww, a bug" I run over to rescue it and try to figure out what it was. I knew boys who did this but, ah, I'm a girl. So, yeah, people thought I was a little odd. I still really like bugs :). I also used to assign myself homework when I was little. My imaginary games always took place ina certain time period. So when I played house, I played little house on the prairie. I did want be a princess. One who was well versed in sword fighting, of course :D.