The Phantom Paragrapher's Journey to Geekdom.

My Journey to Geekdom

All my life I have been what I would consider geeky. I have been on numerous occasions also called a nerd, but I saw them as those who were highly smart, intelligent, and great in the STEM fields- you know the intellectual types.

Me, I have been and always will be a geek. From a young age, I was always into books and reading. I learned to read at a young age and by the age of three, I was happily reading my little golden books and the early ICAN readers by myself my love of books didn’t stop there when at age 5, my aunty gave me her old set of Encyclopaedia Britannica’s. I even got my dad to build me my own bookshelf for them and he would read them to me as bedtime stories.

 

At the same time, Disney Princess movies like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast were being released and characters like Rainbow Brite, Strawberry Shortcake, Holly Hobbie, and My Little Pony were the rage.  Five-year-old Paula, had a fish called Flounder and a cat called Ariel. Her birthday wish – which came true by the way was to have more my little ponies and a stable. My 5^th birthday party was a My Little Pony theme.

Then came the superheroes a couple of years later when in 1995, eight-year-old Paula was introduced to characters like Superman with the release of the TV series Lois and Clark starring Dean Cain as Superman – sorry Christopher Reeves, Dean Cain will always be my Superman. I even have a signed photo from Dean Cain which a friend a few years got me when she saw him at a US comic convention where he reaffirmed being my Superman. The other superhero I was introduced to was Batman with the release of the Batman Forever movie in 1995. This particular year, I ended up having my birthday party at Cobb “N” Co and had a Batman birthday party and even managed to get a picture with a couple of characters dressed up as the Penguin and Batman.  This was the year that I forever pledged my allegiance to the members of the Justice League and the DC universe, sorry Marvel – I enjoy you but my heart lies true with DC.

 

Fast forward two more years and I discovered the world of trading cards, comic books, and gaming consoles. Ten-year-old Paula was given by some older boys who babysat her their entirety of trading cards which were a massive pile of Basketball cards and their old comic books which featured everything from Dennis the Menace to Superheroes to Archie comics. I loved reading them so much and collecting the cards, that I struck up a good relationship with Mr. Baxter who owned a second-hand, vintage store. I used to go with my pocket money or once I had finished reading a comic, he would allow me to exchange it for another one to read. 

Then came 11-year-old Paula who discovered the girly world of the Babysitters Club and Sweet Valley High by this age was obsessed with Pop Culture as I collected Girlfriend Magazine, Dolly Magazine, TV Hits, Smash Hits, and plastered my wall with posters of celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio and Heath Ledger. 

Fast Forward to the year 2022, I am now 35 years old and still collecting and adore my random collections from my hundreds of Pop Funkos, Batman Trading cards, Dolly Parton Doll, and my latest figure – a TurboMan from the movie Jingle All the Way. I also managed a few years ago to buy second-hand from the local library, a massive box of Babysitter Club books and I got the board game from TradeMe. 

I am proud to call myself a geek and when I saw this upcoming festival advertised on Facebook, I knew I had to attend as it’s made for people like me.  I enjoy Armageddon but that is going the way of Anime which isn’t my jam but Retro Toys, Books, and Games from the 80s, 90s, and even earlier – SIGN ME UP.