When you were in high school did you have summer homework? Like a list of books you were supposed to read at the beach, or brainteasers you should solve during your long flight to Europe?
Well, my school did not give us summer assignments. BUT…I was on the Academic Decathlon team. Oh nothing.
Anyway, it was strongly suggested we spend our time studying for the coming year’s competition. This was pre-Internet, gang. (Oh, and by the way, my best friend on the team was actually in a gang. It was, like, a smart gang though. But our teacher/advisor did have to intervene in our relationship, lest I accidentally go out with him.)
So I spent a decent amount of time at the library. One summer I read every book about Gregor Mendel our local library owned and decided I was going to be a geneticist. I even majored in Biology my first two years of college.
So…yeah…why didn’t anyone tell me I should be listening to The Nerdist?
It’s totally awesome. And I’m totally counting it as my summer homework.
I spent my summers pulling weeds. When my brothers and I weren’t doing mountains of chores, we were inventing or blowing up stuff. We lived way out in the country so we basically had no human contact. As a result, we had no way of knowing whether we were nerds or not as there was no frame of reference.
I’m going to listen to The Nerdist, if only because Weird Al is a guest (I think?) on the latest podcast.
Speaking of which, I could have smoked Gerry and Randy at the Name That Tune: Weird Al contest from way back when.
Chris Hardwick is smart AND funny…an all-too-seldom combination found in entertainment. Make listening to “The Nerdist” a part of your weekly list.