At one point or another, most people, not just geeks, feel lonely and/or ostracized. Many of us have had that moment where a person or group of people we were trying to become attached to (ask out on a date, become a group member, etc.) has rejected us.

And at that moment, many of us, especially the nerds and geeks, have had this thought:

“I’ll show them. I’ll show them all.”

This doesn’t, of course, always mean violent retribution. In fact, I would dare to say that most people would imagine themselves taking the high road, and becoming better than the person/people who has rejected them, than becoming angels of vengeance.

There is a song I’ve only just recently heard of, by singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton, that sums up how I, and many people I’ve known, felt at times like that.

The song can be found here. Go and listen to it, then come back. I’ll wait.

Done? Good.

The story in the song is an interesting slide, from the initial ‘I’ll become a great person, that’ll show them’ to the eventual (though accidental) retribution on the people who spurned the singer. And while science isn’t the path everyone takes (Hollywood and sports celebrity are more than likely to be very popular paths, too), it’s not hard to put yourself in the singer’s place.

Mr. Coulton has another song, this one having become an internet phenomenon last year, that reminds me of how I’ve felt when life seems against me, and to a lesser extent, how I felt when I was rejected by a girl.

Go and take a listen here, I’ll probably be listening too.

The first verse speaks to just about anyone in a corporate situation, and the last two speak a little bit more to the geeks and nerds in the audience, in my opinion. While we aren’t all programmers, it’s likely that most of the people reading this have been, at one point or another, a ‘work monkey’ of some sort. (I’ve been a translation monkey enough in my life) And I’d guess that, especially in the current economy, that many of us want more than we have.

So, do either of these songs strike a chord with you? Which one, and what was your experience like? Are there any other songs that remind you of these kinds of feelings?

(And if you liked the music, please go and support Mr. Coulton. The songs are cheap (some are even available for free), and quite good.)

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 1:00 am and is filed under Music, geek love, Richard Kim. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.