Friday, January 16, 2009

Getting my Geek on

For the longest time I thought it was me. I must be the only one. Who else could love fashion, art, literature and Sci Fi? Who else quote both Pride and Prejudice and Buffy without batting and eye lash? Who else would admire, nay covet, fine artistic pieces and collect Commemorative Quarters? But the answer, of course, was a whole lot of knitters! We are clearly genetically connected because underneath it all, it appears many have a inner (or not so inner) Geek.

My current geekiness manifested itself in a quest for 1 lone quarter. Alaska to be precise. About 5 years ago I decided to collect all 50 state quarters. I even bought the map. Remember I was living in a foreign country so my collecting was limited to short, yearly visits home. A few times I went into the bank and bought rolls of quarters. I even bought the map with 50 holes to be filled. And I did pretty well. Once I returned the US to live I did even better. But some of the quarters eluded me. I was down to the final 3: Wisconsin, Hawaii and Alaska. I started sending out emails to friends, hitting up the guys in the office (periodically insisting the check their pockets for change.) Frak came through with Wisconsin and he may have even been the one to find me Hawaii. But no Alaska. Nowhere. I was about to give up.

And then I went down to the coffee place to get my caffeine fix. And while the barista was preparing my Latte (Venti, skim - in case you are wondering) it happened. Before I thought of how it might look, I was rifling through the tip jar. Just checking to what quarters they had. Of course many were just your standard fair, or from Arizona. (I keep fining lots from Arizona. I wonder if that means something?) There were about three quarters left in the jar when I myself simultaneously giving up hope and explaining to the barista that I wasn't taking anything. And then it happened. I found it. The elusive quarter I had been dreaming about for months. Alaska!

My search is over. My map is complete.

Now on to my next geeky quest...

3 comments:

Elaine said...

Gee, I thought collecting the quarters was a sign of my coolness factor, not my geekiness. You are just looking at it backwards. And I also have not yet found Alaska, but I never would have thought of looking in a tip jar - I guess I'm too repressed. I also look for "wheaty" pennies whenever I get change. If anyone has any ... :-)

Any more progress on the color progression of Charlotte's web?

Oh, and thanks for letting me know that the package is in the mail. What fun to anticipate its arrival.

lunaticraft said...

What is it with the Arizona quarters? That's all we ever find... Which was fine for a while, since my brother, my father, and I are all in on this and trying to get ten of each, but now it's just getting annoying. I snagged a few Alaskas the other day, but for us the elusive quarter is Hawaii!

Congrats on finishing your map!

Lupie said...

My husband has two book he is putting together. One for each daughter but they are 25 & 28!
He still thinks they are babies!