Just a few more days left until summer is officially over and the children head back to school. Once again, I’m left to analyze my summer: what we did vs. what we left undone. Again, the tally marks favor the undone. But what my kids did was pretty substantial: they helped me rediscover my inner geekiness.

Long ago, my husband and I were Star Trek geeks. Yep: Original, SNG, Deep Space 9, Voyager. We watched them all (and the movies), as well as “Babylon 5” and the Highlander series. I put my foot down and refused to watch ST Enterprise. At one point, at the apex of our Star Trek geekiness, we could actually speak a bit of Klingon.

Then we had children, and TV time was reduced to nil. In what little spare time we had, we quietly, so as not to wake sleeping babies, read several sci-fi series, including books by Pratchett, Tokien, Clarke, and others. But overall, our geeky/nerdiness level dropped to almost zero.

But when geeks procreate, they usually create other geeks. And this summer, our three kids swung into high-gear geekiness. After several years of devout Harry Potter worship, darling daughter became a Doctor Who fanatic, requesting a sonic screwdriver and life-size TARDIS for her 15th birthday (yes, she has a cardboard, life-size TARDIS in her room). And she is working a sci-fi convention exhibit over Labor Day weekend, dressing as a zombie. Mr. Middle Child watched “Warehouse 13” and “Torchlight,” in addition to Dr. Who and Eureka. He’s always loved outer space and the concept of alien lifeforms but somehow Star Trek does not appeal to him. The youngest, who is teased about having watched every Youtube video in existence and once stayed in-character as Yoda for an entire night of trick-or-treating, has done a web video promo for the publisher of a Zombie book and went off to a week of robotics camp.

To bond with the kids, I reluctantly tried Doctor Who–and found I love it. It’s my favorite type of show: action/drama with comic relief to break the tension. Now, when the work day is done–or if I need a bit of background noise while coding a website–I find myself watching episodes of Dr. Who, “Eureka” (unfortunately cancelled), and “Grimm,” which I believe Mr. Middle would like. But I won’t read or watch zombie-related shows. I just don’t like zombies at all. I never have and never will.

For those of you who, like me, have fun integrating other passions into your passions for knitting, cooking and crafts, I’ve done some research and found some great sites that feature not just food but also crafts for Doctor Who and Star Trek fans and Sci-Fi fans in general:

My personal contribution is in the form of food:
The Sonic Screwdriver.
1-1/2 oz vodka
3 oz orange juice
3 oz 7-Up or Sprite

I also have a related surprise that I’m going to knit my daughter for Christmas, but I can’t post about it until after she receives it. She sometimes drops in on my blog.

So, until next time, Live Long and Prosper.