Nerd. Geek. Dweeb. I'm sure we've all heard these wonderful words before, for any number of reasons. I used to hear them a lot more than others because of my super nerdy habits; I loved to read the best of fantasy and sci-fi novels (I have tattoos from the "Lord of the Rings" and "A Song of Ice and Fire" series), I'm a huge fan of comics and superheroes in general, I actually enjoy studying and learning the material from class, and probably the worst transgression is my love of "World of Warcraft."

I used to get a lot more crap for all that stuff in high school than I do in college (college is really better in every way I can think of), but still, it's not hard to find yourself getting chuckles or weird/disapproving looks when you say you play "World of Warcraft" or that you spent most of your childhood (and well into your teenage years) reading" Star Wars" comics or that you like reading your organic chemistry textbook because of all of the fascinating information in there.

Well, I'm here to tell you to turn the other cheek and keep doing you. Everyone's got their own quirks, and these are all different ones that are perfectly normal to have. When people tell me I have no life because I play "World of Warcraft," I tell them I have a job, a girlfriend, a great group of friends, good grades, and a hobby that entertains me and gives me something to do in my free time to enjoy myself. It doesn't interfere with the rest of my life or theirs, so I have zero care for their opinion in that regard (not to sound cold, but I really do not care if people think I'm a loser for my hobbies or not).

For real though, the best thing you can do is ignore the haters and flaunt your unique personality. All of those things (well, almost all) that people will say make you a nerd will help you to succeed later in life; Bill Gates once said, "Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one," and I'd like to think he has a point.