When I was in high school I wasn’t just a Math Nerd, as most of you expect, but also a Band Nerd. I was in choir, the yearly musicals, symphonic band, pep band, jazz band and, of course, marching band. I once calculated out that while attending high school I was doing some type of music practice or performance between five and ten hours a day, every day. Whichever way you looked at it, though, I was a nerd with all of the nerd ways. I was ultra-introverted, which I still am, and extremely shy, which I’m now only slightly shy. And I was totally clueless, particularly when it came to the bane of all high school boys, particularly nerdy ones, high school girls.

I was very rebellious in my quiet way, the last “respectable” boy who wore long hair. I did things my own way, no matter what we were doing. My mom still tells the story of asking my band director what it was like having a field full of kids marching in a toga for Toga Day during “Spirit Week”. He laughed and informed her I was the only one! Continue reading →