It's been a decade or so, but yesterday, I heard people with hushed voices murmer the word 'nerd', while sneakily looking over to where I was seated, once more.

Of course, this was an utmost wrong assessment of my being at that time.  For I was the epitome of cool: cloaked, hooded, and sitting by myself in a train, playing tLoZ:aLBW on my new white 3DS.  Naturally, the word slipped from the lips of some beatifull, yet ignorant girl, seated on the opposite site of the walkway.  A foreign exchange student, travelling with another of the same fortune and 2 local guys, who must have fancied themselves to be in even greater fortune, to some place only of interest to a few students with not a care on their mind.

And while I have long since stopped caring for what people think of my hobby, it just goes to show that there is still a lot of disdain for an adult gaming on the go, and a lot of stereotyping.  That girl, no matter how self-contained, empty headed and hormone driven as she clearly was, had categorized my whole being, solely based on how she perceived my manner to kill some time on an overly long commute.

it goes to show that despite all the hype about geek chique, gaming on Nintendo devices is still something only nerds indulge in.  Just a few seats next to me, there was a woman playing something on an iPad.  No one called her a nerd (if anything, she'd be more of a milf), no one glanced at her, thinking to themselves what the hell she was doing there (possibly also because she wasn't much of a milf either).

Of course, yesterday also marked the first time I have gamed in public after about 7 years.  Not that I avoided it per se, I just didn't feel like gaming on a handheld, preferring to game at home on a larger screen, with a more comfortable controller.

So yeah.  Not sure how I felt about it all.  I think deep down, part of me rejoiced.  Knowing that even today, when even grandma's and celebs game, I'm still part of a small subculture that some people will never get.  :p