Do Your Friends Know of Your Coasterness?

[AJClarke0912]

Well, I see a lot of TPR people's friends know about their coaster hobby, but I also hear of some that don't (including me). Do you have a sort of "separate alias" here on TPR? Share!

[Mr. Starr]

My friends know, and they just treat it like any other hobby that I would have. It's really no different than being into cars or model planes. and that's how I sort of explained it to them.

[jynx242]

Most of my friends think it's awesome.

[RollingRunner]

Only a few of my closest friends know about my coaster-nerddom and respect it, but i'm not to afraid to tell other people about it. Like CTU said, almost everyone has a geeky niche somewhere! I have lots more friends who have more embarassing obsessions.

[jynx242]

^^ Tyler - I totally agree about everyone having nerdness somewhere. I call it "Flying my Dork Flag." Everyones got one somewhere

[mightbeawannabe]

They do, but accuse the hobby of being gay, which, they're right that I am, but they don't know that (If they did I'd be typing this from my grave). Maybe some GP do know about ACE...

 

I'm certainly not embarrassed. I've got 30,000+ people behind me! Then when their total football nerdiness comes out, I say the same in return and get bombarded! There's no difference! Some people just don't understand.

/rant

[tinkerbell]

My friends must know I love theme parks since I'm always the one who wants to go, but overall I guess I'm pretty quiet about it. They definitely know I'm kind of a Disney fangirl, but that's another topic.

Edited December 22, 2010 by tinkerbell

[atem122]

Yes. I used to be really afraid of people knowing about my nerdyness, but once I got to high school, I became more open about it, and I'm still by far the coolest kid in school. It's actually been pretty good though, nobody thinks of me weirdly (or at least to my face), and I've actually met a senior who wants to be a coaster designer through being a nerd.

[Groteslurf]

They know. Even my colleagues at work know.

 

It's difficult to hide

[Josh Linn]

No, because I care about my image.

[the ghost]

All my friends know, but I hang out with a mix of many people. One of my closest friends is a jocky football nerd and one is a computer nerd. Everyone knows I am a disney nerd.

[cal1br3tto]

I'm basically mixed about this. I totally wouldn't mind talking about it, and I'm totally proud of my hobby. There's no need to be ashamed, or embarrassed in a "bad" way. I can understand "friendly embarrassment" because the hobby is considered dorky and nerdy, but not the kind where you just want to disappear into the ground if people find out.

However, I generally prefer to keep it quiet. It's not because my hobby is coasters. It's just that I'd rather have people slowly find things out about me as opposed to frequently bringing them up.

I definitely agree with a lot of posters in this thread. For whatever reason, people seem to label coaster enthusiasm as a weird, perplexing, and even shameful hobby. It doesn't necessarily help that many people simply view coasters as casual fun, or even something they'd rather avoid.

I'm continually surprised by the interests that people have. Whether it's something genuinely unusual, or something that I wouldn't have expected that particular person to be into, or something common like sports or music that a specific person is much more into than your average fan.

[AJClarke0912]

...for whatever reason, people seem to label coaster enthusiasm as a weird, perplexing, and even shameful hobby. It doesn't necessarily help that many people simply view coasters as casual fun, or even something they'd rather avoid...

 

That's kinda where I'm at. It kinda stinks, but it makes meeting a coaster nerd somewhere twice as exciting because you feel like somebody is actually listening or caring about your hobby.

[SuperSous]

Most of my friends think it's pretty awsome! I'm open about it and people now that i am alawys right when it comes to coasters. haha

[mightbeawannabe]

I hate sports with a passion as I find them dumb, boring, and overrated.

 

Is it possible that you and I share brains? Everything is Football this, and Basketball that and it just infuriates me!

[rcdude]

My friends, family, and even a couple of my teachers all know that I am an amusement park enthusiast. A couple of them are as well, but I don't think any of them have accounts on TPR or on any other coaster website. I find that they will sometimes ask me which rides are best at a certain park, what order to do things in, how (insert statistic here) is (insert ride here), etc.

 

I still think it is funny how the first time I wore my TPR hoodie to school one of my teachers and some people in my class thought I actually reviewed parks. I spent ten minutes telling everyone about this website, but that didn't stop a few of them from asking me about (insert ride or park here) on a scale of 1-10. Fortunately, it was during a study period and not an actual class. I still sometimes get asked if I'm reviewing a park when I wear a TPR shirt and go on a ride alone.

[tinkerbell]

I hate sports with a passion as I find them dumb, boring, and overrated.

 

Is it possible that you and I share brains? Everything is Football this, and Basketball that and it just infuriates me!

Um marry me? Either one of you! For me the only thing more painful than watching (most) sports is listening to people talk about them. But some people must feel the same way about listening to me talk about Disney/theme parks so to each his own I guess.

Edited January 17, 2011 by tinkerbell

[ParkTrips]

No, because I care about my image.

 

I'm only in it for the bitches

[Josh Linn]

I hate sports with a passion as I find them dumb, boring, and overrated.

 

LOL...you're either senile or about to be.

[mightbeawannabe]

Um marry me?

 

Sorry, it wouldn't work out.

[Angry_Gumball]

Being 25, I could care less if all my friends knew about my coaster craving. Some see it as a 'nerdy' thing as it's uncommon, but I see it as another hobby that people like, much like how people like sports, cars, music, etc. So with this said, pretty much everyone knows my love for coasters, and at work when transferring someone's home video, they'll ask me what park/coaster that is on screen. Most of the time, I know the answer. My friends also know of my coaster craving during high school, I wasn't really ashamed because I was just being who I am, not trying to follow what 99% of the school liked. Yes, it was a little odd but why put yourself into a situation of being a 'fake'?

[frozenflames]

Pretty much all of my friends know about my love for theme parks/ coasters/ Disney. Some of them think it's a little pathetic that I get so excited by it, but all of them understand that yes, it may be dorky, but it's a huge part of what makes me who I am. Plus there have been several instances when I'm in a park with my friends and they ask me about something park-related, because they know I can usually answer them. So I'm proud that I'm a coaster dork, and nobody can take that away from me.

[phantomfan93]

Everyone knows mine and none of my friends really care because its something I do that doesn't concern them.

[netdvn]

All my friends know that I love theme parks and roller coasters because I love to draw them and show them off to everyone. In fact, the only friends that don't know I love theme parks are the people that have never seen my artwork before (not counting TPR of course).

 

Even then, I don't really see this as a social stigma since as it's been stated before, everyone has a dorky side whether its movies, cars, sports, video games, or roller coasters.

[monsterfan99]

Everyone I am friends with knows. My fiancee even uses traveling around the country to parks as part of her curriculum on the states to high school social studies for students with Cognitive Disabilities to get them interested