My biggest transformation as a person was when I finally joined some art and comic book clubs and High School and I have been a different man ever since.

Sometimes I think it is because I finally opened up and sometimes I think it's just because of how many different types of nerds there are but I never met a group of people so open to Wacky and crazy ideas.

Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a comic book artist and I practice every day since but I never advertise myself as such until I was about 18 and my final year of high school and I decided to finally join up with some other people in real life who are also interested in making comics

I went to conventions and met famous people.

We were taking pictures with cosplayers and generally having fun about the weird s*** we grew up on and I never felt such an open group of people nor have I since now that I'm a post closeted nerd.

But now that I think about it, so much of nerd culture was egalitarians as I saw artists and writers and cosplayers and other General weirdos of all Races and cultures and sizes

Gay or straight Black or white Pretty or ugly Calm or crazy Liberal or conservative

Extrovert or introvert Male or female And of all ages

So much heavy programming I had to deprogram myself was that I was somehow a p**** or a weirdo because I enjoyed arts and history in anime and not out playing sports. But when I finally answered a convention it blew my mind to just how diversity is and I hate myself for waiting so long to finally be open and proud along with my nerdy brothers.

Even now as I speak there are probably like thousands of LGBT artists on Instagram drawing all types of stuff and that's just an example.

Another example is just how divided the comic book Community is and that's only because of how diverse the fandom is in itself.

I regret it because if I ignored all of my bullying and just accepted my nerdiness I probably could have had an early childhood filled with actual friends and experiences that would have meant something.

And I do completely blame society for pigeonholing a lot of young men into thinking they couldn't do this that or the other in fear of being less of a man. Me included.

I Met George Perez and Neal Adams, two of the most famous figures in comic book history and they were both very different men and I did not think any less of them for anything and I was honestly awestruck for most of it.

To be honest right now I don't like the state of North culture because it is also becoming divided by political Spectrums. We shouldn't be so divided we should always be the community that stays open to everybody especially since we all had to face such hardship for essentially being nerds.