Geeks, well it is only natural that they are spied on May 4th, since it is commonly known as 'Star Wars Day'. You didn’t know that? Well, think about it…'May the 4th be with you'…are you laughing? Hello fellow geek! Ok, my days as a true geek were a number of years ago, but it still creeps up on me from time to time.

Firstly, let me state that I was not and am not a Star Wars fan. The truth is that Captain Picard and the crew on board the USS Enterprise D took my heart at the tender age of 16 and ruined me for years after. Family and friends knew me as a Trekkie and would ask me all sorts of questions related to the Trek universe. Yes, I used to argue that Trekkies were really sad and I was actually a Trekker, which makes me shift uncomfortably in my seat just typing that lame excuse.

I wore Star Trek t-shirts, I bought a communicator, had a Picard ‘Make it so!’ poster on my bedroom wall and even built an Enterprise D model kit – this is so awful writing it all down. I read the Star Trek Encyclopaedia: A Reference Guide to the Future from cover to cover like an actual book and managed to memorise most of the content, plus, yes there is more, I still have the limited edition Micro Machines Star Trek edition, although my wife refuses to let it leave the depths of our storeroom.

The term ‘geek’ does get thrown at Trekkies for many reasons but for me I can see that it is because they/we throw ourselves whole-heartedly into our passion. The range of merchandise is extensive, the number of DVDs is huge and the desire to recreate the Enterprise Bridge in your front room is tempting. However, a couple of years after I became hooked upon Star Trek a thought so freaky and so scary popped into my mind and terrified me so much that I began selling everything the very next day. What was the thought? 'I wonder how much a Starfleet uniform costs.'

To rid myself of the geek image that had stuck itself to me like the leech in Chekhov's ear in Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, I had to find another passion and bloody quickly. My heart settled upon movies and that remains even today, plus it has become associated with me within family circles – thankfully. You may have seen from the variety of reviews I write for Ovi that this is a true love and one that people don’t cough the word ‘nerd’ in my presence.

Appearances also play a huge part in the geek persona, so when my eyesight began failing at 14-years-old and specs entered my life there was little I could do. When I wear glasses I am a geek, so much so that when Thanos' wife saw me with glasses for the first time and I explained I don't wear them often because I look like a nerd, she didn't reassure me that I didn't. It is for this reason I always ensure that there are contact lenses in the house, in my jacket and in my bag.

I am not sure why it is such an issue for me not to look or act like a geek, but partly it has to do now with my daughter and her future. I couldn't take it if she was mocked for having the nerdy Trekkie foreign dad who knows what a dilithium chamber is and how to spell it correctly first time – I just did! I think she will have enough to cope with, although if she ever wants to watch an episode of Star Trek with her dad I will…make it so!

PS – Star Trek Day is planned for September 8th, since it is the date of the première of the original Star Trek series on television in 1966.