Here’s a quandary. You are falling head over heels for this rare person who hasn’t been scared away after three-five dates and you’ve managed to reign in the Star Trek analogies (of which there are many). But now your hopeful significant other wants to come over to your place…your Fortress of Solitude, filled with all your action figures, video games, comic books and/or Vampirella posters. Will s/he be scared away? It’s a scary thought. But here are some ways to lessen the blow.

• Prep the object of your affection from the first date
  You risk scarying them away earlier, but better to find out someone’s a geekaphobe earlier than later. Just express your geekiness in cute ways. I like working in an aforementioned Star Trek reference into the conversation, and then tilting my head saying “Yeah, I’m a huge geek.” Basically, play up the boyish charm. Girls, you’ll have it easier of course. Guys will just be happy to have someone willing to watch Star Trek with them.
• Show the breadth of your knowledge
  You might know every different kind of Stormtrooper, but you also know the current real estate market. You love debating the ethics of super hero registration in Marvel Comics, but you also enjoy a hearty debate about stem cells or about Britney losing her kids. It doesn’t matter what your extra curricular interests are, just as long as you have some outside of geekdom that you feel passionate about. Being a geek is something to be proud of. Not having a life is not.
• Show a lot of interest in your significant’s other’s interests
  Even if all your girlfriend cares about are Coach bags, express an interest in learning and understanding. We are all geeky about something, whether it’s comics, Star Wars, or fashion or sports. So be understanding and understanding will find you.

Every Thursday, I put my geeky gayness to the task of bring geek culture to the fashionable mainstream. This is your geek life guide.

From Tina Fey to Steven Colbert to Harry Potter, all the coolest people are wearing glasses. And I will always be the first to say, do everything celebrities do. Even Glam.com put together a photo gallery of Hollywood beauties with four-eyes.

So don’t be scared to glass it up. For one, contact lens are annoying, drying pains in my eyes. Glasses not only show people you’re smart, but if you follow some of my advice, people might think you’re also a cool person…who just happens to draw a diagram of the Millennium Falcon from memory.

So here’s some guidance to picking the right pair of glasses.

Powerful plastic

My personal preference. These thicker rimmed plastic frames are the among the most popular styles right now. They look great in wide ovals or rectangles, best for people with longer, slimmer faces. And if you want to stand out a bit, try something other than traditional black. Maybe you’d like blue frames or turtle shell frames. These are hard to pull off, but if you’re daring, you’ll certainly get some attention. Don’t you think Cate Blanchett is even prettier with the glasses? Oh yes you do. Just keep the lens wide but short. Huge cheek covering glasses are so 1985.

Lens without boarders

Rimless glasses maintain the illusion of wearing glasses just as much as the illusion of intelligence. Steven Colbert fashions these glasses every night, professing harsh conservative rhetoric with a geeky twist. Almost any face-type will do well with rimless glasses, but they are best if you have a larger forehead (not saying the Colbert has a large forehead; he has a perfect forehead). Best of all, rimless glasses are often very light and comfortable, so if wearing glasses annoys you, this might be your answer.

On the wires

The more classic style, wire frames should be handled just like plastic, only with a thinner frame. Keep your lens small, either wide ovals or rectangles, or maybe some round Harry Potter frames. Thin frames can be especially fun, looking almost hidden, helping your face look wider or more focused. And there’s the Harry Potter look. That’s pretty much all you care about, I’m sure.

To make your geek-out glasses look even better, try a fun hair style. I wear my hair a little spiky: the out-of-bed look. This makes my face look longer and slimmer so my thick glasses look more prominent. And it also shows I care about my appearance and my glasses are a choice, not a requirement. They are an accessory just like any belt or pocket protector.

So try it out. Take some of this advice and research, experiment, test, and conclude. Just like every geek would.

Every Thursday, I put my geeky gayness to the task of bring geek culture to the fashionable mainstream. This is your geek life guide.