I compartmentalize a lot. It’s a bit of a survival trait.

I work in a very geeky environment, from a certain point of view. It’s full of very technical people with all sorts of hobbies and interests, so the cubicles are decorated with Star Wars figures and World of Warcraft posters. When we had an office Christmas tree contest, the winning team dressed their tree up as a Dalek.

But, if you look at the offices, those don’t tend to have much nerdy decor. There’s lots of fan merch for the local college sports teams, the occasional trophy for bowling or target shooting or darts, that sort of thing.

My direct supervisor is a “gamer” in that he plays Call of Duty and Battlefield online. We’re not exactly going to have a rousing conversation about Idolmaster or Fatal Frame, is what I’m getting at, and even my co-workers with the cubes full of action figures would probably raise an eyebrow at the shelves of maids ‘n ponies above my desk at home.

In addition, I have a vague fantasy of working in Japan some day, and public displays of nerdiness are even more faux pas there.

So I compartmentalize and keep my public face very boring.

Tonight, however, I was going over to a friend’s house to wish him a happy birthday, so I took the opportunity to dig around in the closet for something more fun to wear than my normal button down long sleeve shirt.

(In summer I go SUPER casual and rock a button down SHORT sleeve shirt)

I had a good time, and then I decided to stop for some groceries on the way home.

It wasn’t until I was unloading the trunk at home that I realized that I’d been walking around the grocery store for a good hour, proudly wearing a Twilight Sparkle T-shirt.

Not my best example of keeping up appearances.