three laws

So the other day the wife and I were at Journal Square in Jersey City waiting for an elevator. I said to her, "Do you like that we've only seen two episodes of The Terminator, and already we've seen robots hit by cars four times?" to which she said yes. As we stepped into the elevator I had the following conversation with a stranger:

Guy: The Terminators definitely don't follow the three laws of robotics.
Me: [holding up the Isaac Asimov book I'm currently reading¹, which I luckily happened to have on my person] Hey, you're talking to a guy who's reading Asimov right now. I know all about the three laws.
Guy: Bender doesn't really follow them either.
Me: He's not so much a robot as much as just a mechanical [college roommate]².

The wife was embarrassed beyond belief. Even more embarrassed than the time when I, without realizing it, was wearing my "Mars Rocks!" t-shirt on a day when one of the Mars probes was entering either orbit or atmo at Mars, and some stranger said to me "That shirt is very ap-rap-po today!" And then there was the time when I was wearing the same "Mars Rocks!" t-shirt at Six Flags, and I got into an argument with some kid about which planet was lamer, Mars or Saturn.

Somehow the nerds always find me. Not that I mind... I usually enjoy the company of my own kind for brief periods of time.


1) Fantastic Voyage
2) My actual words were "dorm-mate", but college roommate is what I meant to say... I panicked and just spit out the first inane version that popped into my head.
3) He meant to say apropos, but in his thick Jersey accent it came out ap-rap-po, with the accent on all syllables.