This is Sam. He is an extreme nerd as you can see, posing here joyously with his newest Nintendo purchase. When he was six he became hooked on the game ‘Excitebike’ which led to his parents buying him more games for Christmas, and then birthdays… and now he owns one of the biggest collections of video games in the country. His motto is GO HARD OR GO HOME and Sam become an extremist in a number of things..
Is it actually that big?
Yes. It’s huge. My favourite game is Mario Kart. The rarest one I have is a weird game called ‘Magexa 2in1’ released by a Sydney company. I’m the only person who has it apparently. You can Google that.
How did you fund your habit?
As a teenager, I would ride my bike around Melbourne buying and selling video games hand to hand from people who put ads in the paper. I then started selling them online so often that I became an eBay Powerseller whilst still at high school.
Do you think this qualifies you are a nerd?
I fcking hope so.
What was your first paid job?
My first job out of university was carrying the Google Trekker camera (it was attached to a backpack) and I walked all over Victoria. I survived a close call with a fast approaching tide at Croajingalong National Park nearly sinking the $70k camera.
You were also one of Victoria’s best runners?
I started to get into running around 15yrs old. I became good at it and started participating in comps around Australia, then around the world including Japan, France, America, Scotland and Kenya. I almost completed a cross-country World Junior Championships race in Mombasa (half of my team mates ended up hospitalised) but I fainted from dehydration and I woke up to medics giving me multiple butt injections.
Do you still run?
I’m now totally hooked on trail running – it gets me out of Melbourne and gives me a solid nature hit. It is the most I have ever enjoyed running.
Where else do you get to flex your extremism?
This nerd parties. I love techno music. I go to bush doofs all the time – my favorite is Rainbow Serpent. I’ve learnt that it’s important to take care of yourself when you’re an extremist like me, especially in the party scene. I have learnt from a rave-master (who used to be my boss) how to combat four-day festivals without flaking out by ‘going too hard’:
1 – drink water all day
2 – eat. Freakin eat.
4 – day partying is ok
5 – sleep at night
6 – don’t have too many mushrooms
You missed #3?
Fall in love.
Favorite thing to do in Melbourne?
Running around The Tan.. but that’s boring isn’t it?
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