Nerdfighter (n): 1. a person who instead of being made up of cells and organs and stuff is actually made out of awesome. 2. A dedicated follower of the vlogbrothers.
I am a nerdfighter and an extremely proud one at that. It's not something I'm ashamed of at all. I'm happy to tell people I'm a nerdfighter. I'm not a perfect nerdfighter nor do I claim to be. I know I'm not a perfect nerdfighter. We are all imperfect. We all have our faults.
I got to thinking about being a Nerdfighter today and how different things might be had I not become one. My life would be so much different. I guarantee I wouldn't even be the same person I am today. I probably would be worse off now.
I discovered the Vlogbrothers and Nerdfighters back in 2007. A friend of mine, whom I'd met a couple summers previously at Shuttle Camp, sent me a link to via Instant Messenger of "Accio Deathly Hallows" a couple days after the book release (if only she had found it and sent it before, who knows what would have happened!) . I watched the video and fell instantly in love with the song. Since I didn't have anything better to do I started clicking on some of the other video links on the sidebar. I saw John's video responding to comments and thought it was hilarious! Something about Hank and John just really intrigued me and I found them entertaining so I subscribed and began watching. The rest is history
Not long after subscribing, I went back and watched Brotherhood 2.0 from the beginning and discovered what "Nerdfighters" were. I had already considered myself a nerd and naturally just adopted this new term for what I was. I got really into the Nerdfighter community which at that time was still relatively new. I discovered John Green was a YA author and read his books. I kept up watching the videos and even participating in some of the projects/challenges/punishment suggestions/etc.
Then in 2008, the Tour de Nerdfighting took place. I was in Stillwater, OK at the time and when I saw that John and Hank were going to be in Oklahoma City, just about an hour's drive away, I knew I had to go. The problem was that I didn't know my way around the city. I didn't know very many people in the area either. So I reached out via the message boards at the Nerdfighter ning. Asking for help and seeing what other people where planning to go. I didn't know any of them but it really didn't matter. The fact was there were other nerdfighters around and I was just excited to be part of them.
A nerdfighter by the name of Travis responded to my request for help. He told me directions of how to get to the library. He even told me a place where he and some of his friends were planning to meet up at and said I could join them if I wanted and we could all walk to the library together. Little did I know this same guy would later become one of my best friends.
Well, unfortunately even with a GPS, I'm still pretty inept when it came to getting to the library much less getting to the place Travis told me they were going to be parking/meeting at. I got lost and couldn't find anyone around or even a place to park nearby the library. I didn't want to walk around alone downtown either. Eventually though, I found a parking spot close to the library and everything was ok from that point on.
The event was awesome of course and I did meet people. It was just a whole lot of fun. At the time of the event, the room was already packed. This was just in 2008. I couldn't imagine what that same even would be like now. I have video footage of the whole event thanks to my laptop and its webcam which I had brought with me.
Afterwards, many of us nerdfighters hung around for the meet and greet and signing and pictures. While waiting, a guy (Travis, but I didn't know it was him at the time!) asked a group of us to pose for a picture. I think I remember suggesting that we all do the nerdfighter sign which we totally did.
Later on Facebook, the guy uploaded the photos to the Tour de Nerdfighter Event page for Oklahoma City which I had said I was attending. His name was Travis. The same Travis that had sent me directions earlier. He told us to tag ourselves in the picture he'd taken, so I did. I also remember sending him a friend request which he accepted. After all, he was a fellow Oklahoma nerdfighter. I just thought it would be nice to know another nerdfighter.
Travis and I didn't talk much after that except occasionally. Then when I moved to Denton and found out ALL CAPS would be performing in OKC as part of the Triple Rainbow Awesome Tour, I again, couldn't turn it down. I was going to be attending and learned Travis was going to be attending (again thanks to the Event page). Again, I didn't know OKC very well and was concerned. But because we had at least met once before, we decided to do meet up at Travis's apartment and carpool to the event.
I was nervous because I didn't know really know Travis but everything was fine. We met up with a couple other nerdfighter friends, one of them being Erin, the other Jeremiah, and carpooled to the event together. While at the event, we met up with another friend Kate. Afterwards, we all went to Whataburger and just hung out. Then we exchanged numbers and I drove back to Denton where I sent friend requests to Erin and Kate and they accepted. I later discovered that they were also at the Tour de Nerdfighting event and that they were both in the same picture Travis had taken. So in reality I'd met them already before even though I didn't remember doing so! About a week later, we met up again for a Wrock concert at another library.
Pretty much from then on, we became friends. Meeting up again in December for a little party and film a Project for Awesome video together and deciding to start a collab channel together. Then again when Maureen Johnson came and again for the Texas State Fair and Karaoke and for another Wrock show.
So now I have really awesome Nerdfighter friends and it's all because of Nerdfighteria that I have such awesome friends or have done some of the awesome things I have done.
If it wasn't for Nerdfighteria and Nerdfighters, I would never have found such good friends. Sure I probably would have found friends but it wouldn't be the same.
I would never have met Hank or John Green or even The Katherine who are all such amazing people both online and in person.
I never would have gotten the opportunity to go Go-Karting with Maureen Johnson! MAUREEN JOHNSON!! A POPULAR YA AUTHOR!
I wouldn't have met Kristina Horner or Luck Conrad or Lauren Fairweather or Matt Maggiacomo in person!
While I'm pretty sure I'd still be obsessed with libraries, books, and Harry Potter, I don't think I would have met the kind of people that I have or read the books that I have. I've met people who shared my love for things simply because they were nerdfighters first.
I probably wouldn't be nearly as proud as I am to claim I'm a nerd. I've known I was a nerd for a long time. I accepted it but really it's thanks to Nerdfighteria and the Green Brothers that I'm so happy to claim I am one. They made it cool to be a nerd.
Basically if it wasn't for Nerdfighters and Nerdfighteria, my life wouldn't be as awesome as it is.
Thank you Hank and John Green and Nerdfighteria. Thank you for everything.
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