Good morning, guys! This video comes to
you in as many parts as the number of
years I have been a Nerdfighter. Three.
Firstly, Project for awesome part.
Vlogbrothers and Nerdfighteria. And the NFI.
My road to Nerdfighteria has been less of a
road and more of the story; a Lindsay
Lohan, RomCom-esque story where Lindsay
Lohan and the main protagonist spend
the first twenty minutes completely
oblivious of the other's presence, almost
meeting, but not quite,
and then they finally do meet. It feels
inevitable like coming home. Like what
else could it be?
There's quote from The Fault in Our Stars
that I love. "Books so special and
rare and yours, that advertising your
affection feels like a betrayal." I came
across this quote on Goodreads and
nothing had felt as real and I just
assumed that John Green was one of those
old, dead authors and I didn't pay much
attention to him.
In fact, I'm pretty sure I came across
several of his quotes on the internet,
but, you know, John is a pretty common
name, and I have a terrible memory, so I
never really made that connection. It was
in 2013 that I picked up Paper Towns, and on
the back cover of the book, there is a
line that is actually a quote from the
book that goes, "And in everything that came
afterward, I could never stop thinking
that maybe she loved mystery so much that she
became one." That line got me hooked.
This book has forever changed the way I
look at people and in the three years
since I have discovered that imagining
humans complexly is a shared value of
the Nerdfighter community.
And I'm proud to be a part of something
that embodies empathy, compassion, and
patience. In 2013, I watched a lot of
Vlogbrothers when I was subscribed. It was doing
Project for Awesome that I discovered Nerdfighteria
and all its glory and P4A is
Nerdfighteria at its best.
Of course, I wanted it and that brings me
to part 2. 2013 means that I had missed out
on a lot of Nerdfighteria history.
I didn't know what French the Llama meant, or
Hanklerfish, or who is Dave Green. I didn't
know that Hank writes songs or that John
is banned from singing them. I didn't
know about the punishment rule or the
four-minute rule or Esther Day or Pizzamas.
But it didn't matter. Nerdfighters have been
nothing but kind and welcoming. And a free
site track to my insecurities for a
minute, I can tell you that I have this
fear of never belonging, of being
unwanted, of being left out, but within
this community, I feel secure. And by no
means am I special because I know that
Nerdfighteria is the place for so many
like me who feel like they don't fit in.
Now, quickly to the third part. My favorite part of
the story, NFI. I discovered
NFI when effyeahnerdfighters
gave them a shoutout on Tumblr and I have made
some 5 or 6 videos on this channel, but more
to the point, I discovered the community
aspect of the Nerdfighter community. So
far, all of my interactions were in the
comments, which you know, isn't really
consistent, but now I have friends online
It still boggles my mind and also super
grateful. And
there are people like you guys behind
the NF stories project whom I know,
but I don't really interact with, but
suddenly the people in this community
have faces
and names and there are move of you, and this
makes me feel less alone and you know
Lindsay Lohan RomCom stories have happy
endings. And some days it's the only
thing I've got. So, thank you, to you guys,
and this community and the Vlogbrothers
for kick-starting this whole sha-bang
and you know it just seems appropriate
to end on the following note, don't
forget to be awesome!