Late in the summer of my twenty ninth year, I decided that I
was a Nerd Fighter, presumably because I spent hours watching the Vlogbrothers
on Youtube, reading John Green’s novels, and listening to Hank’s catchy nerd music,
but mostly because I wanted to be one.
A Nerd Fighter is defined as, “Someone who instead of being
made up of cells and organs and stuff is actually made out of awesome. Someone
who fights against world suck”. As a Hufflepuff I don’t wish to toot my own
horn so much and prefer the second half of the definition, I am indeed made out
of the same goop as every other Human being, but I would love to make the world
less sucky for nerds and other less fortunate sections of the community.
The first time I heard of John Green was after I returned to
Australia after living in the UK for 18 months and having nothing to read, no
job, and little money to spend when my sister lent me his first novel,
Looking for Alaska which I devoured and
read his follow up An Abundance of Katherines. I then proceeded to read a bunch
of other YA novels she possessed and move on in my life.
The first vlogbrothers’
video I ever saw was this one,
I don’t remember when or who sent it to me I just remember having seen it before
and LOTR was like one of my primary fandoms so it could have been like any of
my friends/family/I could have found it by chance.
Anyway, in 2012 thanks to The Fault in Our Stars I started
seeing references to Nerd Fighters and John Green everywhere (read: Tumblr). So I finally found out what
Nerd fighters were and decided to take on the task of watching all of the
videos from the beginning of Brotherhood 2.0 to present, it took me a few
months and it was worth it. I learnt about micro financing and joined the Nerd
fighter team on Kiva, in a year I have made 25 loans and I must say it is an
addictive way of helping people around the world (for a free $25 loan).
I’ve been to one gathering so far which was pretty fun, participated in a p4a,
and read one book as a part of the nerd fighter book club. And tonight I am
very excited to go see The Fault in Our Stars movie, like way excited. Candy
metaphor cigarettes, cloud nails and tissues excited. YEP.
And now for some lists of what I love about John and Hank
just because (note: there are many other things to love but these are just short lists).
I love their relationship, how they chose to work on it
through Vlogbrothers and how well they collaborate. I love reunion videos most
of all, it is true.
The projects such as p4a that they coordinate to help reduce
world suck.
They DFTBA
John –
He loves gingers as much, possibly much more than I do
He is an older teen than me
How he has made me finally find a love of pizza
Attempting to make people imagine each other more complexly
Speaking openly and honestly about his experiences with
depression and anxiety
When he says something terribly and then goes "I'm a novelist"
That he actually made "French the Llama" a thing when nobody thought he could
Hank –
He loves science as much as me, definitely much more than I
do
His poster and shirt collection
His ability to create so many amazing projects and for
making me 2D glasses should I ever be forced into watching a 3D movie in my
life
His psychic ability to predict Harry Potter/J.K. Rowling things and write these predictions into song form
He rescued a greyhound which was named Tina Fey and named
her Lemon
He limits the amount of animal products he consumes, and is
passionate about the environment
I understand his feels as a younger sibling so hard
