Nerdfighter Notes
Hi!
I became a Nerdfighter in the Spring or Summer of 2013. I had been on Tumblr for a few months by then and had already found a couple of people to talk with and discovered the world of fandom and shipping though them. I was inspired to watch and read the things they liked, so I went out and bought an English edition of TFiOS, after I’ve seen people’s posts about it.
I’m German, but I really wanted to improve my English during that time and made a point of reading and watching English books and shows in the original version. It was a pain at first, I always had a dictionary on hand and had to look up loads of words. Nowadays, I only have to look up 1-5 words per book but I haven’t dared to read classics like Jane Austen’s books yet.
Anyway, I had bought the book and finally decided to read it a couple of months after the purchase. Then I noticed a little note between the pages, saying:
“Hey Nerdfighter :)
(if you’re not, then go and visit youtube.com/vlogbrothers)
every single sentence in this book is prizeless and you’ll cry a lot :) dftba and have fun! A.N”
I had never found a note in book before and wondered why a stranger would care enough to put it there. I was touched by it but I don’t think I checked out the YouTube channel immediately. Instead I the rest of John’s books and became more and more curious about him, especially because Looking for Alaska sounds like the author has some personal boarding school experience. So I finally looked up vlogbrothers on YouTube. I can’t remember what my first video was, but I’m pretty sure I subscribed a few months before the first Nerdfighter census happened.
I love Nerdfighteria and have written a few of my own Nerdfighter Notes and hidden them in John’s books since. My Pizza John shirts are my favorite thing to wear and I always watch as much of the P4A live stream as I can. Sadly, I couldn’t convince any of my friends to become part of the community and don’t know any other Nerdfighters personally, but I still feel like I’m part of the community because it’s so welcoming.
Here’s the Tumblr post I made after I found the note: http://myshipsailson.tumblr.com/post/50580536717/a-note-i-found-between-pages-122-and-123-of-the
I’m confident that I haven’t thrown the note away, but I can’t find it anymore, so this blurry photo is all I have.
via @myshipsailson


















