Fangirl-ing

This post is more commenting and fangirl-ing (I made a new verb!) about John Green, Hank Green, and Nerdfighteria. So if you're tired of reading about those topics and my commentary on them... feel free to navigate away from this page. Now.

Moving on.

First, story time.

On my flight home from Medford not too long ago, I met a young girl, Catharine (gosh I hope I'm spelling that correctly) who sat next to me on the plane. I was in the window seat and she was in the middle seat. She kept turning around to talk to a friend who was unfortunately assigned to a seat away from her. This friend's name was Nicole, I think...and it was her first flight. Anyway, we were pulling away from the gate, and I had my copy of "The Fault in Our Stars" in my lap because I had recently began to reread it. Catharine politely points to it and says, "Is that a good book? I've heard it's really good." And of course I try to keep my gushing to a minimum and reply, "Oh yes. This is my second time reading it and I NEVER reread books." And to my surprise and utter joy, she said, "You know the author does these videos online with his brother-" and I interrupted, "ARE YOU A NERDFIGHTER TOO?!!" to which she replied, "Yes!" and we immediately high-fived and launched into a conversation of our favorite videos. At one point during the flight she turned around to Nicole to check on how she was doing (She was good), and Nicole asked how she was...Catharine said, "Great! I'm sitting next to a Nerdfighter!" I turned and waved at Nicole, even though I couldn't see her face, and said hello. We took a break from our conversation to read our books. I couldn't help but think that this wonderful girl I had met has not yet read the awesomeness that is TiFOS, that I should give her my copy. This was an idea that I actually struggled with as the flight progressed. I really love this book, and giving it up when I had barely just started my second read was a little difficult to digest. But Catharine hadn't read it!! So, realizing that giving up my favorite book would be very hard especially because I was in the middle of rereading it, that meant that I absolutely had to try to give it to her. So I did. This is how it went:

Me: "So you said you haven't read this one, right?" *Gestures toward book in hands*
Her: "Right."
Me: "Then I want you to have mine." *tried to hand book to Catharine*
Her: "No. I can't take your book."
Me: "Seriously, it's okay. I want you to have it."
Her: "I can't take your book."  -- We're both laughing now.
Me: "You have to read it! Take it!"
Her: "I really can't!"
Me: *laughing* "Fine. Then promise me you'll buy it and read it."

Then I told her where in Vegas she can find it. (Turns out she was in town for a martial arts competition! Cool!) We talked more and I made her promise, as we were disembarking, that she was going to buy the book and she WAS going to read it. Sadly, I don't know if she ever did purchase the book or how well she did at the competition she was attending. But it was fun to meet another nerdfighter.

I spent much of today watching videos circa 2009 on vlogbrothers. (If all my talk of these wonderful brothers hasn't gotten you to watch any of the videos yet, I don't know what else I can say. Watch a few. Enjoy the awesome. Thank me later.) And I have two quotes to share from two videos I saw today. Both made me stop what I was doing (because I was playing the new Sims expansion pack while watching the videos...) and rewind the videos many times to write down exactly what John was saying so that I could reflect on it now...and later if I need to.

First, on the topic of why people want to be famous:

John just said that the commenters on the previous videos discussing famous-ness had pretty much fallen into about 3 different camps. And this is John discussing the first camp:

"The main reason people want to be famous is because it allows them to live after they've died... [but] no one is going to live forever, because there will come a time in which there will be no human beings to ever remember that there were human beings who did anything...Stars of reality shows, while 'famous', do not live on after their death in any meaningful way. I propose, that Lauren Conrad, who is reportedly a very famous person, is likely to live less after her death than a high school English teacher. Imagine the future when Lauren Conrad is 50 years old, maybe some people who are also 50 may remember that she used to be on a horribly destructive reality show, but no one who is 30 years younger than Lauren Conrad will have no idea who she is. Whereas your average high school English teacher will teach until she's 65, teaching 15 year old kids. Which means, that when she dies when she's 85, her youngest students will be 35 years old. They'll go on and remember her for another 50 years. Lauren Conrad has no chance at being remembered 50 years after she dies. So if you want to be famous because you want to be remembered...be a teacher."

--Let's get this out of the way first, because I feel I need to admit to it before I become accused of it... yes, this speech interested me because my favorite author is talking about english teachers... of which I AM ONE. There, I said it. Now, I have never dreamed of associating my profession with becoming famous. When I think of famous people, I think of movies and TV stars...and music people. Famous to me means being widely known and paid wildly for it. And that doesn't sound anything like education. But John makes a point about being remembered. One of the reasons I went into teaching was because I wanted to make a difference in students' lives. If I (outrageously) succeed, and just one of my students remembers me 50 years after I had them in my classroom... then I guess I have the potential to become famous... but never know it because, according to John's logic, my youngest students would have to outlive me first. So can you still be famous without knowing it? Can you be famous if only one person makes it so?

And another quote from John, that I would love to have printed very nicely and framed so I can see it whenever I become discouraged from my dream of writing a novel...

"Every single day, I get emails from aspiring writers asking my advice about how to become a writer...and here is the only advice I can give: Don't make stuff because you want to make money. It will never make you enough money. Don't make stuff because you want to get famous, because you will never feel famous enough. Make gifts for people, and work hard on making those gifts in the hope that those people will notice how hard you worked...and maybe they won't. And if they don't notice... I know it's frustrating. But ultimately, that doesn't change anything because your responsibility is not to the people your making the gift for...but to the gift itself."

-- To me, this means that my writing isn't about what others may think about it. It's about the work I put into it. It's about the creation and passion I put into it. Not about making money or being famous, or even getting published. It's about the creation and the process it took to get there. When I heard this speech, and let it sink in...(meaning I watched it more than once)... it took off a huge amount of pressure I didn't realize I had about my writings. While I have always wanted to write a novel, I honestly never really thought I would have the dedication to actually finish one. But now that the pressure I previously mentioned has lifted, I feel like it is slightly more possible. Because the writing should be FUN because I love it, not because it's a means to an end to get published. I've never worded this dream as, "Have a novel published." It's always been, "To write a novel."Well gee, there is a distinct difference there! More pressure lifted! Granted, this does not mean that novel-writing is at the top of my priority list now...just that it seems more feasible to actually BE on the list.

If all my fan-girl gushing hasn't yet convinced you of the awesome that is the vlogbrothers... here is the link to the video that the second quote I talked about. ---->  Click here to be inspired. 

Cruise happening soooooon!

DFTBA :)