Nerdfighters, Nerdfighters everywhere

On Sunday, I went to a Nerdfighter gathering at the Prudential Center in Boston.

I arrived shortly after 2 with my ukulele, etc. and some Nerdfighters had already taken over one corner of the food court. They had already hijacked a lot of tables and made them into an L-shape. I helped more people (because more and more were arriving) make a little island in the middle of the L. We talked about fandoms and ages and things we'd done, tried to play Munchkin Space, tried to play Bang, and then I migrated to another corner. Then my girlfriend and her friends arrived and then we played a game with a beach ball covered with questions that somebody had ingeniously created. Then we took a group photo and thoroughly freaked out the rest of the food court by shouting, "DFTBA!"

Then we migrated to Barnes & Noble and played the "In Your Pants" game. If you're not familiar with it, it's the theory that if you add "In Your Pants" to any book title, it instantly becomes hilarious. Some of the best selections include:

That's the Way I Blow

Justin Bieber

Katy Perry

The Dust Bowl

Fire

World War II

The Casual Vacancy

You've Gotta Have Balls

and more, which I can't remember just now. We looked around for a while before finding "Must-Read Books by John Green."

Worship at the altar, worship at the altar.

And Harry Potter.

Worship at the altar, worship at the altar.

Then we went and looked at books and the rack of hand puppets which included a Hedwig-style snowy owl and a puffy hedgehog and a dog and a squirrel.

After the Barnes and Noble people were well and thoroughly freaked-out (and a lot of Nerdfighters had started to leave), we went and sat in a corner and played more beach ball question game. Then I had to leave, and everyone exchanged hugs.

I think it was one of the best days I've had lately. I've been told how lucky I am to have Nerdfighteria, and I really am. I think the whole world is lucky to have such a beautiful community. There are so many bad things in the world, so many people who say that we're only getting worse, that we're getting more and more apathetic. But then there's Nerdfighteria. And just as one lamp can light a room, Nerdfighteria gives hope where there might not be as much.

DFTBA!

Alive

I've been reading Fahrenheit 451, party due to the urging of my friend and partly due to the Nerdfighter Book Club.

I like it and it's rather amazing.

This video is the first in a series in which John and Hank Green, aka the vlogbrothers, discuss the book and its meanings. I would discourage you from watching it if you've not read the book yet but it's not entirely spoilerific.

Anyways...in the video, John asks us what makes us feel alive. Now, I don't have a YouTube account so I can't exactly comment but I figured it would make a worthy enough blog post.

I feel alive when I feel I am doing something meaningful.

Sometimes I'll be doing the same thing at different times but at one time I'll feel like it's meaningful and at the other I'll feel it's pointless.

I feel alive when I spout random facts. I feel alive when I learn those facts. I feel alive when I write things I feel are worthy, or something that I feel will not end up as total crap. I feel alive when I walk outside and watch the world and suddenly I have the amazing feeling of something eagerly writing itself in my head. I feel alive in the hours I spend in libraries, searching, always, for more. I feel alive when I watch things I like on the internet. I feel alive when I see something that someone else is proud to have created  to show to all the other living people. I feel alive when I read, especially in that time at the end of the book when you are feeling emotionally over-capacitated but blissfully aware of the world, moving and changing. I feel alive when I make art. I feel alive when I am aware of everything inside me, pumping blood and handling food and my brain creating spurts of electricity as neurons communicate with each other. I feel alive when suddenly I can see in my mind the infinite wound ball of connections that the world is, when things seem just as they should be and yet could always be better.

I feel alive.

"I'm on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend."

A Piece of Brilliance

So I was watching John Green's video about Book Expo and towards the end he said this:

"In our hyper-secular world, worship is still inevitable. But it's vital to remember that our gods don't choose us. We choose them."

~ John Green

And I think that is just amazingly true.  John Green is an amazing author. If you haven't read his books, I encourage you to do so.

DFTBA!

Survey

So in my disgusting ill state I have been poking around blogger for people who have similar interests. I found many, and my "following" list is growing.

In any case, I also found this survey and I'm going to fill it out. Here goes...

1. Do you have any pets? 
Nope. My brother used to have two fish, but they died after extraordinarily long lives. Rest in Awesome, Magic and Yafo. (The names sound better in Hebrew, okay?)

2. Name 3 things that are physically close to you.
My safrut (literature) notebook, a box of tissues, and a not-yet-working wall clock.

3. What's the weather like right now?
Moderately warm. I am not going to move in order to find out.

4. Do you drive? If so have you crashed?
Yeah, no. No driving at age thirteen, unfortunately. Or fortunately, for the rest of the world. And that question has a grammar mistake: If so *COMMA* have you crashed?

5. What time did you wake up this morning?
7:35 am.

6. When was the last time you showered?
Yesterday morning. But I'm taking a shower this evening.

7. What was the last movie you saw?
Ah, err...I don't remember. I think it was "The Wave," but that was over a month ago. I don't watch many movies.

8. What does your last text message say?
"Goodnight." Very boring, I know. But the time difference makes it so - I can only talk or message or text them when it's 10 pm or so here.

9. What's your ringtone?
Nokia tune, guitar style.

10. Have you ever been to a different country?
Well, seeing as I am in a different country than the one I was born in at the moment, yes. The list (other than US) is:
Israel
England (UK)
France
Germany
Italy

11. Do you like sushi?
Yes. It's delicious.

12. Where do you buy your groceries?
I don't buy groceries. But at the moment, my parents buy them mainly at the nearby-supermarket-which-I-have-never-been-in and some other bakeries around the city.

13. Have you ever taken medication to help you fall asleep faster?
No. But it could be of use.

14. How many siblings do you have?
One brother. The very same one whose cold I have.

15. Do you have a desktop computer or a laptop?
Seeing as none of them are mine, in our house back in the US we have 3 laptops, a (very very old) desktop, and an iPad, which is sort of a computer, right?

16. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
14. But that's in over half a year.

17. Do you wear contacts or glasses?
No. But I suppose I will eventually - both my parents wear glasses.

18. Do you color your hair?
No. My hair has a reputation for being the puffiest/frizziest/curliest in the school. It would not look good dyed.

19. Tell me something you are planning to do today.
Buy will grayson will grayson (purposely uncapitalized) by John Green and perhaps The Mysterious Mr. Quin by Agatha Christie.

20. When was the last time you cried?
Yesterday, because I was stressed. And the night before that, because I missed my buddies.

21. What is your perfect pizza topping?
Anything, really. Anything that fits.

22. Which do you prefer-hamburgers or cheeseburgers?
Hamburgers.

23. Have you ever had an all-nighter?
No. I plan to, though.

24. What is your eye color?
Brown. Nothing else. Just very dark brown.

25. Can you taste the difference between Pepsi and Coke?

I haven't really tasted Pepsi and I don't really like Coke, so no. It's probably best if I don't get any caffeine or anything stronger than sugar inside me. As my friend said, I "would take flight." But I am obsessed with heavily sugared herbal tea. No caffeine. Enough sugar to be equivalent, though.

Quote of The Week: I Procrastinated Edition

Yeah, what the title says. I was sitting around reading Paper Towns instead of doing any work, which I distinctly paid for last night. Oh well, it was kind of worth it. Especially because I got a quote from there! I actually have more, but this one is the only one I have so far committed to memory because it's the shortest.

"Ninjas don't splash other ninjas."

~Paper Towns by John Green

Hear that? Any ninjas out there, you better not be splashing.

I found this quote...

...and I really want to share it...

So voici, a quote within a picture. I found this on Tumblr.

"Writing: A profession for introverts who want to tell you a story but don't want to make eye contact while telling it."

~John Green

It is extremely true...when you write, you can shut yourself in your house and not see anyone for weeks. Although, that would be downright miserable.

Cups of tea: 26, going on 27

Quote of the Week

I really super extra want to put a quote from TFiOS in here, but I do not want to be spoilerful. So here is a quote that is found in TFiOS but is also found in one of John's YouTube videos. At least, something similar is found there.

*SEMI-SPOILER ALERT BUT SOMETHING LIKE THE QUOTE IS ALSO ON YOUTUBE SO WHATEVER*

"...Never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he had Cassius note, 'The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars / but in ourselves.' Easy enough to say when you're a Roman nobleman (or Shakespeare!) but there is no shortage of fault to be found amid our stars."

-Peter Van Houten in The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

TFiOS was AWESOME. Read it.

Cups of tea: 26

J'ai fini!

So I proclaimed when I finished The Fault in Our Stars, aka the book that has officially topped my favorites list.

I am not going to hand out any spoilers. I want everyone to have the same experience I did when reading this wonderful will-be classic. As John Green himself said he hoped it would, it made me feel ALL OF THE THINGS! I did cry, I laughed more than once, it made me think. It is a beautiful work of fiction that somewhere, sometime, in some other parallel life, is true. Fiction is what we call something that isn't real in our world. But it's real, in a place that we call Imagination. Writers spend a lot of time there.

This book made me cry, but unlike Feed and Mockingjay, it did not make me feel depressed afterwards. I do not know if depression has left me. I do not care. Today it has at least gone on vacation. I am hoping very much that it stays there.

Now I have to, in some point in my life, read An Imperial Affliction, if it exists. I strongly encourage you to read TFiOS. It is the best book I've read in a while. And in the acknowledgements, he thanked Nerdfighters for being awesome! That's me! (And hopefully you as well...)

Cups of tea: 26

What's in that box?

TFiOS is holy, there's no arguing. It must be preserved, perfect and pristine and SIGNED.

But I wanted to read it in school. In English class you get bonus points if you're reading when the teacher comes in, so that was one reason, and another was that I just wanted to damn well read it.

So what did I do?

I took the box in which the holy book came in and took it to school with the book in it. The book survived this long in that box with no damage whatsoever, so it was a pretty good place to put it.

However, by second period, people began asking me, "What's in that box?" One girl (incidentally another Shira) told me to take the book out and toss the box. NO, I responded, I WILL NOT. It is HOLY. One girl actually recognized the book (on account of the fact that her sister is reading it - I want to meet this sister!).

Today, because I was looking at the box in class out of boredom, I discovered the more than slight over-cautiousness of Israeli security. There is a note on the package that commands you to remember if you were expecting a package. If not, well, it only says to talk to the people at the post office. No telling what they would do with it. Possibly try to detonate it.

I also discovered a sticker in French that informs me of the fact that my book has been to France and Germany. This would never have happened if I had been back in America! So even though it's later than I would have procured it in America, it's pretty awesome that the book has so far been through three continents.

Cups of tea: 25?

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS IS HERE AND IT'S HOLY

Exactly what the title says.

And why is it holy?

Because John Green signed it. HE ACTUALLY HAS PHYSICALLY SIGNED IT. His signature is red, if you were wondering. Most of them were green. Some were purple. I got red. I cannot put into words how excited I am for it to BE HERE.

The reason John Green is so amazing is because he is a leader of Nerdfighteria and he's a brilliant author. Yes, John, if every you stumble across this blog post, which it is very likely you won't, I want you to know that you are one of my role models. I want to be able to write as powerfully as you can. Not better than you (because frankly, that would be close to impossible) but I would like to move people with words. As you do. And besides that you're a great YouTuber with views that I mostly agree with. I say mostly because I have not seen all of your videos.

Why am I addressing someone who will likely never read this post? I have no idea. Do not question the bipolar depressed lunatic. Which I am pretty close to being, really, if I'm not that yet.

Cups of tea: 24

To the Post Office!

So just now, we went to the post office to pick up a package which my mom thought was some sheet music for the Magnificat she's playing in a few weeks, but NO! Guess what it was!

It's so exciting!

IT'S THE FAULT IN OUR STARS! BY JOHN GREEN! THE BOOK THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO ARRIVE MID-FEBRUARY! AHHH!

Now I shall open it...