My
Trip to New York City's Nerdfighteria
In
October I went to New York City for a couple days to go to the
Turtles All the Way Down tour
with Hank and John Green. I left on a Monday night at about 10:30pm
(by Megabus which was late. It's always late because it comes from
Toronto and it always gets stuck at the border.) I got into the city
at about 8:30am or so and started the long walk to my Hostel from
27th
to 88th.
I could have taken the subway but I love walking the city as I never
know what I'll find. I did take a break in Times Square to people
watch and around 62nd
where I went to Lincoln Plaza Cinema to see Loving Vincent
that movie that is completely painted in the style of Van Gogh! That
wasn't a spur of the moment thing though. I have been following it's
progress since they announced the movie years ago. Originally it
wasn't coming to Buffalo and I thought I'd never see it but it just
so happens that it was still playing in New York so I couldn't not go
see it! I love seeing movies by myself. The first time I did was last
year when I went to see Alice Through the Looking Glass
while backpacking.
I love NYC! |
I
went by myself, but I met a bunch of nerdfighter friends, old and
new, for a gathering before the show. I belong to the New York
Nerdfighter group on Facebook. I joined it years ago when I went to
the NYC stop of the Tour Because Awesome! In line for the concert I
met some awesome people! Some of whom I met up with at NerdCon and
again here! It was like a mini reunion! Seamus set up a pre-show
gathering that I went to, but was late for! By the time I got there they had
already written a bunch of nerdfighter notes and were just about to
put them in John's (and Maureen Johnson's) books! One of the coolest
parts of this was that Lori Earl, Esther Earl's mom was there. I had
forgotten my TSWGO bracelet and she noticed and gave me one!! Lori is
the mom of Nerdfighteria and is the loveliest person.
A
bunch of us got food and then went to Bryant Park for a couple hours
to kill time before making our way over to the Town Hall. We all sat
in a circle and just talked about all sorts of nerdy things. There
was about 20 or so of us. What was great though was that halfway
through this other group of people came behind us and just started
juggling? It must have been an agreed upon spot to practice or
something, but either way it was really cool. One of our group
actually abandoned us and they taught him how to juggle. I love how
spontaneous NYC is. The venue was only a couple blocks away and I met
up with Marie (who had my ticket, she bought us front row because she is amazing!) out front
near the tour bus! We actually got to meet Rosianna Halse Rojas
before we went in!
John and Hank Green! |
The
show itself was great. It was like watching a Vlogbrothers video
live. John came out first and read a selection from Turtles.
And then Dr. Lawrence Turtleman came out and gave a powerpoint
presentation on Monotypic Taxa as windows into Modern Phylogeny (aka
Hank in a turtle costume wearing a suit jacket). They took questions
from the audience in the form of a mock Dear Hank and John episode,
wherein they both forgot the format of the podcast. Hank brought out
his guitar and sang a few songs. John did a tribute to Amy Krouse
Rosenthal in the form of “We are here because we are here because
we are here” to the tune of Auld Lang Syne that we all sang
together which was sad and moving. Hank came back out and they both
sang the Anglerfish song (which by the way is my favorite Hank song),
All Star (because of course) and the first verse and chorus of Sweet
Caroline BUT we couldn’t sing the BAH BAH BAH or the SO GOOD. It
was so hard. John was so excited by the silence in the part that he
literally jumped up and down around the stage. It was like his entire
life was completed. As an encore they came out and sang the Mountain
Goats.
As
if just seeing John and Hank the night before wasn't enough, I was
also invited to be in the audience for John's segment on Good Morning
America the next morning. My friend Seamus was contacted by the
producer to have him and 20 or so “mega Nerdfighters” come and
welcome John. Seamus invited me and Marie along with a bunch of
others! I had to get up at 5am, I fought with the 86th
street station turnstyle, but I did get to the studio. We waited in
the VIP line and got our IDs checked (to make sure we were on the
list, how cool?!), and got bracelets to wear. Once in we were led to
the studio. We could see Times Square out the window. Basically,
taping GMA was incredibly boring and kind of annoying. Commercials
are forever long. There is this guy there who is supposedly a
comedian that is in charge of keeping the audience under control or
whatever. He “taught” us how to clap and how to smile and made
fun of us. He was actually horrible. One of the serious segments was
about that horrible Weinstein or whatever his name is and the
comedian fellow literally said, “and remember big smiles.” We all
looked at him like he was nuts and he said, “you know appropriate
smiles though.” I was so mad that this man was telling me to smile
during a segment about sexual assault that I told him to eff off.
The GMA Green Room! |
He
must hear that a lot though or I didn't say it loud enough because he
still chose me to be one of the ten that went backstage to the green
room to film a commercial spot with John. That was fun. I can
officially say that I met him. I was the closest to where he was
sitting (about 5 feet away from him) wearing my Pizza John shirt and
he said “Thanks for wearing my torso on your face. Wait, no. You
know what I mean!” and he looked around and saw all of us wearing
DFTBA merch and was excited that we were all real nerdfighters. He
asked me if I liked the book and I responded that since I got it last
night from the event that I hadn't started yet. He was excited that
all of us were at the show and asked if we liked the “Sweet
Caroline” bit because he wasn't quite sure. I especially assured
him that it was fantastic and that I loved how excited he got over
silence and that it was surprisingly satisfying.
When
the 10 of us who were picked came back to the main stage the cast of
Goodbye, Christopher Robin
was there! Domhall Gleeson, Bill Weasley himself, was there along
with Margot Robbie, Kelly MacDonald, and Will Tiltson. The show gave
everyone in the audience a ticket to Goodbye
Christopher Robin's
Director's screening of his film that night. Originally, I was going
to try to see Aladdin
on Broadway (well actually I tried to win the Hamilton
lottery and of course did not get it), but I had already wanted to
see the movie so I couldn't pass up a free ticket.
After
the taping of GMA, some of us went to a diner on 9th
Ave for breakfast. It was so nice to spend time with other
nerdfighters. From there a few of us went to Central Park with the
intention of reading some of Turtles,
but
it was such a nice day so we sat at the top of this GIANT rock in
near the children's playground. We sat there for what seemed like
several hours but was only a few. Because we had all gotten up so
freakin' early time seemed to be moving way too slow because of those
extra hours. Eventually, we went to a Starbucks and actually read for
a few hours before we made our way to Paris Theatre to use our free
tickets. Goodbye, Christopher
Robin
is an amazing movie and I highly recommend it! What was cool was that
the Director was there and introduced the movie! It was an incredible
experience, the whole 2 days in New York was just bananas.
I'm
so thankful for John and Hank for creating such an awesome and
welcoming community. Even though I'm not from NYC the nerdfighters
there are so kind and invite me to events even though I can't always
attend.
Best Wishes and DFTBA,
~Laura!
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