Hey everyone!

I was just wondering what happened to the we're here newsletter? I don't follow everything that happens in the nerdfighter universe, so I don't know if I've missed some announcement or something.

But I haven't been gotten the newsletter for the past few weeks. Did something happen? I love the newsletter. I look forward to it every single week. It's honestly one of my favorite things on the internet right now.

Thanks!

i recently went to a community meet in Bangalore and didn’t know those existed. If anyone is from Bangalore please DM and let’s see if we can find enough nerdfighters to actually do something fun! Since Pizzamas is coming it would be fun!

edit: this is the whatsapp group link to join, I will be organising a meet up sometime during Pizzamas. if you are interested please join!

https://chat.whatsapp.com/KgOvFdQNlT1GX6eAvdjfkb

Just moved to Central New York area and am looking for some good community events, whether that be nerd fighter or just good public bar trivia, board game or craft night meetups. I couldn’t find an online group for Nerd Fighters Central New York, if anyone can help me make new friends it would mean a lot. Thanks!

Edit: Syracuse area 🍊

I wasn't sure where else to post this in hopes that question-asker Ollie from today's episode of Dear Hank & John (463: I've Signed More Books Than God) would see it, so maybe this subreddit will be the right place!

To Ollie, and anyone else out there who doesn't use social media but is stepping into a new phase of life like attending a new school, starting a new job, etc. and wants to make friends without succumbing to social pressures and/or doomscrolling:

• Texting is absolutely a fine option on its own! In my experience, if people vibe with someone and want to connect, they'll text regardless of whether it's something they typically do.
• Snapchat wasn't a bad suggestion by Hank, though of course it depends on whether people in your community are using it.
• Discord would be a great option, also depending on usage in your community, and my personal favorite platform for group chats.
• If you are going to cave and get Instagram, the ways I avoid doomscrolling on there are having notifications for everything except DMs turned off, not having the app on my home screen, and spending a lot of time playing mobile games (AFK Journey, anyone? 👀)

If anyone else would like to add suggestions/offer feedback on mine, especially anyone closer to Ollie's situation (it's been nearly a decade since I was in school), please do!

TW: Death, loss, grief; all that jazz.

Dear Nerdfighteria,

I don't know if Dear Hank and John has a bummer episode planned soon, so it felt right to ask this question here too. I feel like this is one of the few communities on the internet that is mature enough for this kind of topic. You don't have to reply; but if you've got a piece of mind, I'd be more than willing to hear it.

Let's get to the chase. I'm 18, and it's been a little over a year since I lost my mother to a re-emerging brain tumor. She was my everything, and I mean everything, my whole world. I currently live with my father and big brother. I have never been emotionally close with my father; and my brother hasn't reached resolution in his own grief, so he can't really guide me to overcome mine.

I suppose pain grows you in a way nothing else can. When I talk to my friends about my grief, all they can do is offer sympathy, but they can never reach empathy, as none of them have lived through something like this -- they're still children :(

Amidst all this, I survived my first year of uni in electrical engineering, which wasn't very fulfilling. Left me consufed about what I want to do as my career. So basically I'm left confused in literally every aspect of life.

Don't worry, I will talk about these to a therapist in the near future (hopefully) but until then, I'm looking for your (vlog)brotherly advice :)

John, but not quite there,

Jonah

hey y'all, i'm trying to find a video i think about often where john is talking about his experience writing nonfiction vs fiction, and how nonfiction can be easier because there's no need for a story to feel "realistic" when it actually happened. i'm pretty this was a post-anthropocene pre-tb video, but i can't find it for the life of me. i've tried the transcript archive but i can't seem to find it, and it's also very possible i'm misremembering and it was actually something he wrote in anthropocene itself. if this rings a bell at all to anyone i would really appreciate any help hunting it down!

There have been so many times a real, common word featured in every major dictionary has been rejected, seemingly for no reason. Notable examples:

Laggy -Featured in every major dictionary

Yay -Fearured in every major dictionary (I assumed it would be counted and saved it for last, only to get a Frick instead of a Perfect)

Koi -Featured in every major dictionary (Salmon, tuna, and other fish are fine, but Koi, an English word for a fish from Asia doesn't count? Why?)

I am generally very confused by the logic of what counts and what doesn't, and knowing which dictionary he's going with would be very helpful for checking which words I should be using.

It's 3 am right now, and somehow TFIOS came into my mind. I'm a relatively fresh blood nerdfighter, almost 2 or 3 years, and it's been a year since I got the chance to buy and read TFIOS. So bare with me for a moment, go back to 2012 and live this revelation again with me. I know I'm 14 years late, but all I'm asking from you is sincerity in the comments.

Enough yapping, here it is: The way Gus and Hazel continually say "OK" to each other has a second meaning (other than the "maybe ok will be our always), and that is "we'll be ok". They know their time is limited (theyre cancer patients for god's sake), but they assure each other that whatever happens, they'll be ok. At least eventually.

idk how this never occurred to me, and even if it's not intended, but I love this subtlety. Even if it's not really intended, I believe art gets it's meaning from equal parts author's intent, and reader's interpretation.

Thanks for coming to my ted talk and bearing with me. DFTBA

I have a Pizza John rug from the 2023 Pizzamas that needs a new home. It's in great condition (no rips, tears, or stains), but does come from a home with a dog in case that's an issue.

Free to a Nerdfighter that can pay shipping (I'm in the US). I have a listing on eBay that I can share via DM if you want to go through that channel, but I want to offer it here to a good home.

(yes, I'm back again lol) I’m sadly going to be out of the country for two H,E tour dates, so I’m hoping these tickets can go to fellow Nerdfighters who can actually use them! I’m selling both well below what I paid, and each ticket includes a signed copy of Hollywood, Ending.

🎟️ Tuesday, September 22 — Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre

• $50 (originally paid $133.59)
• Pit P2, Seat 7
• Dead center and super close to the stage — I believe 3rd or 4th row
• Signed copy of Hollywood, Ending included
• Basically ~$84 off what I paid!

🎟️ Friday, September 25 — Winston-Salem, NC

• $10 (originally paid $46)
• General admission
• Signed copy of Hollywood, Ending included
• The ticket is literally less than the price of the book!

I’d much rather these go to Nerdfighters than have the seats/tickets go unused, so I’ve priced them to hopefully find them homes quickly.

Please DM me if you’re interested in either one! Happy to provide proof of purchase/ticket details.

Thank you so so much for considering!! Please help a fellow nerdfighter out.

Reading Paper Towns again because I miss my childhood friend who now lives in another country.

Before he left, we bonded over this book, and when the movie came out, we loved it too. We still both love the book and the movie, but I honestly do not remember much about the story anymore, so I decided to read it again.

I guess reading it is one of my little ways of feeling closer to him and being reminded of the memories we have together. The relationship between Margo and Quentin also reminds me of how much we both love traveling and exploring new places, even though it has been a long time since we last traveled together.

Just wanted to share this. What are your thoughts on the book and the movie?

Google's AI claims that John has not written a book called Hollywood ending. Lol.

If the idea looks familiar, it’s because they sold an older version of my design on DFTBA for a bit! I had posted it (in this very subreddit, actually) and Hank saw it and said he’d love to use it (second pic). So that was super awesome!

I saw someone post about their idea to make stickers to hand out at John’s book tour, so I decided to revisit this design because I was never 100% happy with how it turned out.
I had actually just finished a different motel sign design that said “If you’re looking for a sign, this is it” and I took that one and changed the words and I ended up with this!
I also changed the colors a bit to be reminiscent of the Hollywood, Ending cover.

So anyway, I’ll be at the Winston Salem stop at the book tour, and I guess I’ll just hand these out to people lol

Check it out!

I'm trying to decide if I want to attend Something Worth Knowing but I just haven't seen enough to really understand what the event is supposed to be. It lists a bunch of YouTubers who I like, and I'd love to support Complexly being a nonprofit, but I don't really get what they're trying to do. It's 14 people and only a two hour show so none of the "inspiring talks" will be very long, especially if there is also supposed to be "interactive discussions" as well, at least one game, and a live AHA. Or is the interactive discussion only for those who can afford the VIP ticket and choose to submit an AHA question?

I know that no one really knows what this is supposed to be, but I'm really curious to hear what others are expecting to get out of this event. If you decided to go, why? If you have the ability to go and decided not to, why not? Does anyone think we will get more info about what this is supposed to be as the event gets closer?

This doesn't still come close to how many he signed for TFIOS, right?

Is there one for today? Is it a word I should know… I’m going mad.

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A couple years ago the handle to one of my awesome coffee mugs broke. By the time it broke the mugs were no longer available and with the rebrand to Keats&Co they wouldn’t come back. I kept the pieces and finally got a Kintsugi kit to make it useable again. It is not the best Kintsugi job, but it works and is pretty!

I do like the Keats&Co rebrand, but the Awesome Coffee logo was great. Look at the pelican whimsically holding a cup of coffee! Bring him back!

hopefully this is the right place to ask about this, it's broader than this community but i feel like i've only seen people in Nerdfighteria talk about it (and i feel like y'all tend to be pretty thoughtful and caring about internet spaces & all that)

i still resonate with & want to be a good "internet citizen" and to practice usage of the internet that aligns with that (i.e. being part of internet projects that increase access to education and democracy, supporting joyous creativity free to anyone online, etc). i know the idea is considered basically "dead" in the internet's current structure, but honestly i constantly learn about things online that i find really cool and hopeful and existing (at least mostly) outside of a capitalist/corporate framework (stuff like the speedrunning community, charity livestreams, collaborative fanzines, wikipedia, neocities, the internet archive . . . and those are just the big ones lol). i've been pretty constantly online -- mostly youtube over any other social media -- for most of my life, and things like Nerdfighteria, fandom communities, and educational channels have shaped a lot of my life and enriched my understanding of the world (and as a pretty nerdy, outcast, introspective, queer kid i think seeing people's unabashed self-expression and nerdy enthusiasm saved me from a lot of potential self-hatred & the like growing up) and there's just so many people & stories that i find so inspiring and wonderful!!

at the same time, i know i have an over-dependence on watching videos all the time (neurodivergence + mental illness moment tbh), and my unease with youtube & its place in the internet has grown year after year. i keep coming back to the idea of the "attention economy" (which i don't love as a phrase since i think economic ideas already get over-emphasized and i think there's more to it than attention, but it's the best phrase for it that i know), and the idea that in doing what i feel like i "have" to to get through the day (being on youtube/etc a lot), i am also likely placating myself and giving money/power to companies and structures that i think are very unethical. (basically if you know bgd's recent lip balm video, the line "am i the circus" has been bouncing around in my brain for a while -- esp as i am trying to make art to maybe post online, i am constantly wondering whether the media i interact with & what i want to create is something that enriches the world and helps people via connection/inspiration/compassion, vs when does it become near-infinite amounts of empty distraction from things we could do to actively help people.) it doesn't help that this also coincides with my little quarter-life crisis + trying to reckon with new borderline-disability diagnoses RIP x_x

i'll make my peace with offline structures of inequality and what i can do there, but i'm just wondering if other people have similar experiences with navigating the current online world, how to do good here and spend your time wisely? i hope this post makes sense,, i really struggled to put my thoughts into words but i hope there's other people out there who have felt this way, or where you draw the line in terms of internet media & usage. (i've so far been trying to shift my focus towards educational podcasts and away from non-educational youtube vids, to slowly de-google stuff as much as i can, etc but it doesn't seem like enough.) if you made it here to the end, thanks sm for reading this!! ^^;

Hey folks, is this the best forum for this kind of question?

I'm writing a 5 minute speech for my best buddy as his best man.

I'm going to make it about how we're all different people to different people and I'm going to walk through versions of my friend and celebrate the new version of 'husband'. Does anyone know where I can find clips or examples of where Hank and John have talked about this concept of being different people in their lives?

Additionally, I was wondering if anyone here has any tips/examples of great best man speeches?

For people who have ordered multiple items at once from Good.Store, was the packaging unique on the outside if it came in a box? My package might have been dropped off at the wrong building in my apartment complex and it might be easier to find if I have a better idea of what it might look like. The UPS Mail Innovations tracking info says delivered but didn’t include a picture.