A Night with John and Hank Green

On the evening of January 26th, twas a Thursday, I had the opportunity to attend the Tour de Nerdfighters in Los Angeles. Not only was I in attendance, but I was in charge of it. I had been planning this event for the store I work for since November when I had heard that the publisher, Penguin, had accepted my proposal. This is probably what I looked like when I got that phone call:

This is an expression of both joy and shock.

After I literally jumped for joy in the middle of the store in front of customers, I got down to work. The months proceeding consisted of working and stressing which produced what will be known as the best night I have ever known. Screw you future wedding (if I ever have one) and possible children. John Green FTW!

THAT NIGHT:

I arrived at the auditorium at 3:30pm to help set-up before John and Hank were supposed to arrive at 4:00. This is what we produced:

zOMG the books!!

This isn't even the whole table, guys. There were four tables lined up and I only have two in the picture. The event wasn't going to start until 7:00pm but John and Hank arrived early to pre-sign all of the attendees books and they also signed our backstock so the total of signing that happened before the event was probably 700 books.

This is now an expression of only shock.

And then came the sound check:

Look at those little ants on stage! Oh wait...

After it was decided that they sounded awesome, it was time to open the doors and let the flood in!

Look how floody it is! Or it would be in about 5 minutes...

I won't go into details, but you can't have a large event without some hiccups and the hiccups happened. Fortunately, after I was done pulling out my hair, the problems became fixed. With that said, the event started at 7:15 which is pretty darn good in my opinion. I went out onto the stage to introduce the Green's to a crowd of 600 people. I have never had to do an introduction for more than 30 before and even that makes me nervous. I was basically about ready to puke and pee my pants at the same time. But guess what? It was awesome!! I want to do it again! I believe this is where all of my money for acting school paid off. I got some pictures of the show when I was able to, but they don't look too great. I had just gotten an iPhone the night before so I was still figuring out how to work the camera.

P.S. I bought the new phone in celebration of this event actually happening.

John is talking.

  

Hank is singing.

Hank and John are talking.

Hilarious show, right?? Pictures don't do this show justice. Sorry everyone. So after the event we clear the stage and bring out the signing table. I wish I had pictures, but I was the one doing this so I wasn't about to stop my job and take photos, but this is what I'm sure it looked like:

The early people in the line had no faces. 

Remember when I mentioned that John and Hank signed about 700 books BEFORE the event? Well each person in the signing line afterwards were able to have 3 items for John and Hank each to sign. Let's say 450 people stayed behind to get their books and other items personalized (I don't know the exact number, it may have been more) and each person had 3 items. 450 times 3 equals 1350. The Green brothers signed roughly 1350 more items after the event. They've been doing this since January 10th. I would like to point out how amazing John and Hank are, though I'm sure you already know this. The relationship that they have with their fans is amazing. That evening I saw many shaky hands and tears come from the attendees and it really touched me (in a non-sexual way). On my way home after the event, I thought about any authors who could make me feel that way and I couldn't think of any. Maybe Thomas Hardy and Tennessee Williams, but they're dead so...I was a bit jealous.

Nerdfighters are amazing. I'm going to admit that I am fairly new to John Green's books and that's a shame. Meeting John and seeing the passion and love he has for his fans has made me want to become a Nerdfighter. It's not many authors who would devote so much time to their fanbase and would take many weeks away from their families to visit the fans. John and Hank are truly amazing and I am grateful that I got to witness the dedication they have. So Nerdfighters, I hope you'll accept me.

John and Hank were very kind to smile in this photo
because I know how exhausted they were. I am second to
the left in case you wanted to know.

On a funny note, after much internal debate, I decided to get the tour board our store received for the event signed:

The signature is in red.

John called it creepy for me to want to keep a big photo of him in my house. I never thought about it that way, though. I saw it as more of a representation and reminder of all the hard work that I put into planning my first huge-ass event. But now...I guess I kind of agree with him, so I'll keep it turned towards the wall. ;)