Thoughts and meeting John Green

[Eefje]

I just posted this to my wordpress blog, but I figured it would be most interesting to people here. :)

Yesterday I got to go to a meet and greet with John Green in Amsterdam. It was incredibly awesome to see him in person and to get to interact with him. It felt familiar because he came across just like he does in his videos, and I love his videos so I'm glad it was like that.

There were some lovely observations coming out of the q&a one of which resonated with me quite a bit. It was about how important it is to keep noticing things in your surroundings, other people but also just beautiful amazing things like flowers falling out of the sky (from trees). I remarked (my one question) about how it's easier to notice stuff if you're new to the area, if you live somewhere you get used to how it looks even when it's beautiful or special. John agreed and also challenged me to find something beautiful where he lives (which I'm sure I could albeit on a different scale then the beautifulness of Amsterdam) but that it is important to keep being amazed by our surroundings, which is just easier when you're travelling.

And I'm still thinking of this (maybe that's why I'm awake at 6.30 am on a Saturday, OH GOD WHY, BRAIN?) because it is a very normal human thing to get used to the things you see every day, so that even when they're awesome they're not special anymore. And while I agree with John that it's important to keep being amazed at things (this world man, have you SEEN it? Dude!) I do feel that it's a good thing our brains work in a way that makes us get used to amazing things. If we all were constantly amazed at the world, nobody could ever get anything done. And people need to do stuff like work and take care of other people and make things for future generations for them to be amazed at.
So yes, once in a while, remember to be amazed at the awesomeness of your surroundings, the rest of the time: do stuff that needs to be done. :)

I also sometimes walk around the city centre of Utrecht with it's pretty medieval buildings and I do think about how beautiful it all is in a way that makes me go: "How cool is it that all of this is normal for me!" And then realise that not everybody get to live in a place like this (or would feel at home in it). And that is also something important to realise, that other people have different (yet equally complex) lives. It's easy to forget that sometimes.

I love that meeting with John makes me think all these things. It is often a result from watching his videos as well (Hanks too!) but it has a bigger impact coming from an in person meeting like this.

Also someone else's question about the story of Hazel after TFIOS made me wonder if there are people writing fanfiction about John Greens work (which for some reason strikes me as hilarious, I don't know why).

This was my first nerdfighter gathering, and at first I was kind of nervous about being there on my own (I haven't actually started TFIOS yet and I didn't want to get spoiled), but I easily got to talking with the other nerdfighters there and had a wonderful evening (and didn't really get spoiled). John was very animated despite being awake for two days straight (I would be a cranky mess) and I loved sharing in this fandom. I usually fan over things on my own at home. It is not often something I get to share. He signed two books for me, one for me, the other for a gift I'm going to give and was very nice. Out of regard for how much he always has to sign I didn't bring all his books that I own although I was tempted to do so. That poor man's wrist.

[Eefje]

Thank you for your lovely in depth comment!

I totaly get where you are coming from, being amazed at the awesomeness of your surroundings can be incredibly inspiring and thus improve the things you're doing. But I also believe that there is probably a good reason our brains work the way they do with getting used to things, to make them feel normal (and make you feel at home there). Not being overwhelmed by all the things in the world is also a good thing. Human perception is quite limited if you think about the scope of things in existence. If you're someone who builds bridges it's cool to think about how awesome math is, but it's also a good idea to do the math for the bridge you're trying to build without getting sidetracked by all the math in existence. Both are good things, but doing them at the same time is probably not really effective. I hope I'm making sense.

I'll try to do your challenge! Being amazed and getting things done at the same time, I hope I succeed.
Thank you for keeping me thinking about this. :)

[Alaska Is Beautiful]

First I would like to say how amazing it is to have met John Green.

Second, I would like to say how amazing it is to live where you do.

Third, I would like to challenge you (as amicably as I can. I don't mean to flame): I don't think it's impossible to get needed work done while being duly amazed at your surroundings.

In fact, I think that being amazed by your surroundings makes for a better job done. If you love your surroundings so much that you are shrouded by amazement each time you see them, you would be so much more happy doing work in that area ("Oh, this job sucks; but at least I'm in this amazing place. The birds are chirping. The sun is shining. The flowers are blooming. I'm glad to be here.").

Fourth, you made a good point about remembering how different your circumstances are from people's around the world. A lot of times I forget that what's normal for me is quite extraordinary or boring for people elsewhere. It's fun to be reminded of that.

Fifth, Yes! There is fanfiction for John Green's books! Not that I've written any; I think everything he's written has ended perfectly (unlike many other books I've read).

Sixth, that was a great blog. I love Hank and John just as much, and I think that they are so amazing for making us so amazing. The things they can do (and have done) on their own and with the Nerdfighter community blows my mind.

Kudos to you for reminding me. :)