“Amanda Tinney is asking for a NDM title,” Jackie (my NDM in charge of inductions) reported. “Amanda Tinney of disneyeveryday.com fame?” I asked. Jackie replied, “Yep.” “Well, let’s sign her up. That’s fantastic!” I exclaimed. “I can’t,” Jackie sighed, “She wants to be NDM#175. She says she has to have that number. We only have 156 NDMs.” “Oh yeah,” I lamented, “We can’t skip numbers like that. It wouldn’t be truthful to say she was the 175th if there aren’t 174 others.” “What should we do?” Jackie inquired. This was how the NDM challenge was born.
When Amanda insisted she could not have a number other than 175, we were faced with quite a dilemma. We couldn’t turn her away. No Disney fan ever gets turned away, especially one with neurosis as evident as Amanda’s. Yet, we couldn’t just assign her a random number.
The numbers assigned to each NDP do serve as a form of ID just like those on the back of team jerseys. They are a symbol of camaraderie . . . a moniker for the purpose of unity. However, they are an actual number for counting off as well. They help give the other NDPs a sense of their vast number in the world. This meaning would be lost if we began to allow people to randomly select their position in line.
There was only one thing left to do. We challenged Amanda to recruit enough NDMs to get us to 175. The promise was that if she met that challenge, her spot as NDM#175 would be reserved for her and a link to her blog would feature on The Disney Driven Life. She took to her blog and petitioned her readers to help her meet the challenge. By doing that and enlisting the help of her friend, Rick Howard (NDD#39), she not only propelled the roster to 175 in the NDM category she also passed the goal and bolstered quite a few of the other categories as well.
So as promised, Amanda, you are now OFFICIALLY NDM#175!!! You worked a lot harder than most to attain your position in the community. For that you are also being bestowed with the honor of The Disney Driven Life’s very first “NDP Of The Month!”
Thank you for all you do. Disney fans across the globe appreciate your daily blog posts on Disney Every Day. They are timely, relevant, and on par with what anyone living The Disney Driven Life needs to know, and we will continue to watch you in anticipation of your latest projects.
*If you are interested in taking a NDP challenge of your own, contact NDM#1 at ndm1@thedisneydrivenlife.com (putting NDP Challenge in the subject line) to have a challenge personally designed for you. Or if you or someone you know does something noteworthy within the Disney fan community, we hope you will take time to nominate him or her by contacting NDM#1 (putting NDP of the Month in the subject line) for consideration.
