so, other things happened yesterday, too
I went to work, for one. It was a shortened day, but it still reminded me HOW MUCH I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT TO QUIT MY JOB. Ugh. Bookstore D:
I changed in the bathroom, magically transforming from work!Kait into normal!Kait (jeans are the main difference) and then raced home like a mad woman in an effort to grab some stuff from my house before the 2:49 bus. Although life conspired against me (my goddamn garage door opener needs to start working again), I managed to collect soslticezero's belated birthday presents and How They Met (I should have done The Realm of Possibility, for purely sentimental reasons) and my chapstick and get to the bus stop in time to make the bus. If the bus had been on time, I would have missed it, but luckily it was running five minutes late, which made me three minutes early. Hurrah!
I intended to actually read Will Grayson, Will Grayson on the bus, but I was fucking exhausted, so instead I just listened to April Smith in a weird half-dreaming-half-awake state, which mostly involved me plotting my self-indulgent AU kidfic and thinking of taking swing dancing lessons again. (I will probably save this for when I get settled in Boston.)
After de-busing, I took the subway uptown to meet solsticezero! She spent the day at the Museum of Natural History and was just about museumed out, so we went to Republic for dinner because she nixed two of the three other places I eat on a regular basis. Also, Union Square would put us on the 456, which we needed to get up to the Borders on Park Avenue. Dinner was good, except for the part where I drank a mojito a little too fast and fumbled telling a story. We got coffee at The Bookstore in Union Square (50% off Bookstore coffee means I never buy it anywhere else if I can help it) and went back uptown to the signing.
Now, I am aware that John Green and his brother Hank have this whole online community of fans. I've seen a couple of his videos, thanks to mcwonthelottery, and a few people on my flist follow him. I've read one of his books, Looking for Alaska, because I've read every book that's ever won the Printz, because I am a loser. (Actually, I still haven't read last year's winner, Jellicoe Road. Don't tell anyone, you'll totally ruin my street cred.)
I did not, however, realize how much people loved him until I stepped into that room.
I am not exaggerating when I say I was probably the only person there just for David. Many of the people knew of David and were fans, but half the room was wearing t-shirts that I quickly realized where Nerdfighter t-shirts. The kid in front of us was a minor celebrity to the other people in the room because he had been on some other vlog that was related to John Green's vlog. It was cool and funny and awesome, but it was definitely a joke that I wasn't in on as I rocked back and forth and tried to come up with words to coherently utter to David that would not get me arrested, smacked with a restraining order, or pulled off by the Borders' bouncers.
The kid in front of us, Sam, was a riot, though. We ended up sitting behind a whole group of Who fans. Sam informed us that their friend Jenny was not coming because she was at some sort of NYC Who premire with Moffat and Matt Smith. Like, sitting next to Matt Smith. Then we all writhed with jealousy. I met a girl whose name I didn't get who is mcwonthelottery's long-lost best friend--they both love Owen and could care less about Ianto. I tried to defend Gwen to Sam and his friend Saribel, but it ended up turning into a "lalala CoE didn't happen!" rant.
The reading and discussion part of the event was awesome. The setup of the room was really bizarre, so David ended up sitting on stage facing a pillar and jumped off the stage to grab the book that was right in his eyeline. It was Brangelina, which he proceeded to do a dramatic reading from. Then they both talked a little about the creation of the novel and the collaborative process. David said he's always been interested in people with similar names becoming friends, and talked a bit about a college friend named David Leventhal. They talked a lot about the structural formation of the book, which is an 'x,' complete with hand signals. Then they read two sections of the book. They did a chapter of John's Will Grayson first, then a chapter from David's Will Grayson.
(For those unfamiliar with the novel, it's a story about two teenage boys who are both named "Will Grayson," whose lives intersect one night.)
The readings were hilarious. And a little heartbreaking.
Afterwards, they took questions about the book, the collaborative process, and other stuff. Someone asked the dreaded "Why do you write?" question. Ugh. I am not even a professional writer and I hate that question. I can't imagine how much I would hate it if I was a professional writer of some note and people asked me that question fifteen times a day. I would be homicidal. I would feel the way GDL feels when people ask him about kissing Barrowman. I think my favorite question was when someone asked them about naming cars and David said his current car is named "Will Grayson," because the book paid for it XD
They finished the Q&A and we waited patiently until it was our turn to get in line. I tried not to freak out.
And the thing is, I don't freak out over this kind of shit. I don't! I can count on one hand the number of "celebrities" I freaked out about. But David Levithan is my idol and I was really freaking out. Honestly, my self-indulgent daydream is that I'll write a YA novel and it will be picked up by Scholastic and he'll edit it. So. Yes. I was a bit freaked out.
In the end, I got up to the table and babbled about all the things that I love about his books. I think. About how I was relieved to discover there were books in the world about lowercase-g-gay characters, about how he writes the kind of books I wanted to read in high school and the kind of books I want to write now. And how awesome he is. Or something.
Then, after babbling and wringing my hands, I turned to John Green and said, "Oh, you're cool, too."
soslticezero reckons this is okay, considering most of the rest of the audience probably did the opposite.
I had to pee for the nine millionth time by the time we were done, so we looped around to head up to the bathroom. Maureen Johnson was in attendance, but she had been blocked from our view by a pillar, so we walked by where she was sitting, only to be disappointed that she wasn't there.
As we headed up to the bathroom, I thought to myself, "You know, if she's not there and she's not harrassing John and David, I bet she's in the bathroom. God, we're going to have an awkward bathroom conversation with her, aren't we?"
And guess who was washing her hands when we walked into the bathroom?
Good times.
I told her I had a feeling we were going to have an awkward bathroom conversation with her. She told us we now knew her secret about using hand sanitizer obsessively. I told her I don't use it because I am afraid of dying of Super!TB.
Like I said, awkward.
We took the subway back downtown and I dropped solsticezero off at Penn Station to get her train home, and then grabbed another train down to the lower east side to see Katy play at Rockwood Music Hall. I got there just as she was starting (she was halfway through a new song), so yay!
set list
New song (Open Water?)
Better Days
Story of my Life
Rescue Me
Two Apples
New Song (with Ari Hest)
Overflow
New Song (Winter)
200 Stories (solo on violin WHAT?!)
It was really cool to hear "Story of my Life" live, which I don't think I ever have before. (And that's saying something.) The new song she did with Ari Hest started off a little "eh," but I loved the chorus and the middle and end, so that was awesome. "Winter" was great all around, though, and "200 Stories" solo on the violin? WHAT EVEN WAS THAT? ASIDE FROM AWESOME? Oh man.
Afterward, we stayed to talk for a few minutes. ("We" being me, quatredeathlady, and priscellie) I love Katy. I'm going to miss her when I move, but she says she's always wanted to come play in Boston. I told her she could sleep on our couch, as long as she didn't mind us being total creepers. She said she's a creeper too.
I said goodbye to everyone and managed to catch an F train uptown that got me into Bryant Park with just enough time to sprint to PABT and catch my bus home. After which I collapsed into bed, twitching with exhaustion.
I woke up for jury duty this morning and realized I had no voice, so I called out (hilariously. The woman was like, "What's your name?" "kaitlyn." "WHAT?" "kaitlyn. can't talk. no voice." "WHAT? WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"
Good times. Anyway, I slept all day and now I am here. I have a story to finish, a cardigan story I NEED to finish in order to move the plot along (it is at a standstill. Whoops!) and a story to edit. And Criminal Minds to watch.
But yesterday? Yesterday was magnificent, guys.
I changed in the bathroom, magically transforming from work!Kait into normal!Kait (jeans are the main difference) and then raced home like a mad woman in an effort to grab some stuff from my house before the 2:49 bus. Although life conspired against me (my goddamn garage door opener needs to start working again), I managed to collect soslticezero's belated birthday presents and How They Met (I should have done The Realm of Possibility, for purely sentimental reasons) and my chapstick and get to the bus stop in time to make the bus. If the bus had been on time, I would have missed it, but luckily it was running five minutes late, which made me three minutes early. Hurrah!
I intended to actually read Will Grayson, Will Grayson on the bus, but I was fucking exhausted, so instead I just listened to April Smith in a weird half-dreaming-half-awake state, which mostly involved me plotting my self-indulgent AU kidfic and thinking of taking swing dancing lessons again. (I will probably save this for when I get settled in Boston.)
After de-busing, I took the subway uptown to meet solsticezero! She spent the day at the Museum of Natural History and was just about museumed out, so we went to Republic for dinner because she nixed two of the three other places I eat on a regular basis. Also, Union Square would put us on the 456, which we needed to get up to the Borders on Park Avenue. Dinner was good, except for the part where I drank a mojito a little too fast and fumbled telling a story. We got coffee at The Bookstore in Union Square (50% off Bookstore coffee means I never buy it anywhere else if I can help it) and went back uptown to the signing.
Now, I am aware that John Green and his brother Hank have this whole online community of fans. I've seen a couple of his videos, thanks to mcwonthelottery, and a few people on my flist follow him. I've read one of his books, Looking for Alaska, because I've read every book that's ever won the Printz, because I am a loser. (Actually, I still haven't read last year's winner, Jellicoe Road. Don't tell anyone, you'll totally ruin my street cred.)
I did not, however, realize how much people loved him until I stepped into that room.
I am not exaggerating when I say I was probably the only person there just for David. Many of the people knew of David and were fans, but half the room was wearing t-shirts that I quickly realized where Nerdfighter t-shirts. The kid in front of us was a minor celebrity to the other people in the room because he had been on some other vlog that was related to John Green's vlog. It was cool and funny and awesome, but it was definitely a joke that I wasn't in on as I rocked back and forth and tried to come up with words to coherently utter to David that would not get me arrested, smacked with a restraining order, or pulled off by the Borders' bouncers.
The kid in front of us, Sam, was a riot, though. We ended up sitting behind a whole group of Who fans. Sam informed us that their friend Jenny was not coming because she was at some sort of NYC Who premire with Moffat and Matt Smith. Like, sitting next to Matt Smith. Then we all writhed with jealousy. I met a girl whose name I didn't get who is mcwonthelottery's long-lost best friend--they both love Owen and could care less about Ianto. I tried to defend Gwen to Sam and his friend Saribel, but it ended up turning into a "lalala CoE didn't happen!" rant.
The reading and discussion part of the event was awesome. The setup of the room was really bizarre, so David ended up sitting on stage facing a pillar and jumped off the stage to grab the book that was right in his eyeline. It was Brangelina, which he proceeded to do a dramatic reading from. Then they both talked a little about the creation of the novel and the collaborative process. David said he's always been interested in people with similar names becoming friends, and talked a bit about a college friend named David Leventhal. They talked a lot about the structural formation of the book, which is an 'x,' complete with hand signals. Then they read two sections of the book. They did a chapter of John's Will Grayson first, then a chapter from David's Will Grayson.
(For those unfamiliar with the novel, it's a story about two teenage boys who are both named "Will Grayson," whose lives intersect one night.)
The readings were hilarious. And a little heartbreaking.
Afterwards, they took questions about the book, the collaborative process, and other stuff. Someone asked the dreaded "Why do you write?" question. Ugh. I am not even a professional writer and I hate that question. I can't imagine how much I would hate it if I was a professional writer of some note and people asked me that question fifteen times a day. I would be homicidal. I would feel the way GDL feels when people ask him about kissing Barrowman. I think my favorite question was when someone asked them about naming cars and David said his current car is named "Will Grayson," because the book paid for it XD
They finished the Q&A and we waited patiently until it was our turn to get in line. I tried not to freak out.
And the thing is, I don't freak out over this kind of shit. I don't! I can count on one hand the number of "celebrities" I freaked out about. But David Levithan is my idol and I was really freaking out. Honestly, my self-indulgent daydream is that I'll write a YA novel and it will be picked up by Scholastic and he'll edit it. So. Yes. I was a bit freaked out.
In the end, I got up to the table and babbled about all the things that I love about his books. I think. About how I was relieved to discover there were books in the world about lowercase-g-gay characters, about how he writes the kind of books I wanted to read in high school and the kind of books I want to write now. And how awesome he is. Or something.
Then, after babbling and wringing my hands, I turned to John Green and said, "Oh, you're cool, too."
soslticezero reckons this is okay, considering most of the rest of the audience probably did the opposite.
I had to pee for the nine millionth time by the time we were done, so we looped around to head up to the bathroom. Maureen Johnson was in attendance, but she had been blocked from our view by a pillar, so we walked by where she was sitting, only to be disappointed that she wasn't there.
As we headed up to the bathroom, I thought to myself, "You know, if she's not there and she's not harrassing John and David, I bet she's in the bathroom. God, we're going to have an awkward bathroom conversation with her, aren't we?"
And guess who was washing her hands when we walked into the bathroom?
Good times.
I told her I had a feeling we were going to have an awkward bathroom conversation with her. She told us we now knew her secret about using hand sanitizer obsessively. I told her I don't use it because I am afraid of dying of Super!TB.
Like I said, awkward.
We took the subway back downtown and I dropped solsticezero off at Penn Station to get her train home, and then grabbed another train down to the lower east side to see Katy play at Rockwood Music Hall. I got there just as she was starting (she was halfway through a new song), so yay!
set list
New song (Open Water?)
Better Days
Story of my Life
Rescue Me
Two Apples
New Song (with Ari Hest)
Overflow
New Song (Winter)
200 Stories (solo on violin WHAT?!)
It was really cool to hear "Story of my Life" live, which I don't think I ever have before. (And that's saying something.) The new song she did with Ari Hest started off a little "eh," but I loved the chorus and the middle and end, so that was awesome. "Winter" was great all around, though, and "200 Stories" solo on the violin? WHAT EVEN WAS THAT? ASIDE FROM AWESOME? Oh man.
Afterward, we stayed to talk for a few minutes. ("We" being me, quatredeathlady, and priscellie) I love Katy. I'm going to miss her when I move, but she says she's always wanted to come play in Boston. I told her she could sleep on our couch, as long as she didn't mind us being total creepers. She said she's a creeper too.
I said goodbye to everyone and managed to catch an F train uptown that got me into Bryant Park with just enough time to sprint to PABT and catch my bus home. After which I collapsed into bed, twitching with exhaustion.
I woke up for jury duty this morning and realized I had no voice, so I called out (hilariously. The woman was like, "What's your name?" "kaitlyn." "WHAT?" "kaitlyn. can't talk. no voice." "WHAT? WHAT'S YOUR NAME?"
Good times. Anyway, I slept all day and now I am here. I have a story to finish, a cardigan story I NEED to finish in order to move the plot along (it is at a standstill. Whoops!) and a story to edit. And Criminal Minds to watch.
But yesterday? Yesterday was magnificent, guys.