Good Eats, take 2 --;!
Sigh, let's try this again. This time, I'll try the old save-as-I-go rule every few paragraphs in Microsoft Word and then post the entire thing when I'm finally done. Now I just have to get over my regrets for losing the first entry!
I woke up bright and early Saturday morning, eager and ready for my close encounter with Alton Brown/AB. I had packed everything I needed to bring the night before, including my NaCl box AND actual NaCl cellar. Mom thought since that this was probably a once in a lifetime chance, I should bring the actual NaCl cellar itself and see if AB could sign it somewhere where it could stay preserved even through multiple washings. I was raring to go! Around 10:30 a.m., I hopped into my car and proceeded to drive out to Bound to Be Read. Unfortunately, stupid me underestimated just how thick the pile of snow that the snow plows had left in our driveway was --;! The rest of the driveway only had about an inch or 2 of snow from Friday night's avalanche of snow. We pay a guy to plow our twice-than-average-area-sized driveway, so the driveway itself was pretty cleared of snow. The plower unfortunately came BEFORE the city plows came, so there was this nice bump of snow at the end of the driveway. When I tried driving over the bump, my car got STUCK 8(! In the usual panic, I tried driving off the snow bank, I just dug my car in deeper and deeper into the snow --;! After several attempts at shifting reverse and forward gears, my car wound up belly deep in snow (i.e. the car's belly was actually ON the pile of snow). I finally gave up the forceful driving approach, got out of the car, and tried shoveling my car out of the snow bank. As most of you snow bound regions know, the pile of snow the city plows leave in your driveway is 2-3 times as heavy and compact as the snowfall itself @~@! Since I was obviously in a rush, I tried just shoveling a few shovelfuls of snow and then went back into the car to see if that made a difference or not. Of course, it NEVER does ;b! After several tries like this and getting one tire free (beneath which had a thin layer of ice formed by my forced attempts at driving out), I surrendered and called for help! Mom came out to help, and we shoveled and dug under the car's belly in hopes that would loosen the car enough for it to drive out. Mom insisted that we waited until we shoveled a LOT more snow though before attempting to drive out again, much to my anxiety and impatience. After 20 minutes of digging, we had just about cleared 3 of the 4 tires and 1/4 of the car's belly and were ready to attempt to drive the car out. Dad came on the scene just in time to drive the car out easily after all our hard work XP! I quickly thanked them both for the help, dumped my shovel, and sped off to Bound to Be Read!
The roads Saturday morning were not much better than our driveway. They were covered with 1-2 inches of slippery snow, so driving was slow going to Grand Avenue. Because of the heavy snowfall though, I opted to park in Bound to Be Read's parking ramp instead of the streets. I had no idea which weird snowplow rule was in effect for the streets, so I decided not to chance it. Therein came my second mistake of the day. I had assumed the parking ramp would take credit cards, so I didn't bring much cash. I only had $5.07 total in cash ;b! I later found out, to my chagrin, that the ramp took ONLY cash or check, so if I stayed over 3 hours, I would have to get cash at an ATM to pay --;! Luckily, Bound to Be Read validated 1 hour's worth of parking, so my limit was now 4 hours at $0.75/half hour. I figured I would JUST make it since I got there early for a choice spot in line. The store was using calendar-per-day pages as line markers, and I got Jan 7th. They told me though that they would be calling out people by month, so it didn't matter if I got an early day in January or a later one. Still, I would be in the first 31 people to get their stuff signed, so I was happy ^^;! It was about 11:30 a.m., and I was quite surprised that the store was so empty o-O! There were only 2-3 people sitting in the chairs around the main signing area waiting for AB, and the rest of the store just had 2 other customers. I was expecting at least 20-50 people camped out in the store by this time ;P!
Since I had hours to kill literally, I thought I could waste some of it at Bound to Be Read's burn-your-own-CD kiosks. I had bought one a few months before, but I was unable to find all the songs I wanted in their database at the time. The first time I burned a CD there, the kiosks were JUST installed, so everything wasn't up fully yet. Half a year later, I was pleasantly surprised to find 80% of the songs I was looking for last time! I put in my song queue Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones (I blame Bill Gates for this and that Microsoft commercial.), Died in Your Arms Tonight by Cutting Crew (It's all Will Farrell's and Horatio Sanz's fault, dagnabit XP!), and One Way or Another sung by Melissa Joan Hart. These are all songs I wanted on CD, but I never wanted to buy an entire CD for just that one song. I needed to fill a minimum of 7 songs though, otherwise, I would still be charged full price --;! I tried looking for that catchy HP photo commercial song, Picture Book by The Kinks, but, unfortunately, it wasn't available in the database despite it being an old song from the early '90s! After much thought and browsing through the database, I decided to fill in the CD with 3 songs by Will Smith and There Is Love/The Wedding Song sung by The Captain and Tenille. I REALLY wanted Noel Paul Stookey's, of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame, rendition of HIS song, There Is Love, though instead of The Captain and Tenille's. I tried looking for his version, but I couldn't find it ;_;! I think it's ONLY available on one Peter, Paul, and Mary complete CD set produced by Reader's Digest, at least that's what Stookey's daughter e-mailed me when I tried looking for it a few years back. This lead me into the trap of looking at all of Peter, Paul, and Mary's CDs and songs available to purchase at the Mix & Burn kiosk @-@! I've held back on buying a Peter, Paul, and Mary CD since I couldn't find just one CD which had all of my favorite songs. My favorites were spread across 3-4 CDs, all of which had overlapping material if I had bought them all. Suddenly, I realized I could make my dream Peter, Paul, and Mary CD right there and then 8D! After sending my first selection of songs to the front desk to be burned, I compiled a second Mix & Burn CD of Peter, Paul, and Mary songs. I bought 12 songs in total from Peter, Paul, and Mary XP! I figured even at $0.99/song after the initial 7 songs, it was worth buying this CD instead of 3-4 CDs with repeat stuff or songs I just didn't like.
Now, by this time, I realized I had spent WAY too much time at the Mix & Burn kiosks, D'OH 8(! It was about 1:30 p.m., and now the store was packed like sardines full of people! The store went from nearly empty to standing-room-only in 2 hours @~@! The entire sitting area around the signing was totally filled up with people with several standing in the back trying to glimpse a view! Short me had no chance of seeing AB without squeezing past a wall of people --;! At this time, the store announced they had set up an overflow area, complete with a widescreen TV monitor and several chairs. I quickly snagged a chair right in front of the TV, so I ended up watching AB on TV, just like at home, WOOT 8b!
AB arrived in the building around 1:55 p.m. and appeared at the signing area at 2:00 p.m. EXACTLY! So far, he's the FIRST celebrity I have seen to ever show up early and on time for his appearance o-O! I was impressed! Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was 40-50 minutes LATE, Sean Astin was 20-30 minutes late, etc.. The entire thing started with a Bound to Be Read employee reading aloud AB's 'official' bio, which she said AB forced her to read ;b! She kept getting interrupted by cheers from the crowd when AB himself actually walked in. She turned over the microphone to AB after she was done, and the first thing AB told us was to forget all about that mushy lovey dovey crap that he fell in love cooking when he was in the kitchen cooking with his grandma as a kid. AB said he started cooking to pick up girls in college XD! What says loving more than a homecooked meal by your man? Apparently, it worked too well for him, he says, since he's been married twice now! For the next point of business, AB told us all to turn to page 238 of his new book, I'm Just Here for More Food, to point out the mistake Kristy/cornrelish mentioned in her journal entry. He swore the manuscript did NOT leave his word processor with the suggestion to put crushed children's ASPIRIN tablets into the mixture. AB had typed the option of putting crushed children's vitamin C tablets in for that extra vitamin C in your diet. He said he was deadly allergic to aspirin, so he would definitely have NOT made that suggestion XP! It has been since corrected in the later printings of the book, but the mistake, and several others, are in the first printing. He suggested we all buy many copies of the first printing since it's now a collector's item, have it signed by him, and sell them all to his mom on eBay XD! He also told us that he's currently in negotiation to have a Good Eats compendium book published which would cover ALL the episodes to date, behind-the-scenes trivia, and all the recipes he had on the show, including some that never made it to air. After that, he took questions from the audience for 30 minutes! Among the tidbits he told us, which I know you diehard AB fans already know about:
When asked who his favorite Iron Chef was, AB refused to answer that question ;P!
I could see AB was DEAD tired throughout the Q&A. He didn't even get the chance to shave before coming out to Bound to Be Read, and some of his fatigue was leaking over into the replies he gave the audience. 3-4 poor members of the audience became running jokes in AB's replies ;(. Now, I do admit those 3-4 'poor' audience members were being either overly obnoxious or nerdy when they asked AB questions that made them into running gags though. One lady kept pressing AB about why the turkey recipe she followed from his show yielded a bird with raw bottom out of the oven O~O! She kept insisting she followed his directions exactly, including taking the turkey's breast meat temperature. That conversation lasted for about 5 minutes! Another person asked and tried to start a 'serious' conversation on whether AB was inspired/took his ideas from some famous old food science book. That conversation lasted 3-5 minutes as well! Later, when someone asked where AB thought he would be in the next 5 years, he replied he would probably be fighting lawsuits about PLAGIARISM claims and undercooked turkeys XP! AB would continue to inject the plagarism and raw turkey throughout the rest of the Q&A ;b! Since I was in the overflow area, I had no idea how those people reacted each and every time AB said he was being accused of plagiarism and underpreparing food Xb!
Around 2:50 p.m., AB finished his Q&A and began the signing. The people at Bound to Be Read, in their last announcement, said that they were already up to the end of March in their sign up line, meaning there were at least 90 or so people waiting in line to meet AB! That doesn't count all the people that came without buying a book from Bound to Be Read, so there must have been somewhere between 150-200 people all squished inside Bound to Be Read that day o-O! Even though I didn't get a primo viewing spot for AB's talk, I did get a primo line spot for the signing, so I was happy ^-^! Even though I got Jan 7th, I ended up being the second to last January person to get their stuff signed --;! It took me a LONG time to squish my way into where the Januarys were lined up since nobody would move an inch for me to get to the line. I had to keep raising my hand with my Jan 7th slip of paper whenever the Bound to Be Read employee said they were calling for all Januarys to come forth in order to make my way through the sea of people. AB was friendly and cordial to everyone in line for an autograph from what I could see from my squished position. Despite the enormous turn out, he gladly posed for pictures for everyone who asked. When I came up with my big pile of books and NaCl box and cellar, all I could do at first was take out all the books from my bag that I wanted him to sign 8P! I said I had so many books since all my friends just LOVE his show 8D! After we posed for a picture, we hit a little snag --;! I told him my Mom washed it constantly due to the grease that accumulates on it while it sits in her kitchen, so we weren't sure if he could sign it or not. He and all the people watching the signing couldn't understand why my Mom was washing the entire thing regularly --;. Maybe I should have brought it dirty and greasy instead of cleaned XP! I asked him to sign the box though just in case my Mom washed it off the NaCl cellar itself. He signed and doodled on the NaCl cellar's inside lid, so hopefully, Mom won't scrub that area to harshly the next time she washes it O~O! Just as AB thought he was finished with me and my pile of stuff, I suddenly remembered what Kristy had asked AB to do. Being the copycat that I am XP, I also asked AB to correct that one page at the very last moment before leaving. AB begrudgingly obliged my last minute request and said if he had to do this for all the books, the line would be delayed another 6 hours Xb! Whoops --;! While I was re-packing my books and NaCl cellar into the bag, the people who were watching the signing went, "Oooo!" and "Ahhh!" at the NaCl cellar, which was the first one that showed up so far that day. When I told them I got it for my Mom as a present, they all went, "Awwww!" You know when you're surrounded by AB fans when they think it's an adorable idea to give your Mom an NaCl cellar as a present XD!
I was finished, and it was 3:12 p.m. o-O! I had 8 minutes to get out of the parking lot before I went OVER my 4 hour cash limit! I quickly got back into my car and drove toward the pay area. I thought I could make it just in time, but I didn't count on the fact that there would be a line of cars leaving the parking ramp at the same time as well 8(! When I ran into the line, I was scared that I would NOT be able to make it out in time with the cash I had in hand! ULP @~@! My car was already stuck in the line though, so there was no way I could get out and go to the cash machine! It was VERY close. When I finally reached the pay booth and gave the attendant my ticket, the clock was at 3:20 p.m.. I had entered the ramp at 11:20 p.m. o-O, so I just made it! I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when I saw that! I ended up paying $4.50 with the parking validation from Bound to Be Read, exactly under budget. A minute more, and I would have to figure out where I could scrounge up $0.75 more --;! If I wasn't in a rush to leave, I would have stayed to watch AB work the crowd more.
After I left, I thought, poor AB ;_;! With the crowd that was in Bound to Be Read, he probably wouldn't finish with the signing until around 7:00 p.m., the time he had to be at the signing at Barnes & Nobles o-O! His day probably wouldn't have ended until 12:00 a.m. or later! Now I knew why he looked so tired ;(! I was exhausted myself, and I didn't even stay as long as he would! I thought about attending the 7:00 p.m. signing just to hear and see AB speak again, but like I said, I was too tired --;! Instead of going home to rest though, I ended up shopping with my Mom and Dad in St. Louis Park and eating at Panda Garden Buffet for supper 8P! I was really pooped by the time I finally got home. I had a blast though!
Sunday morning, I opened the Star Tribune and discovered that AB was doing ANOTHER signing at Bound to Be Read AGAIN MONDAY evening @~@! I don't know how he rests or keeps his sanity, EEEEK O~O! Poor AB --;! I'm figured he was doing another signing at Bound to Be Read to support them since they're one of the few independent bookstores that are still alive. Moreover, Bound to Be Read is right next door to the Cooks of Crocus Hill, a specialty kitchen utensil store, so they might have persuaded him into another signing as well. Like I said, poor AB --;!
I'll post pictures as soon as my sister gets a chance to burn them onto CD for me to upload ^^;!
Yesterday, I got a huge package in the mail from Judith/florentineflask , nyo o-O! THANK YOU, JUDITH, NYO 8D! I just love being poisoned by Koge Donbo's EVIL cuteness, nyo! I will poison you too AGAIN someday soon, pyo >8D!
I woke up bright and early Saturday morning, eager and ready for my close encounter with Alton Brown/AB. I had packed everything I needed to bring the night before, including my NaCl box AND actual NaCl cellar. Mom thought since that this was probably a once in a lifetime chance, I should bring the actual NaCl cellar itself and see if AB could sign it somewhere where it could stay preserved even through multiple washings. I was raring to go! Around 10:30 a.m., I hopped into my car and proceeded to drive out to Bound to Be Read. Unfortunately, stupid me underestimated just how thick the pile of snow that the snow plows had left in our driveway was --;! The rest of the driveway only had about an inch or 2 of snow from Friday night's avalanche of snow. We pay a guy to plow our twice-than-average-area-sized driveway, so the driveway itself was pretty cleared of snow. The plower unfortunately came BEFORE the city plows came, so there was this nice bump of snow at the end of the driveway. When I tried driving over the bump, my car got STUCK 8(! In the usual panic, I tried driving off the snow bank, I just dug my car in deeper and deeper into the snow --;! After several attempts at shifting reverse and forward gears, my car wound up belly deep in snow (i.e. the car's belly was actually ON the pile of snow). I finally gave up the forceful driving approach, got out of the car, and tried shoveling my car out of the snow bank. As most of you snow bound regions know, the pile of snow the city plows leave in your driveway is 2-3 times as heavy and compact as the snowfall itself @~@! Since I was obviously in a rush, I tried just shoveling a few shovelfuls of snow and then went back into the car to see if that made a difference or not. Of course, it NEVER does ;b! After several tries like this and getting one tire free (beneath which had a thin layer of ice formed by my forced attempts at driving out), I surrendered and called for help! Mom came out to help, and we shoveled and dug under the car's belly in hopes that would loosen the car enough for it to drive out. Mom insisted that we waited until we shoveled a LOT more snow though before attempting to drive out again, much to my anxiety and impatience. After 20 minutes of digging, we had just about cleared 3 of the 4 tires and 1/4 of the car's belly and were ready to attempt to drive the car out. Dad came on the scene just in time to drive the car out easily after all our hard work XP! I quickly thanked them both for the help, dumped my shovel, and sped off to Bound to Be Read!
The roads Saturday morning were not much better than our driveway. They were covered with 1-2 inches of slippery snow, so driving was slow going to Grand Avenue. Because of the heavy snowfall though, I opted to park in Bound to Be Read's parking ramp instead of the streets. I had no idea which weird snowplow rule was in effect for the streets, so I decided not to chance it. Therein came my second mistake of the day. I had assumed the parking ramp would take credit cards, so I didn't bring much cash. I only had $5.07 total in cash ;b! I later found out, to my chagrin, that the ramp took ONLY cash or check, so if I stayed over 3 hours, I would have to get cash at an ATM to pay --;! Luckily, Bound to Be Read validated 1 hour's worth of parking, so my limit was now 4 hours at $0.75/half hour. I figured I would JUST make it since I got there early for a choice spot in line. The store was using calendar-per-day pages as line markers, and I got Jan 7th. They told me though that they would be calling out people by month, so it didn't matter if I got an early day in January or a later one. Still, I would be in the first 31 people to get their stuff signed, so I was happy ^^;! It was about 11:30 a.m., and I was quite surprised that the store was so empty o-O! There were only 2-3 people sitting in the chairs around the main signing area waiting for AB, and the rest of the store just had 2 other customers. I was expecting at least 20-50 people camped out in the store by this time ;P!
Since I had hours to kill literally, I thought I could waste some of it at Bound to Be Read's burn-your-own-CD kiosks. I had bought one a few months before, but I was unable to find all the songs I wanted in their database at the time. The first time I burned a CD there, the kiosks were JUST installed, so everything wasn't up fully yet. Half a year later, I was pleasantly surprised to find 80% of the songs I was looking for last time! I put in my song queue Start Me Up by The Rolling Stones (I blame Bill Gates for this and that Microsoft commercial.), Died in Your Arms Tonight by Cutting Crew (It's all Will Farrell's and Horatio Sanz's fault, dagnabit XP!), and One Way or Another sung by Melissa Joan Hart. These are all songs I wanted on CD, but I never wanted to buy an entire CD for just that one song. I needed to fill a minimum of 7 songs though, otherwise, I would still be charged full price --;! I tried looking for that catchy HP photo commercial song, Picture Book by The Kinks, but, unfortunately, it wasn't available in the database despite it being an old song from the early '90s! After much thought and browsing through the database, I decided to fill in the CD with 3 songs by Will Smith and There Is Love/The Wedding Song sung by The Captain and Tenille. I REALLY wanted Noel Paul Stookey's, of Peter, Paul, and Mary fame, rendition of HIS song, There Is Love, though instead of The Captain and Tenille's. I tried looking for his version, but I couldn't find it ;_;! I think it's ONLY available on one Peter, Paul, and Mary complete CD set produced by Reader's Digest, at least that's what Stookey's daughter e-mailed me when I tried looking for it a few years back. This lead me into the trap of looking at all of Peter, Paul, and Mary's CDs and songs available to purchase at the Mix & Burn kiosk @-@! I've held back on buying a Peter, Paul, and Mary CD since I couldn't find just one CD which had all of my favorite songs. My favorites were spread across 3-4 CDs, all of which had overlapping material if I had bought them all. Suddenly, I realized I could make my dream Peter, Paul, and Mary CD right there and then 8D! After sending my first selection of songs to the front desk to be burned, I compiled a second Mix & Burn CD of Peter, Paul, and Mary songs. I bought 12 songs in total from Peter, Paul, and Mary XP! I figured even at $0.99/song after the initial 7 songs, it was worth buying this CD instead of 3-4 CDs with repeat stuff or songs I just didn't like.
Now, by this time, I realized I had spent WAY too much time at the Mix & Burn kiosks, D'OH 8(! It was about 1:30 p.m., and now the store was packed like sardines full of people! The store went from nearly empty to standing-room-only in 2 hours @~@! The entire sitting area around the signing was totally filled up with people with several standing in the back trying to glimpse a view! Short me had no chance of seeing AB without squeezing past a wall of people --;! At this time, the store announced they had set up an overflow area, complete with a widescreen TV monitor and several chairs. I quickly snagged a chair right in front of the TV, so I ended up watching AB on TV, just like at home, WOOT 8b!
AB arrived in the building around 1:55 p.m. and appeared at the signing area at 2:00 p.m. EXACTLY! So far, he's the FIRST celebrity I have seen to ever show up early and on time for his appearance o-O! I was impressed! Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was 40-50 minutes LATE, Sean Astin was 20-30 minutes late, etc.. The entire thing started with a Bound to Be Read employee reading aloud AB's 'official' bio, which she said AB forced her to read ;b! She kept getting interrupted by cheers from the crowd when AB himself actually walked in. She turned over the microphone to AB after she was done, and the first thing AB told us was to forget all about that mushy lovey dovey crap that he fell in love cooking when he was in the kitchen cooking with his grandma as a kid. AB said he started cooking to pick up girls in college XD! What says loving more than a homecooked meal by your man? Apparently, it worked too well for him, he says, since he's been married twice now! For the next point of business, AB told us all to turn to page 238 of his new book, I'm Just Here for More Food, to point out the mistake Kristy/cornrelish mentioned in her journal entry. He swore the manuscript did NOT leave his word processor with the suggestion to put crushed children's ASPIRIN tablets into the mixture. AB had typed the option of putting crushed children's vitamin C tablets in for that extra vitamin C in your diet. He said he was deadly allergic to aspirin, so he would definitely have NOT made that suggestion XP! It has been since corrected in the later printings of the book, but the mistake, and several others, are in the first printing. He suggested we all buy many copies of the first printing since it's now a collector's item, have it signed by him, and sell them all to his mom on eBay XD! He also told us that he's currently in negotiation to have a Good Eats compendium book published which would cover ALL the episodes to date, behind-the-scenes trivia, and all the recipes he had on the show, including some that never made it to air. After that, he took questions from the audience for 30 minutes! Among the tidbits he told us, which I know you diehard AB fans already know about:
- He does NOT have a sister named Marsha or a nephew! AB is an only child. He said if he really DID have a sister like Marsha, she would be dead by the age of 12 XD!
- Anyone who works on his show, including all the writers, producers, and behind-the-scenes crew, MUST appear on camera at least once! The only exception is his wife who writes everyone's checks ;b!
- AB's mom and dad were on his show as themselves for those 'family' episodes. His daughter Zoe appeared 3-4 times too.
- In real life, W is a chiropractor, one which many members of his crew use happily! AB said he would NEVER let W near his back. The on-air 'chemistry' they have comes from the fact that they really hate each other's guts XD!
- AB has begged and pleaded to Food Network for 5-6 years into releasing complete seasonal DVD sets of Good Eats, but Food Network just doesn't think it would be a profitable idea --;.
- AB is given the secret ingredient a week before each shooting of Iron Chef America, so he has time to study and research it for his commentary.
- AB does NOT eat any of the leftovers from Iron Chef America. After trying Iron Chef Sakai's trout ice cream with eyeballs, he swore off eating anything from the show XP! AB said whatever we might THINK trout ice cream would taste like, it did NOT taste anything remotely like that unless one has tasted yak's butt X(!
- AB said he has no aspirations of ever opening his own restaurant. If he ever did go into the restaurant business, he would open a hot dog stand ;b!
When asked who his favorite Iron Chef was, AB refused to answer that question ;P!
I could see AB was DEAD tired throughout the Q&A. He didn't even get the chance to shave before coming out to Bound to Be Read, and some of his fatigue was leaking over into the replies he gave the audience. 3-4 poor members of the audience became running jokes in AB's replies ;(. Now, I do admit those 3-4 'poor' audience members were being either overly obnoxious or nerdy when they asked AB questions that made them into running gags though. One lady kept pressing AB about why the turkey recipe she followed from his show yielded a bird with raw bottom out of the oven O~O! She kept insisting she followed his directions exactly, including taking the turkey's breast meat temperature. That conversation lasted for about 5 minutes! Another person asked and tried to start a 'serious' conversation on whether AB was inspired/took his ideas from some famous old food science book. That conversation lasted 3-5 minutes as well! Later, when someone asked where AB thought he would be in the next 5 years, he replied he would probably be fighting lawsuits about PLAGIARISM claims and undercooked turkeys XP! AB would continue to inject the plagarism and raw turkey throughout the rest of the Q&A ;b! Since I was in the overflow area, I had no idea how those people reacted each and every time AB said he was being accused of plagiarism and underpreparing food Xb!
Around 2:50 p.m., AB finished his Q&A and began the signing. The people at Bound to Be Read, in their last announcement, said that they were already up to the end of March in their sign up line, meaning there were at least 90 or so people waiting in line to meet AB! That doesn't count all the people that came without buying a book from Bound to Be Read, so there must have been somewhere between 150-200 people all squished inside Bound to Be Read that day o-O! Even though I didn't get a primo viewing spot for AB's talk, I did get a primo line spot for the signing, so I was happy ^-^! Even though I got Jan 7th, I ended up being the second to last January person to get their stuff signed --;! It took me a LONG time to squish my way into where the Januarys were lined up since nobody would move an inch for me to get to the line. I had to keep raising my hand with my Jan 7th slip of paper whenever the Bound to Be Read employee said they were calling for all Januarys to come forth in order to make my way through the sea of people. AB was friendly and cordial to everyone in line for an autograph from what I could see from my squished position. Despite the enormous turn out, he gladly posed for pictures for everyone who asked. When I came up with my big pile of books and NaCl box and cellar, all I could do at first was take out all the books from my bag that I wanted him to sign 8P! I said I had so many books since all my friends just LOVE his show 8D! After we posed for a picture, we hit a little snag --;! I told him my Mom washed it constantly due to the grease that accumulates on it while it sits in her kitchen, so we weren't sure if he could sign it or not. He and all the people watching the signing couldn't understand why my Mom was washing the entire thing regularly --;. Maybe I should have brought it dirty and greasy instead of cleaned XP! I asked him to sign the box though just in case my Mom washed it off the NaCl cellar itself. He signed and doodled on the NaCl cellar's inside lid, so hopefully, Mom won't scrub that area to harshly the next time she washes it O~O! Just as AB thought he was finished with me and my pile of stuff, I suddenly remembered what Kristy had asked AB to do. Being the copycat that I am XP, I also asked AB to correct that one page at the very last moment before leaving. AB begrudgingly obliged my last minute request and said if he had to do this for all the books, the line would be delayed another 6 hours Xb! Whoops --;! While I was re-packing my books and NaCl cellar into the bag, the people who were watching the signing went, "Oooo!" and "Ahhh!" at the NaCl cellar, which was the first one that showed up so far that day. When I told them I got it for my Mom as a present, they all went, "Awwww!" You know when you're surrounded by AB fans when they think it's an adorable idea to give your Mom an NaCl cellar as a present XD!
I was finished, and it was 3:12 p.m. o-O! I had 8 minutes to get out of the parking lot before I went OVER my 4 hour cash limit! I quickly got back into my car and drove toward the pay area. I thought I could make it just in time, but I didn't count on the fact that there would be a line of cars leaving the parking ramp at the same time as well 8(! When I ran into the line, I was scared that I would NOT be able to make it out in time with the cash I had in hand! ULP @~@! My car was already stuck in the line though, so there was no way I could get out and go to the cash machine! It was VERY close. When I finally reached the pay booth and gave the attendant my ticket, the clock was at 3:20 p.m.. I had entered the ramp at 11:20 p.m. o-O, so I just made it! I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief when I saw that! I ended up paying $4.50 with the parking validation from Bound to Be Read, exactly under budget. A minute more, and I would have to figure out where I could scrounge up $0.75 more --;! If I wasn't in a rush to leave, I would have stayed to watch AB work the crowd more.
After I left, I thought, poor AB ;_;! With the crowd that was in Bound to Be Read, he probably wouldn't finish with the signing until around 7:00 p.m., the time he had to be at the signing at Barnes & Nobles o-O! His day probably wouldn't have ended until 12:00 a.m. or later! Now I knew why he looked so tired ;(! I was exhausted myself, and I didn't even stay as long as he would! I thought about attending the 7:00 p.m. signing just to hear and see AB speak again, but like I said, I was too tired --;! Instead of going home to rest though, I ended up shopping with my Mom and Dad in St. Louis Park and eating at Panda Garden Buffet for supper 8P! I was really pooped by the time I finally got home. I had a blast though!
Sunday morning, I opened the Star Tribune and discovered that AB was doing ANOTHER signing at Bound to Be Read AGAIN MONDAY evening @~@! I don't know how he rests or keeps his sanity, EEEEK O~O! Poor AB --;! I'm figured he was doing another signing at Bound to Be Read to support them since they're one of the few independent bookstores that are still alive. Moreover, Bound to Be Read is right next door to the Cooks of Crocus Hill, a specialty kitchen utensil store, so they might have persuaded him into another signing as well. Like I said, poor AB --;!
I'll post pictures as soon as my sister gets a chance to burn them onto CD for me to upload ^^;!
Yesterday, I got a huge package in the mail from Judith/florentineflask , nyo o-O! THANK YOU, JUDITH, NYO 8D! I just love being poisoned by Koge Donbo's EVIL cuteness, nyo! I will poison you too AGAIN someday soon, pyo >8D!