Whee!

So. Went to the Bloggess' book signing last night at A Real Bookstore in Dallas. Went all by myself and managed not to have a nervous breakdown, yay!

(Even though there was no reception for my phone and the wi-fi was a really really unfunny joke, thus rendering me completely internet-less for the evening.)

I got there about twenty minutes after they started giving out wrist-bands and so I ended up in the second group for the signing. Then I had an hour and a half to kill until the reading. I had planned to go buy my book, get my wristband, and then leave the store in search of dinner, but people were already camped out for the signing and there were no chairs left that weren't being saved.

So I found a chair off to the side (hey, bookstore), and sat down to knit for a while. After a bit I wandered over to their café to see what they had but nothing really looked appealing to me so I wandered back and found a new seat and knit some more, thinking I would just grab dinner after the signing before heading home. Then they made some announcements and I started having flashbacks to the Brandon Sanderson signing which lasted forever and got worried that by the time I got out of there all of the decent food places would be closed. So I went back to the café and noticed on second glance at the menu that they had hot dogs, so I got one (it came with chips) and a cookie and a can of sweet tea. It was not really the dinner I had imagined taking myself out for, but it wasn't that bad. I led with the cookie.

I ate in the café and by the time I was done it was almost go time, so I found a shelf to lean against behind the seats and waited for things to get started. Before too long, out came Jenny Lawson to greet us and do a quick reading from her (New York Times best selling!) book (Let's Pretend This Never Happened) and take a few questions. Her reaction on walking out and seeing us all gathered there?

"Holy shit. There are a lot of you."

Thus began an evening of laughter. Afterwards we were sorted into our signing groups and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the line actually moved along quite quickly. I was knitting in line and a woman near me commented on the bread bag tab I had my tail wrapped around (something I picked up from my mom), relieved to see someone else doing that. We struck up a conversation and talked the whole way up to the table. It was random, but nice (and now I have ideas about using kool-aid to dye yarn with my daughter when she gets a little older). I was actually kind of proud of myself.

I think all told I was in line for less than an hour. Yet when I got up to her I didn't feel rushed at all. They handed her my copies of the book to be signed and an employee was on hand to take pictures for anyone that wanted one. I chatted with her for a few seconds, telling her about laughing so hard I couldn't breathe (which she agreed was awesome except for the part where I almost died from reading her book--I told her it was okay because she is just that awesome).

Jenny Lawson and me.

I did make her a present (more on that next week) and gave it to her, but I told her she didn't have to open it right then. Mostly this was because I didn't want to hog her and I knew they wanted to keep the line going smoothly. Also a little bit because I was nervous that she won't like it and didn't want her to have to feign appreciation. She promised to look at it later and I hope that she likes it, but it's okay if she doesn't. It was just me trying to say "thanks" to her for her blog and her book, both of which I just find so completely amazing.

After I had my books signed I made another beeline for the restroom before hitting the road for the long drive home. When I got in there, I found this guy hanging out in the stall:

Well hello there, sir. They sure do seem to be making the bathroom attendants smaller these days, don't they?

It was the perfect random way to cap off the evening for me. I pondered taking him home as a souvenir, but decided to go ahead and leave him to cheer up the next visitor instead. I mean, for one thing, his owner could have realized he was missing and wanted to go back to retrieve him. For another, I don't know where he's been. So, yeah. Still, it amused me quite a bit.

After that I headed home and rocked out to Crystal Gale (true story) on the way. I was in such a good mood that I wasn't even bothered by the delays due to construction. This is a major victory for me, you guys. You have no idea.

All in all, a wonderful evening. Despite it's (to me) somewhat inconvenient location, I really like A Real Bookstore. I will definitely consider attending any signings they might hold in the future, and highly recommend them to you as well if you are in the area.