Stephanie Does Ann Arbor…barely.
If anything could motivate me to take up blogging after several months’ absence, it’s seeing the Harlot “live and in person.” Yes, my friends, we had a grand adventure today, Trish and I.
Stephanie was due to begin speaking in Ann Arbor at 2:00 today, so we drove the 60 miles in time to ensure we’d get good seats (i.e., in the main room instead of the overflow room). We got there at 12:30 and began the wait. We had come prepared with our knitting, gifts for Steph, snacks, and more. Shortly after we arrived though, an ominous announcement was made: Stephanie’s plane was not allowed to land at Detroit because of fog. They were sent back to Chicago and she spent the next hour or so frantically trying to get another flight back to Detroit. The Ann Arbor library staff continued to update us after that, but the end result was that Stephanie wasn’t able to get there until almost 4:30. But did any of us give up and leave? No way! Well, I did see a few people who had to leave before she got there, but Trish and I weren’t budging for anything less than an earthquake!
We spent the waiting time taking pictures of the crowd, 
knitting, of course,
and sneaking food in (much to the displeasure of the diligent library staff, but we were HUNGRY dude!).
When Steph came running in from the back of the room we all cheered, knowing that she must be stressed from her ordeal and exhausted, but so glad she’d finally made it. Her first words at the podium: “Crap!” You’ve gotta hand it to her for hanging in there all day, considering that she’d started the day at 3 am. She proceeded to entertain us with her trademark wit, eliciting giggles and guffaws galore. (How’s that for alliteration?)
Sadly though, after only about 30 minutes she began her closing. It wasn’t clear if this was by her choice or pressure from the library to get us out of there (they were scheduled to close at 6:00), but it was disappointing. Not that anyone can really blame the woman, after all she’d gone through, but still. Then we waited in line for about 45 minutes to get our books signed and get our 30 seconds of face time with her. I have to say she was remarkably nice and patient to sit through all that and repeatedly stand up to have her picture taken with anyone who wanted her to. Including me of course:
Now, go check out Trish’s blog to read about her special thrill of the day…
