I followed my directions into downtown, exited the freeway and made the left turn that would eventually lead me through the one way streets to where I needed to be, and nosedived. No one told me that the streets of Seattle were steep like San Francisco. I handled going down okay, but when I had to go up the next street, I was a ball of nerves. I was terrified that I was going to roll backwards into a car behind me and just prayed that there was a sticker or something on the back of the car that identified it as a rental and therefore I was from out of state and give me extra room. I found Benaroya Hall and luckily there was a parking garage just a little up the street so that I didn't have to add parallel parking (which I suck at) on top of the roller coaster streets. I grabbed my book and hurried to get in line.
When I finally got inside, it was PACKED. I was amazed at how many people were there, it was crazy! I found my seat and to my intense delight, I was in the 4th row. Not only that, but there was no 3rd row on the side, it was an aisle, so I had plenty of leg room in addition to the fantastic view. (Although to be honest, I would have sat in the corner behind a pole just to be there.)
I sat there for awhile by myself with no one to share my excitement with before I finally got up the nerve to ask someone to snap some pictures of me. Self portraits just don't cut it sometimes.
(Although you can kind of get an idea of how big the hall was behind me.) Eventually Cyndi, the girl I bought the ticket from on eBay, arrived and we sat and chatted until the show started.
I don't even know what to say about the show. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
Justin Furstenfeld came out and sang a couple of songs (which were awesome, of course, just him and an acoustic guitar--so cool) and then they brought Stephenie out and she sat and chatted with the audience, talked about how music influenced her writing and how some of the Blue October songs in particular applied to different parts of her books. As she would talk about a specific song, Justin would then sing it.
I'll be honest, that whole segment was probably my favorite part. I tried to do videos of each of the songs with my camera, but people kept walking in front of me, so the only song I got in its entirety was "Sound of Pulling Heaven Down," which is my favorite. (You can go
here to watch it. And you totally should, it's awesome.)
After they finished the music part, Justin left the stage and an interviewer came out and asked Stephenie a bunch of questions that had been submitted by the audience prior to the show. It was really neat to listen to her talk about the books and get a little "bonus" info about some of the characters. (She even talked a little about the Host and it's probable sequel!)
Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and there were a lot of books to be signed. They started having people get in line based on where they were sitting, starting with the balconies. Turns out just because you have a screaming good seat, there are drawbacks. Front row, last in line. (Again, so not complaining, I would have stayed to clean up for this opportunity.) I waited almost three hours before I got my book signed, but it was so worth it. Stephenie was so cool, she stayed until every last one of the 2000+ people got their books signed. Sadly, by the time I got to her, I was completely tongue tied and only managed a mumbled, "thank you!" in place of the well thought out things I had planned to say before I shuffled off with my book.
The rest of the night was pretty uneventful... had to walk down into a deserted parking garage at 11:30 at night all alone with a dead cell phone, got lost downtown while trying to find the freeway, finding the freeway, but going the wrong direction, finally made it back on going the right direction, realized about half way back to the hotel that I had been driving with no head lights on, quick sandwich from the Safeway and sleep.
And if you made it this far, you deserve a cookie. I don't have any, but you should go into your kitchen and have one.
Tonight I was (supposed to be) packing to head to Utah for Christmas. I hate packing. It is in the top ten things I hate to do most in the world. It's on the list with cleaning the bathroom. Yeah, that bad. You might think my reluctance to pack is because I'm not excited to go. Not so, I just hate the act of packing. I would totally go with just the clothes on my back (provided I could find something I want to wear) but I know I'd just be mad I didn't have more clothes when I got there. And the bonus fun of packing to travel for Christmas is you not only have to pack clothes and toiletries, you have to cram gifts in there too. 
Anytime you can win chocolate and books just by reading, it's a good day.