Meeting Jenny

OK, wow. Apparently New England loves them some Bloggess, because Jenny's Brookline, MA reading/signing was -packed-. SRO. People packed up along the stairs and lurking at the top, not even able to see her but hoping to hear. There had to be a couple hundred people in a not-very-big space. My anxiety went all out of whack, of course, even though I was pre-loaded with Xanax. I had a space in a little corner in the front part (corners are good) and it was really close so I had a great view. Well, except for this pole, but she considerately stood just to the side of it so I could see.

The only picture I got during her reading where my hands were not shaking so much that the picture blurred. And of course her eyes are closed. And also she looks like she's going to break out into the chicken dance. Which she did not, by the way.

Jenny appeared impressed with us...said two stops before that one, like 4 people showed up. This made me a bit envious, because I would WAY rather have been in the 4-person crowd than the MOB that showed up in Brookline.

She was, of course, complete awesomeness, and her reading of excerpts from the chapter "The Psychopath on the Other Side of the Bathroom Door" was utterly hilarious. She also gave us an informative aside: Pepto-Bismol actually turns 1 in 6 people's tongue black. Pepto-Bismol contacted her on this one. (Important note: temporarily black. It eventually goes away. That aside actually reminded me of when I discovered through personal experience that if you drink too much red wine your teeth will turn black. For awhile. Because of the tannins.**)

**Incidentally, if you look at Google Images for "red wine teeth black" you will not see one picture on the first page of results where someone's teeth are stained from red wine. You -will- see dozens of pictures of super-white teeth.

Wow. Tangent.

After the reading, Jenny was going back upstairs for the signing. Now, Kimmie and I were stationed right by the stairs, so you would think that this would give us a head start on getting in that line, right? SO WRONG. Because all the people who came late and couldn't get close enough to hear her reading decided to get in line for the signing. By the time we got upstairs, the line already went from her table down to the back of the store, wrapped around a bookcase and came all the way back up to the front of the store. It was insane.

It took an -hour- to get through that line to the point where I finally (!) met Jenny. It gave me a great opportunity to practice the technique my therapist has discussed with me called "flooding" in which you are kept in a high-anxiety-provoking situation until eventually your adrenaline runs out. More on that another time.

I do remember remarking to the people around us that there should be an Express Lane for people with panic disorders. You'd have to show proof like a current prescription bottle of Xanax or a doctor's note or something. That would have been awesome.

Anyway, finally got to the head of the line, Jenny signed my book, we exchanged a few words that I don't remember now (something along the lines of how great to finally meet), took a couple of pictures, hugged, and on to the next person in line.

I sincerely hope that Jenny got a very large amount of vodka or something good like that, later that evening when she finally finished with that line, because I -know- it went for at least another hour or more.

As for me, the plan was to go back to Kimmie's and consume many strawberry daiquiris and/or cosmos and/or whatever else we could make with the alcohol she had. However, I had completely reached my limit what with all the new scary things I'd done that day, and I didn't even get halfway through one drink before I -needed- to crash. (Not one to let a good drink go to waste, I used it the next morning to wash down my meds. Hey, I was on vacation!)

The book reading was awesome, Jenny was awesome, the whole thing was terrifying -and- awesome, and I am so, so glad I did it and made it through. I would have kicked myself for YEARS if I had bailed on that opportunity.

So, here we go, pics. mk

That's my book she's signing. Well, -her- book, -my- copy. :)

I look all crazy-grinny and slightly psycho if you see this up close.

markira meets Bloggess...yay!!!