Ok so ever since I heard about Robert Jordan's death I'd been wondering what was going to happen to the Wheel of Time
When I found out Brandon Sanderson was going to finish the series I was pretty scared since I hadn't ever heard of him before
so I started following his blog and read his Mistborn Trilogy
I pretty much became an instant fan and while still apprehensive about the fate of the WoT series I was no longer worried in the way I had been
sometime last year I went to meet him in Burbank, CA to get my copy of Hero of Ages signed (which my friend YamiKreuz bought for me btw)
he was petty cool so I decided then that I'd come and meet him again when he eventually did a tour for the WoT book in the Fall of 2009
I think I found out sometime in July or August that he'd be in Pasadena on 11/17/09 to sign his new stand alone novel Warbreaker (which I bought but haven't read yet) and the new Wheel of Time book: The Gathering Storm
and so I began to lay my plans
When October rolled around (the release month for The Gathering Storm) I found out on his blog that some of the signings might require you to buy the book from their store in order to get in line to meet the author
this kind of sucked for me since it meant I couldn't get The Gathering Storm when it came out because I might have to buy it at the place in Pasadena
it sucked even more because I reread the entire WoT series this year (2 books a month) and timed it so that I'd finish the most recent one just in time for the release of The Gathering Storm
Maybe a week before the book came out I called the bookstore in Pasadena where the signing was going to take place to ask them if the event was going to be ticketed (that's what they call it when they require you to buy from them to meet the author) or not
They told me they didn't know and that it should be on their website by the end of the month
so I gave up the idea that I'd get TGS when it came out
on November 1st I check their website and it doesn't say so I call again and they tell me they still don't know and that it'll probably be on the website closer to the date of the signing
so I check again on the 13th and it STILL isn't there
I call one more time and they tell me that it probably wouldn't be a ticketed event but that I should check the website closer to the actual day
with only four days left I think that's sort of ridiculous
so I decide to just buy the book from Borders or Barns and Nobel and just deal with the people at the place if it comes up
The day of the signing comes and I wake up with only 4 hours of sleep (I woke up an hour early on accident)
I realize that the only shirt I have to wear is an ugly white shirt that I'd never worn before and had hidden in my closet
I eat a bagel and get ready to head to the bus stop when I think to myself that I should bring some sleeping clothes since I'd be spending the night at Yami's house (the book signing was from 7PM to 10PM)
and so I grabbed a loose shirt and a pair of PJs stuff them in my backpack and rush out the door
I get on the bus around 11:10 AM
it takes about an hour on the bus from where I live to get to North Hollywood where I'm meeting a different friend (Lalaith) that I'm going to the signing with
about a half hour on the bus makes me really dizzy
nothing new, I get bad motion sickness often
but 15 minutes later I knew that I should probably get off the bus before I threw up
so I pull the string to let the bus driver know to pull over and walk go over to the doors so I could get out
the bus starts rolling to a stop...and I feel myself start to vomit
I put my hands over my mouth hoping to hold it in but it just sprays out all over the door which just opened after that first heave
so I jump out and throw up on the pavement
move over throw up again
throw my backpack to the side move over and get on all fours and throw up one more time
my shirt already has throw up on it so I just use it to wipe my face and hands and look around to find out where the hell I am
turns out I was in front of a Jack in the Box
so I call Lalaith and tell her I'm going to be late meeting her and that I'd call her back
I put my phone away and take my backpack and run past the people in the Jack in the Box to get to the bathroom in the back and hope they didn't notice the stuff all over my shirt
I clean up and put on my sleeping shirt on and exit the JitB
at this point I'm feeling great
not dizzy, not tired, not upset about my shirt
just determined to get my book signed no matter what
and speaking of that book I had to recoordinate with Lalaith since we had to go buy it before heading to Pasadena
So I call her up and tell her where I am and what happened and everything and told her I'd be there to meet her as soon as I could
just as I get off the phone a bus rolls up so I get on but it only takes me about half way
so I walk the rest of the way and meet my her
We walk up to the bus stop that'll take us to Ventura since she had some business there and there was a Borders right there anyway
the bus there was PACKED
and everyone on the bus was kind of a jerk
people kept trying to push us away from them as if there was somewhere for us to go
anyway so we go and I get the book and we head back
After a bit of arguing about where we should eat lunch (it was about 1:30 then I think) we head back to North Hollywood to meet Yami at a Carls Jr near his house
on the way there I get a bit dizzy on the bus and worry about what might happen if I get dizzy on the train
you can't just get off those
Anyway so we meet Yami and have lunch which took us about 2 hours
so it's about 4:30ish and I'm thinking I probably shouldn't go since I have a full stomach and got dizzy on the way to Carls
but I decide to just go and so we head to the train station
The train to Pasadena from North Hollywood is actually two trains
first we go to Union Station in Downtown LA and then from there take a different train to Pasadena
it takes about 2 hours
I'm perfectly fine on the way to Pasadena
so we get there around 6 and walk to the place and look around for a bit and then go to the Target nearby since Lalaith wanted to look around there
after that we go back to the book store and it's edging on 7 and I don't really see a crowd gathering anywhere
I was going to ask one of the workers but Lalaith thought she heard something upstairs so we go to check there first
At the top of the stairs you could hear a TON of people talking
so I peek my head around a corner and see this huge crowd gathered
I....don't like crowds so I walk fast in the opposite direction and try to find my way around to them on the perimeter of the store
but I kept getting blocked so I just sucked it up and went to the edge of the crowd
There were chairs but they were all taken so I had to stand
the time came and Brandon Sanderson came out
Lalaith sat down on the floor and just listened since she came for me and isn't really a fan of the books or anything
so he's talking and stuff and whatever
while I'm listening there's this floorboard under me that keeps creaking really loudly every time I shift my weight to the other foot
it got really annoying
Later this girl (a Storm Leader if any of you know what that is) came around and asked me if I got a ticket
I said no and asked what it was for
she said a raffle and I was like "is it free?" and she said yeah so I took one
my number was 906
So Brandon is still talking whatever blah blah blah (it was interesting but not anything you guys care about probably)
and finally the time to sign books rolls around (I think it was 8:00ish)
Lalaith got bored and headed downstairs to look at books and stuff
and the people announce that the number you got on your raffle ticket would be your place in line
they were going to take 20 people at a time starting with 800 through 820
I've got to be back on the train BY 10:00 at the latest to make it back to NoHo before the trains stop running
So I just got right in line and figured I could explain it to whoever when I got up there
as I'm standing in line clutching my books and trying to stay out of everyones way this chick and her cameraman come over and ask me for an interview
normally I'd be too afraid to do anything more than shake my head but I'd seen them earlier and heard some of the questions they asked and felt like I could do it
so I said yeah and that passed some time (I might be able to find the video of that some time in the future)
The line starts moving a lot after going nowhere forever
and then one of the people from the bookstore come up to me and ask me what my number is
I tell her 906 but explain my situation and she tells me if I'm not at the front of the line by 9:30 to come see her
But that wasn't necessary
finally my turn to get my book signed comes and he starts talking to me
basically...I was really intimidated and still worried about getting back (didn't know the time)
and so I could barely talk and when I did I sounded like an idiot
I manage to get some semblance of a regular conversation going (everyone get's ~5 minutes to talk to him if they want) when a worker chick comes up and tells him he needs to start going faster since they want to finish by 10
and so instead of trying to finish the conversation I just said bye and left
The train ride back wasn't too great
I got kind of sick when we got to Union Station and had to hang out in the fresh air for a bit when we got off the train
this security guard yelled at us as we were standing there
he was like "HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE?!" and we just said standing in the air and so he left us alone
the ride from Union Station to NoHo wasn't as bad as the one from Pasadena to to Union Station but I still got kind of dizzy
So we get off the train and Lalaith calls her mom who ends up giving me a ride to Yami's house
we hang out for awhile and then walk to his Ralphs to get cookies and chips
then we came back and did stuff for awhile until we were both tired
I think that was around 3 or 4AM
all in all it was a pretty tiring day
But I got my book signed
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