(Man, settling back in is more work than I remember. And learning how to resize photos on the Mac isn't as easy as I'd hoped. I must be doing something wrong. )
Here goes...the trip home in three chapters.
My usual strategy for combating jet lag involves much late night TV and plenty of naps. As you can guess, there are some serious flaws in that methond, but discovering Craig Ferguson isn't one of them.
Mostly J and I hung with my mom and newly-retired dad and attempted to avoid the flood of home improvement jobs they had lined up.
J in a moment of deep reflection.
J and Dusty.
Dusty and J.
The actual reading. Is my mom crying yet?
J. being all New York City cool. Or maybe just ticked off that I keep telling him to pose every five seconds.
J and Dusty. 
Dusty and J.
Chapter Two -- Week Two
Called and began meeting friends. Truly, my friends are Gold. I wish I had had more time. There's never enough time.
Then at the end of the week there was the book signing at the Bookworm, a fantastic bookstore I'll frequent every time I go back. The reading/signing was an absolutely surreal event in itself. The books sold out and all kinds of new and old friends came out as well as my uncle and aunt all the way from Arkansas.
I wasn't terribly looking forward to it, just scared I suppose. But I ended up having a stellar time and the day just flew by. If I had one complaint it was that I couldn't spend more time with each person and then everyone all together. I'm thinking a book signing/sleep over next time. We'll do popcorn. Bring your jammies!
I hired my mom to do the stamps in the books and pass out feathers. She did a great job. A couple of my golden buddies.
The milling around. Oh, my gosh, is that two members from the
band the Dead Aliens?
The actual reading. Is my mom crying yet? Chapter Three -- Week Three
And then J, my parents and I flew to New York to spend a couple days.
Wow.
I've only been to Manhattan once before (in high school), so I was stoked about the city and pukifyingly nervous about meeting my agent.
NYC impressions: Fantastic food. Fell in love with the Wuup Wup Wup! of the ambulances/fire trucks attempting to get cars to move. Was surprised at how many times I smelled patchouli while walking down the street. Got to see some of Nicholas Cage's new movie and ride the subway a couple times. Oh, and J's favorite -- we saw a white man who had very recently spray painted himself brown, all drippy and smiley. Boy, we wanted to know the story behind him.
Here's Soho where my agent's office is. You can actually see his door. Meeting was inspiring. More than even I realize it's time for me to step up.
J. being all New York City cool. Or maybe just ticked off that I keep telling him to pose every five seconds.
Really one of my best trips home. Again, not enough time. And then there was the airplane that came down on one wheel and almost rolled which planted a new and crippling seed of panic in me every time I got on a plane. I do hope that goes away. But if not, it's nothing a couple five dollar airplane beers can't sing into submission. Because I'm on a quest to hurry and make enough money so I can go back real soon !
I'll end with this picture. In the middle of Time's Square they were having some sort of free auditions. Here's J, the back of my mom and Elvis.
14 comments:
Glad to see that your trip to Gotham was fantastic. As I'm reading your post I'm thinking how scary and all surreal it would seem to me if I were in your shoes. Mom must be so very proud. =)
Sounds like you had a super time. I would be completely terrified, especially going to NYC. I get chills just thinking about it!
Wow, it sounds like a whirlwind trip! Glad you enjoyed it.
You are bigtime now, Girlfriend! Are you as impressed with yourself as I am?
Rebecca, thank you! Yeah, mom was all emotional which was sweet. But to see dad tear up. Now that was new. But then again, I was a awfully rebellious child. Their expectations were probably pretty low.
Jaimey, New York City was just so fast paced and energy filled. I mean you could sit on any corner and write a book about any one of the passersby. Some great characters. And I had to ride the subway to get to my agent's office which was nothing like the Japanese subway. Definitely a thrill ride.
Pat, you know, my head's still not around it yet. I really realized how much work I must do now. I mean, like, I've been farting around the last 41 years compared to what's ahead of me. But I am very excited about it, totally looking forward to it.
Glad you had such a good time and your book signing/reading was such a success!
I love that shot of your son and dog -- the one with your dog's snout right in the camera! (Why don't I ever manage pictures like that?)
When I lived in NYC, there used to be a very nicely dressed woman of about 45-50 who stood on the corner of Madison and 38th Street and howled her lungs out. I couldn't get over it! She had on really good shoes and nylons and everything and her hair was always freshly permed...
Sounds like a great time to remember. Your son is so cute. I'll bet he had a blast despite his serious (are we having fun yet?) face in all but the one photo with Dusty. Ahhhh boys. :)
Mary, oh, she sounds wonderful! I really enjoyed the diversity. In Tokyo you would probably get younger kids being all creative in their dress and actions, but not so much adults. Also, the dogs. There were dogs everywhere in Manhattan!
Hilary, i just realized he had on his serious face in all but one picture. Boy, teens are angst-ridden. But my mom took him out to get professional pictures made so she had some where he had to smile.
Funny, the photographer asked him to "straddle" a chair for one shot and he just sat in it. Later when they were retelling the story, in his defense he was like, "When do you ever use a word like straddle?! " True.
NYC has an energy like nowhere else and if you could bottle it, you'd outsell the drug dealers.
I'm glad you have such a fantastically motivating trip. I hope this puts enough fuel in your tank to keep kicking ass and taking names.
Gabriel, I like your style. Speaking of drug dealers, we took a little ride on one of those open topped buses and while stopped at a red light I witnessed a drug deal. All those days watching The Wire taught me something!
hey terrie, thx for the insight into your trip... too bad it was such a whirlwind
Looks fun, and I bet the signing was something new and exciting :-)
Laughing Wolf, Benjamin, thanks for stopping by. Always not enough time for the fun stuff. So not fair.
Congrats on the book signing... woot woot... Nyc gal here, I wish I would have known you were going, I would have suggested some good eats yadda, yadda....
haha
I especially enjoy this post as well! The last picture of J and Dusty is delightful! :)
I also forgot to say before that I love the background/setup of your blog. Did you make it yourself?
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