Top Ten

-Tickets to go see your favorite author sign her book right in front of you... $25.
-Gas it takes to get there... $12.
-A shirt that shows off your "I'm your biggest fan!" ...$7.
-Spending the evening with a best friend and having the time of your life...priceless.

Yup, I got to meet Stephenie Meyer. It was Thursday. We arrived at 5:10PM (and Holy Cow! If you were ten minutes late, like yours truly, you had to wait in line forever! Of course, to my giddish-ness, it surely didn't feel like that long. ...But just wait. I haven't gotten to the good part. Waiting forever, doesn't happen until a little bit later...

We got in line, got our books -which, by the way, its called "The Host" for those who didn't know -and we picked a couple of seats on the left wing closest to the isle. Holy Moly! We sure picked the best seats! -Not! Okay, not that the entire room wasn't full of overly-excited, hormonal girls, but I honestly think we got the worst of it. The girls would just not stop talking! Woooo! -Oh! And it was so weird! The girl, directly behind me, had the same name! Okay, I know its not THAT strange, but I've only met like two people with the same name as me and how ironic is it that the girl behind me just happens to be called Julia? I mean -Wow.

Anyway, we waited there for two hours -'til 7. An announcer lady kept coming up every fifteen minutes or so to tell us the same thing. It got very boring. And annoying. Do you know how hard it is to concentrate on a book when you've got giggling girls behind you and a loud scratchy voice echoing in front of you? ....It isn't that easy.


Anyway, she, Stephenie Meyer, came out at 7 and we got to hear her talk for thirty whole minutes. She talked about "The Host" and even read a little of it to us. She answered a lot of questions that the girls had (They-the girls -got to write the questions down on index cards and Stephenie, before making her appearance, went through the stack and picked out the best ones).

So, thirty minutes later, Stephenie started the book signing. Here's the part where "Waiting Forever" comes in. We waited for over two hours! They called us by ticket numbers, and since we didn't get the deluxe-tickets we had to wait for a very long time. But we were numbers 13 and 14 in the regular-tickets group, so that was good.

This whole time, you can just imagine how ecstatic I was. It was so amazing! I had to keep reminding myself over and over again that it was really happening. Like this morning; I had to look at the book again, and see my name scrawled out in Stephenie's writing to believe that it wasn't just a dream. How cool is that! I am still, a whole day later, really excited about it!

Teenage girl that I am, I wanted to say the perfect thing to Stephenie. Unfortunately, my mind was blank. At this point I had just planned on plopping the books down on the table, stare at her with boggling eyes, and try not to drool anywhere. If I was lucky, I might even get to choke out the word "Hi".

I guess you can imagine that waiting in my seat for over two hours kind of sucked the excitement out of the evening. I was starving. My bottom was numb. My head felt as if it was going to explode. I still had homework to get finished. And I was bushed. But what can you do? Those two hours though weren't spent wastefully, at least, I didn't think so. With Melinda sitting next to me, I made for the best entertainment I could manage. I asked her questions.

Lots and lots of questions. I love questions. I didn't know I did until just recently. So yeah, for two hours I bored her with endless questions and threw in a couple of answers of my own. It was fun. I enjoyed it. Poor Melinda. She was just as bushed, if not more so, than I was.

Finally, at nine-forty-five, we got to get up on the stage and stand at the long white table where Stephenie sat waiting to sign our books. As we moved closer in the line toward her, I saw another women standing next to her. I had noticed her before, of course, but I didn't know who she was. So I asked her.

"So, What's your name?"

The women, green shirt and white capris, looked up at me and smiled. "Oh my name is Elizabeth."

"Elizabeth?" I said surprised. "Do you mean like the Elizabeth in the back of this book?" I said referring to the 'Acknowledgment' page in the back of 'Eclipse' where Stephenie had written an immense thanks to an Elizabeth Eulberg, her publicist.

"Yes," Elizabeth said looking a little embarrassed when I asked to shake her hand. She was surprised when I did, but shook it regardless. "I'm just the little ole publicist."

"Oh," I said putting my stack of books on the table, "but she speaks very highly of you."

Stephenie looked up from Melinda's book (Melinda was in front of me getting hers signed) and pointed, inconspicuously, toward Elizabeth. "Amazing woman," she whispered with a smile.

Stephenie took my books and signed them. While doing it, she looked up at me and smiled. "Hi, Julia. I love your shirt."

"Well, thank you," I said, unable to control the gigantic smile obscuring my face. "I love your books."

Just after Stephenie thanked me with a smile, excitement swelled up inside me and it made it hard to hear. I knew Melinda commented on the books as well, but I can't, for the life of me, remember what she said. I think the term that would have fit best for me in this situation would have been something on the lines of "up in the clouds". I very nearly was. And it only got worse when, upon exiting the building with Melinda, I saw that long white stretch-limo parked by the curb.

I think I gasped. Or screamed. Or...something. I just remember Melinda slapping her forehead in embarrassment. I don't blame her. I was pretty embarrassing that evening. It's not everyday I get to meet my favorite author!

A girl on the sidewalk, who had obviously heard my exclamation, noted that this limo was none other than Stephenie Meyer's. Duh. Regardless, I was still excited for the news. I had Melinda take a picture of it with me blurring the image.

Not much else happened that evening. We went out to dinner to the grand restaurant Crème de la crème a la 'Wendys'. Par excellence! Anyway, we talked for a good long time and then went home. I read a little of "The Host" before going to bed. It was good. I can't wait to finish it! ...I also can't wait for my finals to be over. Ugh.

Oh, Yes! You may have asked yourself, at one point during this reading, "Why in the world is this post called 'Top Ten'?" Well I'll tell you. During those long hours of nothing but questions, I had asked Melinda what her top ten most exciting events were. She listed off a few (i.e. London, Wedding, etc), but said that this evening did not make it on her list. "Keep in mind, I've lived longer than you have," Melinda noted when I gave her one of my shocked expressions. I guess she's right. Eventually, not for a very long time, this evening may get bumped down in the teens, but for right now, its definitely near the top -if not THE top. Just thought I'd let you know...

Well, wish me luck with my finals!