Well, I am back from New York and An Evening With Harry, Carrie, and Garp and holy hell if it wasn't one of the best days ever. Please excuse the rest of this entry as it is nearly incoherent due to my post-JKR-glimpsing high.

Nothing of much consequence happened before magic hour, but we happened to witness some cocky motorcyclists as we drove in, wheelie's and all. Quite the vicarious thrill.

The heat was intense, but not stifling, for which I am grateful in the extreme.

I am so glad that I didn't go nosing around for info on the event because I got to be surprised by all the celebrity introducers they had on hand. I was expecting some random intro, but no, out waltzed Whoopi Goldberg and damned if she wasn't hilarious. The best part of her little speech was probably the bit about Carrie, and perhaps also the 'collaboration project.'

So I was kind of in shock and thinking, well this is awfully cool when out waltzes Kathy Bates and I am thrown once more for she was also funny and once again I was reduced to hysterics. Then Stephen King came out and was witty and fun and also very, very gross, but when isn't Stephen King any of those things, honestly?

The staging was really cool as each author had a themed platform to do their readings on. King's had a wheelbarrow that he commented on being a hazard to his dignity and/or his health depending on how serious you find the threat of tripping stupendously.

So that was that, and then John Irving came on and his stage was set up like a cozy living room. God, I loved him when he spoke at TCNJ's Writer's Conference and I loved him this time too. A Prayer For Owen Meany had me in stitches yet again and he did the voices and he has such a lilt to him and he is so awesome. To sum, squee.

Then JOHN FUCKING STEWART came out to introduce JKR and made jokes about Mel Gibson and was funny and told us about his kids and was wonderful and I was dying even more and perhaps it was then I started developing this headache, but PHWAH!

JKR's platform was sort of decked out royally and very wizard-ly, I suppose. She seemed very nervous at first and commented about how she felt quite inadequate, but at least she had the best shoes (which was quite true, they were strappy and had snakes and I liked them muchly). She read the part where they go through the Pensieve to see Dumbledore go to the orphanage. She too did voices and was lovely and I'm getting repetitive here, but OMGSQUEE!

Then there were questions for JKR, but none of them had too much consequence, except that Hermione has a full blown crush on Ron, Draco's side isn't set in stone, and JKR is still muchly amused by online fandom.

Then the three authors came back for joint question answering. Stephen King was pure awesome (the mouse hole thing was way cool and also "What scares you?" "Everything."). John Irving was cool and played off the mouse hole thing well and gave us the amusing back story to The Fourth Hand. JKR was still awesomeness, but her questions blur a little for me, although I was really moved by the father of one of the questioners coming up and thanking JK for getting his kid's generation excited about reading.

Anyway, to overall, the evening was painfully hilarious, interesting, gripping, gross, fun, and, most of all, far too short. We were out of there before 10 and back in the car driving home before we had time to really digest.

On the way back though, we came across this group of motorcyclists being generally showy who did numerous wheelie's and other death-defying stunts and I nearly had an aneurysm just watching, but my friends got a kick out of it.

Thus ends my wonderful, dreamy, steamy day in NY,NY. Now I am off to snack on leftover sushi and to head up to bed to sleep before my 10AM hair appointment tomorrow. Then I must get ready for OTAKON. THIS IS THE BEST WEEK EVER, FOR SERIOUS.

Mood ecstatic Music Only The Good Die Young - Billy Joel