Monster Mania

First things first, lets get the complaining out of the way: I am exhausted.
There, all done with the complaining! That wasn't so bad, was it?


Monster Mania was phenomenal. Check this stuff out:

The one thing the Husband was extra concerned with was the Star Wars poster he was bringing to get signed by David Prowse (Darth Vader) and when we got there Friday to set up, guess who was slated for the table next to us? Yup! David Prowse. The Husband was stripping his gears in excitement that he'd be sitting next to his hero for three days. Unlimited gawker opportunity...crazy, right? Well, hold on because it gets even crazier. I was unpacking boxes when I felt a presence behind me. I glance up and there is a man standing there, leaning on a cane, kind of checking us out. I smile quickly and then go back to unpacking (I'm a spaz, okay? I like to get things set up as quickly as possible; so shoot me) and a split second later, it filters into my brain: that was Goddamned Darth Vader standing there checking out our booth. Are you kidding me? So I leave the books and introduce myself, shake his hand, and he starts talking about his book and publishing and book signings...and I realize I am chatting with Goddamned Darth Freaking Vader. Holy crap, I'm thinking, the Husband is going to have a cow! I turn to look for him and he is standing ten feet away, books hanging forgotten in his hands, mouth agape. I wave him over and he drops everything and stumbles across the room trailing nonsense words. Meeting David Prowse literally blew his mind! Needless to say, that alone made the weekend for the Husband. He could not have been happier.

My own brush with greatness came the next day. My sister and I were sitting at the booth, discussing cats (because, man, we are both freakin' obsessed with cats) when suddenly, Taylor Negron is standing at the table. Are you kidding me? Taylor Freaking Negron is standing there, talking to me, as though he were a person and I were a person and as though that's what people do...as if he wasn't, you know, Taylor...Freaking...Negron? And he was so kind and so sweet and he was asking me about the books and we started talking about the concept  of the reluctant psychic in Born Lucky and we were talking about awareness and psychic this and that but then he got wrangled back to his booth because his line for signatures was practically out the door. Awesome enough, right? But it gets even better! Keep reading!

The celebrity signers all have someone with them to help out (just like the Husband brought me 'coffee and' throughout the three days). So, the man helping Taylor Negron stops by and asks me about the Born Lucky book! Okay, now, I am not going to mention his name because, listen, he might not want his stuff all over the internet, right? I'll just call him "Awesome" because he was awesome. So, Awesome comes over and asks about the book and he and I start discussing psychics and consciousness and creativity and...everything, really...just everything! The world and society and patterns and...well. I could go on and on. But I won't. Sometimes the most affecting things are the hardest to explain--they end up sounding trivial. Eventually, Taylor Negron and Awesome were both at my table and we were all talking together and the craziest part was how normal and natural it seemed. Especially for an intorvert like me. Suffice to say that it made my weekend.

The weekend was also fun because we had good people helping us out. Our friend Karen came Friday night and she is always good for an ascerbic comment or two. Or fifty. My sister sat with me on Saturday. She brings the boys to the yard! She was hit on constantly but she takes it all very graciously. The Husband's step dad Jim ran all over handing out our business card. And my Husband's mom, Anne, let the dog out and generally reassured the kids (cats) that we hadn't died.

Overall, book sales wise, the weekend was a bit of a bummer. There was profit, but not much. I don't think it was a reading crowd. Quite a few people even felt compelled to tell me that they don't read. Ever. For an avid reader like me, that's hard to hear. Sales-wise, I think that we'd have been better off in the vendor room instead of the celebrity room (we didn't pick the space, it is assigned). But meeting David Prowse, Taylor Negron and Awesome was so great, it's hard to quantify...I think that ultimately I am better off, even with less money in my pocket.

It's kind of nice to figure out that I am happier with revelation than profit. One of the things Awesome espoused was that ethics will begin to take the place of greed in the collective human consciousness and maybe I am at the tip of that iceberg? Ethics, isn't that, awesome, Awesome?