Last Friday, I went on a day trip to Cambridge. It was an NYU-organized trip so we took coach buses from London and upon arriving in the city met up with our walking tour-guides. I got separated from my friends by using the bathroom and ended up in a different group than them. The walking tour was interesting but uneventful. Cambridge was a beautiful old city full of courtyards and colleges, many at least partly closed to visitors like a series of exclusive clubs.
After the walking tour I tried unsuccessfully to locate my friends, but their walking tour had finished earlier and all I had a quickly dying mobile phone and nobody's numbers. After a period of strife, I eventually forced myself to get over my annoyance at my abandonment and find somewhere to get lunch. I found a place called Tattie's who's sign advertised vegetarian and vegan options, so I went in, sat down by myself, and ate too much of a delicious baked potato with beans, cheese, and vegetarian sausage (and a side of onion rings.)
I stopped in and briefly looked around a bookstore called Heffers then went to the Church of St. Mary's the Great. I climbed an old, narrow, winding staircase up to the top of the bell tower where I stood alone with a birds eye view of the whole city, being serenaded by a saxophone quartet playing pop song arrangements on the street below. I could have stayed there ages, but finally I decided that I had taken enough pictures and looked out enough and descended back down the stairs. At St. Mary's I had told I could get 10% off at the cafe that was located in St. Michael's church, so I headed there for some tea. A person at a table near me seemed to be keeping a white rat in a small purse, which was mildly concerning. I finished my tea and left to go walk along the river, or as much as I could with much the colleges' green space closed off to visitors. I looked at the river, the grass, the bridges and the beautiful buildings before heading back to the coach to return to London.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
TFIOSlive - 3 Feb 2013
A few days before the event I had a fashion crisis. I had decided ages before that I wanted to wear my Hectic Glow T-shirt with black skinny jeans and converse. The shirt was unique with an applicable nerd reference, plus I'd worn it when I met John Green at LeakyCon and the outfit as a whole, in my opinion, looked a bit like Hazel when she was dressed like Anna. But then maybe I should wear a dress, because pretty. In the end I went with the shirt (though I'm still not sure it was the right choice) but in hindsight, it seems likely that my fashion stresses were just a manifestation of my anxiety for the whole experience. Because I was very anxious. Which I suppose was reasonable to an extent, but also kind of silly. I'd met both of the vlogbrothers before, (in situations outside the confines of a signing line no less,) plus I like sort of knew Hank in complicated debating/pocket related ways. But this would be nothing like any of that, which was the source of my stress.
So I set out to the venue, Cadogan Hall, feeling like I was running late even though I was about as early as I'd ever been to anything. I came out of the underground station with a vague sense of where I was going and found my way without incident to the box office where I picked up a ticket held for me under Baroness Katie Burger (I think maybe my mom was trying to be clever?) I made my way up to my seat in the front row of the gallery, a lovely view only slightly obstructed by a metal bar, and to my delight I found a packet of Maureen Johnson's stickers on the ledge right in front of my seat. I dropped my coat on the bench and went down to loiter in the lobby before the show started. After a few minutes where my uncharacteristic earliness mixed uncomfortably with my characteristic solitariness, I met a pair of girls when they approached me to compliment me on my T-shirt (point shirt). They were German and one of them had studied abroad in Willmar, MN and had come to London today as a birthday surprise. We chatted for a few minutes before a noise informed us that the performance was beginning despite the fact that the scheduled start time was half an hour away. We joined the queue to get into the auditorium nonetheless and I returned to my seat to wait for the event to start.
The show itself was highly enjoyable. John read, Hank sang, there was banter, the seats on the main floor below me were lit up with the glow of phones and cameras, and Maureen Johnson proved yet again why she is my favorite vlogbrother. Hank informed us of the encore and we all sang along to 500 Miles, an unlikely nerdfighter anthem. Then, too soon, the show was over and came the signing, which is the part of the night I, like many people, was most excited about and also, unlike many people, the part I'd been dreading.
The gallery got to go through the line first (hooray for fire code) which was nice on the surface, but in reality not good at all. I realized I had no idea what to say to John and Hank Green in the context of a fast moving signing line and nowhere near enough time to think. But I went through and got down onto the stage, wondering if anyone in the crowd recognized me. I had the most generic interaction with John Green, he said he liked my shirt (for the third time) and double signed my book. Then I said "Hey, Hank" and I could tell he recognized me (of course) but then there wasn't time for anything more than him asking me how I was and for me to say good and wasn't time for me to think of anything interesting to say before the signing line had moved on and I was directed back to the lobby where I was left to loiter.
Another problem with being early in the line is that I never know how to leave things like that. The event was both over and still going on. There was nothing left for me, but if I left there was still the small chance that I'd miss something. (This phenomenon also occurred after LeakyCon, even after the convention ended I was loathe to leave the hotel still full of people.) So I hung around in the Cadogan Hall lobby, hoping that perhaps Maureen Johnson would make an appearance (she didn't) and played with my phone, pretending to be waiting for someone or something real. I listened to the people pass me by, overcome with excitement about meeting their heroes, and realized that I'd known this would happen. That's why I'd been so anxious. LeakyCon had been amazing but unique. Those experiences had been vastly beyond my expectations and now nothing would ever compare, especially not in a signing line. (I have a lot of thoughts about signing lines & meeting people which might probably make it into a rambly vlog at some point.) Even so, that realization didn't change my desire to just go back and groundhog day that moment. I wished I'd mentioned to John how I'd volunteered his signing at Leaky, or mentioned anything at all. I wished I'd thanked Hank, said something meaningful or substantial about anything.
Enough time passed that I could no longer justify waiting around in the lobby. I made myself leave, deciding that I was going to choose to remember the many positives of the night. I was going to remember my sticker pack, the girls I met, Maureen's magic wand, the girl who came up to me in the lobby afterwards and said that she liked my videos and told me to keep making them. I went home and wrote a quick tumblr message to Hank, telling him everything I wish I'd said (or as much as I could within the character limit.) Then I left again to go watch the SuperBowl, but when I got to the place, I realized that it started way later than I thought and I didn't care remotely enough about the ritual of the superbowl when what I really wanted to do was go home and think thoughts. (I discovered later that they don't even air the commercials in the UK so it would have been totally pointless.) So I got the free drink that had come with my ticket, (downed the glass of beer in about 15 minutes,) and headed back home, feeling pretty nice about the evening.
When I arrived home I was greeted by a tweet from Hank, and the brief conversation that followed more than made up for any residual negative feelings I'd kept from earlier.
So I set out to the venue, Cadogan Hall, feeling like I was running late even though I was about as early as I'd ever been to anything. I came out of the underground station with a vague sense of where I was going and found my way without incident to the box office where I picked up a ticket held for me under Baroness Katie Burger (I think maybe my mom was trying to be clever?) I made my way up to my seat in the front row of the gallery, a lovely view only slightly obstructed by a metal bar, and to my delight I found a packet of Maureen Johnson's stickers on the ledge right in front of my seat. I dropped my coat on the bench and went down to loiter in the lobby before the show started. After a few minutes where my uncharacteristic earliness mixed uncomfortably with my characteristic solitariness, I met a pair of girls when they approached me to compliment me on my T-shirt (point shirt). They were German and one of them had studied abroad in Willmar, MN and had come to London today as a birthday surprise. We chatted for a few minutes before a noise informed us that the performance was beginning despite the fact that the scheduled start time was half an hour away. We joined the queue to get into the auditorium nonetheless and I returned to my seat to wait for the event to start.
The show itself was highly enjoyable. John read, Hank sang, there was banter, the seats on the main floor below me were lit up with the glow of phones and cameras, and Maureen Johnson proved yet again why she is my favorite vlogbrother. Hank informed us of the encore and we all sang along to 500 Miles, an unlikely nerdfighter anthem. Then, too soon, the show was over and came the signing, which is the part of the night I, like many people, was most excited about and also, unlike many people, the part I'd been dreading.
The gallery got to go through the line first (hooray for fire code) which was nice on the surface, but in reality not good at all. I realized I had no idea what to say to John and Hank Green in the context of a fast moving signing line and nowhere near enough time to think. But I went through and got down onto the stage, wondering if anyone in the crowd recognized me. I had the most generic interaction with John Green, he said he liked my shirt (for the third time) and double signed my book. Then I said "Hey, Hank" and I could tell he recognized me (of course) but then there wasn't time for anything more than him asking me how I was and for me to say good and wasn't time for me to think of anything interesting to say before the signing line had moved on and I was directed back to the lobby where I was left to loiter.
Another problem with being early in the line is that I never know how to leave things like that. The event was both over and still going on. There was nothing left for me, but if I left there was still the small chance that I'd miss something. (This phenomenon also occurred after LeakyCon, even after the convention ended I was loathe to leave the hotel still full of people.) So I hung around in the Cadogan Hall lobby, hoping that perhaps Maureen Johnson would make an appearance (she didn't) and played with my phone, pretending to be waiting for someone or something real. I listened to the people pass me by, overcome with excitement about meeting their heroes, and realized that I'd known this would happen. That's why I'd been so anxious. LeakyCon had been amazing but unique. Those experiences had been vastly beyond my expectations and now nothing would ever compare, especially not in a signing line. (I have a lot of thoughts about signing lines & meeting people which might probably make it into a rambly vlog at some point.) Even so, that realization didn't change my desire to just go back and groundhog day that moment. I wished I'd mentioned to John how I'd volunteered his signing at Leaky, or mentioned anything at all. I wished I'd thanked Hank, said something meaningful or substantial about anything.
Enough time passed that I could no longer justify waiting around in the lobby. I made myself leave, deciding that I was going to choose to remember the many positives of the night. I was going to remember my sticker pack, the girls I met, Maureen's magic wand, the girl who came up to me in the lobby afterwards and said that she liked my videos and told me to keep making them. I went home and wrote a quick tumblr message to Hank, telling him everything I wish I'd said (or as much as I could within the character limit.) Then I left again to go watch the SuperBowl, but when I got to the place, I realized that it started way later than I thought and I didn't care remotely enough about the ritual of the superbowl when what I really wanted to do was go home and think thoughts. (I discovered later that they don't even air the commercials in the UK so it would have been totally pointless.) So I got the free drink that had come with my ticket, (downed the glass of beer in about 15 minutes,) and headed back home, feeling pretty nice about the evening.
When I arrived home I was greeted by a tweet from Hank, and the brief conversation that followed more than made up for any residual negative feelings I'd kept from earlier.
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