so here are writeups of some of the best things that have happened to me in the past few years. errr... or summut like that. the pages are having problems which involve angelfire being a pain in my ass, but i will fix that all very soon. i hope.

*** 10/25/02 Punchline Comedy Club -- Mitch Hedberg
*** 8/21/02 Book Signing -- Orson Scott Card
*** 7/4/02 - 7/7/02 EnderCon 2002 and Daryn's Utah Saga
*** 3/28/02 Cobbs Comedy Club -- Greg Proops
*** 8/17/01 - 8/21/01 Movie Shoot -- The Rules of Attraction
*** 6/28/01 - 7/2/01 Whoser Con 4 got improv? Toronto, Canada
*** 3/24/01 Punchline Comedy Club -- Greg Proops
*** 1/5/01 Book Signing -- Orson Scott Card
*** 8/5/00 Show Taping -- Whose Line is it Anyway?
*** 7/30/00 Show Taping -- Whose Line is it Anyway?
*** 7/28/00 Show Taping -- Whose Line is it Anyway?
*** 6/21/00 - 6/23/00 Movie Shoot -- Slackers
*** 5/26/00 Show Taping -- The Wayne Brady Show
*** 4/27/00 Book Signing -- Michael Palin
*** 4/18/00 Concert -- Ani Difranco
*** 11/18/99 Theater -- Amadeus
*** 9/4/99 Book Signing -- Orson Scott Card
*** 4/20/99 Book Signing -- Ray Bradbury

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"i brought my backpack on stage with me cuz i am hilarious when i'm camping." -- mitch hedberg

and the winner of 'most huggable adorable human being on the planet' is MITCH HEDBERG!!! yes folks, we sat RIGHT in front of the stage and i recorded the whole of mitch's show and he got up, in his yellow glasses, brown fuzzy long sleeved shirt, black courderoy pants and blue clogs and he was soooo funny and cute -- he really does keep his eyes closed or downcast the WHOLE time. and he would pull his sleeves down over his hands and smile and laugh... he is just too cute to be allowed.

on top of all that, his hair was about down to his shoulders and it hangs forward cuz he tilts his head down and the way it hung around the back of his cute little neck just made me want to hug him to death. he looked kind of thin -- probably a side effect of being on the road pretty much nonstop for at least a whole year.

i am totally going to transcribe that show for your enjoyment!

and on the ride up i finished reading 'the book of three' aloud to dana and sean and they liked it so much when i read it out loud that i read the first 70 pages of 'the black cauldron' to them on the drive back today. i love reading out loud and esp the prydain books cuz they're so good and i love the characters...

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Date: August 21, 2002
Time: 5:00pm - 8:45pm
Location: Book Shop Santa Cruz

Event: I got a ride to downtown from Sean. Thank bob cuz I had my backpack, a mini-duffel and a tote (turned inside out cuz it's a Borders bag) full of books. I took all my hardbacks of the Homecoming series and the Alvin Maker books as well as oodles of others. I think I had around 22 total. And I bought Shadow Puppets as well as the unabridge audio book of Shadow of the Hegemon. And another edition of Dune that I didn't have yet. I now have 4 different paperback editions.

Sally was there and we studied for our midterm and generally complained about it while they set up for the signing. They handed out numbered post-its -- I GOT #1!!!! I rock the world. Anyway, Sally and I kicked it as the people just kept pouring in... OSC arrived at around 7pm and since it wasn't meant to start until 7:30 he began to work through the seats to get ahead on signing. He signed all Sally's books and I just had him sign Shadow Puppets for me just then. I said to him 'I told you at EnderCon that I would be first in line here' and he said 'I thought I knew you from somewhere' which was sweet of him cuz I honestly doubt he ever remembers anyone and I certainly don't expect him to. Anyway, the owner got up to make some announcements... and the announcement that made my day:

BRIAN HERBERT AND KEVIN J. ANDERSON ARE DOING A SIGNING AT BOOK SHOP SANTA CRUZ ON SEPTEMBER 22nd!!!!! Who is so totally there? Me!!! I am so getting a first edition of the Butlerian Jihad signed!!! I'll be like 'I am the punk ass child who is going to teach a class on DUNE!'

But anyway, OSC talked and answered questions for an hour. It was delightful! And I didn't bring my recorder (good thing too, no room!) but I will probably have things come back to me in their own precious ways. I love when OSC talks. He rocks my socks. Sadly, since there were probably a thousand people there (I know for a fact there were at *least* 135 folks cuz I saw a kid with that number) I decided to just have him breeze through my books and sign them. But I asked him to personalize Treason and he did. That means the world to me -- Treason is so all-encompassingly bad ass.

He did say 'Daryn, you should have mailed me these' and I apologized but he said 'No, I mean then you wouldn't have to carry them around' and I told him it was OK, I was going to try to get a ride home from a friend and he said if he weren't going to be somewhat busy for a while he'd give me a ride :) what a sweetheart indeed! His wife was there too and she smiled at me. I love her too. They're such wonderful people.

Anyway, I proceeded from the store to a pay phone and called home and Sean graciously came and picked me up. I am so happy!!!!

peace.

--d. on August 21, 2002 -- 9:42pm

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"so it's sorta social... DEMENTED AND SAD, but *social*. right?"
--judd nelson as john bender in john hughe's film the breakfast club

yeah. that about sums up my WONDERFUL utah experience!!! yeep! i know you all think i'm being sarcastic but honestly, i could totally see myself living in utah. yeah, the heat must have gotten to me. this is going to be a long entry but i gotta tell you, it's worth it. i am going to reread this one MANY MANY times! this was an IMPORTANT daryn event and if you don't read it, you're a vermicious kanid.

first of all, can i just say how totally cool it is to be called 'daryn', 'he', and be 'sirred' for an entire four days? that has never even happened to me in santa cruz. it was cool. i finally figured out why i was so nervous about men's rooms before! it's not just gendered stuffs. i don't like ANY bathrooms. i was thinking 'well i don't mind if it's an annonymous place like the airport or a mall if there's a decent crowd but it's not full and i don't mind if it's deserted but if there's only one or two people that's bad' and that's how i have ALWAYS felt about bathrooms. i have always had bathroom problems. bladder shyness. yeah. but this was a cool weekend.

dude from hungary? *shudder* don't ask. none of you all knew my friend jenni, but she had a way of being self-absorbed that bugged me. this guy left her in the DUST. it bugs me when i walk next to someone and they remain a foot or two in front of me, but staying anywhere from one yard to 6 yards ahead, that is just fucked up and rude. and i try to tell him important shit (like how to catch the correct bus) and he's like 'and?' like asking 'so what?' stoopid. you know the episode of mash where winchester is constantly one-upping EVERYONE (it's called 'major topper' and comes at about the end of season 6 or 7 i think)? that's that guy. i could go on about how his clothing choices are a black hole of yukkyness and his bad teeth but i think i need to stop there.

i got my pic taken with orson scott card (referred to as OSC from here out) again! yee! i post soon. so anyway, i caught my plane from ontario on thursday, had a two hour layover in vegas. got a plane to salt lake. the airports were almost DESERTED i swear, it was creepy. i had four hours to kill waiting for charlie (and he was whining that he'd get to the airport two hours early cuz of the buses... *stops self*) so i walked the length and width of the airport. finally he showed up, we got a cab to the youth hostel. the next day we walked down south temple (the streets in salt lake are WHACK but i'd have to explain it in person), caught TRAX (the light rail) to the end of the line, got the orem bus, walked to the hotel, then went to register and then to the endercon store and signing!

i bought a copy of storyteller -- michael collings (who was there btw!)'s official bibliography of OSC, i got character and viewpoint in paperback FINALLY, rebekah in hb, the pb of capitol FINALLY, two copies of the exclusive book first meetings and an endercon t-shirt! i thought about getting one of the army shirts (they had dragon, salamander, phoenix, and rat army shirts) but they were all white and i don't do white shirts too well... there were also freebies like miniposters of jake lloyd reading ender's game (got 3 rolled and folded up about 3 others), tons of free 'shadow puppets' promo postcards, and stuff... yeah...

oh so i got in line and waited forever. it was fun to listen to folks talk about OSC's books the way i might myself... oh it annoyed me that charlie had ppl keep a spot for him in line (i am SO morally opposed to cutting in line) and when he got up he held up the line for like 15 minutes... now ok... so he did come all the way from hungary but honestly... then he sat in the chair next to the table and drank OSC's water! and only moved when OSC's wife came and asked for her seat back! STOOPID! but anyway, i got up and had him sign a planet called treason hb and my kid's edition ender's game pb and just just sign (no inscription) one copy of first meetings (though *somehow* the other copy is now signed only without the date so i don't know how the FUCK that happened!) and the guy behind my in line took a pic of me and OSC! yay! so then i grabbed a burger (i wasn't hungry and i am going thru an anti-fast food phase but i needed sustanance) and went to the theater where the reading of his new story and the janis ian concert were happening. at first the officious little dude who worked there was like 'what do you think you're doing?' says i 'there's a thing happening here in an hour' says he 'only for people at the ender thing' says i 'i am registered' and i whip out my nametag. says he 'well the house isn't open yet' says i 'well i'll just wait outside then, shall i' and i did until some other folks showed up and went in and he says nothing. i got front row, RIGHT in front of OSC's podium! yay!

so he shows up and reads the polish boy (yeah like a boy from poland, nothing to do with shiny metal things) and i recorded it! ah the wonders of modern technology! then janis ian did her concert and it was positively FABOO! i swear she is the fucking awesomest EVER! go to her website at ONCE! she is the greatest! and my parents even know who she is (i'm on a mission to convince my mom that she totally should have gone with me).

after the concert there was a star party (they went to starwatch in ... provo i think) but i was tired out (disneyland legs AND arms from carrying around the bag of books) and just went back to the hotel. i would have gone alone but charlie decided that he didn't want to go either (stoopid, he should have gone) and... yeah. he did carry my bag for most of the walk back but it was only because he hoped that it would make me walk faster but god damn it i have short legs and there is no reason to hurry back to the hotel! fuckin' bloody hell, yo. so i slept for a long nice time! ahhh the comfort of good hotel beds...

got up, had continental brefkist (krispy kreme in parking lot but no energy or desire to hike there for paying food when get free cheap donuts at hotel) and hiked to uvsc (utah valley state college, where the con was). sat outside ballroom for a while, met kid named collin who had just returned from drama camp. went in ballroom, sat in front row. OSC gave opening address. me record it. me take pics because OSC was wearing the GREATEST neon yellow parachute pants! hahhahha! i will have to upload one of my pics! hells yeah...

so there was a marathon reading of ender's game throughout the day with OSC kicking it off by reading the first chapter and wrapping it up at the end with the last chapter. also between each time slot a round of the ender trivia game was played (charlie was convinced he'd win and of couse he didn't. haha.) with the final round played at the end. oh ok so the first time slot i went to hear michael collings (OSC's bibliographer) talk in uber academic literature-master's degree language about how ender's game is an epic poem and has like dactylic hexameter or something in it all over the place :) that was SO COOL cuz he was good fun!

second time slot i went to this bit on audiobooks and OSC. that was truly great! the guy giving the talk has recorded the most recent (and best) OSC audio books with good readers and really knows his shit. also most of the folks there are into audiobooks. i am but i don't like a lot of the abridgements of OSC's books (i could SLAUGHTER the reader of enchantment with a spoon) but i learned from this that he thinks the abridgement of lost boys was the best one and that david warner is a really good reader of audio books (the guy did an impression, it ROCKED!). it inspired me to sell my soul in order to purchase all the new UNabridged audio books. hells yeah!

so then there was a lunch break. i didn't purchase the boxed lunch but the restaurant they said would be open for lunch wasn't! i wasn't too hungry anyway. i walked out to make absolutely sure that the bus stop to get back to salt lake was where i thought it was. it was. good. then i walked back to the campus and found a courtesy phone and called home to check in and let them know i was ok. then i got some stale chocolate chip cookies at the machine. then i went and listened to some of the marathon reading. then i watched almost all of the next round of trivia. then i went to the end of the event where local utah authors of sci-fi were talking about the local writing scene and their own books and how OSC's work had paved a way for theirs. that was cool. if i ever earn a lot of money sometime i'll have to look into their books. what made me most happy was that these were all women authors. kick ASS, orson. y'all, OSC is the greatest author and the greatest mormon and one of the greatest people on earth.

the next event was cool cuz it was OSC in the micro and macro-scopes. first the guy from the BYU library where the OSC collection is housed (all his manuscripts, correspondence, EVERYTHING) got up and gave us a wonderfully anal-retentive yet totally involved presentation of the collection (he really was into it which was a special treat!). then michael collings got back up and explained to us the joys of bibliographing. you know he's doing the DEFINITIVE stephen king bibliography! i want to work with these great authors! no fair! no fair!

following this was OSC's closing question and answer period. i was in seventeenth heaven!!!! he talked about EVERYTHING! i can't even remember half of it off the top of my head but believe you me, it will all come back in it's own time. i loved what he said about his gay characters cuz he was like (paraphrase) 'well there's only two that i can recall, but i mean, i'd have to be stupid to NOT have any gay characters because gay people are a fact - there have been gay people in all times and places and i would really be delusioned if there never were any in my writings, like they didn't exist. i try to have people of all identities in my work and something i tell the kids in my writing classes is that every character is the hero of their own story. they don't do things because they're trying to be themselves or whatever, they do them because they believe they are right and therefore all characters are sympathetic in some way and then why shouldn't every character be written sympathetically? and without a 'good' and 'bad' because those aren't that simple anyway. of course most people think that this all means either that i'm secretly gay or that no matter what i say i really hate them but that's not true'

I LOVE OSC.

anyway. q&a went a half an hour late so when i headed to the endercon store again afterwords they were closing up. i decided not to pay $40 for the copy of folk of the fringe that i really want (the one with the illustration of the sunken temple on it) or on an audio book just yet. i also decided not to buy an army shirt again. they said they're going to sell them on the site so if i change my mind.. yeah.. anyway, it wasn't a wasted trip though cuz i picked up a second helping of freebies at that time. then had some chicken fast food thing. hate fast food. just eating for the sustanance sucks. anyway, then i went back to the marathon reading (they still didn't finish quite).

the closing was great, the trivia contest (winner was stupid! it was a friend of the folks who DID the game! that was stupid), the reading of the end of the book that had been read all day and then giving it away as a doorprize, and giving away the rest of the doorprizes (i didn't win anything obviously but i don't mind... much), the skits (including one of a simulation of 'auditioning directors for ender's game the movie' YEEEEE that was such fun!), etc. it was grand!

then we got a RIDE back to the hotel. that was almost my favorite part. not having to walk. well then charlie started freaking about the buses. of course i had already figured out my bus schedule that day. anyway, i got to bed at a good time. charlie left and i assume he got back to salt lake fine, i don't really care. i did whatever i could to prevent his ending up stranded in provo even if he didn't want to listen. stoopid damn hungarians.

so this morning i got up at 9:05am, stole the free 'book of mormon' from the hotel room (for future reading in hopes of understanding the homecoming series better), got continental breakfast, jumped around the room, listened to radio and watched marvin the tap dancing horse. then i walked to the bus stop, caught the bus to the trax station, took trax to the delta center, walked up 300 West (it's a street as unlikely as it seems) to North temple and caught the bus to the airport and then caught my plane to vegas then caught my plane to ontario then met dad and came home. now i'm catching up on my journaling.

peace.

--d. on July 7, 2002 -- 10:30pm

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i will someday do a transciption of this show also. i went to cobbs with cait and apple and we saw greg and it was GRAND! he passed within a foot of me TWICE! if he had done it a third time i was considering reaching out and copping a feel... mmm... it was good times! he did some of the same old jokes but they're still great no matter HOW many times he tells them :) oh but he even did some unique stuff, like he was saying 'my parents' and accidentally said 'my carrots' so he went off on a funny improvised tangent about his vegetable family... ahh... i loves me some proopdog...

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