A Night of Bubbly Goodness

One of my favorite YA authors (ok, one of my favorite authors, period) was in Shoreline tonight and I got to see him. I wanted to giggle like a girl--and maybe I did a couple of times. Scott Westerfeld was as smart and interesting in person as he is on his blog. I was really impressed. The teens in the audience asked a lot of good questions and kept him talking at least 20 minutes over and he wasn't protesting at all even though this is not the first stop on his tour. One of my favorite quotes of the evening came up when he was talking about the many ways that teens are put down by society. When he was a boy he and his friends started skateboarding and a month later the "no skateboarding" signs popped up. When he was in the UK a few months ago, there were signs in the restaurants that said "we will not serve people wearing black hoodies." The quote was (and I know I don't have it word for word...) "when ten 40 year olds come into your store you say 'good for business', when ten 4 year olds come into your store you say 'how cute' and when ten 14 year olds come into your store you say 'call the cops.'" So true :( He was funny and quick, very in tune with the audience and very giving of himself.

I got a book signed by him and he wrote "Srcsmgrl, thanks for being a librarian." I like it. Much better than Terry Brooks signing "sparks of angel fire, always" in my Angel Fire East book. I have seen Terry several times and gotten a few books signed by him and it is usually something pretty corny. I don't want him to pretend to know me or anything, but I don't want to feel like a total sci-fi geek (I don't think I would make much of a groupie). I would have liked a "thanks for reading" message better. Anyhow, Scott!!!! Thank you so much. I only wish I had had a copy of Peeps or So Yesterday for him to sign... but all I had was Pretties, which is the middle book of a series. Uglies would have made more sense. I will cherish the book forever :) I think I will always be a teen girl at heart, with all the giggles and angst that goes with it.

I also ran into a school librarian that I used to work with at my old post and a teen librarian who used to work with my new boss. It was nice talking to both of them. I realized how rusty my networking skills were when my face started to feel like it was going to crack from all my smiling. Is it that I was smiling too much or that I haven't been smiling enough lately in normal life? I guess I will never know....

OMG, library reopening Saturday!!!