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"EK Gets Paid 5 Million Dollars To Fire Congress"

Well, there are worse people to be stuck alive with.

You would probably entertain me. It could be cool.
You're probably like number eleven on my list of people I'd want to be stuck at the end of the world with. Which sounds mean, but it's eleven out of, what, seven billion? So that's pretty... up there.

Yeah. I would not want to kill you if you and I were the last people in the world.

Um... I've briefly met a couple of poet laureates of the U.S. (Robert Haas and W.S. Merwin for the curious) and made an ass of myself both times. Apparently meeting a famous poet turns off all my higher brain functions.

I've also met and hung with the founders of Gaia Online (we have a few mutual friends).

Those are probably topped (in terms of famousness) though by the time I had lunch with Stephenie Meyer.

She wasn't nearly as famous at the time. Twilight had been out for about a year I think, and had generated buzz, and she had a pretty loyal fan-following, and Twilight had won some high profile awards (like best teen novel of the year from amazon, and an ala best picks if I remember correctly). So she was plenty famous for a young adult author, but nothing like she is now. Anyway, through participation in one of her fan groups I learned that she was coming to Seattle to promote Twilight, just ahead of the release of New Moon (book 2).

I really wanted to meet her (being a pretty big fan of Twilight at the time) so I contacted the head of the fan group who I knew was in communication with her. Ms. Meyer and I had a couple of things in common. We were both Mormon, and Cheesecake factory was our favorite restaurant. So I asked if she would be interested in going to the temple and then going out to lunch with me and my roommate (another Mormon fan). My treat of course.

The tour was coinciding with/part of a family vacation for her, and she replied she didn't have time to do a session in the temple with me, but that she'd love to do lunch. We agreed to meet the day after her signing. Me and my roommate went to the signing and introduced ourselves. We only got to chat very briefly there, and have her sign our books (there were others in line of course), but the next day we met up at the Bellevue Square Cheesecake Factory.

She'd mentioned that her family would be with her, so I also got to meet her husband and 3 boys. The youngest (I think he was the youngest anyway) asked me what kind of car I drove. I told him and I passed the test. Apparently he asked all new people this and had a habit of telling people their car sucked if they answered wrong. ^^;;;

We had a good lunch, and she answered a couple of our questions, though nothing too spoilery or beyond what she would have answered on the fan board I think. She was in general very nice, fun to talk to (though I was doing a little bit of my omigosh-famous-person-clam-up mentioned above) and quite down to earth. She was quite mystified by her burgeoning fame, saying she was "just a little house-frau." I recommended a song that had come out on the radio recently that I thought fit Edward (Keane's "Hamburg Song"). She actually put it in her playlist for Eclipse (book 3) which you can check out on her website, though I don't know if she actually listened to it on my recommendation or just rediscovered it on her own.

Anyway, when lunch was finished and the check came, she wouldn't let me pay as had been the plan. "No one should have to pay for all the food my kids waste," she told me, and then not only payed for her family's food, but for mine and my roommate's as well! We took a picture to commemorate our meeting, and she gave me her more personal email address to contact her at, to bypass the usual filtering process. Unfortunately, my friend lost our only picture evidence (well, her parents did actually if I understand her story correctly) but I think I still have the initial emails we exchanged saved somewhere. I never did email her at the new address, alas, and question whether she would even remember this one little afternoon given all the fan meetings and events that have happened in the six or so years since then.

Good times though. Good times.

Most of my encounters are more like sightings, but it's probably better that way. Here are the most memorable:

- I once sold an extra Elliott Smith ticket to Joseph Gordon-Levitt on the way in to the show. (I'd see Elliott Smith in a Silver Lake dive bar occasionally too.)

- Christina Ricci sat next to me at in a cool place called the Fais Do-Do (a few blocks down from a vast ice-cream-truck graveyard).

- Ray Park, just after playing Darth Maul, called me about writing a film script for an idea he wanted to produce and star in someday.

- Carel Struycken, the actor who played Lurch, lived by a coffee house I frequented, and he used to drop by once in a while. Same with Patti Smith at a different place.

- I met the elderly Vampira (Maila Nurmi) while wandering backstage at a Tim Burton tribute.

- I visited Forrest Ackerman's house when he used to let people roam his museum-like abode ogling his collection of signed first-edition Dracula and Frankenstein novels and all the cool props he collected from hundreds of sci-fi and horror movies.

- Got trapped in a bathroom with The Queers. (Shut up.)

- Got trapped in a corner of a boring art thing with Good Charlotte.

- I helped Sleater-Kinney load their tour van once.

Some notable people I "met" on purpose at book signings and such include Anne Rice, Neil Gaiman, Bruce Campbell and Nancy Reagan, who is probably the nicest person in history.

I was under the impression that it was a scrapped Pokémon idea.

The concept is incredibly selfish, sexist, not to mention simplistic. I've been hearing a lot about for a while, but oddly I haven't actually encountered the claim in person. I'm glad. Or maybe I really just only hang out with "assholes" ;p

I agree, I agree. *Takes out the Grimoire*

I did! I got kitty ears that twitch with my mood!

They *SAY* they sense brainwaves, but they don't. They monitor temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure, and make an educated guess.

My set is defective. It has a one-ear twitch that isn't apparently supposed to be there, but it seems to correspond with my nosewiggle mood, so I like it bestest.

people still wanted to read my story :U

That those little tiny (shot) glasses are for people who drink juice in the morning with their toast. They sometimes only want a little bit you see.

Jordan Almonds. :)

Cover songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdpkw3YafwA

Play

Guys go for women who aren't good for them all the time too, so let's remove gender from the equation.

A lot of people have negativity thrown in their way, which gets compounded when they watch their parents relationship degrade. Growing up being told your not good enough or feeling that implication from your parents bad relationship makes a person feel subconsciously that they don't deserve to be happy, and in some cases also want a person to punish. But think about it - no one actually gets a sense of relief from successfully punishing another like they THINK it will, it just feeds that sense of entitlement that makes a person angrier and hate themselves more.

That is why we chase people who aren't good for us, and why we overlook minor flaws in that show up later as huge personal problems.

If you're with someone who you dislike, it's because on some level you don't think you deserve to be happy.

The music, hyper consumerism, and religiosity can reach a point of annoyance for me, but there's fun stuff that happens too. I definitely understand the need to stick cheerful holidays in a dark, dreary, cold time of the year.

both, actually. I like the family gathering, the meal together and that Christmas stuff, but my grandmother is so stressing I kinda wish she wouldn't come, then I feel bad for thinking that of my only remaining grandparent. Part of me wishes it would be just the four of us at home. Then I Feel bad for leaving the rest of the family out. I want to give people's presents but the secret santa at the office is going to cost me half my payment and I feel bad for not giving them anything because I have to pay for my own stuff and I feel guilty for doing that. It's a mix of Feelings.

That's really hard to decide. The day I was born was pretty badass, even though I don't remember it. Of course, I just got my novel published, so... October 27th. :D

Hi me, glad you asked!

WELL first of all it's probably better to save your question until later if it's, oh let's say.... past 2am ok? Even if you haven't had a tasty big ol' beer.

2nd of all, double check whether you're on a person's page or not! This is opposed to say, the 'Home' tab. It can get confusing because some people answer several questions in a row! There's even helpful grey text on the box before your started typing, but grey text is made to be ignored right?(wrong)

3rd, try to not make a question that's boring, annoying, a repeat, or not a question at all! Same with answers.

4th Enjoy the spontaneity! It's a pain to go back and look at past questions/answers.

5th something something something Colonal Mustard in the library with the revolver.