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mmmm, books
Oct. 9th, 2004 09:22 pmAfter being up way too late last night, I dragged myself out of bed this morning to trek downtown for the National Book Festival on the Mall. I was running late enough that I got there about ten minutes into Neil Gaiman's presentation; he was reading from the upcoming "Anansi Boys". If the rest of it is anything like the bits I heard today, it's going to be hysterical. Best description of a really, REALLY bad hangover I think I've ever heard.
Afterwards I caught up briefly with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jbsegal, then wandered into the book sales tent to try unsuccessfully to find something by Mr. Gaiman that I didn't already own for "Book Signing, Round II". (I didn't bring anything since I knew I was going to miss the 10-11 scheduled signing which apparently went through til noon. Then he went back to sign again at 2.) I did however pick up a copy of "Faint Echoes, Distant Stars: The Science and Politics of Finding Life Beyond Earth" by Ben Bova (who I also missed, seeing as he and Neal Stephenson were both speaking before I got there). To the person who claimed there was no way I'd get out of there without buying books: Yes, yes, you were right and I was wrong. ;) I listened to Joyce Carol Oates for about ten minutes before wandering off to see what the signing line looked like, then walked around the Mall a bit waiting for curiousangel to show up and to see if I could run into anotheranon. I missed her, probably by a few feet at the Science Fiction pavilion in the time between Neil Gaiman and Lois McMaster Bujold's presentations. Ducked into Natural History to kill some time and see the redesigned Hall of Mammals, and a plush wombat and bat followed me home, so I had to keep them. I then caught the last 15 minutes or so of Connie Willis' presentation; she's absolutely hysterical. brian1789, she's working on a new book, by the way.
curiousangel and I wandered in seach of dinner, and ended up at Jaleo (near the Navy Memorial Metro stop) for some really good tapas. The high point was probably the roasted baby corn or the marinated fried shark, which was surprisingly light. The sea scallops with Serrano ham were the least impressive items, but even they were pretty good. curiousangel, the cheese we killed off first was a Murcia, the other one you liked was Idiazábal. I see myself trekking in to this place again in the future.
It was a lovely afternoon except for my incipient headache which kicked in full-force on the train home. Luckily I never leave home without my Aleve if I can help it, and it's taking the edge off. I think a bit more caffeine and maybe a brief nap will help even more.
Afterwards I caught up briefly with
jbsegal, then wandered into the book sales tent to try unsuccessfully to find something by Mr. Gaiman that I didn't already own for "Book Signing, Round II". (I didn't bring anything since I knew I was going to miss the 10-11 scheduled signing which apparently went through til noon. Then he went back to sign again at 2.) I did however pick up a copy of "Faint Echoes, Distant Stars: The Science and Politics of Finding Life Beyond Earth" by Ben Bova (who I also missed, seeing as he and Neal Stephenson were both speaking before I got there). To the person who claimed there was no way I'd get out of there without buying books: Yes, yes, you were right and I was wrong. ;) I listened to Joyce Carol Oates for about ten minutes before wandering off to see what the signing line looked like, then walked around the Mall a bit waiting for curiousangel to show up and to see if I could run into anotheranon. I missed her, probably by a few feet at the Science Fiction pavilion in the time between Neil Gaiman and Lois McMaster Bujold's presentations. Ducked into Natural History to kill some time and see the redesigned Hall of Mammals, and a plush wombat and bat followed me home, so I had to keep them. I then caught the last 15 minutes or so of Connie Willis' presentation; she's absolutely hysterical. brian1789, she's working on a new book, by the way.curiousangel and I wandered in seach of dinner, and ended up at Jaleo (near the Navy Memorial Metro stop) for some really good tapas. The high point was probably the roasted baby corn or the marinated fried shark, which was surprisingly light. The sea scallops with Serrano ham were the least impressive items, but even they were pretty good. curiousangel, the cheese we killed off first was a Murcia, the other one you liked was Idiazábal. I see myself trekking in to this place again in the future.It was a lovely afternoon except for my incipient headache which kicked in full-force on the train home. Luckily I never leave home without my Aleve if I can help it, and it's taking the edge off. I think a bit more caffeine and maybe a brief nap will help even more.