The Hubs is a huge Jason Ellis fan. We found his show on accident, driving home from a Kings of Leon show in AZ and from there, Hubs was a dedicated listener. Don’t get me wrong, I like Ellis, but I don’t get upset if it’s a “best of” week. Also, I don’t have satellite radio in Lucy, so I only listen when we’re in Hubs’ car.
When Ellis talked about his book being released and the scheduled tour, we knew that we’d be going to one of the stops. Thankfully, there was a stop announced in Huntington Beach, so we were able to go there instead of LA [which would have been super packed] or the Saturday date in Temecula.
We got to the bookstore around 5:15. I opted to go up to the event area to grab seats and see what the crowd looked like. When I got upstairs, I was surprised to see that there weren’t any chairs set up. In place of the chairs, there was a chain set up for a Disneyland style line and a podium with a microphone to the side of the signing table.
I was second in line and right after I stopped walking, a B&N employee came up to confirm that I already had a copy of the book and that it had been set up for personalizing. I asked if Ellis was planning on talking or just signing. She said he might talk for a minute or two, but that he asked for just a line to get through the all of the people.
Security showed up shortly after that. One of the B&N employees walked them around the area, showing them where they needed to stand and how the bookstore was expecting a huge crowd.
We were waiting in line when one of the women who sets up the store events asked if I was Stacee. When I said yes and asked how she knew, she said from Twitter. And then asked why I wasn’t at the Lissa Price signing on Wednesday. She also asked if I was going to be at the rest of the events for the week. Again, I’m not sure how I feel about being known for Twitter. Especially when real life people don’t know I’m there. :D
Ellis showed up just after 7. He did talk for a very brief moment, mostly just thanking us all for being there because he wasn’t expecting that big of a turn out.
We were second in line. When we walked up, I commented on how nicely his nails were painted. He told me that his toes were a really nice purple color with black flakes, that he liked the color, but wasn’t sure how it’d go over on his hands.
And then he said, “You want to see them, don’t you?”. I said yes and he actually took off his boots and socks and showed me the polish on his toes.
When it came to signing my book, I asked if he would inscribe anything because I wanted him to write “You are the president of Awesome World”. He said he wouldn’t sign that because I wasn’t and that I didn’t know Chad Reed. We bantered back and forth about the inscription for a bit before he signed my book. And then he spelled my name wrong! :D
While Ellis is quite the rambunctious radio host, he is really polite, soft spoken and super fun to talk to. I was a little trepidatious about the entire event, but ended up having a lot of fun.
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