Boston Book Fest: meet-ups, tweet-ups, near misses and the blooper reels!

In addition to hearing from some fabulous authors at Saturday’s Boston Book Fest, I was able to meet some of the “imaginary friends” I converse with via blogs and on Twitter.  Here’s a quick run-down of my close encounters of the bookish kind:

The day started out wet and windy, so we were all donning rain gear as we prepped for going into town.  I was checking Twitter in the morning, to confirm who I might be able to connect with, and saw this tweet from Lauren, aka @bostonBookGirl; note the hashtags!:

Also, for picking me out of a #bbf09 crowd purposes: I am going to wear my yellow coat today. #tweetsmydadwillfindunsafe

About an hour later I was walking across Copley Plaza and saw a woman in a bright yellow coat … should I approach her?  Promising myself that if it wasn’t Lauren I wouldn’t talk to any more strangers, I walked over to her and asked, “Is your name Lauren?” and introduced myself.  Fortunately, it was Lauren and I didn’t suffer a clonk on the head from a person who thought I overstepped her personal space (and this encounter freed me to approach more unknown people throughout the day).  We said quick hellos, as we were off to different buildings for our first events.  I think she was heading to Cryptozoology, and I was going the Ties That Bind panel.

My other bookish encounters happened in quick succession.  I was checking Twitter while waiting for the Hodgman/Perrotta panel to start, and read this note from Deborah (@DSloanAndCo) from The Picnic Basket and KidsBuzz)

just walked in behind mr pc himself-@hodgman!

When I asked where she was seated, Deborah replied:

@toofondofbooks in front row, left, wearing orange volunteer shirt meet up after? @bbf09

I wish I had snapped a pic of one of the volunteers – they wore orange tee shirts with a HUGE Question Mark on the front and the Boston Book Fest logo on the back (maybe we can convince the Boston Bibliophile to post a picture modeling her shirt?).  I never did catch up with Deborah; I don’t know what her volunteer duties entailed.

In the meatime, I was trading text messages with Care:

Care:  Hodgman?  We r on lft lookng at stage – c red jacket & LOBSTER

Dawn: Rt of aisle 2/3 back. Cream sweater

Care:  Salmon sweater hair is up shaking lob fcing in not fron8t

You’d be curious, right?  I stood up and looked toward the left side of the venue; sure enough, there was Care – red sweater, hair up, enthusiastically shaking a stuffed lobster!!  We were in a church, so we didn’t jump and shout; rather we waved and made the pinky-to-mouth-and-thumb-to-ear universal sign for “call me.”

[break here for one hysterical hour of John Hodgman and Tom Perrotta]

Marie, the Boston Bibliophile ( @bostonBibliophl ) had also texted, saying she was working the Hodgman/Perrotta signing.  After I stopped laughing and clapping at John Hodgman and Tom Perrotta I made my way back to the signing area.  Marie and I recognized each other right away, despite the fact that our avatars are graphic renderings.  She was having a great time helping patrons with the book signing; I imagine she probably got some extra time with the authors, too.  You can read the Boston Bibliophile’s account of the Boston Book Fest here and a wrap-up of recent author events here.  I’m so glad I finally got to meet Marie, if only briefly; she lives fairly close, and we’ve often been ships passing in the night at events around here!

I finally resorted to that phone call to catch up with Care.  She and her friend Holly had ventured over for a quick lunch at the Boston Public Library cafe.  I joined them in the (wet) courtyard, and learned the story behind Copley the Lobster’s trip to Boston.  We had a short visit, but it was fun; it didn’t seem like it was the first time we met (chat, chat, chat!). Care has some more to say about the day here.

I promised you the blooper reels, here they are.  Highlights (lowlights?) of this first clip are Care falling off the steps (she didn’t get hurt!), and Holly not realizing the camera was still recording.

In this second clip I like the woman who walks in front of the camera – oblivious to filming- and the splashes from the fountain drowning our words.  Can someone tell me how to carry my messenger bag so it doesn’t look like a diaper bag – those days are long gone!

Can you hear what we’re saying?  Care and I had worked up a code phrase exchange in advance; you know, so we wouldn’t be talking to an impostor.  Check the first comment below to read our secret phrases.

Yeah, I know these are supposed to be outtakes and now I should present you with a final edited version of our password exchange … you can stop looking, this is as good as it gets!