mrfreeze
11-19-2003, 02:55 PM
For any of you who don't know, there is a webcomic called http://www.megatokyo.comMegatokyo</a>. And last weekend, the author Fred Gallagher (Not the guy who smashes shit with a mallet) was going to be out there signing autographs. I am a casual reader of the comic, but my friend completely idolizes the guy. He was in fact the inspiration for the comic http://www.elazulspad.com/working/Working</a> (shameless plug I know. New shit will be up soon I promise). Anyway, obviously we had to go to WizzyWigs (local anime store) and get his autograph. But then I had the idea to take it one step further.
See I have had a more or less boring life. Never went out wild partying, never got piss drunk and woke up next to my dog, none of that shit. So when it hit me that I could use this as a premise for a great adventure, I took it. I called up my friend Chris, and told him that we could show we were the biggest fans by camping out in front of the store all night to be first in line for the autograph signing. He reluctantly agreed.
First we loaded up the car. Bypassing such trivial things as "blankets" or "warm clothing" we instead packed lawn chairs and a 2 liter bottle of pepsi. Then we headed out. This was at about 7 pm. We got there around 8. First we went inside and purchased some Pocky to keep us through the night, then we decided to walk aroudn and enjoy the night life for a while. Obviously there wouldn't be any competition for our first place in line this early in the evening. So after some uneventful wandering, (and my friends failed attempt to get a girls number utilizing his l33t art skillz) we headed back to the storefront where we were destined to spend our night. Around 12 am, a guy came out of the store next door and informed us there was going to be an all night gaming party going on there, and we were welcome to come if we got cold. Very cool guy, and if by some chance you read this thanks a lot for all the cool shit you did man. For anyone who is local to ann arbor and may know this guy, he runs some small room across from the dance studio on liberty ave.
Anyway back to the story. We sat there for a while, when we got bored we would start to yell "FUMOFFU" which was blatantly stolen from Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu. But it was cold damnit, and we needed our stupidity to keep us warm. After about an hour of this, the store owner of WizzyWigs came out. I think he believed us to be a couple of punks loitering in front of his store, because he asked us in a rather angry tone to please relocate. So we moved in front of the dance studio instead. At this time we had the idea that if we wanted people to know what we were doing, we needed signs. Since any type of store with sign material nearby was long since closed, and since the Borders protestors had taken theirs with them when they left, we had to improvise. I ripped 2 sheets of paper from my notebook, and grabbed a pen. We spent the next 2 hours or so holding signs saying "M3G4T0KY0 RUL3Z" (Yes they were written in l33t. I am so ashamed of myself) and "We waited since 8:30 pm for Piro!"Around 1 or 2 am, the store owner and his wife (a very nice woman I might add) came out and were on their way home after setting up. When she saw our signs, his wife was nice enough not only to let us move back to the front of the store (Take that Mr. WizzyWigs owner!) but also gave us free pocky and fruit drinks to keep us from starving out there. That was truly one of the highpoints of the night. By then the local club "Necto" (Necro? Neczo? Close enough and I may be right) was opening. We could hear club music from where we were sitting, so decided to make the best of it. So we started to do our pitiful imitation of dancing, while singing the only line we knew of "Safety Dance" as loud as we could. We got many stares, quite a few honks and whoos, and only one "Stop fucking dancing you idiots". We considered it a good nights work. When finally we exhausted ourselves, I decided it was time for me to get some rest. After finding concrete to not make the best bed, I decided to nap on the stairway of the dance studio next door. Not much better than the sidewalk, but I managed to doze a bit. (Please note that part of the discomfort was due to the heater vent being a good 3 feet above the floor, so any warm air went right over me). Finally 6 am came. We had to move the car or get a ticket. Forgetting it was a Saturday, I decided to try and catch "The Howard Stern Show" in order to keep occupied. I ended up spending a whole hour listening to bad whiny bitch rock and Tom Lycos for nothing. I then managed to get about an hour of rest in the car, before starbucks opened and we decided to go get something to drink and warm up. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And I was shaking with cold around then. So I got a hot chocolate from Starbucks. Or, that is, a cup full of pig urine that it seems someone mistook for hot chocolate mix. From now on, even if I have to wait an extra hour, I will get hot chocolate from McDonalds thank you. It is over half the price, and actually tastes like hot chocolate should. Shame on you StarBucks. Finally we headed back to the store front around 8 or so. It wasn't until about 10:30 (The store opens at 11) that someone else showed up. By 10:50 there were about 10 people there. That is when a police car pulled up. Let me just state that about 8 police cars came by while we were sleeping/ standing there all night, and not one of them seemed to give a shit we were sleeping in front of a store all night. But then this one motioned right at me, and told me to come over to his car. Just to ask me what all the people were there for. What a relief.
Finally we got our tickets, and went to get some breakfast. (The signing was at 1 pm and it was around 11:30). After a quick breakfast of 2 raisin bagels and a muffin, we headed back. After much pacing on our part, the guest of honor somehow not only arrived, but walked right past us without us seeing him. The store owner had to come and get us so we could be first to get our autographs, because we were still sitting by the window waiting to see them.
So we got up there, and my friend immediately turned into stammering jello. He managed to get out something about how it was an honor to meet him, and that he was his greatest inspiration, while I stood there wondering if I would have to sedate him with a kick in the ass. But let me say this, both Fred Gallagher and his fiance(?) Sarah are incredibly nice people. But they also have this aura around them that turns anyone who approaches them into stammering idiots. I saw the guy behind us stammer for 5 minutes before being able to get out that he wanted the front of his shirt signed.
There were a lot of other small details which I missed,b ut that is the basic story. Oh, and once we got home, I had to turn around and go back to get an autograph and a sketch for Jenn. Damn I am whipped <img src=smilies/cwm27.gif>
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See I have had a more or less boring life. Never went out wild partying, never got piss drunk and woke up next to my dog, none of that shit. So when it hit me that I could use this as a premise for a great adventure, I took it. I called up my friend Chris, and told him that we could show we were the biggest fans by camping out in front of the store all night to be first in line for the autograph signing. He reluctantly agreed.
First we loaded up the car. Bypassing such trivial things as "blankets" or "warm clothing" we instead packed lawn chairs and a 2 liter bottle of pepsi. Then we headed out. This was at about 7 pm. We got there around 8. First we went inside and purchased some Pocky to keep us through the night, then we decided to walk aroudn and enjoy the night life for a while. Obviously there wouldn't be any competition for our first place in line this early in the evening. So after some uneventful wandering, (and my friends failed attempt to get a girls number utilizing his l33t art skillz) we headed back to the storefront where we were destined to spend our night. Around 12 am, a guy came out of the store next door and informed us there was going to be an all night gaming party going on there, and we were welcome to come if we got cold. Very cool guy, and if by some chance you read this thanks a lot for all the cool shit you did man. For anyone who is local to ann arbor and may know this guy, he runs some small room across from the dance studio on liberty ave.
Anyway back to the story. We sat there for a while, when we got bored we would start to yell "FUMOFFU" which was blatantly stolen from Full Metal Panic: Fumoffu. But it was cold damnit, and we needed our stupidity to keep us warm. After about an hour of this, the store owner of WizzyWigs came out. I think he believed us to be a couple of punks loitering in front of his store, because he asked us in a rather angry tone to please relocate. So we moved in front of the dance studio instead. At this time we had the idea that if we wanted people to know what we were doing, we needed signs. Since any type of store with sign material nearby was long since closed, and since the Borders protestors had taken theirs with them when they left, we had to improvise. I ripped 2 sheets of paper from my notebook, and grabbed a pen. We spent the next 2 hours or so holding signs saying "M3G4T0KY0 RUL3Z" (Yes they were written in l33t. I am so ashamed of myself) and "We waited since 8:30 pm for Piro!"Around 1 or 2 am, the store owner and his wife (a very nice woman I might add) came out and were on their way home after setting up. When she saw our signs, his wife was nice enough not only to let us move back to the front of the store (Take that Mr. WizzyWigs owner!) but also gave us free pocky and fruit drinks to keep us from starving out there. That was truly one of the highpoints of the night. By then the local club "Necto" (Necro? Neczo? Close enough and I may be right) was opening. We could hear club music from where we were sitting, so decided to make the best of it. So we started to do our pitiful imitation of dancing, while singing the only line we knew of "Safety Dance" as loud as we could. We got many stares, quite a few honks and whoos, and only one "Stop fucking dancing you idiots". We considered it a good nights work. When finally we exhausted ourselves, I decided it was time for me to get some rest. After finding concrete to not make the best bed, I decided to nap on the stairway of the dance studio next door. Not much better than the sidewalk, but I managed to doze a bit. (Please note that part of the discomfort was due to the heater vent being a good 3 feet above the floor, so any warm air went right over me). Finally 6 am came. We had to move the car or get a ticket. Forgetting it was a Saturday, I decided to try and catch "The Howard Stern Show" in order to keep occupied. I ended up spending a whole hour listening to bad whiny bitch rock and Tom Lycos for nothing. I then managed to get about an hour of rest in the car, before starbucks opened and we decided to go get something to drink and warm up. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And I was shaking with cold around then. So I got a hot chocolate from Starbucks. Or, that is, a cup full of pig urine that it seems someone mistook for hot chocolate mix. From now on, even if I have to wait an extra hour, I will get hot chocolate from McDonalds thank you. It is over half the price, and actually tastes like hot chocolate should. Shame on you StarBucks. Finally we headed back to the store front around 8 or so. It wasn't until about 10:30 (The store opens at 11) that someone else showed up. By 10:50 there were about 10 people there. That is when a police car pulled up. Let me just state that about 8 police cars came by while we were sleeping/ standing there all night, and not one of them seemed to give a shit we were sleeping in front of a store all night. But then this one motioned right at me, and told me to come over to his car. Just to ask me what all the people were there for. What a relief.
Finally we got our tickets, and went to get some breakfast. (The signing was at 1 pm and it was around 11:30). After a quick breakfast of 2 raisin bagels and a muffin, we headed back. After much pacing on our part, the guest of honor somehow not only arrived, but walked right past us without us seeing him. The store owner had to come and get us so we could be first to get our autographs, because we were still sitting by the window waiting to see them.
So we got up there, and my friend immediately turned into stammering jello. He managed to get out something about how it was an honor to meet him, and that he was his greatest inspiration, while I stood there wondering if I would have to sedate him with a kick in the ass. But let me say this, both Fred Gallagher and his fiance(?) Sarah are incredibly nice people. But they also have this aura around them that turns anyone who approaches them into stammering idiots. I saw the guy behind us stammer for 5 minutes before being able to get out that he wanted the front of his shirt signed.
There were a lot of other small details which I missed,b ut that is the basic story. Oh, and once we got home, I had to turn around and go back to get an autograph and a sketch for Jenn. Damn I am whipped <img src=smilies/cwm27.gif>
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