I think I said blowjob 453 times in the space of an hour. Then Heather made several references to goat testicles. She also had a rare timid moment when she stopped, squinted up into the stage lights and said, “Am I allowed to cuss?” Like God was going to answer.

Obscenities and phallic references aside, the session went well. That is, once I was able to tune out the live blogger. It’s unsettling enough to be on stage, but try it to a soundtrack of frantic typing that stops whenever you pause for breath. Fortunately, the audience wasn’t full of people I knew in seventh grade, and I wasn’t naked behind a podium, so actually the presentation was better than I could have dreamed.

Afterward, we headed to my very first meet-up, and I had a great time. I’ve never done a meet up before, and (as I mentioned during our presentation) part of me always pictures myself alone in a large warehouse whistling and waiting for someone to show up.

That’s Aimee and Kathryn who, along with Kirsten, chatted with me for most of the meet-up. I’d love to see them all again, plus lots of the others we met. At one point, I was talking to a neuroscience major, and all of the women around the table were like, “You study neuroscience? I’m totally into neuroscience too!” Thereby verifying my suspicion that all of you are total geniuses. If you came out, thank you so much for finding sitters, driving from the far reaches, or overcoming your shyness. It was good to see you.

We fly home today, but there will be lots of photos and a few good stories to come. Canadians are lovely, and Canada is officially checked off my Mighty Life List! Next? The pyramids at sunset! Or possibly making butterscotch pudding from scratch. I’ll keep you posted.

In fact, she’d been wearing them since noon, when we left the hotel to present. She did not whine a single time, and only whimpered once.

So the next time you find yourself wondering why you can’t pay your mortgage with your Internet Website, don’t ask yourself where you’d find ten hours a day to take photos of suburban life, balance batteries on your dog’s head, and write detailed essays about Al Roker’s nipples. Ask yourself whether you’d be willing to stand in 5 inch heels for seven hours while greeting 200 people you don’t know.

Next time I present somewhere, I’m wearing 15″ lucite stilettos. I apologize in advance if my feet bleed on you.

I’m speaking at Vidfest with Heather Armstrong. (Whose name, incidentally, I can never type without thinking, “Arm strong, feel arm! Heather strong, like ox!” But I digress.)

It’s taken me thirty-two years to get up to Canada, and I cannot wait. Everyone tells me how gorgeous Vancouver is, and how no one locks their doors. As you might imagine, I’m excited to walk around trying all the doors and photographing what’s inside.

While we’re there, my very helpful husband Bryan, arranged a meet-and-greet for me and Heather, and you should come because I want to meet you. Also, if you have one of my books, I will write something nice inside.

When:
Friday night, May 23rd
5-7 p.m.

Where:
Dockside Brewing Company
behind the Granville Island Hotel
1253 Johnston Street
Granville Island, Vancouver B.C.V6h 3R9

(Google Map)

Please join us.

In other news, regular readers may remember that “Cross the Canadian border” is one of the items on my Mighty Life list (lower left sidebar if you haven’t seen it). The offer to speak at Vidfest was one of the slightly uncanny things that happened right after I posted the list. I’ll tell you about the rest of it later. In the meantime, if anyone has a boat that needs christening, you know who to call.

I’m excited for Heather right now, because I know something very big is about to happen. Sometime soon, a stranger will ask what she does. Instead of saying, “Well… do you read… like… how do I put this. Uh, I’m a blogger?” she can look them straight in the eye and say, “I’m a writer.”

And a damn good one too.

I’m so excited to be back in Austin. Hello mornings at Jos, free booze on the tech industry, mornings gripping my temples and rocking. Good times.