50 Cent 6/18/15

As I have often said, some of the last minute events I find out about are the best ones.

Last week, one day after my James Patterson event, I was finishing up at work later than usual. I was packing up my things to go home and decided to scroll though my facebook feed. When I saw the post I was pretty shocked. 50 Cent was doing a bottle signing at a package store literally 5 minutes from my house. He was there from 5-8, and I only found out about it because a news station posted a story at like 6:40. 50 Cent has been going all around the country doing these signings, and I knew he was going to be in Massachusetts soon, but I had no idea about his Connecticut stops.

Believe it or not, I had his, "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" album in my car, along with the album artwork booklet and everything.

When I got to the store it looked pretty packed, but certainly not unreasonable. After asking a store worker, I found out that they had the event set up where you would go about 5 at a time into the store, pick the bottle(s) you want, cash out, then get into the signing line. The process was slow, but at the same time worked for this particular store, and kept things in order.

I think I got to the front of the line by about 7:30, and noticed that they were taking your unsigned bottle, giving you a pre-signed bottle of the same variety, and letting you take a picture with 50. After I got my picture taken with him, I pulled out my CD booklet, and he took it and signed it with no problem. He didn't say much to anyone at all during the whole experience, but all I really cared about was getting one of my oldest CD's signed. I have had this album since 6th grade, which is 10 years ago now, and it was just crazy that I happened to have it in my car. It was also just awesome that a rap icon who I've listened to for so long was so close to my house. I love last minute signings(well, when I'm prepared).

Best Selling Author James Patterson 6/17/15

Last Monday I was walking back from lunch at work and I saw James Patterson's face on the wall. The sign was an ad for an event happening the next day in Hartford to benefit the Mark Twain House. It caught my eye because I'm a huge James Patterson fan, and I especially enjoy his Alex Cross series.

Seeing how this was to benefit a really great cause, and he is my favorite author not named J.K. Rowling, I decided to buy tickets online. On the page, there was a line about a book signing after the lecture, so I was happy that I didn't have to try for him outside. As much as I love doing this, sometimes it just takes too much time these days!

After I bought the tickets, I went out to a few stores to find some cheap books in good condition(while I have read a ton of his books, they have all been in e-book format). I ended up getting 8 books total. I was going to this with my girlfriend, so 8 really isn't too crazy of a number. Also, while the event was for a good cause, it was pretty pricey, so I wanted to get as many books signed as possible.

The lecture itself was very good, but a little long in my opinion. It went an hour and a half, but had some really good moments in which Patterson showed a sense of humor and a passion towards education.

As we were getting in line after the talk, the people running the event said you could have one personal item signed, unless you bought one of the books they were selling. I probably would have bought one of their books because they were only $10, but I couldn't justify buying a 9th or 10th book, and their selection wasn't fantastic. By this point though, my readers know that I'm pretty good at this, and most 'graphers know that you shouldn't take out extra items until the last minute, and by doing that I was successful.

Between us, we were able to get 5 books signed including a First Edition, "Along Came a Spider", which is one of my favorite books of all time!

The only even slightly disappointing part about the night was that I found out that the Mark Twain House had held this same event last year with Dan Brown, and in 2013 with Stephen King! I literally lived 2-3 streets away from the venue last summer, so I was shocked that I never heard about the Dan Brown event.