Monday, September 24, 2007

PAPERBACK WRITER.

“Stop walking so fast,” I ask TBF, as we start walking down 14th Street.
He slows down, but not enough, and I realize that the two of us tethered together by earphones is not going to be conducive to speed. So I abandon the headphones to him.
“Just tell me what’s happening.”
We were late for a party, but we assumed that all the other invited guests would also be late, for the very same reasons. We decide to drive to the subway stop to save time, because we cannot tear ourselves away from the screen. And then we bring the radio down onto the platform of the Bedford L stop, where you can get AM reception. (TBF discovered this earlier this summer, also en route to an activity while a game was going on.)

There is silence, and then more silence, and I finally nudge him and say, “So run the ads down for me.”
“Azek Trimboards - ask your contractor.” *pause* “Foxwoods has the best poker room on the East Coast.”
I could tell he felt dumb but it was better than that OVERWHELMING SILENCE while we waiting for a pitching change or some other crucial business during this game, a game that shouldn’t have meant as much as it did.

We struggled down Avenue A and arrived at our destination, Mo Pitkins’ House of Satisfaction, a stone’s throw from the former MG apartment affectionately known as “The Hovel” (if you know the Lower East Side, it was at the corner of Stanton & Lowell, above The Hat). This afternoon we were invited to be guest of Dana Brand for the launch of his new book, ”Mets Fan“. For some people, it’s a mitzvah to dance at someone’s wedding; as a writer, it’s also a pleasure and a privilege to attend an author’s book launch party.

In addition to the honor of attending, I got to meet Mike (and Lisa!) from Mike’s Mets, who was the very first blog that linked to me, all those years ago, when he saw my URL show up in his web stats, decided to check it out, and liked it. It all snowballed from there. The Eddie Kranepool Society was in residence, as were the fabulous women from the newly-christened Joan Whitney Payson Society: Zoe, Coop, and Stefi. It was touching in the extreme to be sharing this event with Dana’s family, including his mom. And there was free pizza, and a lovely interlude where Dana read a few selections to us.

As soon as he was done, TBF went and bought a copy of the book. It’s not like we hadn’t planned on it anyway (and before some of you think, ‘Oh, why didn’t you get a copy for free,’ let me do all authors you may meet a service and let you know that 1) they’re expensive and 2) you need to give them to people who might actually write about it somewhere that will matter. It’s not like getting a free cd from your brother’s band that cost them $1.25 to produce) but he was compelled to buy it on the spot (even though I wanted to explain to him that unlike buying that cd from the band at their show, it’s better to buy books from a bookstore if possible. But I wasn’t going to stop him.)

This is when I learned the improbably fact that—people. I am mentioned in a book about the Mets.

Did you hear me? Seriously. I am mentioned in a book about being a Mets fan. Hell, I’M IN THE FREAKING INDEX. Go find it in a book store. Look. It says “Mets Grrl” (right above Metstradamus, which is also an honor in my book).

I’m not even sure sometimes that I deserve things like going to every home playoff game in 2006, or some of the amazing things that have happened to me this year. This was supposed to be a small, low-key thing I was writing for me, because I write about things, and…

I’m in a book. About Mets fans.

That you should all go buy. I know, you’ve read all of them in the bookstore, or at least picked them up while you were there when your child or S.O. needed to buy something, so to kill time you go stand around the BASEBALL section and pick up random books - and then just as quickly put them back down again because they are atrocious.

This one isn’t. And I’m not just saying that because of the free pizza.

If I was touched by anything, it was that Dana was so eager and anxious to share this tremendous moment with all of us, who he doesn’t know and hasn’t met. Except, as he points out in the book, he does know us - and he has met us, in a manner of speaking.

Go buy the book.