The Cary Elwes Experience!

As you know, we (my daughter and I) saw Cary Elwes at Comic Con in September and loved him. I mean, he's pretty much just like his Westley/Pirate character... charming, funny, and adorable.

The book in hand.

So after falling in love with him all over again at that event, we were so exited to find out he was coming to the local bookshop to sign and promote his new book, As You Wish, a memoir on the making of The Princess Bride. And then we were devastated to find out that we had a conflict and wouldn't be able to go.

Several weeks later, the bookshop announced that Cary himself had a conflict and so the date was changed! Now we could go! So I called to order the book, which was how they were selling tickets. One book purchase got two people in.

Shortly after I called, the event was sold out. Whew. Just in the nick of time!

Waiting for him to come!
Jenni, Kami and Toto

And finally, Monday night was the big event. We were so excited. All went smoothly. We got there early enough to get a fabulous seat. They had our book and tickets waiting. And then we realized that the signing line order would be according to when you bought the book. So we were toward the end... letter M. Kami and Jenni who ordered earlier, ended up in group C! Lucky ducks!

Anyway, the event started.  We cheered Cary onto the stage. A local author and employee of the bookshop, Ann Cannon, casually interviewed him, and then the audience asked a few questions. And it was so so short! I was so bummed that they didn't have that bit go a little longer.

The very short interview with Ann Cannon.

I wish I could have focused better
(I didn't want to use a flash)
it looks like he's looking right at me!

And then it was time to get our books signed. Actually, he'd already signed them, but if people wanted them personalized, that's what the line was for. So they laid out the rules... no posed pictures, no signing of anything but books, etc etc. The normal for someone of his status.

Kami and Jenni went and we waited for them to come back to us with their tales of meeting him. Jenni talked to him quite a bit but Kami was rendered speechless from his charm. And they said he asked them their names, and shook their hands it was all wonderful. We were so excited for our turn!

My phone was dying (from taking video clips of some of the stories he told) and they both said, no worries, we'll take pictures!

Finally, after about 45 minutes of waiting, it was our turn. I had prepared some things to say, just in case, and was really nervous. We went out to the hall and there wasn't really a line. I was like, wow, we are up NOW! And then we got to the table and the two girls just ahead of me didn't have books, they just wanted their up close and personal moment. So while they were saying hi to him the bookshop lady was yelling "WHERE'S THE NEXT BOOK? BOOK!!!! Book!  Next book!!!" And so I handed her my book and she shoved it to him and so he was opening it and starting to sign it before I was even there! I totally should have said to her "I'll give to him when I get there, thank you very much!"

Anyway, we "pushed" those girls out of the way and he was looking down, said our names as he wrote them down. When he said my daughter's name I said, "Yes, this is Toto!" hoping he would at least look up at her. And then he shook her hand and said Merry Christmas. And then I thought, crap, I'm not even going to get a hand shake if I don't be assertive here! So I stuck my hand out and he shook it and I said, "Thanks for coming" and he said "my pleasure" in a way cute British accent and then the next book was shoved at him and we off the assembly line.

After all that waiting and all that anticipation, I couldn't believe that our exchange was literally about 5 seconds. I turned to Kami and Jenni and said, "I guess that's what happens when you're at the end of the line" then I turned to snap another picture as I walked away. He heard me, turned to me again, smiled and said Merry Christmas one more time. And then I was embarrassed.

Merry Christmas!

Sigh.

And it all happened so fast that Kami couldn't even get her camera up fast enough and Jenni managed one picture! LOL!

The handshake.
You can see he's already looking down to the next book.

So... that's the story of our Cary Elwes encounter!

He is so nice and yes, charming and cute in his black leather jacket and red high tops, and I'm sure if he could, he'd spend more time but I suppose he had a deadline, a plane to catch or something. And also, the place where we were (the book store was using a school auditorium as they often do for big events) wanted to kick us out any second. And everyone was panicking.

But they knew what to expect. They are experts at all this. So my big complaint was... why couldn't they start the event sooner... and why didn't they rush the first groups through too if they were truly freaked about the timing? You know? And then I see other people who broke the rules and did posed pictures. This is where I get crazy and think, what makes them so much more special then everyone in line behind them that they can ignore the parameters? You know?

Sigh... again.

So, while he was very awesome and I was happy to even be there, it turned out to be a bit anticlimactic and somewhat of a let down. I hate it when that happens.

What signature, eh? I see a C and an E.
I guess that works!

I was going to show you my videos, but they are kinda long. (If you are interested, here's the link to the stories about Billy Crystal, and this one is about learning how to sword fight.) Instead, just watch this and you'll get the gist of what he said, along with some awesome pictures.




And because it simply must be shared, I give you the beginning of The Princess Bride including the swoony "as you wish" scenes!




So, despite the bit of a let down at the end, we had a great time and it was so fun to see him again!