Road trip!

My friend Julie, lover of books and especially fond of gatherings forwarded the message to me that Johnny Weir, 3-time National champion and two-time Olympian, would be in Okemos to sign and promote his book. Was I interested?

Was I!

I immediately sent out the mass email to the skater girls to see who wanted to drive the 84 miles to see the star of Johnny Be Good. Leslie and Becky signed up for the trip.

Any casual followers of skating and Weir know the many quirks and peccadillos of his personality. His love of fashion, combined with some unfortunate photos of an anonymous woman in a sad knit top at his book signing in NYC inspired the three of us to pull out the stops and glam it up for the event. Leslie and Bex went for stilletos, fur and belts; I went for skinny jeans, a DKNY empire-waist top and motorcycle boots. Makeup by Ulta, hair by God, attitude by me.

The trip across state went quickly as we shared stories from college, played dance songs and laughed at our fandom making an otherwise dull Monday night noteworthy.

Anxious that the store would be crammed with the hoardes of mid-Michigan skating fans, we arrived well over an hour early to find instead that we were approximately 7th, 8th, and 9th in line. The store had a cozy, drowsy aura that someone special *may* drop by, not nearly the Pop Star on Ice frenzy that we had whipped ourselves into. We settled into line and started talking skating, and became friendly with a familiar face in line behind us. Lo and behold it was Mary Karen, a fellow skating judge I hadn't seen in a while, and the other judge that had been verbally assulted in the German/Russian mom incident last August. MK is a beautiful woman with an amazing mind for the sport, and she quizzed us on boots while we quizzed her on skating at large. The conversation made the hour speed by.

Johnny arrived shortly after 8pm, swathed in gray wraps and wearing large glasses, looking a bit like both Harry Potter and John Lennon. He jumped up on a chair, and with a bullhorn, jovially greeted the crowd to thank us for braving the cold in "Oak kee most," then he wondered aloud where the hell he was.

His team was very efficient, and once the iced lattes and bottled water hit his podium, he was ready to sign books. Weir has been very vocal in his disappointment in what he percieves as unfair judging against him in the past, which as a judge, of course saddens me. Without much more to say in my 20 seconds with him, I said "I just wanted you to know that I'm a figure skating judge and I think you are wonderful." He flashed me a sad smile that still retained some warmth and replied with a quiet "thank you."

Well that was over way too quick. We lingered a bit to see others pass through the line. The line was modest by some standards, but for a champion like Johnny, a bit sad that more didn't turn out to enjoy a smile or a quip from the quote machine. But given his crazy schedule, 3 book signings in one day, he was probably pleased that he could be done and on the road.

Then, we noticed girls stopping to pose for pictures with him. Whaa--?! The strict rules sheet said no posing with Johnny, we wanted our share of face time too! Apparently because of the sparse crowd and a photo-op with a local skater going to nationals for the first time, Johnny was open to taking a few more pics with fans. We got right back in line for the chance to get one of those posed pictures with celebrities that I usually hate unless mine is the other face in the photo. Hypocritical? You bet.

So I had one more opportunity for face time, and I reiterated the fact that there are judges out there that think he's magical. I'm a moron, I could have been more clever than that, but I stammered that nonsense out. Tired or forgiving, he wrapped me in a warm hug and thanked me for coming. He made me sad in a way.

As we were leaving, we were amazed to discover his very over-the-top tour bus with the cover of his book plastered on it. Bravo, Tara Modlin. So we had fun posing next to the nearly life-sized book jacket on the side of the bus.

The ride home was fun, as we talked about this and that, and even passed the bus on its way to Chicago. Stranded motorists - we could be Johnny's heroes! Alas, the roads were getting messy for us, and with the tricked out bus they didn't need our hysterical help. Still, you wonder what hilarity could have ensued...?