I too was one of the unfortunate few who were handed a pre-signed Convention flier and told that Mike and Andy would not be signing anything else. With my 12" "Ask" single in hand (how appropriate) I walked devistated away from the line. I found my sister to tell her the bad news and she suggested that we go wait upstairs for Mike and Andy to go back to their break room.

We waited upstairs for about 20 minutes in front of their door. My sister kept look-out at the balcony and notified me as to when Mike and Andy were ascending the stairs. I was so surprised that nobody else was upstairs waiting. Anyways...they made their way upstairs and were surrounded by security. I took my record and pen and yelled,

"Mike (he was first up the stairs) will you please sign my record?" I pushed the record passed the security and into Mike's hands. One of the security guards pushed me away but Mike grabed my hand and brought me towards him. He was so nice. He asked me and my sisters names and asked my sister Sarah, "Is that Sarah with an "H"? I really prefere Sarah being spelled with an H" He signed my record and gave me a big hug. I was so elated. My euphoria was abruptly killed when my sister informed me that she couldn't get the camera to work.

The same scene was replayed when Andy came upstairs. I got his autograph and a hug from him as well. And this time the camera worked.

We hung out up there for a while and said hello to Mike's wife. She was a very nice lady and even asked a couple people up there if they wanted her to take anything to Mike and Andy in their room to be signed.

This was the perfect ending to a perfect day. My sister and I were one of the last people to leave the Convention Center. My sister had taken a fancy to one of the guys in "Sweet and Tender Hooligans" and so we had to mill around for 30 minutes before she got the nerve to go say hello to him and get a picture.

I went to the Ask party for like 5 min. I felt very awkward and out of place. It seemed like everyone knew each other so well and I kind of felt like I was intruding on something. I promise it was no fault of yours, just my own insecurity and "shyness that is criminally vulgar". I did meet one guy who happens to be from my same town and goes to the same school as me. He also happened to be one of the big raffle winners.

Enough said,
Emily