JO!

On Tuesday I posted that I was a Geek.
Last night I got to prove it!
I met...
none other than..
JAMIE OLIVER!!

It was a last minute thing really. I was online browsing through a Food Network message board (being my geeky self...) when I saw a heading that said "Jamie in Seattle". I immediately clicked and found out that he was going to be in Seattle at the BonMacy's for an interview and autograph signing the following day! I dropped everything and started to plan how I could get over there to see him. I couldn't know that he was that close by and not at least try to get over there to meet him. So I made the arrangements and caught the 3pm ferry the following day. I knew there would be a lot of people so I got there as soon as I could and ended up getting a seat in the very front row. It was a good seat as it turned out later that he was pretty much right in front of me.
So he does his interview with the editor of Modern Bride magazine and she asks him all sorts of dull questions. Not boring really but he was sort of trying to lighten it up a bit and she just didn't think it was very funny that he was being like that. He talked about Jamie's Kitchen, T-Fal cookware, and other types of cooking related stuff, as well as his new project where he's trying to fix school lunches in England (if you have ever eaten a school lunch, you know how horrible they are...). It was all very cool and he was very funny and has sort of an "Eddie Murphy" type of laugh. He is exactly the same in person as he appears on tv.
After the interview we all got in a huge f*** off line that wound around the whole store for him to sign our books and things that we bought. I didn't have his newest book yet so I bought one and he signed it on the inside. The exchange went something like this:

JO: " 'ow ya doin' sweet'art?"
Me (with cheesy 100 watt grin on my face): "Hi it's so great to meet you in person!"
JO: "Well thanks a lot for coming out" (as he signs my book in huge swirly letters with his trademark 'xxx' next to his name, which he wrote 'JamieO')
Me: "Well thanks for being here. It must be hard when you have to be away from your fam so much."
JO (smiling and shrugs): "Yeah, well ya gotta do what ya gotta do"
Me (still with 100 watt grin): "Thanks a lot!"

And that was it! I tried to get some pics of it all but wouldn't you know that as soon as he got there, the batteries in my camera died. Thank god for the camera phone! The pics weren't as good, but at least it's something. The nice lady behind me in line used my phone to take a picture of me standing there while he signed my book.
All in all it was totally worth the 2 hours I sat there waiting. His new book looks really incredible and I can't wait to try them out!