Another Halloween pic and a work-related rant

There was a free photographer taking pictures of folks in their Halloween costumes at the concert/party/extravaganza thingy I was at at Reggie's on Halloween. They took shots of you in sets of four like a photo booth and are posting them to this website. They put their "Best of" up now and will put the rest up on Tuesday, but this shot of me, Scott, and Kathy was included in the "Best of" and I thought it was pretty awesome:


I may have more to share come Tuesday when they put the rest up and I apologize if I'm going overboard with the pictures. I just love Halloween and haven't done it up proper in too long.

Okay, now I just need to rant about something that happened last night at the bar that pissed me off so much that I woke up after only 5 or 6 hours of sleep, happened to think about it again, and then couldn't get back to sleep. This little rant is called "Just because you're liberal and I may agree with your politics doesn't mean you are always right."

From time to time my regular customers at the Beacon grate on my nerves a little bit. They get a little too drunk and cross that boundary from amusing to mildly irritating. It happens when people get drunk in general. I have no doubt that I have crossed that line while intoxicated. And as the bartender, when you are the one sober individual surrounded by drunks, there are definitely days where you come home with a headache and feeling kind of drained. But for the most part my regulars know when they are being obnoxious, they laugh it off with me either that night or the next time I see them and it's all cool. I have never gone home and woken up the next day still pissed because one was a total jerk to me. It's only the random crazies that stumble in who have ever caused that kind of angst. Until now.

We're just gonna called this guy Obnoxious because that is what he has been lately. Last night was basically his third strike with me. Strike One came soon after I started back. It was still summer and I was juggling waiting on the beer garden, waiting on the bar, serving drinks and making food for Obnoxious. While I am in the middle of cutting up Obnoxious' quesadilla, the bar's phone rings. I run to answer it. It's Obnoxious. Calling from the beer garden on his cell phone because he needs another Bud Light. "I would have been out there in a minute with your food and planned to take beer garden orders then," I growl. He just laughs obnoxiously. I send one of the other bartenders (who is there drinking not working because we only have one person per shift, hence how harried I get during busy times) out with his food and beer. He does apologize for this later, admitting to being obnoxious, but at the same time not acknowledging that he disrupted the flow of my work with his unneccesary phonecall just saying that I take him too seriously. Whatever. This is one of those incidents with regulars that I would normally write off as a random annoying drunk moment. I probably wouldn't even be thinking about it now if Obnoxious hadn't pulled more shit.

So then like a month ago, Obnoxious is out drinking in the beer garden. That night there is a waitress and the owner is there so I am not running back and forth, I am just pouring drinks/opening bottles for the waitress and she deals with the customers out there. So I don't know exactly what happened, only what the waitress, the owner and other regulars told me, which was basically Obnoxious was getting into a loud conversation with another regular and using racial slurs (surprising at the moment because Obnoxious is a liberal, but after last night not so suprising because he's clearly a bit of a hypocrite), so the owner tells him to leave because obviously this behavior is not acceptable. He screams a bunch of shit at the owner about how he will ruin him and his business and then runs out on his tab and without tipping. The owner adds few bucks onto the tab, leaves a note to the other bartenders that Obnoxious must pay said tab before drinking in the bar again and the extra few bucks will be my tip. I know that if I were in the situation or probably if any of my other regulars were, they would have paid the tab and either left a good tip and said give this to Stephanie and Katie (the waitress) or the next time they saw me, they would have apologized and given a nice tip because obviously Obnoxious didn't know that a tip was added to his tab and besides, his beef was with the owner, not me and Katie. But no. He never tipped and much much worse than that, he never apologized to either me or Katie. That was a real strike against him. But I was still friendly. I was still a good bartender. I still bought him a beer when he came in just like I do for the other regulars. But yeah, I'm not gonna be so nice anymore.

Last night, other than the Obnoxious incident was pretty good. A steady stream of business, the likes of which I haven't seen since early September. Not sure if it is the weather or the economy but business has not been great lately. Also there were people coming in specifically to see me, either because they were reading/planning to read my book or because they read my monthly Forest Park Review column. One older gentleman came in for that reason. He was a really nice guy, a nurse, like my parents. So we were having a conversation about what he does, what I do, what he wants to do (leave Chicago because of the icky winters and have a small organic farm in the south). Obviously because I am busy I can't solely converse with one person, so I'm kind of bopping back and forth to this guy and Obnoxious has struck up a conversation with him as well. It's friendly, normal, fine at first. Then somehow the conversation turns to economics. All of a sudden Obnoxious is in full-on rant mode because the other gentleman said, "I have to disagree with you slightly." Note, he did not say anything like "I'm a big conservative and I think you are completely wrong." He said he disagreed slightly, started to explain and then Obnoxious just started ranting about how everyone in the bar was a conservative and he was sick of hearing views that people were getting from Fox News and blah blah blah, just shouting over this guy who was quietly saying, "I don't watch Fox News... I just have a different view...." and then finally "I don't even really want to talk about this." So at that point, I stepped in and said, "Hey, Obnoxious, why don't you chill and tone it down and actually give this guy a chance to talk instead of talking over him." He continued to rant for a moment, I reiterated my point, then he finally shut up, told me to buy the guy a drink from him and walked out presumably to smoke.

When he came back, he started talking to some other people. I continued talking to this guy about the things we were orginally talking about. It was pleasant and I really enjoyed the conversation. He left saying that he planned to come back again. I was pleased. I like meeting new people who I can hold intelligent conversations with. I like bringing new people into the bar and not because I want to line my pockets (though yes it is important for me to establish a customer base), but because it's a cool bar, the coolest in town IMHO and I want other people to enjoy it and I want my boss to be able to run a successful business so I still have a job and I want people to come in on other nights so my co-workers make good money. I treated other new people that came in that night the same way because I want them to enjoy themselves, enjoy the bar, and come back. It's my job and I get pleasure out of sharing a place I love with others.

I was in a great mood because so many new people were coming in. But after my new guy left and the people Obnoxious were talking to left, he decided to go off on me. He started in by saying, "See, I listen Stephanie. I listened so well that that woman told a story that not even her partner knew."

I said, "That's nice, Obnoxious. But you're not always a good listener. You talk over people a lot and you were being rude to that man before."

"Well, I don't care. I stand up for my beliefs. I was right and he was wrong."

"How do you know that? You didn't even listen to him. You talked right over him."

"I don't need to hear the same conservative crap that I hear from everyone else in this bar." (Note: not everyone in the bar is conservative. Not by a long shot. I think it's evenly split 50/50.)

"I don't think he was saying that same old thing. I think he had a slightly differing opinion because economics is a complicated issue. If you had let him speak..."

"What? You check your ideals at the door when you come to work? You kiss up to the conservatives just for a tip?"

And then he basically continues to rant about what a sellout and a whore I am until I am physically shaking and fighting back tears because no one has ever EVER been so rude and disrespectful to me at the bar with the exception of the totally crazy guy from the almost barfight. I tell him to stop talking to me like this. That I don't check anything at the door. I give my opinion when asked, but I am also interested in hearing other people's opinions, that's how I learn, not to mention I believe in free speech. But no, Obnoxious continues to yell over me and tell me I'm a bad person and a sellout and that he is ALWAYS right, he never loses arguments because he is ALWAYS right and everyone else is ALWAYS wrong, which is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. No one is always right and when it comes to OPINIONS such as politics, things are not black and white, right and wrong, and we can all learn from each other and that's the only way progress will ever be made is if we listen and learn from each other. And I want to say all of this and I want to say, you know who else thinks they are always fucking right, George W. Bush. Oh and I'm sure Hitler thought he was always right too. I don't care if I agree with your point of view, thinking that you are always right and demeaning people who aren't even disagreeing with you is fucking dangerous. And I want to say that protecting other customers from loud ranting fools whether they be liberal, conservative or just ranting about pink elephants is my job. Maintaining some sense of order in a place where alcohol creates chaos is my job. And no I don't make a lot of money from it and yes I do need every dollar, every freakin' quarter in order to pay my mortgage because I'm not a salaried engineer like you who probably earns at least three times what I do every year and has no idea what kind of crap people working in the service industry put up with to earn every last dime. How's that for fucking economics?

But I don't say any of this. I just stand there twitching and let my other regulars, my GOOD regulars attempt to deal with him. Pat is telling him to shut up, that he's not right all the time, he's probably not right half the time because nobody is and he certainly isn't right right now. And DW who is this quiet guy who most might consider nerdy because he plays a lot of role playing games actually slams his bottle of Bud on the bar and says "SHUT THE FUCK UP, OBNOXIOUS! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

And Obnoxious says, "You don't have to tell me to leave. I'm leaving."

And I say, "Good" because obviously I wasn't planning to serve him any more and if the other regulars hadn't shut him up in, I was about to throw him out.

And he throws three bucks on the bar and DW says that I should throw it back. But I don't because I'm not going to be reduced to acting like a ranting, raving, childish lunatic like him. And tell DW what I wanted to say to Obnoxious, about how I do need every dollar I earn because I'm not an engineer. But I have to admit taking that money did make me feel more like a whore than any other tip I've taken. However, I deserved that money for putting up with his shit. I deserved way the fuck more than 3 bucks for that in fact. I am obviously underpaid.

After Obnoxious left, I bought shots for my good regulars. The people who no matter their political beliefs know better than to bite the hand that feeds. It's not smart to piss off your bartender. But my biggest point, the thing that I wish I could have said to his face, but now I'll say it here, without any concern that he'll read this because in this case, he was wrong and I deserve an apology, but also everyone can learn from it. You can't call yourself a liberal and berate and demean people, particularly a woman who has to work her ass off a low-paying job to make ends meet. I mean, aren't people like me the kind of people that people with his politics are supposed to be standing up for? But politics aside, let's rephrase this: You can't call yourself a human being and berate and demean people.

Ah, the lessons we learn from drunk people.

Thanks for letting me rant. It turned out to be a much longer rant that I meant, but now I got it off my chest and I can go to work tonight and be happy to serve the people who are kind to me and who are interesting and not resent my job because of the occasional asshole. I'll get back to happily posting zombie pictures soon, I promise :)

Halloween photos!

Last night was the best Halloween I've had in awhile. Fun costumes. Good friends. Drunkenness. Can't really beat it. I'm sad that Halloween is only one day. It should be a week! Maybe even the entire month of October. Anyway here are some photos from last night.

My zombie boyfriend:
Zombie couple:
Zombie dinner (we were the only ones in the restaurant with costumes, lol!):

Zombies need to text too:
Eating Kathy's brains:
Kathy was supposed to be a vampire but her costume didn't come in time. I had a fake blood capsule though so she could at least get bloody. She was excited. We went to the bathroom to use it and made friends with strangers who had more fake blood capsules for us to play with:
Kathy all bloodied up:
Zombie couple with special effects (ie. the cool lighting in the balcony of Reggies):
And without:
Kathy and Joe:
You know you had a good time when the table is filled with empty beer cans and an empty bottle of fake blood (note: the plastic cup is mine, I don't drink beer):
Zombie with laser eyes?????:
Scott was a good zombie who didn't drink and drive. Since I don't drive, I was pretty drunk by the end of the night as seen in this self portrait on the way home.... errr, well actually we went to the Beacon....
Good times.

Happy Halloween!!!!

My favorite holiday is here!!!! I love the spooky and macabre. I love pumpkins and candy. I love playing dress up and creating a character to be for the day. I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!

So today's blog is all about things to get you in the Halloween spirit. I've kind of been lacking in Halloween spirit the last couple of years because I've just been so busy. Last year I did nothing, absolutely nothing, for Halloween because I was in the midst of IWBYJR revisions. I bought candy and hoped for trick-or-treaters (we never get any because we live in a townhouse on a really busy street), but that was about it.

I still haven't done as much as I would have liked to for Halloween (I wanted to throw a party, but I'm gonna do that next year when Halloween falls on a Saturday, the day I work at the Beacon, and then I can throw a Halloween party at the bar and have fun and make money at the same time, how perfect is that!), but I did a few things.

There is an amazingly cool cemetery near my house called Forest Home Cemetery, which I toured back on October 12th. It's a really old cemetery with a lot of history to it. Like it's the only place in Chicago where you can be buried no matter what you’ve done in life, hence Belle Gunness, famed female serial killer, lays in an unmarked grave there—or does she? It might actually be one of her victims! I wrote a column about the cemetery tour and my fascination with cemeteries for my local newspaper. Here's the link in case you want to read it to get in the Halloween spirit!

But honestly, I haven't been feeling the Halloween Spirit as much this year. I wasn't even really sure about making plans for today other than snuggling up on the couch and watching the Lost Boys 2 (I know it's going to be a travesty compared to the original, but I hope it is an amusing travesty). I've just been so busy lately that I'm exhausted so I wasn't sure I was in the mood for Halloween celebrations and I'm broke so no money for a good costume.... AH! NO! How lame is that! My favorite holiday and I'm not even going to bother to celebrate it for two years in a row???

Thank ghoul my friend Kathy prevented this. It turned out that she's going to a Halloween party/concert thing that I was invited to go to and suddenly knowing that I was going to get to see a friend I haven't seen much lately made it all worthwhile for me to get up off my lazy ass. I still had no idea what to do for a costume though and it was Monday and I had no time to shop or make something. Then I looked up more details on this concert/party thing and saw that Zombie costumes were encouraged!

I love Zombie movies and have never dressed up as a Zombie, so this was perfect! It's totally affordable because I just needed to grab some makeup from the Kmart down the block and peruse my closet for some clothing. I had a long white dress so I considered Zombie Bride. I had a prom dress (yes, in case you didn't know I collect dresses) so I considered Zombie Prom Queen. But guess what shares the closet with my dress collection? My old office job clothes! That's when inspiration really hit. Holding a 9 to 5 job where I worked in a cubicle totally made me feel like an office slave zombie, so that's my costume! I won't accidentally ruin clothes I actually like (ie my dresses) and instead I get the catharsis of ripping up those boring office clothes I loathed wearing every day. It's another way to bid fond farewell to my 2 years as office drone. So yay for zombies!

To get in the zombie spirit, I have been playing this fun choose-your-own-adventure movie game.

And now the moment you have been waiting for, my costume:
And zombie me trying to create a zombie kitten!
I'll have more pics tomorrow. But tell me/show me all about your Halloween!

Women Who Rock Wednesday: Kelly Parra!

Yay! Women Who Rock Wednesday is back! Did you miss it? I know I did :) Today I'm shining with WWRW spotlight on an incredibly talented writer who I admire greatly and had the privilege of doing a signing with this summer: Kelly Parra!!!

But before you meet Kelly and learn all about her fabulous new release, INVISIBLE TOUCH, we've got some business to take care of. First, I must announce the winner of the signed poster from my Metro reading with Irvine Welsh, and that lucky gal is Kay from blogger!!! Kay, please send your mailing address to stephanie at stephaniekuehnert dot com so I can send out your prize.

Also you have two chances to win copies of I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE today! Melissa Walker is giving it away on her blog as part of Win It Wednesday. And then, our fabulous guest, Kelly has been hosting the Secret Fates extravaganza all month long with tons of authors spilling their secrets and giving out their books and today it was my turn. I shared a dark and painful secret from my teen years in the hopes that it may help other teens. I won't say anymore about it, just go read it here and leave a comment to be entered to win a signed copy of IWBYJR.

Now on to the star of our show, who of course will be giving out a signed copy of her book at the end of the interview! The reason that Kelly Parra has been hosting the Secret Fates extravaganza is to celebrate the release of her brand new book, INVISIBLE TOUCH. Kelly will tell you what the book is about below, but I got to read an Advanced Readers Copy of it and immediately fell in love. So much so that I wrote my first official blurb. So here is what I had to say about it:

"INVISIBLE TOUCH is the kind of book you'll stay up way too late to finish and then wake up the next morning hungry for a sequel. Kelly Parra combines elements of mystery, romance, and the supernatural that will keep readers turning pages and ultimately leaves them with a story that rings true for anyone who felt like they had to hide their real feelings in high school. INVISIBLE TOUCH may have a paranormal premise, but it still showcases Parra's talent for nailing the raw, real emotions faced by today's teen."

So now that you are all hyped about her book, let's meet Kelly!

Kelly Parra is the author of GRAFFITI GIRL, a double RITA nominee and a Latinidad Top Pick, and the contemporary paranormal, INVISIBLE TOUCH . When not pulling her hair while writing her current novel, she likes to play with her abundance of websites and feed a serious television addiction. For excerpts visit, www.kellyparra.com or follow the Secret Fates blog.


Q: Your latest book, INVISIBLE TOUCH, came out earlier this month. I completely and totally adore this book, but instead of me enthusiastically explaining it to the blog readers, I'd like to ask you to tell them all about it! We want to hear about the basic plot of course, but if you can also share how you got the idea for the book, which is certainly a lot different from your last book GRAFFITI GIRL, we'd love to hear about that too.

Kelly: Hi Steph! Thanks for having me, and double thanks for your kind words!

Invisible Touch is about Kara Martinez. Kara was in a tragic accident at eleven and lost her father, yet also gained something else--visions. Or "signs" that she sees on individual's torsos. She must piece these signs together like a puzzle and do her best to stop unfortunate fates. Because of the pressure and mystery of the events, Kara keeps an anonymous blog called Secret Fates. When she sees the sign of a gun on a fellow classmate, the latest mystery takes her into dangerous territory that only increases with a new relationship with a boy from the wrong side of town. Invisible Touch has mystery, romance, and family drama, and I'm hoping I give readers an entertaining read.

I've always believed in intuitive vibes and repetitive signs and thought wouldn't it be cool to have a girl who really saw visions and have to piece the signs together to help others? But it wouldn't be easy, not with a logical mom who wouldn't understand, and with the family dealing with grief of losing their father. I wrote up a proposal and I was so glad MTV Books thought Kara's story was worthy of publication.

Q: Tell us a little bit about how you came to be such a fabulous writer. When did you first get the writing bug? Were there specific people (parents, teachers, friends) who encouraged your talents? And who were some of your influences and inspirations (since this is WWRW we are particularly interested in hearing about the women so we can discover more women who rock, but feel free to name guys, too!)?

Kelly: In school, I was a total art kid, even though I'd always excelled in english lit and wrote poetry in my free time, it never dawned on me to become a writer. Art was how I expressed my inner feelings. Pretty words were harder for me. But as an adult I started to read again and once I read Nora Roberts aka JD Robb, I never stopped. Yes, Nora writes commercial fiction and that's what I hope to write for a long time.

The people who have been with me through the beginning have been author Tina Ferraro (How To Hook a Hottie) and Dianna Love (Phantom in the Night) and a few years later, Anne Frasier (Garden of Darkness). Not only are these ladies talented storytellers, they are my friends and always there to listen to my ups and downs in this business.

Q: Kara from IT has psychic talents and Angel from GG's talent is art, do share either of these talents with your characters, if so, please tell us about that talent. If not, what is one of your other talents besides being a fabulous writer of course!

Kelly: As I mentioned, being an art kid helped me to write Graffiti Girl. I also had a group of friends who were into the urban artistic style. I do not have psychic visions, but believe everyone has an inner instinct or voice that helps them make decisions so it was cool to embellish that talent in Invisible Touch.

Q: Even though IT and GG are very different books, they share one thing in common: strong, unique teenage girl narrators who are trying to navigate their way in the real world and stay true to who they are. A lot of my blog readers are those types of teenage girls, can you share some advice with them on how to survive high school and pursue their dreams?

Kelly: I am the first to admit high school was incredible hard. If I had the choice to do it again, I wouldn't. :) But I do wish I had the knowledge of the real world to get me through it a little easier. My advice is that high school is just one stage in your life, don't let the social set effect you in negative ways. The social set is history once you graduate and you can do anything you set your mind to no matter what anyone says, no matter what anyone does. Its you, who's going to live your life. All you have to do is believe in yourself.

Q: I know IT just came out, but as soon as people devour it, I know they will already be wondering, what's next for Kelly Parra?

Kelly: I wish I had a set date for a new release, but I am currently working hard on my next project, a sci-fi YA. Its a whole new challenge for me to write. I also have another urban teen book in the works after this one. Like in television, please stay tuned...

Q: I have two questions that I always ask my Women Who Rock, the first is a two-parter. What was the first album you bought and the first concert you attended? Be honest, we don't judge, we like to see the roots of our women who rock!

Kelly: The first album had to be Michael Jackson's "Thriller". I was enamored by him as a young girl. I watched MTV (back when it didn't even have commercials!) like it was going out of style. My very first concert was not of my own choosing, so don't hold this against me...my mother took me to an Eddie Money concert. Eddie who? *wink* The last concert I attended was a reggae concert and I couldn't see through the smoke. haha.

Q: Tell us about your biggest rock star moment, perhaps it's a moment of real success in your career, a time when you met someone super cool and had that Wayne's World "I'm not worthy" moment, or just a time where you felt like you got the rock start treatment. I get a huge variety of answers for the questions, so it's pretty much whatever "rock star moment" means to you!

Kelly: My first "rock star" moment was my very first book signing. Family and friends who had supported me since the news of my sale all attended. It was a big hit and I felt like a real writer. It was one of those moments, you'll never forget. I have not encountered my "I'm not worthy" moment yet with my idol Nora Roberts. I had two chances and couldn't bring myself to introduce myself to her. The first time I saw her I wasn't published and she was always busy. The second time I saw her, I was published but again she was swamped. I'd brought the first book I'd read by her that had brought me into the glorious world of books again. I wanted her to sign it, but I never got the chance. One day I will again. :)

Q: And since tis the season, there's a bonus question this week. What are you doing for Halloween?

Kelly: Since I'm a parent, its all about the kids. But I'll definitely join the festivities with colored hair and Halloween make-up. What are YOU doing on Halloween, Steph?

Thanks for having me on your ultra cool Women Who Rock!

Well, Kelly, I just came up with my Halloween plans and costume on Monday, but I will blogging all about them on Halloween, so everyone should stay tuned for that.

Thank you for coming on WWRW and also for agreeing to give out a signed copy of INVISIBLE TOUCH to a lucky random commentor. So comment away guys! Since it's Halloween and fits the theme of Kelly's book, you could tell us about any paranormal or psychic experiences you've had! Trust me you want to comment about something and win this awesome book. As usual, I will choose the winner via random number generator next Wednesday when I host, Brenna Red, frontwoman of the amazing band, The Last Gang USA. This is a band I discovered via MySpace where I get a ton of friend requests from bands and it's pretty rare that I find one I really love. So you'll definitely want to come meet Brenna next week!

A fabulous CTA experience for once

Last night I went to Schuba's with my one of my dearest friends from high school friend, Thea. We had dinner and hung out to see Office play. Office is one of my favorite bands and I swear I'm not just saying that because one of my other dearests from high school, Tom, is in the band and so is Thea's husband Justin. They are amazing and if you don't believe me, go listen to the songs on their myspace. My best friend Katie was supposed to go, too, but she got an icky stomach virus. Katie was also my ride. I tried to get Scott to go, but he had too much homework, so he dropped me off at the train and lo and behold, another CTA adventure was born! That is not surprising. Whenever you take the L outside of rush hour time (and even during rush hour on occasion!), you risk "interesting" encounters. Usually they aren't pleasant. You know, like witnessing public urination or masturbation or the like. But for once I had an enjoyable encounter!

Things were looking bright as soon as I got into the station because I decided to see if a fare card I'd found in a random pocket of my purse had any money on it. I thought at most it would have 2$, but as it turned out 10$! I skipped happily (okay, maybe not quite) up the escalator, but as soon as I got up to the train, "ding dong, doors closing!" The train wasn't pulling out of the station though. It was one of those mystery CTA moments where the train just sits there with the doors closed even though it's cold and there are passengers waiting to board...

So I headed to bench under the warming light. Four guys carrying red plastic cups had the same idea. One of them came right up to me and read my hat and said, "Hole. What's Hole?"

"The band. Hole."

"Hole's a band?"

"It's Courtney Love's band," his friend interjected. "How is Courtney doing?"

I said, "Um, hopefully putting out another album soon?"

"Yeah, it's been awhile," he said, but then the original guy I was talking to interrupted because he'd been looking at the buttons on my bag.

"Obama! What if I told you I love Sarah Palin?"

Before I can even answer, another one of the guys goes, "No, we don't! We're gay! We're Obama supporters."

Original guy goes, "What are the rest of your buttons?"

"Uh, bands..."

Another guy giddily exclaims, "Do you know where we're going? Madonna concert!"

"Cool, where is she playing?"

"United Center! We're drinking rum and diet coke, want some?" And a plastic cup is thrust at me. So I decided to drink from it. Probably pretty stupid. I mean I don't generally drink strange drinks from strange men, but these were nice gay men going to the Madonna concert who said, "Sit with us on the train! We'll protect you from the creeps. We're weird and drunk, but not creepy!" (yes they literally said all of that)... Okay, I still don't recommend doing what I did to anyone, but it was fun, dammit! I had a long train ride ahead of me and they made the first half of it interesting.

They didn't know what stop to get off at and the conductor actually called someone for them to find out which one (it was Med Center as I suspected). They were just that friendly and fun, she couldn't help but be charmed. I mean, seriously, they had red plastic cups on the train. You aren't supposed to have beverages period and um, what could be in those cups besides booze? But she just said, "Ain't no alcohol in those cups, right, honey?" to one of the guys and he replied, "Nope, just Diet Coke."

So until Med Center we talked about Madonna and Pink and good dental work (one guy was a dentist and he did all the other guys' teeth, which were quite perfect) and my book (one guy was a flight attendent so he reads a ton!) and we drank Rum and Diet Coke (don't worry, I only had like 4 sips). Definitely my most delightful train experience ever.

And I'm sure they enjoyed Madonna concert, but I was happy to be at the Office show. They were all dressed up and playing covers by dead rock stars starting with Roy Orbison and ending with Nirvana. One of my favorite bands playing songs by my favorite bands. And seeing Tom play Nirvana songs totally gave me high school flashbacks to the summer he was so obsessed with the first Foo Fighters album he learned to play the whole thing.

Yeah it was a good night and a good kick off to Halloween week.

Adventures in Madison!

Sorry for the week-long hiatus from blogging. I need them every now and then to be productive. I spent last week working on the proposal for my third novel (aka the first 50 pages of it and outline). Now I just need to tweak it a bit per the notes from my fabulous critique partners and I need to write some semblance of an outline. I abhor outlines. I really don't know what is going on in my books until I am about half to two-thirds of the way done. I just need to follow my characters and discover who they are until then. But I need to give my agent some semblance of an idea of how the book is going to go. Then she'll let me know if she thinks this idea is worth pursuing (I hope, I hope, I hope! I've been back and forth between two ideas for the past few months, but finally have my heart set on this one). In the meantime, I hope to be at work on the revisions for BALLADS once my poor swamped editor is able to get me notes!

Anyway before I disappeared into 3rd Book Land, I had a very exciting trip to Madison as you know. I took Scott to see my old haunts, including my first apartment building:
Now, I'm not gonna lie. At first I wasn't sure this was my building. I coulda swore I lived at 524 W. Wilson not 526 and I also thought we had a balcony. Yeah, well I guess I was mixing up the balcony thing with my second apartment in Madison. I texted Tai and she told me that, but she also didn't remember our address so I didn't feel totally horrible about. And besides, after standing there for a little while the memories came back to me. So that's my first apartment building. The first place where I lived by myself. Pretty cool.

My old neighborhood hadn't changed a ton in almost twelve years, but there were some fancier looking condos here and there. The "punk" house down the block, which was one of the first squats I'd ever been in, is now a regular house. The name of the grocery store I worked at changed from Capitol Centre Foods to Capitol Centre Market. The sketchy convenience store down the block from my second apartment had become a fancy florist and there's an upscale wine shop across the street. Scott and I had the following conversation about that:

Me: Oh man, I'm glad that wasn't there when I was living here. It would have been bad to have so much wine so close by.

Scott: You wouldn't have been able to afford that wine.

Me: Hmm. Yeah. I guess they probably don't sell Franzia boxed wine, huh?

I'd also noticed a cool looking dive bar at the other end of my block and wondered why I didn't go there. I was probably too pretentious at the time.... But the changes in my neighborhood that upset me the most were that Mifflin Street Co-op was gone and that the little park with the swings I used to go swing on to think had been turned into a dog park. Dog parks are great and all, but those swings meant a lot to me.

State Street was mostly the same. I was sad to learn that Cat's Meow, which used to be the source of many of my fabulous goth outfits and accessories was gone. But there was my delicious Nepalese food at Himul Chuli and plenty of other fun funky stores to make up for it. Willy Street was good, too. Mother Fools was still the same, which made me happy. That's where Tai and I used to play board games and eat vegan scones that were so delicous that Sidney would go crazy when we brought them home like they were made of meat and cheese and fish or something. Sadly, Sid is no longer a kitten and now he has such a touchy stomach that even though I saved him a bit of scone, he was uninterested. Lars and Kaspar enjoyed it though.

Inferno was the same but different. Yes, I actually went there. I didn't plan to. I have good and bad memories there, but clubs just really aren't my scene anymore. I drove by it so Scott could see it from the outside (and in the process realized I'd never seen it from the outside during the day and it totally doesn't look like most clubs), but Saturday night, Kevin suggested we go there and I agreed. It was odd going in there in jeans, sneakers and a hoodie, which I would have never ever done back in the day. Going out to Inferno always meant dressing to the nines either goth or glam (oh god, how embarrassing are these pictures!):



















So I felt a little bit strange and out of place, but it was cool to see how the club had changed. The back bar(s) are set up completely differently and it looked pretty sleek, though I'm not sure how I felt about the giant screen TV... maybe if it was playing old horror movies like they used to. The music was still the same. I saw some old friends like Amy and Kat, which was great. But it used to be that I knew or recognized everyone when I went to Inferno. Now I was the stranger. There were all these new characters that I didn't know. Like back in the day, the guy we used to make fun of on the dance floor was Tai Chi Guy, who "danced" like he was doing tai chi. Now there is Annoying Chains Guy. This must be the thought process of this guy every time he gets ready to go out to Inferno (because Kevin tells me, he is always dressed like this): Hey, I think I'll wrap some huge chains around my neck, shoulders, and legs like I'm a serial killer being led to the gas chamber, that will look awesome and whenever I dance everyone in the entire club will be able to hear every move I make. That's not annoying or anything! Now, I've definitely worn some crazy shit out to the club in my day (*cough* see above outfits), but this guy was a reminder that at the Inferno there was always someone weirder than me. I think along with my bar book, I really need to write a club book someday...

Despite my lack of being dressed up, I felt pretty at home at Inferno though. When Joy Division came on, I almost jumped up to dance, but I wasn't so sure I wanted Scott to see that side of me and plus it really was more fun to dance with the cool clothes and shoes and not to mention a couple more drinks in me...

Anyway so that was the revisiting my past part of my trip, which was fun because I do enjoy a bit of nostalgia, but the three most fabulous things about my trip were not nostalgia-based. Now I can't really rank these events in order of coolness so I will write about them in chronological order instead:

1. School Visit at Madison's Alternative High School Work and Learn Program. When I agreed to take part in the Wisconsin Humanities Festival, they asked me if I would be willing to do school visits. I was very excited about this, so I said yes. Then they couldn't find a high school classroom interested in having me. A few days before I was to leave for Madison, the organizer of the school visits asked me if I would be willing to visit with kids in an alternative program. I told her, Hell yeah, those are my people! (Okay, so I really didn't say it like that, but that's what I thought.) I haven't made it a secret that I hated high school and I hung out with people who felt the same way. Two of my best friends dropped out of high school to home school. One friend got pregnant and dropped out and did an alternative program. A bunch of other friends got kicked out or dropped out for various reasons, some of them going on to alternative programs and succeeding, some of them not going on and not really succeeding. I finished high school as fast as I could, graduated early and hightailed it to Madison. All of us shared one thing in common, the traditional system of learning did not work for us. And many of my friends were written off as failures from a young age because of this. I think this is bullshit. So, I hugely support programs like Work and Learn where kids who don't fit in in a traditional school environment are given a chance to succeed. And I hugely admire teachers like Erik Shager, the teacher of the class I visited, who work so hard to meet the needs of kids who were pushed aside or fell through the cracks of society.

I loved the kids I met with at Work and Learn. They were clearly some of the brightest, most talented kids and I have no doubt that if they stick with their program that they will succeed. It was awesome talking to them because I didn't have to put on any airs. I just told them the straight story about my life. I even passed around the zine I wrote while I was in Madison just to give them an example of something they could do to express their thoughts and feelings. As it turned out many of them already were expressing themselves creatively, some through writing, some through rapping or other kinds of music. I was really impressed by all of them and the discussion we had and look forward to going back to visit Erik's classes again in the future. Here I am with some of the students:

The next day was my scheduled Wisconsin Book Festival event, a reading, discussion and signing at my favorite bookstore in the Mad City, A Room of One's Own Feminist Bookstore. As always I had a great time reading and answering people's questions and there were some amazing folks that came out. It was really cool to see a mother/daughter pair, both big readers, writers and punk rockers who could enjoy my book together (not to mention, the daughter, Mariah had a killer green wig on!) sitting in the front row. And then there was Chelsie and Justinne, who I think might be deserving of biggest fan of the year awards! They drove an hour down to see me, recognized me as soon as I came and gave me big hugs. And we got to chat a ton before and after the event, exchanging book recommendations among other things. These girls really just made my day. They made me feel like a superstar and it means the world to a writer to feel like that. You write a book, put your soul into it, then it goes out into the world and you hope for the best. Meeting people that really loved it and have great faith in you to write more good books is so important. I still have the self-esteem of the average teenage girl, so it's always nice to get a little boost from people who believe in me. Not to mention Justinne and Chelsie are just damn cool girls. They totally remind me of me, Katie, Polly and Thea in high school, just really into books, reading, zines, and having adventures. It was unbelievably awesome to meet them. Here we are, that's Chelsie on the left of me and Justinne on the right.

Then after my event I got to spend time with Kevin and Ryel, who really are two of my favorite people on earth, but I never get to see them because we live in different cities and have busy lives and not enough time to visit each other. Scott and I spent the whole weekend at Kevin's so we got to catch up with him a lot (well, catch up for, get to know for Scott). He also is an amazing framer, so he framed this blow-up of my book cover which is going to look so fabulous in my living room once we tear down this ugly mirror thing on the wall. Ryel is just one of those kindred spirits that I'd be having tea and great conversation with once a week if we lived in the same area. Instead we had incredibly spicy Thai food. Oh it was so good. I'll be back in Madison for that dish ASAP. Not to mention more time with my dear friends.

Women Who Rock Wednesday: The Characters of IWBYJR!

In honor of Teen Read Week, I decided to do an extra special Women Who Rock Wednesday and interview Emily Black and Regan Parker, two characters from my book, I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE. After all, as members of the world famous (yet fictional) punk band She Laughs, they qualify as women who rock, right? So I made several announcements on the blog and on MySpace asking for questions from fans of the book for Emily and Regan. You guys sent in some awesome questions and I tried to incorporate as many of them as possible without getting totally carried away and making the interview last forever. It still did turn out a wee bit long. What can I say, I had sooooooooo much fun revisiting two of my favorite characters!

I started the interview with general questions that people who haven't read the book can still enjoy and get to know my characters, but of course lots of fans wanted to know what happened to the characters after the book ended. So there are spoilers. I marked in BOLD where the spoilers begin and if you haven't read the book, I highly advise that you stop reading at that point, go read the book and then come back to finish the interview :) But you can still leave a comment and be eligible to win this week's prize which there will be a picture of at the bottom of the blog and you can see that as your safe point to continue reading.

Before we begin, I have a couple of IWBYJR-related announcements and of course, I have to announce the winner of last week's prize, a signed copy of Denial of Death by the Brain Surgeons! The winner is Teddy of Reddy Teddy from blogger. Teddy please email your mailing address to stephanie at stephaniekuehnert dot com!

Now I also want to remind you that today is the absolute last day to vote for IWBYJR as the Best Book of 2008 on Venus Zine's Hott List. I'm up against some really stiff bestselling book competition, but with your help my little punk rock book might actually have a shot. So get those last votes in here!

Saving the best for last, I wanted to tell you guys about an amazing opportunity to get your hands on a marked-up copy of IWBYJR and help out an amazing charity, First Book which helps disadvantaged children have access to reading material. Some fabulous teen book bloggers came together to raise money for First Book's Leave a Mark auction and they asked authors like me to mark up their books so they could auction them off. Basically this means I didn't just sign the book, I spent all night writing notes in the margins giving you background information and insights into the story. So if you are a hardcore IWBYJR fan, this is a must have for you OR if you haven't read the book yet, this is your chance to get a one of a kind copy and help a good cause. Bidding runs through Friday, I believe and you can check out the auction on The Page Flipper's blog right here!

Now, on to the main event! The long-awaited interview with Emily Black and Regan Park of She Laughs!

Q: Welcome to Women Who Rock Wednesday, Emily and Regan! It's great to be speaking with you guys again because it's been way too long. I've got some awesome questions that your fans sent in and I think we'll start with this one: If She Laughs was an ice cream flavor what flavor would they be?

Regan: Shit, do you know how many ice cream flavors there now? I don't even know them all, so how are we gonna choose? Does Ben and Jerry's have punk flavor yet?

Emily (laughing): Dude, what would that taste like sweat and stale beer? I don't know about that. Lets stick with the classic most awesome flavor. Cookie Dough. Cookie Dough ice cream is the ultimate because it's two kinds of dessert in one and our band will leave you as satisfied as two desserts in one.

Regan: Isn't Cookies and Cream two desserts in one, too, though?

Emily: But you usually eat cookie dough raw. And we're totally raw.

Regan: Okay that's good. Though in the past we've been Rocky Road...

Emily: Well yeah, and like Rocky Road even though it's rocky, it's still awesome.

Regan: She's not really this arrogant. She just plays it up to cover her soft underbelly.

Emily: Pfft. Whatever.

Q: Well, that's a good lead-in for this next question actually, speaking of soft underbellies. Was there ever something so personal to you that you couldn't express it in music? Something you're saving for later, when it's easier to handle, or something that's just so private it's yours alone?

Regan: Well, I have I have to say that the nice thing about being a drummer is that there's no way you know what I'm thinking when I'm playing. I can pour everything into music and I do. Drumming has always been the way I get through things. When I don't drum, that's when you have to worry about me. Then I'm letting things get pent up and well, I've had a tendency in the past to drown my sorrows in the bottle instead and that's just no good. But Emily as the singer and lyricist, I imagine you have to be more guarded.

Emily: Yeah, I am, but not about the personal stuff that you'd imagine. Like when I'm hurt or angry. I can write about those emotions comfortably, my lyrics aren't always direct, but I know what I'm singing about. I can't write about the things that make me feel really vulnerable though. Like love. True, real, deep love. You won't see me writing a love song. Not one that anyone besides my beloved will hear anyway. That's mine. I can't share that with anyone but him.

Q: I like this uncomfortable line of questioning... Let's try another one. What was the most embarrassing thing to happen to you on tour and where?

Emily: Oh that's an easy one. The show in Seattle where I got totally trashed and ranted about my love life on stage. You simply cannot top that kind of embarrassment. Well unless you get trashed and go on stage often maybe, but I try to avoid that.

Regan: It's an easy one for me too because I never do embarrassing things. I just embarrass Emily and Tom like when I talk about Emily's love life on stage.

Emily: Whatever, Regan! You embarrassed yourself a bunch when we first started touring and meeting bands that we admired. She would either get so tongue-tied or she would stand there and babble to them like a drunken idiot.

Regan: Except I wasn't drunk. I do think Mike Ness from Social Distortion still avoids me though because I kept him cornered for like fifteen minutes just babbling away to him when we first met.

Emily: That is so not the worst of it though. You puked on Moe Tucker's shoes when you met her.

Regan: Yes, I puked on Moe Tucker, the drummer from the Velvet Underground's shoes. That's how I show people how much I respect them by getting so nervous I vomit on their shoes.

Q: I take it she is one of your heroes then because that was another question about which drummers you admire?

Regan: Yes, I love Moe. Her and Sandy West from the Runaways were my earliest influences. I also love the greats like John Bonham and Neil Peart even though it is so unpunk to admit to listening to Rush. Dave Grohl is a real powerhouse, too. And Patti Schemel from Hole. Oh and Sam Maloney who also drummed in Hole AND drummed for Motley Crue. A girl drummer in a cock rock band. That has to be the greatest thing on earth. I would totally do that. I'm just waiting for the invite.

Q: Thanks for the perfect lead-in to another question. If you could play in an already existing band, besides She Laughs, what would it be and why?

Emily: So Regan, I guess your answer is Skid Row or something, huh?

Regan: Maybe more like Guns N Roses. I might be the one person who could keep Axl in line since I've had plenty of practice keeping you in line, Em.

Emily: Ha! Well, I think if I did anything else besides She Laughs it would be because I want to play with all girls. So I'd have to see to join the best all-girl band currently in existence, Civet.

Regan: Hey, I don't really want to play with all boys. If I did they would have to be cool boys like Social D if Mike Ness would ever forgive me. But now I need to one-up, Emily and say I'd form all girl super-group with Courtney Love and Brody Dalle on vox and guitar and Kim Deal on bass.

Emily: Are you saying that Courtney and Brody are better than me?

Regan: I'm saying that I would need both Courtney and Brody to replace you.

Q: Aww, but now Tom is going to think you're going to replace him with Kim Deal.

Regan: We might if he doesn't behave!

Q: Well, I don't want to stir up trouble in your relationship, so lets go back to Social Distortion since they keep coming up. In interviews I've read, you've said that Social Distortion's "Don't Take Me For Granted" is sort of Emily's anthem; so my question is, what song would Regan's anthem be?

Regan: Well, I'd honestly have to say that "Don't Take Me For Granted" is sort of me and Emily's song.

Emily: Awwww!

Regan: Shut up! Anyway an anthem meaning a song that tells the story of my life is hard for me because I'm not always so focused on the lyrics of the song, more the rhythm and the way it makes me feel. So I'm going to answer by saying what my go-to song is, the song I listen to when I need cheering up or to work out my feelings or whatever, and that has always been "Wave of Mutilation" by the Pixies. The rhythm is great, you can dance around the room to it and yet it's about mutilation. I don't know. I think I love the Pixies so much because it's not about the lyrics, at least I can't usually make sense of them, but just the way the songs make you feel is so perfect. Yeah they aren't anthems in the typical sense, in the Emily sense, but in the Regan sense they are because of the vibe of the song, the way it makes you feel.

Q: Cool, okay on to the next question...

Emily: Wait don't I get to answer that one, too?

Q: Well it was for Regan...

Regan: Typical front woman, can't stand to let the drummer talk.

Emily (playfully hitting Regan): Whatever! I just thought that since we determined "Don't Take Me For Granted" was "our" song. I could choose mine. But you are getting more questions than me. You got that one about your drumming influences or whatever.

Q: Well there are some questions that are just for you. They're more personal though, so I thought we'd start on the musical stuff first.

Emily: Ugh, I always get the personal stuff and she gets the musical stuff.

Q: Don't worry, there is personal stuff for her, too. But go ahead and tell us what your anthem is.

Emily: "Ask the Angels" by Patti Smith. Rock 'n' roll is what I'm born to be, baby. Okay, you have some more music stuff for us, I hope. I'm not ready for the inevitable mom and love life questions yet.

Q: We've got a few more musical ones here. If there was one band they could bring back (either from the dead, or put back together) who would it be and why?

Emily and Regan in unison: The Runaways!

Regan: We loved them!

Emily: We lived their songs, a little too literally sometimes. (Singing) "Hello world, I'm your wild girl! I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb!"

Regan: I was so completely devastated when Sandy West died. I'm glad we were invited to play at the memorial tribute. It was probably one of the most meaningful concerts we've done. We've done a ton of political fundraiser type concerts and festivals and stuff, but that one mattered the most to me.

Q: Speaking of festivals, which bands and singers would perform at your "dream music festival"?

Emily: A reunited Runaways with Regan filling in on drums.

Regan: Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, Social D, my sister's band July Lies.

Emily: But newer bands too. Like Spinnerette, Brody Dalle's new band. I'm dying to check them out. And Rise Against, gotta support Chicago punk.

Regan: Tiger Army and the Horrorpops. Those psychobilly bands are so much fun live.

Emily: And now this is almost all punk. We need more variety.

Regan: How about the Pixies and Sonic Youth and PJ Harvey?

Emily: Good and the White Stripes. When I first heard them, I had such a crush on Jack White. Not like an I'd-cheat-on-my-man-with-him crush, but like an I-wanna-be-him crush. I should amend my "What other bands do you want to be in" answer and say Civet and the White Stripes.

Regan: And Civet needs to play our festival, too.

Emily: Definitely.

Q: Since you're opening up about your Jack White crush, maybe you're almost ready for some personal questions? (Regan shrugs, Emily looks mildly distrustful.) We'll start with a fun one to ease you in. Tell us about a prank you pulled as kids.

Emily (immediately brightening up): Oh my god, where do we begin? There was the time I replaced that bitch Jackie Jenkins shampoo with blue hair dye. She showered at home after cheerleading practice after that.

Regan: Oh but how about our best prank phone call of all time?

Emily and Regan's eyes meet and they in unison: Tom's mother!

Emily: We did this little mini-tour the summer before our senior year--

Regan: Tom's junior year. So he was barely sixteen and his mom hated us, so she totally forbid him to go--

Emily: Even though were just in Madison, Milwaukee and Minneapolis. With Regan's responsible older sister the whole time.

Regan: Marissa is not that responsible. Our parents might have told themselves she was, but not Tom's mom. Not to mention, Marissa was the result of my mother's teen pregnancy, the very thing that most repulsed Tom's mom about my family.

Emily: And we totally played on that.

Regan: Tom was just gonna go on the tour and deal with the consequences when he got home, his usual method of dealing with his mother in regards to the band and me. But we decided that was no fun, so we called her from Madison and told her that Tom and I were up there getting married because Tom knocked me up.

Emily: She was so livid. I didn't think her religion allowed her to call us all those names she called us. She actually told us she was calling the police too and filing some sort of kidnapping report. It freaked us out a little bit, so we didn't tell Tom about it.

Regan: Poor Tom. He always ends up being a prank victim it seems. He had to go through the most embarrassing sex talk in the world when we got home. It's a wonder he didn't break up with me and quit the band.

Emily: On several occasions!

Q: Well now that we are talking about Tom, let's get into these more personal questions.

Note to Readers: SPOILER ALERT!!! If you haven't read IWBYJR quit reading the interview now and go read the book first!

Seriously, QUIT READING if you haven't read the book, there are serious SPOILERS ahead!

Q: Regan, readers want to know is your relationship with Tom still going strong and if so how do you keep the love with your high school sweetheart alive?

Regan: Tom and I have been married for four years now. I did chicken out and break up with him the first time he proposed, so maybe that's the key. Take a break, see what's out there and be reminded that you had the best, then beg him to take you back. Actually, I wouldn't advise that though. That was really painful. Honestly, I think playing music together helps us keep the love alive because it's always triggered such chemistry between us. That and having a sense of humor. Tom's finally gotten into the prank playing thing. It's fun.

Q: Regan, if you ever did have a child what would be some of your top boys and girls' names?

Regan: Tom and I have a three year-old girl, Rose. I liked the name on a few different levels. I think it's a cool name for a girl because roses are beautiful but they can also hurt you with their thorns. My daughter certainly isn't a delicate flower.

Emily (proudly): She slapped a boy in her preschool just last week.

Regan: And Aunt Emily should not encourage such behavior. Rose is also named for Emily in a way because there's this story called "A Rose for Emily."

Emily: Ugh! I hate when she says this! In that story Emily is crazy, she like sleeps next to the body of her deceased lover or something.

Regan: And you're not just the teeniest bit crazy? (Shaking her head at furious look from Emily). Okay, Rose is partially named for Emily because she has the same middle name as Emily, Diana. And I do want to get pregnant again as soon as the band's touring schedule allows for it. I think we want to tour for one more year since we took off last year when Emily had her son and on that note, I'm not sure what we'd name a boy because Emily stole our boy name, Cash.

Emily: Well like you, I wanted a tribute to Johnny Cash and I'm sure as hell not naming a kid Johnny! It's only his middle name anyway so you could still use it. My son is named for the best man on this earth, Michael, for his grandfather.

Q: Speaking of your dad, Emily, I have a couple questions for you about your dad.

Emily: At least they aren't Mom questions. Shoot.

Q: Well the Mom questions are coming, but we'll start with this. Do you feel that a girl misses out on anything specific when being raised by only a father?

Emily: I want to say no, but I'd be lying. My dad gave me everything I needed on so many levels, but sometimes I did just need a woman to talk to. Like about boys. I turned to Molly usually when I needed to, but maybe I wouldn't have made so many mistakes with guys if my mom was around. Well, maybe not my mom, but a mom who could give more sound advice about guys.

Regan: I made guys mistakes and I had an awesome mom.

Emily: Yeah, well, there is that... Maybe it wouldn't have made a big difference. Probably not given my personality, but having a woman to talk to is important. I'm glad I had Molly for that.

Q: Okay, Emily, since every girl marries her father, what are the shining examples of that truth in your man?

Emily: Well as much as I love my man and even though we have a beautiful child together, I'm not marrying him. Maybe it's a leftover fear-of-love thing that stems from my parents' relationship, but I think moreso it's just that I don't like doing things the traditional way. And Ian accepts that. Like my dad, he accepts me completely for who I am. He's also kind of on the quiet side like my dad, but when he has a point to get across he can make me listen. Most of all, he has the same honest creative passion as my dad. For my dad, it's music, for Ian, it's photography. My dad taught me almost everything I know about music and now Ian's teaching me a ton about photography

Q: Emily, where are you living and why?

Emily: In Chicago. It was always the city I claimed for myself. Growing up in Carlisle, I clung to the idea that I was born in Chicago and from a real city. I love being in the midst of all the busy-ness in the city. But I do need a break from it sometimes. Both Ian and I were raised in the country. We have a farmhouse not to far from River's Edge where we go to escape and hang with our families and I record most of my music there because that is just where my music has always come from. It's funny how before Chicago was the escape and now the Carlisle area is.

Q: Okay, here comes the big unavoidable questions. Everyone wants to know, Emily, if Louisa has tried to make contact with you and if you stay in contact with her at all? And, Regan, if your mom is in touch with Louisa.

Emily (sighing): See, I can write songs about this stuff without having to really be obvious about my feelings. It's still hard to just straight up talk about my mom. Yeah, she sent my dad and me a letter. And I didn't read it or her notebooks for over two years. My dad kept his distance a bit at first, too, because he didn't want to go against my feelings or whatever. But I told him to go ahead and talk to her, have his closure, work things out, whatever he needed. And their relationship, well, that's their business and I won't really get into that here. Molly and my mom write and talk all the time. They need each other, just like Regan and me. So yeah, when I was finally ready to look at Louisa's letters and her notebooks, Molly was the one I sat down with. Maybe it was more of that weird, emotional girly stuff you need a mother figure for, but probably it was just because my dad has his own shit with Louisa and it is just way too emotional the two of us combined. Anyway, Molly helped me process, Louisa's letters and the notebooks. And I actually wrote like six or seven letters to Louisa with my response to her. Some of them were angry, some of them were sad, one of them was even a total "I forgive you, come home and let's be a family" letter. I put a sticky note on top of all the letters that said, "Clearly I don't know how the fuck I feel about you and you're just going to have to deal with that for right now." And she wrote me back and said she'd deal with it however I wanted to deal with it. So there were letters for another year, then finally there was a phone call and now I see her every once in awhile. Our first meeting was at a bar in New Orleans which seems appropriate, don't you think? She's still kind of nomadic, but obviously so am I with touring and everything. Meeting in places outside of Carlisle and Chicago works for us, it's like meeting in neutral territory. She's come to Chicago once though to see her grandson. Yeah, so that's that.

Well, there you have it. Now there is no need for a sequel, right? Or maybe there is plenty of room for a sequel. Only time will tell. And if I do someday decide to write a sequel, I reserve the right to completely change all of this. This was just my first instinct of where I thought Emily and Regan would be 9 years after the book. Feel free to leave a comment on how you imagined Emily and Regan 9 years after IWBYJR because now that the book is out there, it is just as much yours as mine and I always think the story is best left up to your interpretation.

I gotta say, I had wayyyyy too much fun doing that interview. I hope it was fun for you too. Now feel free to comment away about it because here is the fabulous prize that one lucky winner will receive:
Since I didn't have any She Laughs memorabilia, I wanted to give you a piece of my biggest rock star moment. This is a big poster from the event I did at the Metro a month ago. It is signed by me, Irvine Welsh, and Bill Hillmann. Now Bill and I aren't very famous (yet!), but obviously signed Irvine memorabilia is a big thing. The Metro will be auctioning these off for charity at some point. But you can win one right here by leaving a comment. I will choose a winner at random two weeks from today on October 29th when I host Kelly Parra, author of the amazing book Invisible Touch which just came out yesterday (but I read an ARC and I can tell you it is soooooooooo good!)

Yes, I did say Kelly will be here two weeks from today. Next week I am taking the week off from blogging (except at MTV Books where I'll be Monday and Teen Fiction Cafe where I'll be sometime next week because I'm due up on those group blogs) to get some hard work done on my 3rd book! I love blogging but if I don't take a week off here and there you guys won't get more books and that would make us all sad.

Hope to see some of you at the Wisconsin Book Festival this weekend! And a big shout-out to everyone who was at the Forest Park Public Library last night, especially all the teens who came out. It was one of my most fun events yet!