Expectations

A few days ago, on Thursday November 10, 2011, I attended Dave Housley’s reading in the Chambers Building.  I really had no specific expectations for the event because I had never actually been to a writer’s reading.  Basic questions, What will he read? How many people from our class will actually show up?, filled my thoughts beforehand.  I texted a friend from the class and asked if she would be attending, she was, so we walked together.  We arrived pretty early, and besides one guy, the room was empty.  Definitely one thing I was not expecting.  Soon after though, the room was filling up as the minutes moved closer to 7:30.  Sheila, my English instructor, was soon there and talked to us.  Several others from the class also piled in.  Dave Housley was quite an attractive man if you ask me and seemed to have a great personality, making for a nice, humorous, much-needed atmosphere to spend my evening within.

I was pleased with the atmosphere, the readings, the presence of everyone in the room and the night overall.  It was a new experience and one that I am thankful for having, attending my first reading.  Right off the bat, the atmosphere was funny.  The guy who introduced Dave (Forgive me, I can see his face but cannot remember his name!) also had an obvious air about him that allowed everyone to simply relax.  To my surprise we got a free literary magazine! I hadn’t expected that, but am glad that we did, I’ve already been reading it.  Dave introduced his book Ryan Seacrest is Famous and you may call me crazy but I have seen that book before! I believe it was in the Penn State Bookstore in the HUB, but Dave didn’t announce that as a place where we could purchase it.  I’m definitely confused on that one!  Either way, we got a taste of the book.  My best description would be funny and random, very random.  Maybe if I read the entire thing or knew more about Dave, the subject matter would relate, but I found each of the stories to be different and really good.  He read two shorter pieces and a longer one.  The first thing I had to get over was that even though he was reading in the first person, it wasn’t “him” speaking as the character in the story, at least I didn’t think so, cause he’s not missing a finger?  Anyways, I had initially listened as if he were the character talking, making for a very humorous experience seeing that some of the content being read and the fact that his parents were in the same room, should not mix, if indeed it were about himself.  Hilarious.  I could not stop laughing at some parts, and I couldn’t help but glance around to others to see their reactions as well.  I definitely enjoyed the Princess and the Frog story, very heartfelt and still humorous.  I will admit that one expectation I did have was for the reading to be longer, it was much shorter than I had planned for, and I actually wished it had been longer at the time.  I was content in that room, with those people, in that moment.  In the most disastrous weeks in my life here at Penn State so far, I had one of the best experiences.  Who would have thought?

Attending Dave Housley’s reading has really opened me up to the idea of becoming more enveloped in the world of literature.  It’s intriguing through both readings and literary magazines.  I can’t wait to attend another, hopefully Sheila’s!  English has become a new, intriguing subject for me, that I’m considering pursuing as an area of interest, perhaps someday a major.

Oh, and one more thing, I actually did know who Jerry Garcia was, thanks to my sister the once “Dead Head” you might say who used to have a 9 fingered Jerry Garcia Doll, guitar and all, that I thought was so funny to play with when I was little.  Thanks sissy, and to Dave, I got the reference and the humor.