I will try to keep this post completely Ryan-free

Let me start off by saying this: I am too stupid to travel to NYC by myself EVER again. Had I not had friends to walk me to Grand Central at the end of the night, I think I would have ended up in New Jersey, I was so disoriented (and I try so hard to look like I'm not really a tourist whenever I'm there.) When I got back to the Stamford station, I forgot where the car was parked and wandered around for 45 minutes. When I remembered, I realized the car was in a garage that was already CLOSED and the security men will be laughing about me for weeks because they had to open it up just for me. The two quadruple espressos I had to keep myself awake on the 2 AM drive back to Hartford did not work too well. I still had to open my car windows and screech at the top of my lungs along with my Disney mix CD to keep myself from causing an accident. FYI however, Disney music is a very effective tool for keeping oneself from falling asleep at the wheel.
Despite all that, however, I had one awesome night. I got to the city a couple of hours early and was able to meet an old friend for dinner before the reading. I haven't seen her since my wedding almost 3 years ago. Pretty sad considering she's only a train ride away.
Of course I was there primarily to hear J.K Rowling, but I have to say I enjoyed Stephen King and John Irving just as much. I've always imagined Stephen King must be a truly demented individual to come up with that stuff, but he is ABSOLUTELY.HYSTERICAL. Seriously, I can't remember the last time I've laughed so hard. Seeing as his books scare the bejesus out of me, I haven't read a whole lot of his work, but I sure would like to sit down and have a beer with him sometime. Just as long as he never utters the word Redrum.
Our seats were very good- about 10 rows from the stage- and yes, in case you were wondering, when Rowling stepped out onto the stage, it took some effort to not start hyperventilating. It's quite an experience to hear Harry in her voice, and while all three authors were reading, I just kept thinking "wow, I'm in the presence of greatness." She read the chapter from the Half-Blood Prince where Harry goes back in time and witnesses Voldemort discovering he's a wizard. The readings were followed by a Q&A session with all 3 authors, which was also really interesting. Oh, and the celebrity guests who were there to introduce the authors: Whoopi Goldberg, Kathy Bates, Andre Brauer, and Jon Stuart.
All in all, definitly worth the $100 (I would have paid five times that... shhhh, don't tell Ticketmaster!!) and it inspired me to check out some of the other authors' works.