(aka post-expozine post, or expozine post-mortem, etc.)

So it's 4am and I have to get up at 7:30 to return the rental car, or else risk incurring a parking ticket at 8am. But I'm wired up and I can't sleep. Late coffee, driving for 6 hours straight and an awesome weekend all weigh on my mind. Then I realized that I was hungry. So now I'm eating Firoza's crazy spicy chora nu batata kale gaajar.

I had a wicked time at Expozine, first hanging out with my table neighbour Élizabeth Robert (nochesdepoesia), an awesome publisher and translator. She's a wild poetry lover and promoter. From her I bought my first Sheri-D Wilson book, Goddess: Gone Fishing for a Map of the Universe. Seriously, do not stop; run and buy this book. I almost never buy poetry, and I bought this after reading one page. This is more spoken-word put to print than classical verse, but man. Really excited.

I also bought Sherwin Tjia's pick-your-own-plot book (damn you SJG! unleash thy copyrites!), where you are a cat. I will read it eventually and report back on it. Then I bought David Turgeon (Eerie)'s first novel, Les Bases Secrètes, as well as a bloody $40 Muse Récursive megabook. Ugh my wallet.

Élizabeth told me a fair bit about Barbancourt, a Haitian rum that's just recently been unbanned in Canada. She even went to pick up a bottle for me at the SAQ.

I got to check out the Drawn & Quarterly bookstore for the first time, but since it took us 20 minutes to find parking around there, we got in before it 5 minutes before closing. Still managed to snag a Seth and a Joe Sacco, though. (Almost bought Guy Delisle's Jérusalem, but it seems rather naïve. Has anyone with a clue about Palestine read it?)

I also met tons of zinesters and friends, old friends from my days at Food Not Bombs in Québec City in particular. Bought some interesting-looking zines, although I didn't really fall in love with anything.

Then as usual, my carpool finished the fair having dinner at Patati Patata, and then we had some good fun on the drive home.

Like someone said, Expozine is like Christmas for us. It was so good for me. Wee! So happy.

I think I've received more orders from outside North America this year than inside. I just received one from Australia, and the day before was Denmark. This is crazy! What's going on?