hard to take seriously

he got right up in my face, no more than a hand's length from my nose, and pointed his finger right between my eyes and said, "look buster, you can do it. don't you think for a second you can't. now go out and knock 'em dead at the book signing!", except when he was that close in mirror, i spied a wild long hair growing out the side of his nostril, making it virtually impossible to take him seriously, besides it wasn't like it was my book or anything, i was just going to study up on how it's done.