gaga over gaiman

i'm surprised none of my friends have bloggged about their encounters with neil gaiman (yet). yes, haven't blogged in a while, and have chosen to write about this most recent experience first. work with me here.
i'm not what you would say an ultimate fan. but i appreciate his stories. i first read "snow, glass, apples" in a MA class in 2002. then, rye and pam shared some others with me. i'd heard of the sandman series way back in college, but never really knew anyone who had the entire set. finally turned out geray, one of the most prolific readers i know, has practically all neil's graphic novels. and then some. when i found out for sure he was coming over, i immediately bought a copy of "smoke and mirrors", because i'd read some stories from ian's copy when we were doing "blood bank", and loved his prose!
so, fast forward a few weeks, some of my friends are all abuzz because the time of his arrival was drawing near. and finally, geray and i arranged to meet up at rockwell for the first day of booksigning. researching on the Net, i found that rye had created the website for the event. so i talked to her and found out that she was a volunteer for the event, and she filled me in on stuff to be prepared to, stuff to do. primary of which: be there early to get a #. i got there at 930 am. but geray and i met up at 10, and got early 300s. good enough.

my friend, rye--with the orange ID lace--at the registration desk (of sorts)

the line! the line!

i had to rush home for some stuff i had to do. then i made my way back around 4 pm. turns out my timing was perfect. because neil had been delayed, so when i got there, they were just about to introduce him! i was able to catch the trailer for "mirrormask" before neil went onstage in all black--wearing a leather jacket too.
me and friends swept up in the enthusiasm--parang rock concert!

now, once again, i'm not that big a fan, but i was swept up in the energy and enthusiasm of the crowd (the rockwell tent was jampacked!), that started whooping, clapping, and screaming. he made a funny comment about us being louder than the brazilians!
neil speaking to the roaring crowd
he spoke a little, then read from his new book "anansi boys", which i am definitely getting when it comes out in september. it's so funny and he reads it so animatedly! after that, he took a few questions. then, it was on to the booksigning by a little past 5. while waiting outside the tent for our turn, we bumped into old friends, chatted (by now, we were joined by cely, henry, and tala).
hanging out with gizzy and rye

we were antsy by 6, and went off to hang out at starbucks. by 7, it wasn't near our turn at all. i hung out with gissy and rye for a while. then, around 930, they were trying to send people home, asking them to come back the next day for the booksigning at the promenade.
jaime daez (someone's crush. ahem!), owner of fully booked, signing people's passes for next day

i was a bit alarmed, because i was told he was going to sign for 500 persons for sure. it turns out, they were just asking people with #s over 500 to come back. by 10, they were announcing that neil was concerned about kids who had to be home, so they asked that the line give way to kids 15 and below, and adults with kids. after a few minutes, those who were in advanced stages of pregnancy and those in wheelchairs. well, finally, at 1030, i got my few minutes with neil! he was obviously very tired, but he was so nice to politely talk to me and sign two books (my "smoke and mirrors" and "coraline" that i arbored from geray. thanks to passes from rye, we had more than 1 bk signed each!).
neil (in british accent): i think you are an extraordinary writer... you will be the voice of your generation, i reckon.

neil: would you oblige me an autograph from you
me: oh neil! this is your time to shine! i'll give you my autograph later!
neil: oh, dang!

*thanks to the volunteer who took my awesome pix! (wasn't able to get her name in all the excitement though.)
later found out that they finished after 1am--neil insisted on signing for everyone who was still there!
then, just this afternoon, i obtained an invite (thanks to mons!) to the writers forum at music museum. i rode with some other people who scheduled a shuttle there. we got there early, got good seats, and even yummy free food! then, neil arrived to roaring applause, and answered questions for an hour and a half. then, he had to go. but then, as we were going down the stairs outside music museum, someone behind me tapped my shoulder and said: "excuse me!" and i said "what?" and looked back, a bit annoyed. but it turned out, it was one of the security guys, and neil was right behind him!!! i barely had time to grab my camera and take a picture of him. but he was walking right beside me. we had to stop, and when he was 2 ft from me, i said "hi, neil!" and he looked straight at me and smiled, and looked as if he thought i was going to say something else.
before the shock of my life...

i would've but, believe it or not, i couldn't think of anything to say. i just stood there in shock, smiling widely. and i thought it would never happen to me!
then, he walked to the car that was waiting to take him to gateway for his booksigning.
there he goes.

wow. that was truly great.
and just now, i saw this entry in his blog, and i was so happy that he liked being here--despite the obvious exhaustion. here's his very sweet "thank you". to neil: come back soon!
so after meeting neil TWICE, here's a list of what i like about him:
obviously, his storytelling talent
his impeccable accent
his self-effacing manner
his wit
oh, and he is sexy (yeah, yeah, at least 2 of my friends will claim they saw him first. whatever!)