Gaiman-ia! (part 2)

Manic Monday.

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When I woke up Sunday, I was in pain. I was hurting in different places, and I couldn't move without wincing. I decided to stay home and recuperate for the Monday event.

And since I didn't go to Greenhills, I had no idea how the thing went. I only found out from Rachell's Monday morning SMS that they were giving away signing stubs at Gateway as early as 8:30. I checked my watch: 9:30 a.m. Argh. I decided to take a chance anyway and arranged to meet up with Rachell.

I was at Gateway by 11. From a distance, I could see the Fully Booked metal door stretched half-way down to the floor. I didn't see a crowd. Yet. As I approached the venue I saw tens of people outside the glass doors of Gateway (that area in between the mall and the train station). 'Manageable,' I thought to myself. I walked out of the doors to check out the line.

Shock, shock, horror, horror.

The line (which was 3 persons deep, at least) stretched all the way down three levels. After two trips on the escalator, I never bothered to find out where the end of the line was. I called Rachell and told her the situation. She told me she'll pick me up so we can head straight to the Writer's Forum instead.

I got a staff ID from Mango Jam, and I was able to sneak Rachell in without a hassle. Then I left my gift for Neil with Tita Susan A., who was so kind to sneak my token cd into the British Council goody bag they were giving him.

Thor (the dear!) saved us seats. (It was early, so seats weren't hard to come by, but we had a good view.) Sitting there comfortably feeling giddy was better than waiting at Gateway, I thought. We had to wait for a bit though, as Neil was still wrapping up his interview over at NU. Rachell had this crazy idea to wait for Neil downstairs, the stalker! Hehe... I must admit, I was tempted at the idea.

photo by Paolo

The forum was fun (and funny, too)! There were intelligent questions and silly ones alike, but Neil answered all of them with wit and flair. What can I say? I can't believe someone can be so nice and polite and accomodating (in a word, magnanimous). I am in love. :-)

Thor's officemate Anne let me play around with her nice digital camera and took lots of photos. Will be posting them here as soon as I get them via e-mail.

[Edit: Found them in my mail today, so I'm posting them now!]

Blurry pics, I know. It's kind of difficult to take digital pics with this icky kind of lighting from where we were seated. This last one I edited a bit, I erased the water bottle and a bit of Ani's arm.

After the event we hung out at the bottom of the stairs, and schmoozed with people we know. After a few minutes Neil went down the stairs surrounded by security personell. As he walked past us I waved and said hi, and he looked at me and said, 'Hey!' with a smile. Highlight of the day. :-D

One of Thor's friends kissed Neil and passed the love around to us. Heh heh heh... It was kind of awkward. Someone should have introduced me to her. Heh heh...

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And so here ends the Gaiman lovefest in Manila, but the dreams will go on. :-)

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Rachell treated me to late lunch at Bizu. We sat with Wincy and Marie, Quark and Lia, Mark, Ramon, et al., and we all had different conversations running at the same time. Heh heh...

After that yummy repast Rachell and I decided to watch War of the Worlds ('cause we both haven't seen it and didn't have anyone to watch it with).

[And now I will digress for a bit.] On our way out of Bizu, a girl from the table behind us called my attention apologetically and asked me where I bought my shirt (the one with a cute girl graphic and the words 'IT'S MINE.'). Caught by surprise, I couldn't recall where I bought it (most probably sa ukay). She said it reminded her of a friend and wanted to get one for her/him. I told her to have a shirt made just like it so she took pics of my shirt (front and back). She seemed embarassed to ask but I said it was okay. (Rachell thinks it's normal, she does that all the time! hehe...) [end digression]

Anyway--- we watched the latest Spielberg flick. Despite the fact that Nico kind of spoiled the ending (with my permission) for me, I liked it (specially the opening shots). Or maybe I lowered my expectations with all the mixed reviews I've been hearing. Or maybe the last movie I saw was notches below this one. I dunno. Maybe Spielberg did it right in this movie. (I swear he should have ended AI with the Blue Fairy scene.) Heh heh...

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We went around Shoppesville in search for the elusive Katamari Damacy game (the old one) while we waited for Rachell's dad to pick her up. No dice. (Kung sinong meron-- pakopya naman o!)

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I was home a little after eight, tired but happy. I had a good day and I couldn't ask for anything more (uhmm wait, maybe I would ask for a few things if I could, but you get my point hehehe).