enter the sandman...

the wait seemed endless... especially when we hinged on our sore feet for about five hours. but as we teetered over the boundary between the exterior and the interior of borders bookstore, somebody turned on the light speed and we were propelled to our destination in a matter of minutes. cheryl and stef developed a bit of the jitters and wanted to go ahead before me so i complied. as i approached the nicely set-up table and the englishman seated behind it, it was as if i entered the eye of the storm... the surreal calm as i stepped away and left behind the chaotic dimension of sweaty nerves and dweeby excitement. i smiled and greeted the man who returned the gesture graciously with a 'hi and how are you?' of his own. as i started a casual, brief chatter with the nice, obliging man, it somehow didn't hit me that i was speaking with one of my favourite authors of all time, neil gaiman....

i passed him my copy of coraline (which is one of my favourite novels) and volume two of the sandman series. gaiman tried to personalise his signatures, and i watched entranced as he penned my name and drew a cute little mouse followed by a vaguely discernible scribble of his own name. i thanked him on behalf of all the fans present and wished him luck on all future endeavours. he thanked me as i floated away... my feet were hardly touching the ground.



i was the happiest geek in the universe that day. even now, i could not fully comprehend my great fortune at having met one of my favourite authors... my life is getting closer to being complete. neil gaiman has got a lifelong fan in me.

check out his official website... he keeps an online journal there as well...