OH YAAAAYYY
So...yesterday, I saw Neil Gaiman. He was in Toronto for Luminato and he was going to read stuff. And also sign. So I got Neverwhere all ready and then Sharmy texted me, saying that he was only going to sign one thing each and she needed me to get a book signed for her friend that got us the tickets. So I went over all heartbroken and a little sulky and went, "Well, I guess I'll take the book out of my bag."
But my dad said, "No! Get both of them signed! Speak your case and surely he'll do it!"
And I said, "Well....but if he did that for everybody....I mean there's no reason for him to....oh....no....er..."
"No!" said dad again. "Would Neil Gaiman's characters give up?! Wel...the guy from American Gods would probably rip his head off...so don't do that...but that little girl in that book..."
"Coraline?"
"Yes! Her! Would SHE give up on getting a signature?"
"...s'pose not..."
"Right! I expect you to come back with two signatures!"
So I kept the book in my bag and the next day I met Sharmy at Union after being a bit late because I'd actually spent time going, "Hmm, I should wear Doctor Who pins because I know he watches Doctor Who and maybe if I could find a decent Master one because I know he likes John Simm but oh dear I have no good Master ones, really, I'll just wear the vintage 4th Doctor one and the one with Donna, Ten and the Master that I drew."
Sharmy'd brought not only a book her mum had bound as a present for him but had also illustrated the poem that we wrote him in April.
Explanation:
In April, someone played an April Fools Joke that was about, "Oh nose, some girl didn't find Neil Gaiman hot, she was clearly lying!" The article had a Neil Gaiman 'expert' who was coming out with a book that included, among other things, 'poems about Neil Gaiman's hair'. Sharmie and I thought this was hilarious and proceeded to write a poem about his hair. And then we sent it to him.
Dear Neil,
We wrote a poem about your hair.
neil gaiman’s hair
by leah masterson and sharmylae taffe-fletcher
your hair
like a cloud of greyish darkness
i want my face in it
but your face is there
whispers of smoke in the middle of the night
it haunts my dreams
like morpheus does to... everyone
ne’er touched by brush nor comb
yet indie chic at every signing
just out of bed
tousled by love
...and sleeping
also probably because you don’t brush it
many attempt to duplicate
no one succeeds
your hairstyle is unique
like a bad hair day
or a snowflake, though we have no way of confirming this
really? checking every snowflake?
time consuming.
i’d rather check out your hair
your hair is free
like bees
but not the ones you keep
the ones who are free
angels would be jealous
of your casual scruffiness
why?
(This is a joke. Thanks to: http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=19999 )
Cheers,
Leah and Sharmylae
AND THEN HE RESPONDED:
that was hilarious! thank you for making me smile
n
So, based on the fact that he'd liked it, Sharmy printed out the poem and drew a picture of Neil's hair turning into fog and snowflakes and smoke and bees. And I got her to write "This is a free bee" with an arrow pointing to one of the bees.
The actual thing started with Neil reading a passage from The Graveyard Book and he did marvelous voices of an old married couple and it was highly enjoyable. Also, he's awkward and cute. Just saying. Then he did a sort of interview with the moderator who was quite funny and it was pretty neat. And he talked about the genesis of his relationship with Amanda Palmer by saying they'd begun to "quite shyly date". He also said that it started sort of when she sent him pictures of herself dead and asked if he might write stories to go with them only "he probably wouldn't because he's big and important and fancy and sorry I even asked."
Then there was a question period and two of the guys sounded nearly exactly like Ben Ornstein only one of them sounded like Ben plus the Comic Book Guy. The Comic Book Guy was annoying because he asked a question that you could find the answer to on the internet and it was a waste of the question. Someone else asked something that was essentially a cooler version of "Where do your ideas come from?" but it was that stupid question nonetheless. Someone asked where Hunter from Neverwhere had come from (walking around in a garden with the TV producer coming up with ideas). Then there was this Scottish guy who RAMBLED. Something about mumblemumble did you voice on Scotch Mist....Facebook....making people understand....settle argument....Radiohead....you had reactions to Douglas Adams death.
And Neil said, "I'm just...waiting for you to actually ask a question."
So he asked about Douglas Adams.
Apparently, the day before Douglas Adams died, there had been a big to-do about Lou Reed dying and he'd come on things and said, "No, I'm alive, really..." I think Neil phrased it as, "Only as dead as he'd ever been." And Neil was doing an interview with a BBc reporter in China and he saw something saying Douglas Adams was dead come up on his screen. So he thought, "Oh no, not another hoax" and clicked the link and it was legitimate. "Douglas Adams is dead," he said and the reporter said, "Yes," because he'd known hours earlier and they continued the interview. And later, the BBC guy contacted him and said he'd transcribed the interview and everything they'd done after Neil found out Douglas was dead was unuseable.
And then Neil went on to talk more about how awesome DNA was and it made me cry.
Um, someone else asked Neil about Good Omens. Apparently, Neil would wake up at noonish and there'd be a message left on his answering machine that would be Terry saying, "Wake up! Wake up, you bastard! I've just written a good bit!"
After the questions, Neil read Blueberry Girl and a story from the Amanda Palmer book and then it was time for signings.
In line, we had a conversation with two girls in front of us about accidentally messing up books, and Neil Gaiman stuff we'd read and Diana Wynne Jones and with the kid behind us whose name was Eli and looked about twelve we talked about...anything he could think of. I think he was trying to impress us. He showed us his press badge and stuff. And then he said he was going to ask Neil Gaiman to a barbeque and we were like, "Uh.....good luck with that....."
And meanwhile, people were coming around with post-its that you were meant to tell them your name and they put it in the part of the book Neil signs to save time so I got one put in my book just in case. Then when we were nearly at the front, I sort of went, "Oh, bugger, I have to probably get one into Rebecca's," so I gave the woman at the front it and she put a sticky into it.
When we got to Neil, he was smiling and lovely-wonderful and he's TOO NICE FOR REALS. Um.
He saw Sharmy when she handed him her book, and said, "Oh, I remember you from Twitter! You were asking about present and here one is!" and Sharmy said, "Yes, it's a book my mum bound." And she also put down the poem and he glanced at it and said, "It's me! With my hair being things."
"And bees who are free," I said and Neil went, "Yes, free bees."
We explained that it was the poem from April and he seemed to remember it and then he stood up and leaned over to Sharmie and said, "Thank you for the presents! Here is a hug just for you," and he hugged her.
!
Then he got to me and I kind of babbled, "This is the book, for Sharmy's friend. It's, um, yeah," and he signed it and I said, "Um...I know you only signed one thing and that was for Sharmie's friend because she got us the tickets but I was wondering if there's any chance that you might sign mine for me, I'm sorry, it's okay, mm.
He said something joking like, "Oh, you tricked me," (actually was "It's all right, I'll pretend I was tricked", thank you Sharmy for not being too freaked out to actually LISTEN) when I took my book out of my bag but he said he'd do it because of the lovely presents. He signed my copy of Neverwhere with a little speech bubble that says "Mind the Gap!"
And then, just before I left, he said, "I like your Doctor Who pins!"
!
!
Sharmie and I were so flustered we completely forgot to stay and see the outcome of the barbeque kid and in a sort of shaky dream we wandered over to the nearest Tim Horton's where we sat until we learned how to make our legs work properly again.
I've met Neil Gaiman and John Barrowman and seen the Flight of the Conchords live and I'm beginning to think that dreams really are possible.
( Link to Sharmy's probably more accurate version of events)
Edit: I've just realised how funny it is that my mood theme shows Nine enthusiastically hugging Captain Jack.