He's a nice guy

I've met a lot of celebrities and famous people before. It would be too tedious for me to name them now, but the point is that, a long time ago, I realized that they are all real, everyday people. This made it easy to move past that "star struck" phase, and become utterly comfortable with celebrities.

But waiting to meet Neil Gaiman was a totally different thing.

Neil Gaiman's writings have been a part of my life for a long time. My Kuya Myke, whose influence with comics will be the topic of a future blog post, turned me onto Sandman by berating me for first purchasing a Sandman book then censoring said boob-filled issue. This was in the early 90's when I was still a devoutly Catholic southridge boy, so I couldn't understand how something with boobs could possibly be good. But Kuya Myke asked me to just think about it and read it. So I did. And I loved it. (it was the WORLD'S END issue with Hob and the sea serpent.)

From that point on, I became obsessed with everything Neil. I picked up trade paperback after trade paperback, novel after novel, and various single issues in between. Even his website, with his constantly updated journal, is a regular hangout for me. I realize now that it was after reading Death the High Cost of living that I wanted to be a writer. So Neil, here's to you for making me realize my dreams.

I've enjoyed my life with Neil so far. He has a special place on my shelf devoted to his words, and they accompany me through all the ups and downs in life. His words are (aside from Kathy) the perfect companions: non-judgemental, always profound, and always instructive. Reading his words give me new insight into my life and into the world, and I can't imagine a life without them.

And then I heard that he was coming here.

Through interviews and articles, I had always pictured Neil to be a jolly, nice, and very charming guy. Thus, even though I always thought of his work more than him, I steadily built up an idealized image in my head of what a great guy he is. I did not want that shattered.

I had been burned too many times of my ideals when it comes to people. Often times, I would hear great things about a person only to see them prove to be horrible once I met them. I was so scared that Neil would be like this when I met him.

But of course I still wanted to go.

And when I met him, hoping against hope that he was as nice a guy as I thought, Ifound that I was wrong.

He's nicer.

I know I only met him for a fraction of a minute, but there are some people that show their quality in various small ways. It's in a shrug of the shoulders when they don't want to say something bad; it's in the width of a smile; it's in the gentleness of the eyes.

With Neil, it was several things: him insisting that the speaker be moved outside the bookstore; him staying up until 1:30 to sign for everyone in rockwell; him kissing my friend on the cheek because she gave him a gift for Maddy... But for me a true indication of how nice he is was when I complimented him. Verbatim:

me: Neil, you're a true inspiration. I hope you know that.

him (looking up from signing my book): er... um... bup...uh....? (bemused smile)

That was it. We chit-chatted a little bit more, but that was it. No sardonic declarations of "I know", no distracted "uh-huh's" and no pretentious "Oh really? WOW! I'm glad you THINK so!!!!" It was just a simple... speechlesness.

So in the end, I had nothing to fear... I can now continue reading his books with even more certainty.

The guy is great.

Smile Neil!