meeting the dream king

it was, by far, the craziest thing i've ever done in all of the twenty-one years of my existence. at around 7am, i began my vigil on the steps of gateway mall with several other lunatics as we waited in line for a booksigning session with no less than the dream king himself. three hours into what later proved to be a painfully long wait, i was sure i had totally flipped when the lights were finally switched on and everyone cheered. we finally got our stubs (yes, stubs pa lang!) at noon. by then, i'd made the acquaintance of this girl from UP (who, unbelievably, endured the previous booksignings) and found poor jason who missed the 150-people cut-off. so we took a break, went to lunch and came back at 2pm to make sure we didn't miss our number.

all the while, i was beginning to feel rather nervous because 1) i had asked coach to get me a book from aeon because FB wasn't selling that day and his class was to end at 3:30pm pa and, 2) omigosh, i was going to meet THE NEIL GAIMAN. i've never been one to get starstruck at the sight of local celebrities and other personalities but i get really giddy and border-line ditzy when i meet writers and other artsy-fartsy cultural figures. and lolo bengzon, of course. in fact, i've saved all or most of ma'am beni's text messages in my mobile's archive folder. but i digress.
my knight (minus the horse and shining armor, wearing a backpack instead) arrived just in time. after several more minutes of heartbeat-skipping and planning a script in my head ("hi neil, i love you!"), i finally stood before the black-clad, unruly haired man with an adorable english accent. chirpy fellow. my heart went pitty-pat. and for the next few (surreal) seconds, we chat easily and he gives me a hug before i leave with an autographed copy of "american gods" and a huge, stupid grin on my face at 5:30pm.

then off i went to find my one true love (yihee) who was at CBTL chatting with erwin romulo (who's now officially famous because i told him i read his column). i love happy endings.