The Story Behind the Picture

The picture shown is an accurate representation of how much of a Neil Gaiman fanatic I was a few years ago.  Notice the geeky smile - something that no one will ever catch me doing nowadays - and the fact that I had to line up for hours just to have this photo op with the master storyteller himself.

I used to devour everything Gaiman back then.  I never failed to purchase his latest works.  I even bought his children's books in an attempt to gain a greater perspective of his work.  When Neil discovered that a huge chunk of the readers of his blog come from the Philippines, this was caused no less by people like myself who visit his site more than once everyday.  When he first visited the country in 2005, I made sure that I went to all his public engagements (i.e in Rockwell, Greenhills and Cubao).

The photo above was taken during the book signing in Fully Booked Promenade branch.  There's a funny story behind that picture.  You see I made friends with the pretty girl in green behind me who was next in line.  I wasn't hitting on her, though.  Anyone who endures a long line that spans hours would also feel the need to make friends just to pass the time. In the course of our conversation, I learned that she's an English teacher in ICA, and that she wasn't able to bring a camera in the book signing.

When we were nearing our turn in having our books signed by Neil, I offered to have her pictures taken using the digicam that i brought with me, and just have the copies sent to her later on via email.  I took pity on the fact that she only had her SE T610 camphone with her, and I figured that for a momentous event like meeting Neil Gaiman face-to-face for the first time, she could use some more megapixels to better preserve the memory.

We went our separate ways soon after the signing - with the promise that I would email her the pics later.

"Later" would in fact turn out to be 7 months later because the CD that contained the photos went missing for that time period.  When i finally managed to email her the pics, she was very grateful, but she admitted that she agonized over the long wait and finally lost hope of ever receiving the pics.  In the meantime, she has repeatedly told the story of the geeky monster who took advantage of her fascination with Neil Gaiman and stole her precious memories forever.  In particular, it was her students who listened and sympathized with her during this time.

As some of those students had a glimpse of me during the book signing, in their young minds they were able to attach a face to the monster.  And so the monster myth lived on for 7 months.  It was probably the only time in my life that some 30-40 girls all hated me at the same time. 

Anyway, it all ended on a good note because Miss ICA teacher couldn't wait to announce the great news to her students - that she got her pics, and that I wasn't a monster after all.