Sometimes Ya Gets Lucky

So not just ten minutes ago, I’m sitting around cranking away at the new novel, and thinking about a script that I have to crank out by Saturday morning when I get a call from one of the editors over at my game magazine gig, “GameAxis.”

The conversation goes something like this:

Him: Hey, you heard Neil Gaiman is coming to town?

Me: Oh, is he? Yeah, I think I might have been vaguely informed of that, but I don’t really pay attention to these things…

Him: Oh, not a big fan, huh?

Me: I’m aware of his work.

Him: Too bad. We need to send someone down to his press conference and since you’re our designated Uber Geek, I thought you might be knowledgeable enough to be our point man, but if you don’t know him that well, the-

Me: ME! MEMEMEME! OOOH! OOOOHMEMEME! NEIL! NEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIL-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I AM NOT WORTHY TO CLEAN THE SCUM OFF HIS SHOES BUT I WORSHIP AT THE HOUSE OF NEIL NONETHELESS!!!

Him: So… you wanna’ cover it?

Me: [ After five seconds of realizing "MORE NEIL-O!"] YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!

Him: Great! I’ll make the call, it’s 10 o’ clock, July 4th at the British Council. Most of the guys there will only know he’s a famous writer, so you gotta’ ask the geek questions. That okay?

Me: …

Him: Hello? You there?

Me:…

Him: Hallo?

Me: NEEEEEEEEEEEEIL-OOOOOOOOO!!!! NEIL-ONEIL-ONEIL-O OHMYGOD, I GET TO TALK TO N-N-N-N-NEIL…OOOOOOO!!!

Him: I’m guessing that’s a “I’m looking forward to this…”

Wow, what’ll I wear? Well, something black of course, because Neil likes black, and I’d better borrow the fiance’s i-pod, ’cause Neil-O likes those, ooh, ooh, and maybe I’ll wear my black Sandman T-shirt! Yeah, that’s it, that’s not fanboy-ish at all, and find my sunglasses, maybe dig out a leather jacket, pick up a British accent, find out what hotel he stays in, kidnap the designated housekeeper for his floor and steal his towels and soap…