I set out at 3:30. The event didn't start until 6:30, and I figured three hours to make an hour and a half drive was plenty of time. I was so wrong. I sat for an hour in the border crossing getting heat stroke. I rolled my windows down and blasted my music aggressively at all the other cars. When I finally got to the border guard I was braced for it to be awful. One of the last times I went through they asked who in our car was a felon and derided us for going to a Renaissance fair. But this guy thought it was funny how immediately excited I got about going to see Neil Gaiman, asked me to turn up the Decemberists on my stereo, and thought it was cool I worked at STORE.
I was on my way, trying to adjust to km/h vs m/h when I hit a wall of traffic. I'd spent about an hour at the border crossing, and then this. My legs were aching from the constant shifting, there's no worse time to drive a manual than stop and go traffic. Oh, also I'd been planning on getting food, since I thought I'd have plenty of time. That was a laugh. There was one moment where, stuck in traffic, at 6:00 that I almost cried. Fears that they would shut the door, or give away my ticket, or I would in some way miss seeing my idol in person were immune to logic. I pulled myself together, and assured myself that what was gonna happen was gonna happen, and everything would be fine. This is where having a buddy would have come in handy.
I found the place okay, and got parking really close to the venue. When I went in there were no seats left, so one of the staff said it would be okay if I sat in their reserved seating. Then I got to listen to Neil Gaiman read aloud from Ocean at the End of the Lane, answer questions, and read an excerpt from Fortunately, the Milk. He went offstage and people started leaving if they didn't want things signed. A guy approached me with a big smile, "Excuse me, do you know if those people are coming back or if they're staying for the signing?" I shook my head, "I'm not sure, and I'm also a little concerned that since the row I'm in was for staff they won't call it for the signing raffle." They were drawing row numbers to see who got to go in what order to meet Neil. He grinned, and I thought he'd leave me to my own devices, but instead he said, "I'll be right back!" He went and found out then came and sat with me, assuring me we were in the drawing.
We talked for several hours while we waited. His name was David, he was blonde, and seemed about my age. We geeked out over Neil Gaiman and he told me how he was from California, that he'd flown up here and was couch surfing just for this event. He told me about how he had lived in India, and China, that he did work away and couch surfed. The people he was staying with had loaned him their bike and given him their house key. He said he went to University in Scotland and then did a very passable accent. When the row in front of us was called, it was such a short row that the guys in it urged us to just jump in line, so we did. We each showed the extra thing we'd brought to get signed and started hyperventilating as we got closer. When we got up to Mr. Gaiman, I thanked him for Amanda Palmer, saying I might not have heard her if they hadn't done the Evening show, and he smiled and said that was the idea. When asked what I'd wanted written I'd written my name, and "Improvise." He misspelled my name, then apologizing, had fixed it up, then drew an arrow and said, "Improvised!" I love it.
Afterward me and David decided to walk around the city. We got a slice of pizza and strolled along. I told him I'd spend half an hour. He asked me if I dressed the way I did because I like it or- "Or what?" I asked. "Or if you're trying to make a statement about being a lesbian." I laughed and said I just liked it, and was unaware my clothes made any statements at all. We headed for the gay district and at one point I pointed ahead of us, "Look, there's a skunk." We watched it cross the road, then continued on our way. He started telling me a story about how when he was a kid he'd almost gotten sprayed by not seeing the skunk. It was at that point I grabbed his arm. "Watch out." Ahead of us nosing around in the bushes were two more skunks. We backed away slowly then laughed. He thanked me. As we detoured I saw a cat. I grinned and said, "Hey kitty." David jumped and almost bolted at the hey, not realizing it was a cat, but we kept our guard up and good thing, because we passed one last one skunk before coming out into the downtown area. Skunks should be the national animal, they were everywhere.
I checked the time, and said I had to go. We were almost to the ocean, but my parking garage closed at 1am and though he offered repeatedly to let me crash with him I was having none of it. But then I relented. "We'll go to the ocean, but we'll go get my car and drive there. I can't be stuck in Canada away from my car." He agreed and we headed down to the beach, walking along the rock. We sat and talked for a while. I tried and failed to catch a duck, and got scraped up on a rock wall trying to get back up on the sidewalk.
When we finally decided to call it a night. I drove him to his bike, then offered to drive him and the bike back to his couch crash and save him a 45 minute ride. I likely wouldn't have gotten lost if not for that, since I was fairly confident of the main street. But heading out from his place after agreeing to be pen pals, I got turned around immediately. I saw two guys and rolled my window down. "Can you tell me how to get to Granville? Or downtown? I'm lost." They made faces, "We're lost too." My face fell but at that moment a cop car pulled up behind me. They motioned him over and I grinned, "I'm lost." You could see in his face that he thought something sketchy had been going on, but I dimpled at him and was bubbly enough that he started smiling and gave me directions.
I made it home with no more detours, and slept the deep happy sleep you get after a day of adventuring.
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