National Geek Day Observed (& A Late Blogiversary)

So the reason why I had a good reason not to observe National Geek Day (see below) by going to go see Mirrormask or Serenity open is because I was actually basking in the physical presence of National Geek himself--i.e. Neil Gaiman. Okay, so since he's really a Brit, we can't completely claim him, but that's even better--he's iNternational Geek.

He gave a lovely talk at Berkeley's lovely First Congregational Church (dressed in his trademark black denim and leather, he gripped the ornate gilded lectern on the stage and greeted us with a somber, "Dearly beloved"), and read from the new Anansi boys (Debuting at #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List!!) Actually, National Geek Day was coined, apparently, not by him, but by Sky McCloud, daughter of Scott McCloud. (See here for an adorably creepy photo of Sky and Neil.) He also answered a question about a potential future collaboration with Terry Pratchett along the lines of Good Omens with an incredibly qualified, conditional, multi-claused perhaps that I and 700-odd other shrieking fans interpreted as a very strong commitment.

And then he signed, and he signed, and he signed, and he signed, and actually, despite the fact that I got my book signed around 11:30 and it's now about two hours later, I wouldn't be surprised if he's still signing books there. The man loves his fans, and we love him for it. Cody's gave us clothes-pins with numbers on them so we would only have to stand in line in batches of 100 or so. Lars Erik and Scott (both dojo-mates) were there, so while we waited they did quite a bit of practice and tumbling, attracting a crowd of adolescents and teenagers who very well might show up to Aikido next week. I practiced some punches and even some Bharat Natyam on the grass. We did rolls and tumbles. Conversations included the elusive excellence of the three level pun, blog communities, and the purported difficulty of a lot of good authors. It was a generally convival evening out beneath the stars. Gaiman signed my book with some good advice for a writer, and I was pretty happy with the evening. Really we could have gone, had dinner, watched Mirrormask and still come back in good time to get our books signed. Ah well, there's tomorrow.

We here at Datta industries also deeply appreciate our readers, and I'd like to take a moment to thank you for coming along for the ride. It's just a bit over two years ago that I started this blog, but it's appropriate that I wait till today to note it, b/c my first blogpost was about the last time I saw Neil Gaiman read and sign. His blog was, and is, one of my favorites, and it was the first blog that really got me hooked on the idea of blogging myself. Would that my life were as deliciously interesting as his! I certainly cover very different ground. But I've always appreciated his conversational tone and the sense that he does like to interact with his readers as he can. I really apppreciated it when he posted a link to my list of of how to help Tsunami victims. (I was also pretty happy that he liked the corpse cake.) You'd think his blog would be all about ghosts and music and obscure poetry, but the warm sense of community he inspires "merely" by doing good work and exuding good will has coalesced a famously generous fan base. Amazingly enough, little ole me has gotten a taste of this sense of community from my dear band of witty, informative, kind readers. No one knows where this blogosphere thing is going, but thanks for coming on the ride!