Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Oh... and Angelina...

Happy Birthday!

-=- Walker -=-
  

    
My thanks to all those who wished me a happy anniversary and an easy
labour. ^^

To jump on the famous-people bragwagon for a moment:  I've met a few
beloved famed types outside of cons over the years, most notably Jim
Henson.  I grew up in this tiny NC town called Ahoskie, in which one of
the Henson children lived -- I believe it was Brian, and Jim Henson
would drop by and visit every once in a while.  We would always see
them out for dinner at the Golden Corral (the only restaurant in town).
     So one night, a few days before my birthday, we're eating dinner
there and my mother spies Jim Henson by the door waiting for a table. 
So she sneaks off and, I later learn, approaches him and, profusely
apologizing, asks him if he wouldn't mind saying hello to me as it's my
birthday.
     So she returns with him in tow and he squats down in front of me
and smiles and then says, in the voice I recognize immediately as that
of Kermit, "Hello Daniel, how are you?"  And I immediately burst into
tears and turn to my mother and exclaim, "He ate Kermit!"  Because I'd
just found out about frog legs, you see, and I assumed that this
strange man must have eaten Kermit for his voice to be coming out of
the man's mouth.
     So my mother was mortified and Mr. Henson was apologetic and then
zipped off to get a table at long last and I was traumatized.
     A few days later was my birthday party, and I entered the dining
room and removed my blindfold to discover that everything had a Kermit
the Frog theme!  The table cloth was Kermit, the plates and cups were
Kermit, there were Kermit cookies, and even the cake was in the shape
of Kermit's head and iced perfectly.  I knew immediately that the cake
was not a creation of my mother's, as the limit of her cake decorating
skills was posing my action figures upon the cake.  It later learned
that Mr. Henson had tracked us down (it was, as I said, a very small
town) and brought the cake and everything else by our house the night
before by way of apology.  I still have one of the Kermit napkins in my
scrapbook, with the photographs of that party.
     I was still living in that town when he died.  I remember the
moment, standing there in the grocery store checkout lane, when I saw
the tabloid headline announcing his death.  I felt an incredible sense
of loss that he was gone, that I'd wasted my lone opportunity to talk
to him by bursting into tears, and that I'd never be able to apologize
to him.

Neil -- Sorry to hear about the throat; I hope that it feels better
soon!
  

    
That is a fantastic story Dan - hilarious and sad at the same time.

Neil - Hope your throat heals quickly. A question for when you have a
moment: What else, besides writing, do you do extraordinarily well? (Or
even above average.)

Tara (a different one)
  

    
Two emails from Douglas Spadotto:

    04:42 AM. I've just arrived from the signing (or "sighting") of Neil
Gaiman in São Paulo. It was too cool to describe (saying "cool" I've
already described it, but whatever). He remembered me! I said: "I was
th...", and Neil completed: "You were the one at the Well! I was just
going to ask you...", I'm never forgeting this words (maybe the order was
different) ... from this moment on I just mumbled some words and took some
pictures... and Neil asked me to talk to you at this forum.
    So, I'm "invested" as a messenger to say that he's alive and well (the
well part is mine), and that this little tour to Brazil has breaked every
record. I can agree to that, because the FNAC building has 3 floors, and
the line was from the top (where Neil was) until the entrance. I don't
know when he was going to get of of there. I wished that I could stay
longer, but a had a 6 hour trip back home.
    He read an excerpt from "American Gods" (that I got in 8mm, but I'm
not going to "share" with nobody outside my house for anything in this
world!) and signed. The "tour manager" limited the signing to 1 book only,
so I chose "Books of Magic", where Neil wrote: "- Douglas - Abracadabra! -
Nel Gurgle". Very nice. And the ink of the pen is golden I think when I
turn off the lights from my bedroom, it'll magically glow...
    I have a lot of other impressions to talk about, but I don't know if
all of you are interested. And I'm almost dead because of 12 hours of bus
in one day. I'll write back tomorrow with a fresh look of what happened. I
think I'll even write to a local (and big) newspaper about the
experience."

Thanks for posting this for me,

Douglas Spadotto

So, I inocently lied about the "well" part. I hope you'll get better soon.
Not for the guys at Argentina (Brazil and Argentina have a little bit of
"rivality"), but after that. I'm kidding. Get better soon. As you can see
Neil, my day was very long too... I've just got home (now 05:07 AM). (I
should have read the forum before posting the other message)"

Thanks,

Douglas Spadotto
  

    
Neil--I'll send good throat vibes your way.  And I think I get triple
my normal good vibes to send because its my birthday.  

Dan--Wow.  That is quite the event in your young life.  :)  It is cute
cute cute that you thought he ate Kermit.

(and thanks, Walker.)

Angelina.
  

    
A) Angelina -- Happy Birthday! I hope that today holds much
celebrating and delight for you (as well as First Prize in the Blad
Beauty Contest)

Alas, due to the fact that I had to work, my 22nd b-day on Monday was
excruciatingly uneventful. (Ok, ok only the daylight part of it. That
night I got taken to a really rather good concert so that was all
right.)

B) Can I say how massively dissappointed I am in my local DFW
booksellers for utterly failing to bring Neil by on his tour? We really
have an astounding number of Large Book Chains here in Dallas, a bevy
of Borders' and Barnes and Nobles' and yet he still won't even be
entering Texas state lines. 

I must go find my local Borders manager and plead our case.
Thumbscrews may be applied...
  

    
Neil --  Perhaps some hot tea, lemon, & honey?  Probably a bit of rest
as well... do hope the throat feels better.  

Walker -- now I've got Cartman singing "Come Sail Away" in my head...
hmmm... might make the district dept heads meeting more enjoyable by
playing change the soundtrack in your head...  oh... I was giggling
rather mischievously when I read your post, suppose it serves me right.

Angelina -- Hap-hap-happy b-day!  Have a very good one!

right... time to get ready for work...

Suzanne
(who has proceeded from MF disc 1 to 2 and is enjoying this one very
much.  BTW... has anyone read the Lemony Snicket books, "A Series of
Unfortunate Events"? They are great fun in a book which doesn't always
have a happy ending and is suppose to be for children but most adults I
know love them. MF does the Uncle Olaf song on the website.)
  

    
Mary: Apparently Jin Roh: The Wolf Brigade was created by Momoru Oshii
and Hiroyuki Okiura and is out on multi-system DVD. There are several
up for auction on amazon.co.uk. Happy hunting! Also, I love salmon
(particularly grilled), as well as brown bread (which I just can't find
here, and haven't the courage yet to attempt to make msyelf), and I
plan to eat a lot of salads and fish and brown bread while I'm there :)
But it will for the most part depend on where my father takes me,
since he's my wheels, and 80% of the trip will involve (as do all my
trips to Ireland) elderly female relatives. Then again, most of my
elderly female relations eat lunch at the local pub, so I think I'll do
just fine.

neil: when I lost my voice during Faire 3 summers ago, I found
something called "Nature Soothe" at the local drugstore that has
slippery elm, honey, and licorice and it helped tremendously.
  

    
Angelina - (You're welcome!)

Suzanne - Giggle away, ya mean one you. (Of course, it serves *me*
right... as soon as I typed 'Cartman' it was stuck it my head too...
sigh)...

Time to go pack for my flight tomorrow... (flying cross-country to
spend the weekend in NYC on one of the busiest travel weekends... just
because I can!)

-=- Walker -=-
  

    
Yikes! It seems to be contagious; I guess at this point I should count
myself lucky not to have seen any South Park for the last couple
years.
  

    
Kelly - Hey! Another local. I lived in Fremont for a couple of years
before doing my one year stint in San Lorenzo. The only Fremonters I
know though are people involved with Stage 1 (which is technically
Newark, but we won't go into that). Look forward to meeting you at the
signing!

Angelina - Happy birthday... Wow... 20... this makes me sound old, but
 ... wow... you've got an incredible decade ahead of you.

Neil - Congrats on the sales, but bummer and a half about the voice...
 hope this isn't a sign of the tour to come. But if by the time you
hit Berkeley you're a lame, hunchbacked, one-eyed mute... we'll love
you all the same.

Walker - You say that like Cartman's rendition of Come Sail Away was
something less than a stroke of Musical Genius... Actually, at a party
I went to last year, someone decided to do some kareoke, but only had
six kareoke songs and lyric sheets.. one of them was Come Sail Away.
The first (and only) person to attempt it did a very fine Cartman
impersonation, which made the whole experience much more enjoyable.

DanGuy - That's a beautiful story... thank you for sharing it.

Shawn - Happy birthday (belated) to you as well!
  

    
Angelina- Happy Birthday:)

Will- thanks! I think I'll end up at a bookstore of some sort. Some
friends of mine work at Half Price Books. And if you work there, not
only do you get full Med coverage without them taking anything out of
your check, but you get books and Cds at half-price of their already
half-price. So...if they're still hiring after my loan application goes
through....only crappy thing is, I would no longer have the luxury of
walking around the corner to work. I would have to take da bus. Yes,
Tao of Pooh always works. Things are going a lot better, but they'll be
even better after this weekend. 

Danguy- you were a lucky, lucky child (even if you were crying) I saw
him once too, though my story is not nearly as interesting. 
I was with my family at Universal Studios in Florida. My uncle Duke
got some special V.I.P passes for us through his job. Mr. Henson was
sitting alone at a table near us. We recignized him at once, but my
parents agreed that it be best we not bother him. I remember he just
stared at things looking lonely and sad. Then, almost exactly a week
later, he died. It was really weird. I too wish I could have talked to
him. 

Neil- Hope your voice gets better and congrats on the sales! (maybe
one of these days you can relax and have a bottle of champenge)
I'm not even going to try to think of anything interesting when you
come here on the tour. I know that I can talk (type) anyones ear off in
here, but I'm actually very shy in real life. So I'll probably just
stand there like a dork. Even if I did plan on saying anything nifty,
it would surely backfire. So if for some reason you still can't
talk...uh, we may have to use sign language. 
  

    
DanGuy - thank you for sharing such a lovely story. I have always been
a Henson fan, and I was devastated when he died. Especially as it was
on my birthday. The day has had a slight taint ever since... 

Back onto the famous people thing once more, I just had the chance to
finally meet Margo Timmins and the rest of the Cowboy Junkies (at
Tower, in Seattle). She is as lovely as she seems, and was perfectly
thrilled to sign things, take a photograph with me, and was in fact
running around with her own camera to photograph everyone and
everything. 

Dan Wilson - alas, I defected a few years ago. The commute from
Fremont to Cupertino was killing me; I was spending more of my life in
traffic than anything else. I moved north (Oregon), then south (Nevada)
and then north again (Washington). I now happily (when it's not 86
degrees out) reside outside of Seattle, in the heart of Microsoft
country. Otherwise meeting up would have been fun - I imagine the lines
here are going to be long, and having someone to talk to would be fun.
 

Oh, and re: Newark... where? You mean it's all not just Fremont? ;-) 
(I waitressed at the Lyons across from the Newpark Mall for a few
years. Very familiar with that whole thing!)


-Kelly
  

    
Neil -  Sorry to hear about the throat, but glad you're having a
wonderful time.  See if you can find some throat lozenges with slippery
elm, that stuff works in a jiffy.

DanGuy - Congratulations to you and your wife on the birth of your
son.  Remember, the trick is to get on the same sleep schedule as the
baby. *grin*

That was such a lovely story about Jim Henson.  I remember bawling my
eyes out when he died.  My first and favorite muppet skit is poor
Animal singing "Ma-na-ma-na" with those prissy cows..hehe... And The
Muppet Show was sheer brilliance.

Walker - I hope to get a call as soon as you're settled. 

Angelina -  HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 

Jinx - We're way..way..overdue for a visit girlie, you're more than
welcome to spend a weekend after we move, especially when Neil gets
into town.  Btw, thanks again for being MY HERO..and downing the
offending tentacle..thus enabling me to climb out of JaNell's lap.
(Should I mention that it was *her* husband who ordered the offending
beast? Nah.)  ;)

So some of you folks liked "Shreck" eh?  I'll have to wait a few weeks
to see it, I'm still recovering from the ghastly "Mummy Returns."
*gag*
  

    
I am in Argentina. I do not believe there is any slippery elm in the
whole country. Just steaks and french fries.

Got online with Lenny's help (yay lenny) and did a blogger journal and
am now too tired to post here.
  

    
As we say down home, "Ain't they a lot of May babies in heanh?"  Happy
birthday, Shawn & Angelina!

Neil--I recommend gargling with warm salt water (mostly because
everyone else is recommending something).  And Ricola.  If something
stronger is required, St. Brigid is the patroness of throat ailments. 
Regardless, get well soon!

You are causing quite a stir in South America, aren't you?  Signs of
excellent taste on the part of the people of Sao Paolo!

Douglas--thanks for the review!  I'm glad you had a good time after so
long a trip.  

Tara--you rock!  Thanks for the tip on the anime.  I'll pass it on to
Alia (I love that name!)
   Mary (reading Until the Real Thing Comes Along by Elizabeth Berg)  
  
  

    
Yay Lenny.

Hope you feel much better.
  

    
Angelina - happy b-day

Walker - "Song For Claudia" now belongs to my brother and his wife.
I'm not allowed to give it out without their express permission any
more. My brother has taken his wedding present a bit seriously, and I
think that's neat. :) So if you're looking to get another copy, I'll
have to talk at him first.

Neil - You sound like my mother complaining about the food when she
moved to the US. "Americans only eat beef and potato, potato and beef"
and then she'd usually add some horrid remark about the state of health
in the states. But then, that's kinda what happens when you move to
Olympia, WA. Not exactly a cultural epicentre. Hope your throat feels
better soon. Drink lots of fluids, but try to avoid anything iced until
it stops hurting.

Kelly - Hrm... this could be interesting. Spent most of the 80's in
Hayward (feel free to pity me, if you've ever been there), then a year
at the U of O (Eugene, ick), then a year at SJSU, all with occasional
visits up to WA to hang with old friends in Seattle and Oly. So I could
be familiar from *any*where. Ooh, any chance you know Kat Edwards at
all? (shot in the dark, would actually floor me if you said yes)

squeaks, who is procrastinating
  

    
Shawn & Angelina--
Hippo birdy two ewes!

Neil & Mary--
In addition to salt water (which is likely to be more available than
my suggestion), hydrogen peroxide also works well.

Bill^2, who joins the birthday procession on Saturday
  

    
Re Birthdays-- happy birthdays to all!

Re Arabian Nights-- it went very well, thanks for asking. The kids
were cute, the parents were pleased, I am beginning the process of
recovering my lost sleep.

Re Neil's Throat-- I hope it gets better soon.  Being mute in
Argentina must be very strange.

Re Argentine Steaks and Fries-- Neil,is it hard having given up meat
when you're in the steak capital of the world?  Or, with your throat,
are you really not interested in eating anyway?

Re famous people-- the few who I've met have been genuinely nice...
Christine Lavin even accepted an invitation to my house for Lasana,
although we later had to cancel.  Most of the FP's I've wanted to meet
have been musical theatre writers... consequently, there's always been
something to talk about.
  

    
On the subject of sore throats-
My grandma's folk remedy for a sore throat was a syrup made from
whiskey, honey, and lemon.  The same bottle sat up on the shelf in the
pantry throughout my childhood.  I don't know how well it worked for
the sore throat, but I always slept.  Now I think I may be the only
person in the world who puts whiskey right up there with chicken soup
as a comfort food.
  

    
Neil-- just read about your interview with John Cale!  I guess that,
with your non-voice, you won't be able to ask him about Paris 1919 for
me.  Ah well... next time.  Feel better.
  

    
Re: sore throat remedies--- I was recently imformed recently that,
since the liquid you drink doesn't pass through your vocal cords, it's
not _what_ you drink that matters, but the fact _that_ you drink at
all-- it makes your cords produce a lubricating mucus.  Of course,
given a choice of what to drink, hot lemon, honey and whisky are pretty
high up there for me.
  

    
recently informed recently?  I must be very tired.
  

    
and not just that, but "iMformed" as well. ^^