In a few minutes, I’m going to head down to the DePaul campus to see my hero, Neil Gaiman, interview Gene Wolfe and then read New Stuff. I’m every kind of excited. I’ve just watched the clips from his Thirteen Nights of Fright horror-movie hosting bit from Fox Movies, which, alas, I do not get here at our apartment, and I’m bundling up a couple of my favorite Neil books to take and have signed. I have other signed Neil things, but I think tonight I’ll take Angels and Visitations and The Comical Tragedy or Tragical Comedy of Mr. Punch, two rare Neil pieces that are also sort of my favorites. I’m not one of those people who has an author sign something and then chuck it up on eBay — I’m one of those people who will have him sign it to me, and then hoard it and smile over that scribble whenever I pull it down from the shelf.
I spend a decent amount of time worrying and fussing over who I am and what I’m doing and whether or not I’m on the right path. Whenever I cross paths with Mr. Gaiman, I smile and think, “Yes, that’s a good way to go — write, and make movies, and make stuff, and tell stories, and do all of that.” What I’m doing now is partially so I can get to the point where I can do this part-time and write with the rest; at the moment it feels like I’m working all the bloody time, but the length of these journal entries often proves that if I wanted to, I could be writing every day as well. I should do that, I really should. Perhaps this little infusion of hero worship tonight will help me get off my arse and get back on path there. One hopes. Of course, I also have to take the GREs, finish my application, work on my programming chops with the inestimable Mr. Jadud… The list goes on and on. I’m on the right path, I just need to do a better job of resource management.
Oh, and the most recent movie from Tohubohu had its official premiere last night, and we apparently did very, very well indeed. Here’s hoping we make the next round of competition!