I had the *bestest* time.
At the NYIBC events where unca neil was signing, I met Rocky and Lucy-Anne and another Lucy, saw my friend Jan Fennick, whom I had not seen in ages and ages. Met a slew of thingies and wellies. Managed to miss a bunch of LJ friends, because I'm just that bright. Also managed to not sleep pretty much for 3 days running (I shall tell you all about Friday and Saturday when I have had time to arrange the story in something vaguely resembling a linear narrative. But last night I went straight from wandering Union Square at 2:30am this morning with a lovely lady named Rachael from Minneapolis who desperately wanted to go dancing, after dinner at a Brazilian diner chock full of ridiculously beautiful bus boys with Rocky, Lucy, davey, and friends, back to Queens where I was staying to pack and not sleep a bit and get a cab to La Guardia at 5am to make my 7am flight back to Chicago because I am compulsive about getting to airports 2 hours before my flight leaves, which I did and which did and during which I slept not a wink [tho I did read the first 20 pages of Kavalier and Clay and the remaining half of Endless Nights] which was then followed by a cab ride to my office, where I am now--sleep deprived and shockingly not blue-haired. So this may be, you know, rambly.).
However, much fun was had, much money was spent (NYC, if nothing else, gave me a keen appreciation of Chicago. Particularly our transit system, modest restaurant prices, and lack of tunnels and bridges as well as lack of cabbies who will charge you $50 to get from La Guardia to Queens), and I have decided that Art Spiegelman is hella keen. I mean, I pretty much knew that, from Maus, but Sunday night just confirmed it. Wow, is he keen. Sharp enough to cut things with, that's how keen.
And of course, unca neil was spiffy as always. I feel bad for not making it to the street faire Sunday, but I had brunch with a friend, and then took advantage of the gloriously sunny day by walking from 30th and Lex to 92nd and Lex, where I then had a lovely lovely dinner at a place called Cafe Lex with my friend Sharon who is very smart and works with primates and used to have purple hair but doesn't at the moment because she has to do something involving primates at the Zoo, and the Zoo apparently would not appreciate her doing it while having purple hair.
Also? Anyone in the NYC area who ever has the opportunity to see Isaac Alderson, Irish trad. musician extraordinare, live--take advantage of the opportunity. For he is nifty and sweet in addition to having won all sorts of medals for his music. I need to go back to NYC some time when I have much more time to visit with folks, and get over my paralysing fear of being in a city where I have no idea where anything is, or which way is East due to the absence of a giant body of water to mark it.
Oh! and I met a wonderful fabulous Tara at the 92nd St. Y event. She and I commiserated about how people mispronounce our name, and I am insanely jealous of her Ben Edlund autograph in her autograph book, amongst others. But really, the Tick one made me grin like a loon. Also, she was just plain nifty. As was the red-haired Jen (I think she was a Jen. Again, I'd been up for 36 hours. So I may have been a bit punchy. But in any case, she was a lovely girl studying Religion and full of interesting and esoteric knowledge, and it was her very first unca neil signing) who was ahead of us in line at the Saturday event.
So, now I am 30 years old. And I can't think of a better way to have spent my birthday. I honestly can't.
unca neil onstage...
my partners in crime (lucy-anne, rocky, and jan), and more unca neil signing stuff...
(Sorry the stage ones are blurry--it's because I had the flash turned off [so as not to blind my fave author], and the zoom on, and had shaky sleep-deprived hands. I didn't get any shots from Sunday night, becasue I am a dork and left my camera on the coffee table at the friend's condo where I was staying over the week-end.)
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