Waiting for Mr. Neil

who's giving two appearances at SJSU today.
Two Neils in one day. Yay!

So I took a day off work, or course, and I'm here two hours early to catch front row seats. I hope they don't come and tell me that front row is reserved or something. Being a fanboy is so stressful!

Marina left to photocopy some stuff for school, while I'm here guarding my front row seats. Good chance to write about my upcoming midlife-crisis

SOLO ROAD TRIP

I'm so psyched! The office will be closed all of next week, and I just HAVE to do something more fun that wrestle with MythTV for a whole weekend. I need to GO somewhere. Friends suggested Hawaii, but having THAT much fun alone? No loving husband could do that to a wife who isn't getting a week off school and has to stay at home to study for 14 hours a day. And there were no tickets for less than $1000. Not that I tried to find any, right? I need a place that tourists find less desirable this time of year.

It's been a very stressful few months, and I have this vivid fantasy of me sleeping under a tree that's easily accessibly by car, yet somehow not known to anyone else. And it was snowing all around me, and various forms of cuddly wildlife came to lick my angel-like sleeping face. Yellowstone? Yellowstone! But it's so goddamn cold out there! And the roads are under a mile of snow. And I can't (or maybe just won't) afford to sleep in the park. And it's way too winter to camp. And it's COLD. I need some place that isn't so cold, doesn't get too much snow, and isn't overrun with tourists this time of year.
I'm going to Arizonaland! A week alone in the land of the Anasazi, Big G Canyon, the meteor crater, several big ass cacti, Petrified Forest and cheap plane tickets. I got my plane tickets (Southwest, yo!), my new -5 Fahrenheit sleeping bug (50 bucks, yo!), my little blue tent, enough MP3s to play a continuously the whole week, my Neil Gaiman audio book, and reservation for a big SUV (Only $100 extra, yo!) that just might end up being my home if it starts raining or something.

I've been so excited for the last week, from the minute I bought my tickets and my first real vacation in four years suddenly became real.

And Mr. Neil will be here in 30 minutes. What more can a man want?