Sunday, June 30, 2013

Meeting Neil Gaiman

As part of my Mother’s Day present, I got a ticket to Neil Gaiman’s book signing in Decatur, GA. I've been a fan of his for many years and I never thought I’d be able to meet him. Also knowing that this is his last book tour in the US, I was very excited to meet him.

The signing was over 3 hours from my house and started at 7 pm. Luckily, I have an aunt and uncle who live in GA and were willing to let us spend the night. I actually worked that morning. We drove down as soon as my shift ended and I left right after my husband unloaded the car.

Even though I was about an hour early, I had a long wait. I had to pick up my ticket which was one line and then I had to get into the line to actually get into the building. Because I had gotten there so late, I ended up in the overflow room.

The first part of the evening had Neil Gaiman reading from his new book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. He also answered some questions. It was very entertaining. After the talk, he took a break and I prepared for a long way.

I had heard that some of the previous signings had gone late into the night so I had brought my Kindle with me. I had also thrown in my phone charger into my purse just in case. The overflow room was much more comfortable than the regular auditorium. It was much cooler, the chairs were more comfortable and there were lots of outlets so I was able to charge up my phone.

I spent my wait reading, talking with my seatmates, and taking a few walks. In the lobby, the book store that was sponsoring the signing had other Neil Gaiman books for sale. I bought a copy of Coraline for Emily to get signed.

Finally we were lead downstairs and it didn't take too long after that until I was almost up to meet Neil Gaiman. I was a little starstruck, but I managed to mention that Coraline was for my daughter and that I loved BPAL.

He was super nice even though he had to have been very tired. I got out of the signing a little before 1 am. It was a very long day but it was so worth it. 

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Why Chaos? - An Introduction

Image: Mandy Horetski
Chaos is a nickname that was given to me years ago and it is a name I've embraced. My life is chaotic so when I was given the name by a dear friend, it just seems to fit.

My life is chaotic in several ways. First I’m the mom to a four year old little girl. I think every parent’s life has a least a little chaos in it, especially when their children are very small. I thankfully have a wonderful husband who is my partner as we try to raise Miss Emily as well as possible.

My work life is a bit strange because I am lucky enough to be able to work from home. I work in a call center doing tech support. This can be chaotic as customers get very upset sometimes because their internet doesn't work. But it’s a good job and I enjoy the 2 step commute from my office from my bedroom.

Another facet of my life is that I’m a lifelong geek. My dad, who is a geek himself, read Lord of the Rings to me when I was very small. That started me down the path and now most of the things I love are geeky in some way. I’m big into the Firefly and Doctor Who fandoms, though I like a lot of geeky shows. I’m currently in the midst of trying to watch all of Supernatural in hopes of being caught up before the next season starts. I also love video games, novels, and costumes. I try to get to several conventions every year, including a yearly trek to Dragon*Con in Atlanta. My husband is also geeky so we enjoy watching movies, TV shows and playing games like Magic, Munchkin and Settlers of Catan.

The last piece of my chaotic life is the least enjoyable. I suffer from daily chronic headaches. I’m always in pain and it can get migraine bad sometimes. It’s not just the pain that makes me suffer, but I get the migraine symptoms like auras and brain fogginess as well. I've had the same headache for ten years. I’m lucky that I can function fairly normally most of the time, but sometimes the pain just knocks me out. This causes the most chaos to my life.

But I make do the best that I can and I’m fairly happy with my chaotic life. In this blog, I’ll be writing about all aspects of my life, both the good and the bad. Because all of these things make me who I am, and that is Chaos Mandy.