It's all so surreal.
I can't believe that I actually got to meet him. And talk to him. And get my books signed by him. And breathe the same air as him. He shook my hand and I'm never going to wash it. Never!
But I'm going ahead of myself here. As you all could probably gather from my previous post, David Sedaris flew in from the U.S of A for a series of live readings and book signings. Before David got down to actually "live read" and "book sign", the disembodied voice also known as Customer Service announced that there would be a short program at 4:30. I joked to Mike that it was probably going to be a stand-up comedian.
Turned out I was right.
I then said that he'd better be funny. The host announced that the stand-up comedian in question usually does the front act of Rex Navarette's shows, and from that I thought, "He must be pretty funny then."
Turned out I was wrong.
I almost felt sorry for the guy. Anyway, in the middle of his spiel, David Sedaris appeared amongst the crowd and started signing books from the get-go. And he was wearing plaid shorts. He later joked that he was riding in a jeepney and that someone snipped off the bottom half of his pants.
So let's cut to the chase and get right down to the main attraction. David started off with a story about a cat getting herself ready for a party in a beauty salon run by a baboon. Which came out of the left field, really, because I never read any animal stories by David. And I have all five of his books...nevertheless, it was a riot, as well as all the other stories he read out. He even narrated my favorite piece from
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim entitled
Six to Eight Black Men.
In between the stories, he would talk about some of the experiences that he had in his stay here in the Philippines. He apparently loves Jollibee (I wonder what it is with Americans and Jollibee burgers) and lost almost all his money in a cockfight where he did not bet on which rooster would win, but on which rooster owner would easily beat up the other. He didn't win anything.
The book signing came up and when it was my turn, I swear I grew weak in the knees, but David was a really swell guy. I was so nervous as to what the hell I was going to say to him but it was a good thing that he did most of the talking. And all the while he was so friendly and all smiles as he signed three books of mine. I was too starstruck.
I told him to make out the
Me Talk Pretty One Day to "The Super Sisters" and he asked whether I had a
Super Yaya. To which I replied, "Nah, but I have a
Super Mom though."
"Really? Do you all live in a
Super Village?"
"No, I live here in the city."
"Oh you do? I'm staying right here in the Shangri-La. So what do you do for a living?"
"I'm a digital colorist."
I knew he wouldn't quite get what that meant.
"I color stuff..."
"...using a computer right?"
"Yeah."
"What do you color?"
"Storyboards for ad agencies."
"Ah, I see. Who are you with?"
"My sister and my boyfriend."
"How long have you guys been together?"
"8 months."
"What'll you do afterwards?"
"Have dinner. I don't know where though."
"Try out the Museum Cafe. Tell you what, here's a test of your relationship...ask him to take you to the Musem Cafe for dinner...then after 10 months, tell him that you're pregnant...see if he'll loan you money for an abortion..."
I laughed, "Right, I'll bear that in mind. Man, I never thought that I'd actually get a chance to meet you. This is just so surreal for me."
"Well, I'm just here," he said with a big smile as he handed me the books.
He then shook my hands and said, "It was nice meeting you."
Check out what he wrote in my books:
Squuuueeeeee~!What a guy. I *heart* him!
On top of that, Jessica Zafra was there too! My two favorite writers...under one roof! And I won Armand Basi Body Lotion at the raffle as well! Today is my lucky day! Wheeee!
