contest winner #3: a fricking tie!

now we are getting some stories!
i am going to call it a tie today, between Chris (daughter of Cecily) and Mr. David G

I want to nominate my eldest daughter, Chris, to get the Scary Trousers shirt. Chris was failing horribly with anything having to do with reading. She had been tested over and over and over again for learning disabilities and any issue they could think of to put an answer to why she couldn't read properly. Well my husband got the brilliant idea that it was the content. So he started reading Coraline with her. After just a few nights of it, she was reading it on her own. It has been a long hard path to get to grade level and have passing grades. She is about to turn 14 next week, is reading Neverwhere, and just brought home a report card with only A's and B's on it. I think that she has worked her ass off, with the help of a great writer giving her something she wanted to read, and she totally rocks.

this
email titled: "Why I SO merit that @NeilHimself goodie" moved me to declare a tie.

Dear Cat,

Because,
when Neil Tweeted Amanda's urgent plea for a practice keyboard before their joint Evening With... gig in Portland, OR, I responded without hesitation, trusting her with my pride and joy Nord keyboard, which I wasn't able to afford until I was 50, along with stand, stool, and ace studio monitors; and,

because Amanda liked the Nord so much she kept it until the performance and then used it on stage during their epic, 4 hr marathon peak performance here; and,

because I never asked for anything in return, (even though Eric* promised me "a special gift" after the show);
(*I'm sure it just got forgotten in the mad shuffle, and I wasn't gauche enough to ask, so don't blame poor hardworking Eric) and,

because I was a Gaiman fan *before* it was hip, and introduced my daughters to his fiction when they were frighteningly young, which turned them into fans and actually affected the course of their careers, one being an aspiring game developer whose passion for linguistic anthropology is a direct result of Neil's work, and the other an actor, who was inspired by Neil to take pen to paper and write magically; and,

because my older daughter brought a very old, out of print copy of one of Neil's first books to the evening for him to sign, but she never got him to, and

because Amanda did end up, randomly, giving my younger daughter a hug, which was so utterly the right thing to do at that particular time which Amanda had no way of knowing, that it left us all speechless; and,

because my daughters watched Amanda's career from her very early days busking in Harvard Square (we used to live in Boston) and attended her very first concerts, and one of their best friends danced on stage with her and Brian when she was just knee high to a grasshopper (my daughters and their friend, not Amanda) when the Dresden Dolls had their very first beginnings; and,

and, because, even though Neil is almost to the day a year younger than I am, I was an old fart until my daughters saw my keyboard up on stage with Amanda an Neil, at which point I belatedly became the hip Dad I secretly was all along; and,

because, no matter what, we would never, ever, sell said goodie to anyone but would, instead, pass it on to our daughters who would pass it on to theirs, and so on and so forth in the great unbroken chain of human existence.

And, most importantly, because I am among the truly rare Americans who still uses a semicolon. Unironically.

Otherwise, no particular reason, really.

Peace,

David G, Change Agent


Editor's note: we will try not to blame Eric, because we love Eric, but he does always have to take all the blame, poor Eric, but don't worry, we may blame him somewhat anyway even if we say we won't, because he's used to it. Love you, Eric!

It has come to light that winner Nat (in true spirit of holidays) also gave her prize to Miss Chris, so she gets 2 prizes, how you like them apples?
also! Winners, please email me w/ ship-to addresses and indicate what size on the shirt, i have youth medium, youth large, adult small, medium, or large. (neverwear@gaiman.net)

tomorrow, I give away a very collectible and rare letter opener, a tiny dagger, fashioned after Beowulf's Grendel killing blade. Comes with a tiny, pixie-sized sheath with the Beowulf film logo stamped into the leather. You know, I really loved that film, I wish they would bring it back through the 3-D theaters.

last but not least, you can take five bucks off ANYTHING at NEVERWEARfrom now until December 25th 2011, by using coupon code "nice-kitty"--
watch that space because I just cleaned out my closet and am going to be posting all kinds of tour swag for el cheapo.
Tori, Tool, Motley Crue, Britney, Zombie, there's something for everyone.
(I even found a still in the package bar of Fight Club soap and a Braille Playboy. What the!!?? Kitty yard sale!)