What followed was about 2 weeks' worth of planning and headaches to make sure everything was perfect.

2007 Philippine Ad Congress, Day 02 - In a Hallway for "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY":

After Neil's talk, Maui rushed off to the loo. So I attempted to ambush Neil and introduce myself as "that insane guy you're helping to propose to his girlfriend."

But Maui quickly exited the bathrooms and rushed towards me, frozen in disbelief that Neil was actually there.

So I instead pushed her towards Neil and took a snap:



STILL not content with my planning (which was reaching new heights of being Obsessive-Compulsive), I approached Lucre Villaluna of the Ad Congress Neil Gaiman event to put in yet ANOTHER failsafe measure. I told her my story, and wrote a short note to Neil reminding him of what was going to go down on Saturday. I know, I know - a bit much, but I WAS in an O-C mood.

And during dinner the next night, I received an SMS from her. What follows is our SMS exchange:

Lucre: Where r u?
Me: What's up? Good news, I hope.
Lucre: Yes, bt pls kip it confidential. Can u call me ASAP?

I rushed out of the dining hall to call her:

Lucre: Hi! Someone wants to speak with you.
SFX: Shuffling, muffled voices, and then...

Neil: Hello, Jason. So we're going to have you married on Saturday, then?

Me (drooling): ...

We talked about how it would go down, and agreed on certain visual cues to make things go a smoothly as possible.

Neil: Let's make some magic happen on Saturday.

Me (on the verge of fainting): ...

*I hadn't counted on this happening. It made my night. Thanks again, Neil.

Saturday, 6:30am, El Centro, Subic:

Groggy from a night of partying, we joined the line at an ungodly hour. Some guy had lined up at 12:30am, which was kind of freaky in a stalker-ish way, but we were all geeks anyway so it was all good. Ha!

For a last bit of planning, Lucre pulled me out of the line and shuttled me inside the venue to go over the entire routine. Everyone in the organizing committee was now in on it: ushers, doormen, bouncers and photographers. The operation would be simple: during the signing, they would stop everybody behind us from going up on stage and let the entire thing play out.

So at about 9:00am, a haggard and jet-lagged Neil took to the stage to read the first chapter of The Graveyard Book and answer some questions. Then he would sign books for the first 100 people in line (Maui and I were #19 and #20).*The rest of the story will be told mostly in pictures and captions. At this point, my mind was blank and I really, really can't recall what happened.

...and Maui actually failed to notice Neil's dedication because she was so starstruck. It took him about three times to actually get her to read the darn thing.

Maui (squealing, closing the book): Thanks!!!

Neil: Aren't you going to read what I wrote? You have to read it..

Maui (opening the book, shrugging, then closing it again): Thanks!!!

Me: You have to read the dedication...

And she bent over to give Neil a kiss, STILL not noticing what was going on.

Neil: You really have to read this...

When she did (FINALLY!)...

I took the ring out of my left pocket. Because of portability issues, I left the case back in the hotel, instead substituting a velvet pouch I'd hastily constructed before leaving for Subic.

And then I knelt.

I really hadn't planned on kneeling. I thought it was an act that was too typical of a proposal and should be left out. But strangely, I found myself down on one knee, staring up at my now-tearful girlfriend and repeating, "Willyouwillyouwillyouwillyou?" over and over.

...and she said, "Yes."This silly little act drew gasps, awwwsss and claps from the crowd. Friends cheered, strangers cried and my knees...were shaking worse than a 5.7 earthquake.

Maui hugged me, her back towards Neil. I reached out to shake his hand, whispering, "Thank you!" over and over. The Author. Neil. Gaiman. just. helped. me. propose. to. my. girlfriend.

And in the midst of all this, we managed to give Neil a copy of Maui's great grandad's book on folk tales (he was the writer of Lola Basyang, a popular children's folktale series).

Anyway, back to the pictures:...and to top it off, that night at the Araw (advertising) Awards, we each won a bronze! Me for interactive, and Maui for outdoor.


All this excitement and stress in just one day. Whew!

So there it is. A crazy, happy and exhausting weekend for us. More pictures are coming in, even a video! We'll post 'em soon.

Until then, there's a week's worth of backlog work to be dealt with.