WIL WHEATON dot NET

50,000 Monkeys at 50,000 Typewriters Can't Be Wrong

Previews

  • Just A Geek

I used to be a big fan of South Park. I watched it every week, and anxiously awaited new episodes.
When I heard that they were making a movie, I was thrilled, and counted down the days until it opened. Of course, while the creators poured all their creative energy into the movie, the weekly content of the TV show suffered dramatically. It felt like filler with no creative soul, and I stopped watching.
So it is with WWDN as of late.
All of my creative energy and focus has gone into rewriting “Just A Geek,” and racing to get it done in time for a late March release.
I love WWDN, and really enjoy writing for it, but I have limited resources in my head, and when I have to pick, the website takes a back seat to the book. I hope readers understand.
Having said all that, I’d like to offer a small excerpt from the book, so you can all see what I’ve been working on.
This is from Chapter three:

Writing about the satisfaction and love I felt when I was with my family came very easily. I didn’t have to put on a brave face, or risk revealing how frustrated and tormented I was in my career. When I focused on my family, I felt liberated, and found humor and happiness at every turn.
28 August, 2001
Romper Stomper

From an e-mail I got this morning:
Wil:
I’m writing a book about Romper Room and came across a TV appearance of you on a California show with Miss Nancy. You told the hosts you used to watch Romper Room ?religiously.”
I’m writing to people who were on the show, or who watched the show, to get their impressions of Romper Room. I’m hoping you can answer some questions. What made you watch it? What’s your strongest memory of the program? Were you ever on Romper Room?

My response:
I was never on ?Romper Room”, but here is my clearest memory from watching it as a kid:
I would sit on the floor of our house (which was really a chicken coop behind my grandparents farmhouse. Yes, we were that poor), my fingers dug deeply into the golden shag carpeting, my tiny fists balled with anticipation, as Miss Nancy would hold up her magic mirror and ask it to tell her, ?did our friends have fun at play?? I would sit up straight, stare into the glorious black-and-white 13-inch Zenith TV and wait patiently as she saw Steven and Jody and Tina and Todd and Michael and every-fucking-body except WIL! Hey! Miss Nancy! I’m sitting right here! I’ve had LOTS of fun at play! I did the DooBee dance! I ran around pretending I was a fireman! I HAD FUN AT PLAY! WHY CAN’T YOU SEE ME?! AM I INVISIBLE?! *pant* *pant*
I never watched TV shows like the ones I did when I was four. Jesus, does anyone?

Writing that made me laugh out loud. I hadn’t planned on it turning into a rant, but I was doing lots of improv at the time, and I just wrote what came out of my head. I thought it was really funny, so I called my mom as soon as I was done to read it to her. When she picked up the phone, I could hear wind chimes and a waterfall. She was gardening in her backyard.
“Hey, it’s your son,” I told her.
“Hi Willow! How are you? Are you feeling better?” My mom always sounds happy to hear from me, and her voice is comforting — like a warm blanket, fresh from the dryer.
I was able to answer truthfully. “Yes, much. I wrote something funny for my website and I wanted to read it to you.”
“Oh, honey! That’s great! Let me turn off the hose.” I heard her set the phone down, and I closed my eyes, picturing their backyard: the beautiful redwood deck my dad and brother built, covered with potted flowers and tomato plants, the railing draped with white twinkle lights. I heard the jingle of their dog Kona’s collar, as she chased a butterfly, or the water falling from the hose. I saw water cascading into their swimming pool, and recalled the long summer afternoons spent floating in that pool, and the warm summer nights I spent as a teenager sitting in their spa, looking up at the stars. I breathed in, and I could smell the star jasmine which still grows under my old bedroom window.
“Wil? Did you hang up?”
“No, sorry. I was . . . lost in thought. Can I read you what I wrote?”
“Yes!”
I told her about the e-mail I’d gotten, and read her my response. I paused dramatically, and lowered my voice for the final sentence. I eagerly awaited her response.
“Oh, Wil,? she said, ?why do you need to have such a potty mouth?”
I resisted the urge to tell her that I had no fucking idea.
“It’s comedy mom, and it’s not always pretty.”
“Well, it’s very funny. I just wish you didn’t have to cuss so much.”
I beamed, knowing that I’d made my mom laugh, and — more importantly — made her feel proud of me.
“I gotta go answer emails, mom. I love you.”
“I love you too, sweetie. Bye-bye.”

  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related


Discover more from WIL WHEATON dot NET

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

6 February, 2003 Wil

Post navigation

Test Pattern → ← Who’s Watching Our Cats?

160 thoughts on “Previews”

  1. Lady Amanda says:
    11 February, 2003 at 5:34 pm

    Pinwheel, pinwheel, spinnong around. Look at my pinwheel and see what I found. Pinwheel! I’m not quite old enough for Romper Room. My name is Amanda Michelle. One day, for no reason whatsoever, my mom called me Amanda Measle. “Measle” stuck. Forever.
    Also, while my younger sister can call my mom a bitch to her face, I still get in trouble for words like fart and shut up. Does anyone else think this is egregiously unjust?
    And if you’re doing a book tour, you simply must come to Georgia! I don’t care what city, I’ll travel if necessary.

  2. Curiosity says:
    12 February, 2003 at 5:37 am

    Everyone pay attention to me!
    146.6.127.85
    Posted by pyllis at February 7, 2003 12:46 PM
    OrgName: University of Texas at Austin
    OrgID: UTAA
    Address: Lake Austin Center
    Address: 3101 Lake Austin Blvd.
    City: Austin
    StateProv: TX
    PostalCode: 78703
    Country: US
    NetRange: 146.6.0.0 – 146.6.255.255
    CIDR: 146.6.0.0/16
    NetName: UTAUSTIN2
    NetHandle: NET-146-6-0-0-1
    Parent: NET-146-0-0-0-0
    NetType: Direct Assignment
    NameServer: CHISOS.OTS.UTEXAS.EDU
    NameServer: CS.UTEXAS.EDU
    NameServer: DNS.HPC.UTEXAS.EDU
    NameServer: DNS2.CSO.UIUC.EDU
    Comment:
    RegDate: 1991-01-16
    Updated: 2002-03-29
    TechHandle: ZU83-ARIN
    TechName: University of Texas at Austin
    TechPhone: +1-512-471-2444
    TechEmail: [email protected]

  3. Curiosity says:
    12 February, 2003 at 5:39 am

    Hi,
    I’m a BIG JERK.
    128.83.230.25
    Posted by asshole at February 9, 2003 06:19 PM
    OrgName: University of Texas at Austin
    OrgID: UTAA
    Address: Lake Austin Center
    Address: 3101 Lake Austin Blvd.
    City: Austin
    StateProv: TX
    PostalCode: 78703
    Country: US
    NetRange: 128.83.0.0 – 128.83.255.255
    CIDR: 128.83.0.0/16
    NetName: UTAUSTIN
    NetHandle: NET-128-83-0-0-1
    Parent: NET-128-0-0-0-0
    NetType: Direct Assignment
    NameServer: CHISOS.OTS.UTEXAS.EDU
    NameServer: CS.UTEXAS.EDU
    NameServer: DNS.HPC.UTEXAS.EDU
    NameServer: DNS2.CSO.UIUC.EDU
    Comment:
    RegDate:
    Updated: 2002-03-27
    TechHandle: ZU83-ARIN
    TechName: University of Texas at Austin
    TechPhone: +1-512-471-2444
    TechEmail: [email protected]

  4. Curiosity says:
    12 February, 2003 at 5:44 am

    I desperately need to grow the fuck up.
    198.214.190.194
    m198214190194.austin.cc.tx.us
    Posted by loser at February 11, 2003 01:48 PM
    Univ. of Texas System Office of Telecom. Services NETBLK-THENET-CIDR-C2 (NET-198-214-0-0-1)
    198.214.0.0 – 198.214.255.255
    Austin Community College AUS-COM-COL2 (NET-198-214-176-0-1)
    198.214.176.0 – 198.214.191.255

  5. CuriositySlaked says:
    12 February, 2003 at 5:50 am

    Wowwwww there’s money well spent on the nations future.
    Apparently momma cut him off and the farm animals said no.
    No offense to nice moms and farm animals.

  6. CuriositySlaked says:
    12 February, 2003 at 6:14 am

    I know someone else out there must’ve looked this sullbhit up too. Phone calls anyone?
    I’d like to end this saga by saying that no animals were hurt in this visit to the great frontier.
    But I can’t say for sure.

  7. Sef Tarbell says:
    12 February, 2003 at 8:03 am

    Wil,
    I loved this essay. I also got the Stand By Me reference right away. Your writing skills have matured greatly over the time I have been reading your web site. Keep it up.
    PS – Your mom thinks saying “Jesus” is swearing? What the f*ck is she thinking? 😉

  8. David K. M. Klaus says:
    12 February, 2003 at 11:08 am

    Here in St. Louis, we had a Miss Lois rather than a Miss Nancy, but I, too, have 43-year-old memories of watching ROMPER ROOM. I don’t recall that she ever saw David in her Magic Mirror, but my wife, Nila, remembers crying because Miss Lois never called *her* name.
    In a related matter, I once heard the great Professor Irwin Corey say on THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW that he held the degrees of B.A., M.S., Ph.D., and D.D.S.: Bachelor of Arts, Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy, and Ding Dong School.

  9. lauren says:
    12 February, 2003 at 5:13 pm

    you’d better come to oregon on a book tour, too. eugene misses you.
    i am only allowed to swear around my mother if we are talking about politics and “stupid fucking george bush.” =)

  10. sfg5 says:
    16 February, 2003 at 9:32 am

    oh, please

Comment navigation

← Older Comments

Comments are closed.

Related Posts

Still Just A Geek is a Hugo award finalist

Still Just A Geek is a finalist for the 2023 Hugo, in the Best Related Work category!

Happy book birthday to me!

Still Just A Geek is released today. It's available everywhere books are sold. Holy crap it's actually happening.

Let’s do a Flashback Friday

Yesterday, I blew it all up. All the websites I maintain on my server, including this one and Anne’s, blew up when I did … something. I exhausted my knowledge, […]

still just a geek: an (annotated) memoir

TL;DR: The first half of this book is my 2004 memoir, Just A Geek. I’ve heavily annotated and reflected on who I was and what I wrote in the early […]

Recent Posts

behind his eyes he says ‘i still exist’

behind his eyes he says ‘i still exist’

This thing has been happening to me since I built my first blog about 25 years ago, and you’d think that by now it would have stopped, but here we […]

More Info
hey it’s me on the katee sackhoff podcast!

hey it’s me on the katee sackhoff podcast!

I recorded this episode of the Katee Sackhoff Podcast a couple of weeks ago. It’s when I realized I needed to spend some money on a camera and some lights, […]

More Info
it’s storytime with wil wheaton episode 7 – end of play by chelsea sutton

it’s storytime with wil wheaton episode 7 – end of play by chelsea sutton

Well, here we are in Spain. I feel like I am just getting started, and I wish I had more new episodes yet to come, but we have come to […]

More Info
it’s storytime with wil wheaton episode 6 – if we make it through this alive by a.t. greenblatt

it’s storytime with wil wheaton episode 6 – if we make it through this alive by a.t. greenblatt

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm here to remind you that there's a new episode of It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton, waiting for you wherever you get your podcasts.

More Info

 

  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Member of The Internet Defense League

Creative Commons License
WIL WHEATON dot NET by Wil Wheaton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://wilwheaton.net.

Search my blog

Powered by WordPress | theme SG Double
%d