I left my house at noon on Thursday, and when I finally arrived in Lake Tahoe eight hours later, I was road weary and tired . . . but not too tired to have dinner with my friends, and then play poker at Harveys.
I felt pretty confident when I sat down at the 3-6 table, and I played well. I’m saving the details for the poker book (yeah, yeah, I know) but the best hand of the night came near the end. I held KK, and came out betting the whole way . . . especially after a king came on the flop. There was only one player left with me when we saw a seven on the turn, and when the river was a deuce, I thought “THE HAMMER!” to myself with a chuckle.
I bet the entire way, got called, and showed my cowboys. The other player nodded, and flipped over . . . THE HAMMER! No shit. I laughed so hard they must have thought I was insane. “Way to drop THE HAMMER,” I said, but only got a blank look back.
(For just about everyone who has no idea what I’m talking about: The poker bloggers came up with a term for 7-2 off suit, the worst pocket cards you can get in Hold’Em: The Hammer. They say that if you can play The Hammer and push someone out who has queens or kings or something, you’ve “dropped The Hammer.” In an online game, I recently dropped The Hammer . . . when the flop came 7-7-2, giving me a full house. Rock.)
I took a vicious beat at the end of the night, when my ace-high diamond flush got beat by Jacks full of deuces, (my fault: the board was J-2-x-x-2, and I was so happy to make the flush I didn’t think about the possible full house . . . even if the deuce was the only card that could both make my hand and beat me) but I still left $24 ahead. When I cashed out, I wondered if I’m destined to leave with under $30 profit everytime I play (turns out the answer is no, but more on that later.)
I slept terribly, mostly because I was away from my family, but also because I was so nervous about speaking on Saturday. I woke up several times during the night with that “racing anxiety brain” that I used to get before I started production on a movie, and my only real solid sleep was between nine and eleven in the morning. Ouch.
That nervousness never went away, and I was scared out of my mind when I took the stage at Gnomedex. I’m always uncomfortable around real bloggers who have been doing this longer than me, and didn’t know if the attendees would appreciate me reading from my books, rather than giving some talk about whatever the future of something or other would be . . . but reading from my books is sort of what I do best right now, and Chris Pirillo told me that he was confident a reading would go over well, so that’s what I did.
I mostly read from Just A Geek, with some commentary thrown in (which is how my audiobook is shaping up.) I started with a brief history of WWdN, and talked about how this website changed my life. Then I read some stuff from Spongebob Vegas Pants, which I think is funny, and finally The Wesley Dialogues, which I think was a pretty important moment in my journey. I finished with the WFS story from Dancing Barefoot because it makes me laugh.
Now, here’s something that I think is really cool: My entire reading was audio and video taped, so anyone with a computer (and probably broadband) can see what my song and dance looks like. I released the entire performance under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 license, too! For the geeks, that means you can seed it in Bittorrent all you want (and I actually hope you will!). For the nongeeks, that means that anyone can copy it and share it with anyone else, as long as you don’t modify it or make money off it. I haven’t been able to find the files just yet, but as soon as I know, I’ll post links.
I’d say that I mostly didn’t suck. I listened to a bit of it, and I can hear how nervous I am, though my friend Kathleen told me that I settled down and hit my stride about 15 minutes into my thing.
I did *not* feel that way, though. I really cared about doing a good job, because I felt like I was talking to peers, rather than fans. What I mean by that is, “fans” are usually more forgiving when I screw up, or don’t give the best performance or whatever, but “peers” tend to sit back and wait for me to earn their time and attention. It’s the difference between playing in front of the home town crowd or doing an exhibition game in a town where nobody knows what to expect. Because of that, and because I was so terrified of sucking, it was really difficult to know if they were “with me” or not. There was definately laughter in many places, but when I looked out into the audience, I honestly couldn’t get a read on them. There were a lot of arms folded across chests, and I felt like most of the room was just waiting for me to do something stupid, but nobody walked out, and I’ve since been told that the silence I mistook for disinterest or hostility was actually most of the audience digging my thing.
Heh. “digging my thing.” Cool. Jozjozjoz posted a round up of people from the audience got their blog on while I was performing which was both cool and weird at the same time. Until you’ve actually read someone’s blog moments after they’ve posted it . . . FROM ACROSS THE ROOM . . . you may just have to take my word for it.
Anyway.
I only attended Gnomedex on Saturday, and I counted about 250 people . . . but the concentration of talented, interesting, cool, and influential people rivals that of any other place I’ve ever been . . . and I once went to the White House. The panels I saw didn’t blow me away like I thought they would, but it didn’t matter, because the conversations between the movers-and-shakers on the panels and the movers-and-shakers in the audience were incredible and informative. I felt like I was in on these talks where people were deciding what The Next Big Thing is, and I could have tossed my voice into the mix if I had anything relevant to say.
Also, because the crowd was smallish, it was easy to get “Face Time” with any of the aforementioned people, and they were all genuinely interested in talking with each other . . . and me. I’d link people, but that sort of feels like starfucking, so I’m going to pass on that.
Saturday night, my nervous stomach prevented me from eating more than breadsticks at the dinner where we got to listen to a great presentation all about the future of My Yahoo. Now, I’ve dug on My Yahoo since about 1997 (and they’re going to have me do a “Celebrity My Yahoo” page, as soon as I get my shit together and send them back the forms) so I already thought it was the cool . . . but the beta is teh r0ck. I’m gonna put one of those “add to my yahoo” buttons on this site when I do a minor redesign in the next few weeks.
After dinner, I went to Harveys and played poker with some fellow geeks, two total fucking tools (who none of us knew — hazzard of casino play, I guess), and two really nice guys (who we also didn’t know — another hazzard of casino play) [Yes, I know that I spell Hazard with two “Z”s, because I love them Duke Boys.] The game was the most enjoyable I’ve ever had (at one point, I had to hold my stomach, I was laughing so hard) but it’s too much to recount here and now. I’m going to give it its own story in the future (dont’ worry, I’ve got notes.)
I drove home with my friend Kathleen. We stopped at every rest area so I could pee, and she helped me put together the foundations of my keynote at Apachecon next month. If I was scared shitless to speak at Gnomedex, I am scared to death to speak at Apachecon. I’m not going to do a reading, it’s going to be more of a philosophy about the future of something (har) and since Kathleen does that sort of thing all the time, she was able to help me out. It’s a good friendship test to spend 8 hours together in the car, and we passed. Cool.
I’m writing this at 4pm on October 6th, and I have to leave in less than 24 hours to go to Austin for Linucon. I think it’s going to be a great con, and I am really looking forward to it, but man . . . I absolutely HATE being away from my family. I hate not sleeping in my bed, I hate being away from my dogs, and I hate sitting on airplanes. It’s really tough to keep focused on what a great time I’ll have when I’m there, when there is so much stuff HERE that I will miss . . . but going to Gnomedex has eased that pain quite a bit. If Linucon is half as fun as Gnomedex was, I’ll be a happy guy.
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Great report Wil!!!
Wil,
Love your poker stories, but I’m missing something in this one. Did you win, or lose against ‘The Hammer’? You mention a king on the flop, but not the other 2 cards. I read it as you winning with Trip Kings vs. 2 pair, and I think even if another 7 or 2 dropped, you’d have the stronger full house, but maybe I’m missing a possibility.
Maybe it’s got to do with the laughter. Seems a bit cruel if you won and laughed (though I guess it would depend on your relationship with the person you beat), but less so if you’d just lost to the worst possible starting hand. Of course, if you won, it explains the blank looks at your joke a bit more.
New title idea: ‘Wil Drops The Hammer on The Nuts’
Paul
Your book reading at Gnomedex was awesome Wil, and the delivery was great. If you were nervous it didn’t show at all, I though you hit your stride almost right away.
Cheers!
Hey, nice read wil, new to the site, love it so far, nice to see a celeb whos human. 😀
Wil,
I enjoyed your reading at Gnomedex very much. The only thing I saw that could’ve been interpreted as nervousness was the a bit more than occasional look at your watch. I look forward to seeing how the tape comes out.
would it be possible to set up a syn feed that doesn’t post the full text of your entry? I really kind of like being teased then coming to your site for the full thing.
don’t forget the OTHER thing you’re doing in Austin – at the Drafthouse.
Wanted to go to Gnomedex this year espically to see you speak. Unfortunatly I wasn’t able to go because of an untimly move. Great to see that the talk will be online. Look forward to seeing it.
Your reading was great and playing poker with you guys was even better…
Hopefully I’m either in the “fellow geeks” or “nice guys” crowd… I’m guessing the tools were “Freemont” and “Chicago”.
Good Luck @ Linucon
I took it that he won against the hammer. But who really knows? Well, Wil does.
Just a wee poker aside. I’m in Canada, and saw the first episode of the WPT Hollywood Home Game (or whatever they call it) on StarTV a couple of days. So Canadians, check your local listings! The one with Wil can’t be too far away.
I thought Ben A played really poorly. He looked uptight, like was worried he would look bad. He finally got a couple of cowboys and jumped straight to an all in. He was lucky that the chick from Mad TV called him. She only learned poker the day before. He was broadcasting. He should have lost that hand and gone out.
Lou Grant, I mean Ed Asner won this one, but he clearly didn’t want to. He called all in with an 8 high on the last hand. After he won, he said to Jon Favreau, “I don’t want to go, it should be you that goes”.
So again, Canadians, look for it on StarTV.
I guess no one can tell you this and have you actually believe it, but you are AWESOME live and you *will* knock ’em dead. Trust me, people wouldn’t keep asking you to do this stuff if you didn’t rock! Have a GREAT time!
Good overview write-up, and can’t wait for the forthcoming poker stories. I just GOTTA hear about the two tools and how much of their money you and the others snaked up…
Have fun at Linucon!
When I finally got away from watching the vendors lock up their stuff and showed up at the poker table, it looked like you were all having a good time. And I learned enough about Texas Hold ’em to know not to bet if 5s are showing and Shelley’s playing.
Yeah, you got the tools right 🙂
Steve: I was checking my watch to make sure I didn’t go too long. Maybe I should invest in a little timer or something that I can check less obviously? 😉
I was in your Gnomedex audience, and no way did you look nervous. You came across really well … as I commented in my blog it felt somewhere between a reading and an acting “performance”, you just brought your stories to life. VERY cool.
I had to read the commentary to see if I was in the tools camp or not 🙂 It was great playing poker with you, I learned a lot at the game though I ultimately lost… just pointing out how much research I need to do. BY the time the totally tanked fellow and his buddy showed up (after shelley and her friend left), I had had enough.
Next time!
Welcome to Austin Wil! Best place for guiness downtown, The Gingerman on Fourth St., another good local hang out is the Crown & Anchor.
I would SOOO geek out if I ran into you on the street!
Kitt
Good luck in Austin. I love to travel, but I really like the comforts of home. I like to sleep in my own bed, use my own computer, look out my own window, hear the familiar sounds of the geese flying overhead and the squirrels chattering in the trees, and waking up to my cat’s purring.
You’ll do fine at Linucon. I’m going to try to find your audio feed from Gnomedex. I still need to listen to some of your old interviews on my iPod (waiting for that long car trip). I already have a playlist called ‘Wil Wheaton’.
I’ve also been doing some research on podcasting, and found some info on Leo’s blog @ http://www.leoville.com. I just downloaded iPodder and need to try it out.
The only thing that I need right now is more time. I’ve been surfing the net since 1993, and remember the days when you could surf most of the sites on the net in an evening…and Adam Curry made the first MTV site.
Once I move my domain, I hope to play with Movable Type. I’m not sure if I’ll go for a full blown blog or not. I’m not sure that my life is that interesting to share…
Anyhow, good luck!
L.
Wil,
In less than 48 hours I’ll be ~seeing~ you at Linucon! Just today my husband said he’ll watch our two kids so I can go 🙂
I’ll be the mid-30s one with long brown hair babbling inanely and probably showing your my bruise from where I gave platelets last week.
Oh, and do you know yet what the format is for the Sunday morning poker? Who else is playing?
-kytyn
(that was “showing you my bruise” not “showing your my bruise” – don’t you just love catching your typo right ~after~ clicking [post]?)
Wil, in the blog, after the banging and you saying, “Jesus?” (very funny, by the way!), you said, “If this room fills up with ____, I’m going to be very upset.” I can’t understand that word. If the room fills up with what?
Christine: It was “popcorn.” I was making a reference to “Real Genius.”
You’re writing a poker book? You have no idea how happy you just made my friend Abe. I sent him your Viva Las Vegas in five parts. He said he loved it.
Rock on.
We’ve got to see some streaming audio/video clips soon. The little ten-second clips are serious tease… but I like it anyway.
LOL
Stop torturing yourself! You’re a wonderful guy with a metric ton of talent.
Come to Denver!!
Okay, bloggers blogging about you giving your speech while you are giving your speech is just WAY weird!
But come to think of it, it’s kind of like radio reporters used to do….
Remember the Hindanberg?
(Not that you were crashing and burning or anything, but that sort of immediate “as it’s happening” kind of observations.)
But it’s still kind of weird.
I was going to get a T-shirt that says…
“I’m blogging this”
But I don’t think I’ll do that now. 🙂
It would be interesting to know how blogging is going to evolve. . .
All I know is, I’m addicted to my own blogging habits!
Write On!
Sorry about the “racing anxiety brain”. I used to get that a lot before a performance or facilitation when I worked for Disney.
My husband and I have a simpler name for it: “busyhead”.
Have faith, Wil! You’ll get into a groove before your last con. 🙂 No doubt, your family will have something supercool planned for you upon your return.
I hope you enjoy Linucon as much as you seem to be anticipating it. I know that I will have fun.
The Real Genius reference wasn’t lost on me and you gained some cool points for it actually.
I have to agree that the silence you were subjected to was due to the quality of the speech, not dininterest. Let’s face it, you read like you’re acting out the events and that makes it interesting, it’s like watching televsion, we all glazed over a bit.
See you at Apachecon.
-The Guy with the NSA shirt
Thanks for clearing that up, Wil. 🙂
Did you know you’re on goats today?
Can’t add the website …
Wil,
My husband travels about 40-50% of the time for his job (he works for the World Wide Web Consortium out of MIT). He loves his job, and it takes him all over the world, but it’s tough to share him with everyone else so much of the time. He just returned last night from a two-week trip and I am glad to have him home. So your comment about missing your family and having a good time away was very poignant to me. Tips for ensuring time away isn’t tough is to remember to call and talk to your loved ones, take good pics to share when you get back, and send flowers once in a while if you’re gone for an extended period of time (or something like that). This last time around my husband had to leave right before our wedding anniversary so it was especially tough. Hang in there, and remember that the time apart gives you some great stories to share with your family when you return, and you get to scout out vacation locations for free!
“don’t forget the OTHER thing you’re doing in Austin – at the Drafthouse.”
Hey! No teasing like that! The drafthouse is one of the things that makes Austin a cool place to live. I didn’t see you listed at any of the special events over the weekend, so maybe you’re just slipping out to catch Re-animator.
Austin’s a good town. I think what you need to do is pack up the family and the dogs and come some time when you can all stay a while.
Looking forward to Linucon.
Wil, you couldn’t get a read on the Gnomedex crowd because we were too busy
Blogging about how cool your talk was.
Thanks for the poker stories, I actually understand something about them these days as a friend is teaching me about the game.
Also wanted to tell you something funny. We were watching the TVGuide channel the other day (yes, no life, so we watch to find out what’s on) TBS was showing “Stand by Me” and the only credit is showed on screen was **da ta da*… was Wil Wheaton. Like you were the name most recognized from the film. Way to go Wil!
After you were shown 2,7 off, you should have said, “Don’t be droppin’ the HAMMER on ME, biotch!”
More blank stares…
When you get to Austin, stop by “Opal Divine’s Freehouse”. I’ll be working and I’d love to buy you a beer. We got lots.
Yeah, Wil. You know I love seeing the Hammer in your entries! (And obscure Real Genius references)
On Thursday last week, [Sept 30th] I flew to Sacramento, CA to see some family and surprise a few people with my presence. It went over well. So well, in fact, that I decided to head up to Lake Tahoe for an evening and surprise my friend who’s Wife was nice enough to take him to a Scrap-Booking Convention up there.
Who knew there were conventions for this sort of thing?
Anyhow, we were sitting at one of the many Pai-Gow Tables at Harvey’s, doing pretty good, when who should walk by but YOU! I freaked out for just a second, then told Jason who walked by us. Then began my internal monologue, “Should I go say hello? Should I tell him I dig his site and read it often? Would that be rude?”
Well, I figured comenting here would be the least obtrusive thing to do, so there yo go. You’re taller than I thought you would be, but I really dig your site.
Isn’t it funny how we can get extremely nervous, even when it’s something that we do fairly regularly. I’m in a show that opened last night, and I was so nervous I could barely think straight.
This is my fourth production this year, but the first time I’ve been so nervous!
I know nothing of Poker, but that’s okay. I play a mean hand of Go Fish. Watch out!
If there is anyone who can burn Wil’s reading to a CD let me know… I have Dial-up and I don’t think my CPU would like me very much if I tried to DL it.
I’m working with a Linucon participant to get a good copy of his recording of the Wil Wheaton reading online. Unfortunately, he had to swap tapes at one point, so it’s not perfect. Wil currently has a couple of versions of what I managed to digitize using the equipment I had on hand.
BW
why do you play 3/6/10? The rake is HUGE!
Btw
You have a great blog and I had a huge crush on you growing up. I’m glad you turned out ok.;)