Geek in Review: a Mind Forever Voyaging

I took yesterday off, because it was a little more important to spend my wedding anniversary with the woman who was responsible for it than . . . well, than anything else in the whole world.

So I’m a day late on sharing this week’s Geek in Review, A Mind Forever Voyaging.

My limited time is the most valuable commodity I have. I can always
earn more money; I can always eat more food; I can stay up late if I
didn’t finish that load of laundry in the afternoon. (Curse you, Guitar
Hero III: Thief of Daylight!) But I can’t get back time that’s already
spent – in some cases, wasted (the time, not me) – on hollow pursuits,
so I think very carefully about how I invest
my limited free time, and my even more limited “me” time. Here’s a look
at a typical afternoon spent in a twisty maze of options, all enticing
. . .

LOOK
>A twisty maze of passages, all alike, is behind you. You face a wall with four doors.

EXAMINE DOORS
>There are four old doors: Movies, Television, Books, and Games.

Oh . . . this should be interesting.

This column is one of my favorites in recent memory, and I owe a lot of that to my editor, Andrew. Andrew used his Red Pen of Doom to give me some fantastic advice and edits on my rough draft of this column, and when he gave me back his version, I came to the unavoidable (and quite happy) conclusion that, without Andrew, I am half a writer. (He says that’s okay, because I’m the motivated half). I thanked him privately, and now I’m thanking him publicly.

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35 thoughts on “Geek in Review: a Mind Forever Voyaging”

  5. Happy Anniversary!
    There is nothing more valuable to a writer than a good editor. Not one that will play to your ego, or one who feels the need to best you, but one who sees what is great and what only good then tells you.

  6. Well, happy anniversary.
    Eight years is quite an achievement nowadays, so that is definitely more important than anything else in the world.
    And, by the way (since this is my first comment here):
    I always liked Wesley Crusher. (I dont consider myself a trekkie, just somebody who likes Star Trek and buys all the DVDs 😉 ). I know you heard a lot of comments by people hating Wesley, so I thought I mentioned that… well, that I don’t 😉
    Have a nice day,
    Chris (from Berlin)

  9. Woo Hoo! It’s HERE!!! I just got my copy of Happiest Days last night! Yes!!! I am quite possibly the most excited person in the building right now (and it’s Friday, so that is saying something). Is it stupid to be psyched about receiving mail with a return address from Wil Wheaton? Well, I have been holding off for the autographed hard copy version and then decided, “Screw that…I am not a broke college student anymore…I can get both.” So I am holding on to my envelop from WW until I get the autographed copy.
    This is going to be great! I am setting aside my Robert Jordan (late starter) and starting my Wil Wheaton tonight. Fabulous!
    Oh and Happy Anniversary Wil & Anne. Anniversaries are a lot of fun. You get to go off and be kids together again. 🙂

  10. Happy Anniversary!!
    I finished Happiest Days and its fantastic. Just the right amount of book too. I have reccomended it to a bunch of friends.
    and gbina, I wouldnt say it is stupid to be pyched about a return address from someone you admire becasue I would never call myself stupid.

  12. Wil, that’s definitely one of your best GiR columns! And I don’t say that just because I used to be a beta tester for Infocom. Okay, maybe a little. The bit about the towers of books reminds me of one of my favorite passages from If on a winter’s night a traveler, by Italo Calvino.

    p.s. Congratulations to you and Anne!

  14. Well, I see you have got your next keynote speech out of the way. Seriously, I can picture that live with a big screen behind you doing the computer voice for the game.
    Happy Anniversary. Good call spending it with your wife. My husband and I both forgot ours this year until my mother in law sent us an anniversary card. Yeah, it’s been a crappy summer.

  15. People like your friend Andrew are good to have around when we need someone with a “Red Pen of Doom” to edit the hell out of our work. I had an editor with one of those pens…and I am thanking her more now than ever for using it on my work like she did.
    Happy Anniversary as well to you and your wife! I hope you guys had a great day!

  16. I completely agree with you about the movies. I went to the movies a lot when I was a teenager, since when you’re under 21 there’s nothing better to do, but I almost never go to the movies now. The vast majority of movies coming out these days are crap and definitely not worth $10. Unless it’s something like LOTR, which is better in the theater, or something I’m just dying to see right away, it’s not worth it.
    The last movie I saw in the theater was Borat, about a year ago. It was hi-larious. Before that it was the Passion of Christ. I have no idea what that says about me. 🙂
    My husband and I love DVR. Fast-forwarding through commercials rules.
    BTW, happy anniversary!!

  17. Hiya
    I wanted to comment on the article, but you hafta pay to comment on that site and I’m not doing that. I’m glad they employ you and all, but… Not A Fan.
    OK. This week I went into my most excellent city (London) to see Control at an arty cinema in Soho. The place was great, has a little bar with all this diverse food (no barrel-sized cardboard drink shit), and we hung out there for a bit before the film, looking at all the interesting people and eavesdropping on their conversations. The people looked bright and intelligent, animated and way stylish. And I liked the trailers; they were for films I hadn’t heard of but def would like to see. And even in themselves they were good bits of filmmaking. The film itself was so good that I forgot anybody else was there but me. The sound system was awesome and I got to hear the songs I love like I’ve never heard them before. Then after the film ended we wandered around Chinatown and had some great food there and watched more interesting people. So that was a great night, made me feel really alive and happy in my life; it was the highlight of my week. I can slump in my fetid sofa with a dvd any time, and no matter how good the film, it depresses me at the end of the night when I realise what I’ve just done with my evening.
    I think you just have to think about how you choose to consume. Or move to Europe.
    OK And: I am a fanatical reader and am always searching for something to read – and I spend so much time in bookshops just trying to find something, anything, that’s even readable, let alone actually Good. So much crap, just the same thing over and over again – that is MY problem with reading – I can’t find anything good to read. To me cinema is far more dynamic and exciting right now than print publishing is – like WAY more.
    2 pence.

  19. Happy Anniversary!!! 🙂
    I think that was your best written GIR yet. I think the text style game worked well to illustrate your point. Very awesome. Thank you for another really relevant article topic. I identify – I keep lamenting my lack of free time. I have comics (really awesome comics that as a geek-identified person I’d feel bad admitting I’ve not read yet) in stacks that need to be savored and old movies begging to be watched again.
    P.S. Oh yeah, Alamo Drafthouse FT-Farking-W!! I have run into maybe 2 or 3 irritating groups of people in the almost eight years I’ve been going to the Alamo so it’s really been wonderful.
    P.P.S. As to your twitter my vote’s on Buffy on DVD but that’s only because I’ve still never seen Dr. Who. (I hear it’s great but never got around to watching it.)

  20. Cool, we have the same wedding anniversary! Except, of course, we are old and just celebrated our 23rd. Congratulations Wil and Anne, and many more happy anniversaries.

  21. A couple of things I would like to know. When did it become ok for them to show commercials in the movies? Its cheaper and more fun now to actually wait for the DVD release and pay $20…
    I live in an apartment and I like to be courteous to my neighbors. I absolutely hate this new mentality by companies where its ok for them to bombard us constantly with ads for stuff I have a .5% chance of being interested in. If the commercial is interesting I will watch it(The energy drink one where the man gets revenge on a bird for dropping on him). I dont need them blasted at me.
    Awesome article once again sir.
    PS. Robot distracting flying mail off Ford’s satchel FTW.

  22. I can’t believe you don’t have a DVR. I would have guessed Tivo, but a DVR at least. Oh and I drive a “Ford F150 fuckxxotronic planet-chewing model supertruck”, (I need it to haul my art work around). I tell you what, you get a DVR and I’ll start looking for a smaller truck.

  23. Wil, I was very interested in what you wrote about the guy who has become a Halo 3 suicide bomber– I’m not a video game freak anymore. When I was younger I sold all my systems because they had taken over my life. I guess it was an important decision because I have accomplished a lot since I did it. But what of the person who becomes so hopelessly attached that it becomes his reality? Is he then that much better of a geek, or has something much more terrible happened to him? I whole-heartedly agree with you that time is our most valuable commodity in this society, and as a fellow writer and a politically active citizen, I am consistently faced with a decision as to how I should spend my time. Lately it has been typing on my laptop, delving into the innermost bowels of my childhood and writing a piece that I am very proud of. But is that any better than sitting in front of Halo 3 and becoming the reason why there are Halo 3 suicide bombers? I think so. What do you think?

  24. Happy anniversary!
    I enjoyed the article.
    I thought this statement: “I imagine that if I were a filmmaker, or television producer, I’d feel differently about the first two doors than I do” was interesting. I’m going to bet that just the opposite would be true, and that seeing your art treated with disrespect would make you even more furious than the typical audience member.
    As for the magic of TIVO … I watch everything after it starts, especially Browns games. If I play them using fast forward, they even have a pass rush!

  26. Nita: It’s Wesley, all right. Looks like he’s in Engineering, looking down at a console, and he’s wearing the regular Starfleet spacesuit, not the gray muscle-shirt model, so I’m going to guess that it’s a still from Remember Me.
    What, too geeky?

  28. Happy Anniversary, Wil and Anne!
    Great GIR, Wil!
    ok. Fellow Austin peeps!
    Andrew, Amy,…who else?
    sadly, angiek won’t be in town…
    Who wants to get a gathering to watch Numb3rs, somewhere?
    It would be *so* great to see if Alamo would host it, but not much time.
    GattiTown has Big Screen TV rooms. It would be fun to get together and then
    (during commercials) tell our favorite Alamo Drafthouse anecdotes. ;o)
    If anyone is near Austin, the more the merrier! Whadya think?
    Of course, Wil, *you* would be welcome too!

  29. I’d love to, but that’s Thanksgiving weekend and I think I’m going to be in San Antonio. If that changes, I’ll let you know.

  35. Jokes Are Like Oil

    Jokes are a craft. They fascinate me. I read the blogs of Jane Espenson and Ken Levine for those occassions when they talk about refining whats funny.
    Writer Wil Wheatons most recent Geek In Review article at Suicide Girls (…

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