I spent much of today going through last night’s post comments, and making sure that people I’d inadvertently blocked on Twitter were unblocked.
But, uh, the thing is … after going through about 250 links, I’d only actually blocked three of them. Everyone else was “just in case” or something like that. I thought, gee, maybe I didn’t make the instructions for finding out if you’d been blocked clear enough.
But the other thing is, I ain’t even mad. Because I did that today, I saw a couple hundred real people’s faces, and got a tiny little glimpse into what all of those people have been doing with their lives. It made me feel connected in an unexpected way (it put the “social” in “social media”), and though it was time consuming, it turned out to be a nice way to take a break from doing actual work.
And it gave me an idea: Why don’t you introduce yourself to me and other WWdN readers?
Leave a comment in this post that tells us a little bit about yourself, if you feel comfortable sharing that sort of thing. Don’t post personal stuff that could be too revealing or hurt your privacy, but maybe share your first name, if you’re married, have kids, what sort of work you do, and maybe something that you like.
The idea is that, when you see the actual, real, human person behind a screen name or twitter handle or whatever, it’s a tangible reminder that we are all people on the other end of the connection. We’re people with families and jobs and hobbies and passions and hopes and fears and we all live on the same piece of rock, hurtling through space.
Of course, you don’t have to do this, and I can’t stress enough how important it is that you protect your personal information, but since I enjoyed the social experience of feeling connected to actual humans, maybe you will, too.
Or maybe you won’t. I’m not the boss of you.
I’m Lissie, 31, single and live in LA where I work as an Office Manager. I love Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Etc.
I’ve been a fan of yours for a while and love Tabletop. It got my brother into board games and has brought us many hours of laughs so thank you for that.
I’m a proud backer and admirer of your work. Thank you for all you do π
Hi, Lissie. May I approve of the way you spell your first name? π I’m also an Elisabeth. Do you find people misspell it all the time too? Even if you’ve mentioned it’s an ‘s’ and not a ‘z’? I moved to LA about a year ago and still have to correct the spelling on vouchers where I work.
Hi Wil and everyone,
My name is Paul (@knightsoft), and I’ve been a geek for as long as I can remember. I just turned 40 (gasp!), married wth a preteen daughter. I’ve lived Star Trek and Star Wars forever, and I’m a recent convert to Doctor Who and Supernatural. Firefly will always have a special place in my heart, thanks to my friend @m0mmacat who introduced me to it. Firefly and The Guild led me to Dr Horrible, and that helped me connect to the woman I would later marry (she loves it too). Yay for geeks!
Thank you Wil, just for being you. I hope one day to meet you, shake your hand, and say that in person.
Hey, Wil. We met a few years ago when I worked as your handler for Emerald City Comicon, but I’ll introduce myself to the rest of these fine folks as well.
I’m an author with three novels and stories in 4 anthologies to my pen name, H.L. Reasby. I also edit and am co-founder of a small press called Talaria Press.
I’m married to another amazing author, Garth, who released his third novel not too long ago. He also did all the cover art for our book series’ and the anthologies we’re featured in.
We’re big believers in cultivating writers and facilitating their efforts to enter the publishing field. We’ve brought on our newest Associate Author to our press and will be re-releasing a newly edited version of his first book quite soon.
Additionally, our latest anthology, Snicker-Snack: Monster Stories to Cower By features the authorial debut of your friend Aaron Douglas.
Thanks for throwing the doors open for your fans to let you get to know them a little better, Wil. I know it means a lot to all of us. π
I am glad to do this! I am Debbie Hanon mother of 2 adult kids and grandma to one grandchild. I am a former Disneyland Cast Member but currently I am an accountant. I am a Klingon in “Trekkies” and a avid costumer in San Diego. My favorite TV show is The Big Bang Theory because The Will Wheaton Project got cancelled. You can see me at Steampunk and Pirate events all over So Cal and I attend the Star Trek con in Vegas with my husband of 30 + years. Also we run a costuming group that does a Star Trek show at San Diego Comic Con every year.
That is me in a nutshell Will! We would love to have you attend one of our shows sometime.
Cheers and Qa’pla!
Hi, Debbie,
After reading as many of these wonderful introductions as I could, I started to wonder: do you think a San Diego “Wil Wheaton” meetup would work? I’d love to get to know some of the people on this post. Maybe we could all form a game-playing group?
SDSwmr (aka Margaret)
I’m Allie π 29 year old with wiener dogs and an awesome husband. I am artsy and enjoy serial watching older shows. I am a Sea Monkey and I love meeting people with similar interests. I work 2 jobs at the moment, as I have not found my “calling” quite yet.
Hey, Wil! I am Cynthia…45 yo, single, mother of two grown daughters (24 & 19). Grew up in Atlanta, Georgia so I do speak in a beautiful southern dialect. Moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, July of this year which was huge and I do have my beloved ocean only 5 miles down the road…Paradise in the midst of Crazy-Town. Woo hoo! I knew of you but intently began following you in 2008 or 09 due to the amazing Jenny Lawson aka TheBloggess! Your picture shuffling papers was great π
Hiya. I’m AutoJim, more properly known as Jim Crider. I’m an engineer who spent 18+ years in the auto industry, designing stuff nobody ever writes the CEO to praise, but there’s a good chance the US-made car or truck you’re driving has something I designed on it. I’ve been doing something entirely different for the last 6 years, namely designing tools used by robot submarines (ROVs) to do various tasks.
The nom de net came about in mid-1993 when I was invited to join the staff of GEnie’s Auto RoundTable and needed a handle for my staff account that indicated which RT was my home. I’ve been using it ever since on a variety of platforms, even though GEnie is now dust. I spent a lot of time hanging out in the SFRTs there.
For fun, I play with cars. I’m a turn marshal (those folks on the corners of the track with flags) and sometimes even play race car driver in club racing. I’ve never been on TV as a driver, but I’ve been on plenty as a marshal, unfortunately usually when something really bad has happened at my turn at a pro race. One of my claims to fame is running after a spinning car at a race while carrying a fire extinguisher, and tripping on a tree root and breaking my wrist. On live national TV. Got a special award for that.
I don’t post much here, but read regularly as I find our host’s general kindness and overall honesty to be refreshing, plus he finds all sorts of cool stuff I would not have otherwise known about.
Hello. I’m Russell Burns and I’m a writer, gamer (tabletop and video), comic reader, and with my friend Sean Morgan run a tiny website called NIPPLESONTHEBATSUIT.com (we did a comic that mentions you by the way). I love what you’re doing with Table Top and am looking forward to the RPG show (playing a campaign in gamna world which is so much fun). I am also a bit of a cinephile. Loving the indie film scene right now. This is just a small taste of who I am.
Looking forward to your future endeavours.
Russell
Hi! I am Carol. 48 and divorced but still living with my ex (BLAH!).Also coming off another bad break-up which was totally my fault (I fell in love with him, but he was not in love with me). SO anyways I do need a friend
Oh! I am a total Star Wars geek – and pretty much geek overall. But this is not my Twitter name so you won’t find me that way
What a lovely invitation! You’ve clearly struck a chord from the number of responses.
I’m Clare, married and based in the UK. I do computer science research for a living, and (predictably perhaps) very much enjoy science fiction and fantasy — and your blog, Wil.
Late to the party as usual, although I do bring good cider. I’m Robin, I live in the wilds of Norfolk, England with my wife Maria and our three kids (2, 4 & 8). I work in music technology, I mainly build computers for musicians and studios, but a large part of my time is taken up producing videos about all the gear. Currently I’m blogging about my experiences making music with the Surface Pro 3 – hence the twitter handle @surfaceproaudio – which is the most work related fun I’ve had in ages. Ultimately i’d rather just be making the music than talking about making the music but we have do what we can do to keep the dream alive.
Our new year’s resolution is to actually produce a TableTop style video review of Game Of Thrones rather than just talk about it as we do every time we get our gaming friends together to play (about once a month).
Maria and I have enjoyed rediscovering your story, all the best mate.
My name is Jody Garrett (I am male) I have been married for 13 years to a beautiful and patient woman. I have 3 kids 15, 11, 8 and hey.
Hey everyone! I’m @melontherocks or just Melanie if you prefer.
I’m 32 years old, married to the most wonderful guy on planet earth (for me) and we have a 5 year old son diagnosed with ASD. We share a love of games in all its incarnations and pretty much all forms of geeky/nerdy stuff. We watch Geek & Sundry but a big piece of our life is dedicated to TableTop. We always celebrate TableTop day at our house and this past year was amazing because it was the first year that we shared it with our then 4 year old… Chutes and Ladders…It was tough at first, making sure the rules were followed (or at least taught) but then it just became fun moving pieces around the board and giggles as he spinned the little spinner thingy (technical term.) Thanks for that extra encouragement to play games and to be inclusive with everyone. We are often the go to people for insight on trying out new games.
I love coming to this website just as I love checking out the Geek and Sundry Youtube channel every spare moment I have.
Thanks for reminding us not to be dicks and to play more games. <3
I’m Erica, and late to the game for things, as usual. While I read this post when it was posted, posting on blogs from my phone is a big PITA, and often ends up deleting my comments, so I am finally here at a desktop.
I’m 34, married for 12 years with 2 sons, ages 11 and 7. Born and raised in Mass. and working in environmental engineering thanks to my degree in communications! woo! Been at this job since my oldest was a newborn and stayed on.
I have become a big fan of Wil’s over the last handful of years ranging across all the internet of his things. Books, blogs, podcasts, tv shows/appearances, and of course TableTop. I’m a proud backer and encourager of the boardgames with my family and friends.
Wil, I am glad you asked. I have thought about commenting for years. I’m 40-year-old Josh. I live in Utah, have 5 kids and soon to be ex-wife (she forgot Wheaton’s law). I am a geek. I program for ancestry.com. I grew up watching TNG and was never a Wesley-hater. I was excited many years ago to stumble into WWdN and have followed you ever since.
I love TableTop and the joy it has brought playing the games (that it introduced me to) with my kids. My oldest son talked me into GMing an RPG so we got my daughter, brother, nephews and bro’s bro-in-law to join and have a regular gaming group. GMing is hard, but it’s totally enjoyable.
Another thing I really dig is your Dad style. Being basically a single dad for a few years, I have enjoyed your blogs about your relationship with your sons. Wicked slick!
I look forward to TTRPG. ΠΡΠ΅Π³ΠΎ Π₯ΠΎΡΠΎΡΠ΅Π³ΠΎ!
Hiya, fellow Utahn and programmer!
Hi all, I’m a 48 yo Chemist and avid gamer from Houston, TX. Still running 1e AD&D. Met Wil at a Gencon a few years back. Happy to say I started my son gaming at age 1. Now at 12 he can say he has a decade of gaming experience.
Hello,
I’m a 32 year old software engineer. I have a 16 month old daughter who is the absolute best thing ever. I also am an avid homebrewer thanks to a post Wil made about homebrewing over 2 years ago. He made it seem so fun and easy I decided to jump in, it’s everything he made it out to be and more!
Partly because of tabletop a group of friends and I started a board game group we call BGAG (Board Game Awareness Group) that we use to have meet ups and to share games with each other. A big goal of the group is to continually bring in new people to introduce them to the joy that is board game nights. Arkham Horror is my favorite board game by far.
I think sometimes I have too many hobbies so I won’t list them all, but I think it’s amazing that you decided to do this and invited people to put themselves out there for all to see without the paranoia that so often goes with anything online these days.
Hello,
I am a 23 year old avionics tech in the Navy. My interests are video game design, writing, acting and building computers.
Got back from a long deployment a little bit ago and started watching Tabletop. Your show brought back an interest in board games that I thought was long gone. Thank you so much for your show. I will definitely keep on watching.
Hi! I’m Lisa, soon to be 34 years old. I live in Houston, Texas, and have 2 cats. I like dogs too, but work too much to give them the proper attention. I am a little late to all things nerdy (I had an Atari when everyone else had Nintendo), but constantly being behind hasn’t stopped me from loving all that stuff. I used to sneak upstairs and watch TNG re-runs late at night. I went to my first sci-fi/fantasy convention this year. I have never seen Star Wars and know that this is a gaping hole in my nerd knowledge. I keep meaning to rectify that, but never get around to it. I also like Doctor Who, video games, board games, books, science, and am an anglophile.
I found WWdN a few months ago, and it feels like I have made a new friend. Thank you, Wil, for sharing your life with everyone, and for talking about your struggles (as well as your positive experiences).
I’m Will, 21 from Minnesota. Nice to officially meet you Wil to Will. Nice meeting you all too. ^_^
My name is Ashtan. I’m 24 years old and live with my husband (@tm258 on twitter) and my youngest sister, who we are currently raising. She’s 12 and a high-function autistic individual. She’s a pretty cool kid and we’re quite fond of her.
My husband and I are both atheist and secular humanists.
My interests include anything related to yarn. I both knit and crochet, as well as dye and spin on very rare occasions. I generally just use the all-encompassing phrase “yarnsmith.” I also dabble in other crafts and am an avid lover of books. My go-to genres are fantasy and historical fiction.
Hey Ashtan, I mostly only crochet and also hand spin with a drop spindle a little, but i love the term Yarnsmith. π
Hello,
I’m Evergreen. I’m a database analyst for Disney in Orlando (friend of Anne’s friend, Amy). I grew up loving all types of games (computer, video, board, card, etc.) In addition to hours of fun, I find group games provide an avenue for me to be social with family and friends that is not as difficult and awkward for me as things like “small talk.” Tabletop has helped me find games that even the less enthusiastic family members are able to enjoy, and now several of them have started playing games on their own. I’m also an author of fantasy novels (not yet published), love to make the world more colorful (mostly through tie-dye), married to a fellow gamer, and own 4 cats and 2 horses.
I’m Benjamin. I’m 22 and I am a film student from North Carolina. I am currently a senior and am completely scared shitless because I have no idea where to move with my girlfriend (an actress at my school and also a senior) when we graduate this upcoming May. Life is scary sometimes. I am about to take a trip to Atlanta and New Orleans and am meeting with some people who may have some employment for me after school. I’m in the editing discipline, but my focus is on sound (foley, sound design, mixing, etc.) and I am fucking amped to get out in the world and finally start working. Anywho, thanks for this opportunity Wil and I was happy to read about other people! Catch y’all on the flippity flop.
Hi Wil, my name is Dave and I run a medical simulation center. We train doctors, nurses, medical students, and other health care professionals using robotic patients and virtual reality simulators to fake arms for putting in IVs. I’m 34, married, and have a little boy in preschool.
I’ve been following your work basically your whole career. I loved Stand by Me and you being cast in TNG got me into Star Trek, which lead to me getting into tech and science, which eventually lead me to a really rewarding career. I found your blog when I was in college (around 2002) and have been following ever since. I mostly read, sometimes comment, and got to interact with you a few times that way which is always cool.
I don’t have time for a lot of hobbies at this stage in my life, I just really like spending time with my family and trying to be a good husband and father. It’s the most important and most rewarding thing to me. When I do have some alone time I like to exercise, tackle home improvement projects, and read. I play games now and then but it’s mostly with my son these days. He likes Mario Kart on the Wii and we’ve been doing lots of puzzles and matching games.
BTW, thank you for introducing me to John Scalzi, Neil Gaiman, and Patrick Rothfuss. Wonderful writers who I found through your blog and Twitter feed.
Oh hey, look at that. Wil, if by chance you read this could you take my email address off of the post? I bet I entered it twice…apparently I am at a greater coffee deficit than I originally thought.
Hey there Wil and everybody who has already taken the opportunity to introduce themselves! I’m Phil, a 25 year old Brit, longtime geek and lover of all things superhero – by day, I work in digital marketing and by night I run a small YouTube channel (of the same name as I’m commenting with) the creation of which was inspired by yourself along with a few others.
I’ve also recently gotten into board games thanks to Tabletop, and I’m thoroughly enjoying the ongoing journey of discovery!
Anyway, it’s fantastic to meet cool people like yourselves, if you have any cool geeky creative projects you’d like to share with me I’d love to take a look at them!
Hey, Wil and everyone else,
My name is Tara. I really liked the podcast. I’m glad you released it, and I hope you stick with it. I have been a fan for a while. I started watching ST: TNG when I was 4 almost 5.
Hi Everyone
My name is Jo and I’m a musician in the band “The Blue Pig Orchestra” from the UK. I’ve been reading Wil’s blog and enjoying his writing since the ‘Where’s my burrito” days. Reading the blog feels like catching up with an old friend – thanks Wil.
Hello everyone! My name is Nick, and I’m a 20 year-old composer. I’m currently getting my bachelor’s degree in music composition, with plans to get a master’s and eventually a doctorate. I’ve been an avid gamer since middle school, but made the transition from video games to board games when I went to college (since I couldn’t exactly bring a gaming system and tv with me). Tabletop has definitely served as the escape from my escape, being enrolled at a conservatory (a school purely dedicated to music). Trust me, living in the field you love, especially when it’s as rewarding as music, is a dream, but it can get too much at times, and it’s necessary (for my own sanity) to get away from it all for a few precious minutes. I’m always worried about the future, due to my field’s cutthroat nature and constant risks. However, I also worry for my own family life. Since I can remember, I’ve always known that my attractions were not in the social norm, and being raised in the deep south simply made me more and more self-deprecating. Since going to college in the north, I’ve been able to truly discover myself in the world and accept it, and I’m afraid that my family won’t understand/tolerate/love me due to the fact that I’ve grown into a different person than they would have expected. Coming back home is great, because I truly love my family, but it soon becomes suffocating, as I find how different I have to act around my family compared to the freedom I experience around my friends. Wil, I am forever thankful for what you do, and hopefully I’ll be able to thank you in person one day. Just keep going!
Hi, I’m Bobak, I spend a fair amount of my time doing fun things professionally and personally. Professionally I work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, designing, testing, and operating spacecraft. Personally, I like to spend time with friends, often in person around my coffee table, playing games. When weather in Southern California permits, I enjoy playing softball with my coworkers and friends. On good weeks I work out, ride my bike to work, and cook dinner.
Hi Wil,
I’m Marco from Bavaria in Germany. I follow your blog for over a year now and even read and loved your book “Just A Geek”. Of course, I also watch TableTop π
Well, what can I tell you about me?
I’m happily married to an Irish girl, have a four year old son and an one year old daughter.
Professionally, I work at one of the biggest hospitals in Germany as an IT Development Consultant.
I love playing boardgames with my wife and friends and constantly tell myself not to buy new games anymore (doesn’t work, though).
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a Happy New Year 2015.
I’m Kenn and I’m 33 years old and I’m an IT-type person. Sort of a jack-of-all-trades in my current job. I live in a smallish town in the desert of southern Nevada and it’s hard to find people, events, and shops in my area that carry or enjoy the types of things I do unless I want to make a trip into Las Vegas. Sometimes I feel like I haven’t done enough with my life or my career, but I like to think a lot of people do the same. I enjoy your work and hope you get to do many more creative things in your lifetime!
Interesting experiment you’ve got here, Wil. I’m absolutely rubbish at social stuff most of the time, but I figure I’ll give this a shot.
My name’s Tristan Knight, and I’m on the staff of an academic journal at a major university in the Boston area. I went back to college in 2007, got an associate’s degree in Kansas in 2011, and moved here two years ago to finish my bachelor’s. I’m a lifelong geek, with Star Wars Episode IV being the first movie I ever remember seeing (in the theater at age 2 1/2). I’ve been playing video games almost as long, and got into table top RPGs when I was 8.
As mentioned, I’m terrible at social interactions, which is incredibly frustrating given that there’s supposedly a vibrant and thriving geek culture in Boston. Somehow, though, I’ve managed once more to not click with that segment of the population. So instead I figure I’ll occasionally pop up, prairie-dog-style, here in the relatively anonymous confines of the internet.
Best of luck to you, Wil, on this experiment and your others. And hello to you fellow readers of Mr. Wheaton’s blog. Happy holidays and well wishes to you all.
Hello! I am Wendy, from Vancouver BC, originally from Northern Ontario, Canada. I am 43 and am a manager at an insurance company.
I live with my husband of 14 years and our amazing rescue dog, Shayna. She is a Lab/Pitbull cross and she makes us laugh each and every day!
I decided recently that 2015 would be the year that I listen to more podcasts and what do I find today on Twitter? Your podcast! Karma, indeed.
Hey, D here!
I teach in Orlando, FL.
I love Star Trek, Star Wars, and Stargate. I read a lot, though not as much as I used to. I work about 60-80 hours per week during the school year, so that cuts into my reading time.
I love TV shows, and I think it’s one of the best SciFi/Fantasy mediums today. I love a lot of CW shows (Arrow, Supernatural, The Flash, The 100), a couple since-canceled SyFy shows (Eureka, Warehouse 13, SG-1, SGA, SGU), and I can’t help myself… I have a huge thing for crime dramas (pretty much ALL OF THEM).
My name is Ashley – long time lurker, living out in Seattle, WA. I read far more than I probably have time for.. (especially if you look around my house, but whatever.)
It’s just me and my cat, Bella. (Also my roommates and their cats, technically.)
Nice to meet you all!
Hi Everyone. My name is Morten, but i have been fortunate to have the nickname Doc for almost 25 years, and that’s usually what i go by on the internet, where no one knows if i’m a cat. or a dog.
I live in Copenhagen, Denmark, where i have a nice apartment, and a job 10 minutes away, that pays really well.
I work in tech support. I answer phone calls and fix peoples problems. I am a natural when it comes to phone support. Our customers love talking to me. … It’s the face to face stuff that gets me. I am a Introvert.
I live alone with Jerry the Cat. I don’t date. I don’t socialize. I don’t hang out with the few friends i have left, or the co-workers who ask me often enough. I don’t go out clubbing, drinking. I don’t go out, period.
Right now it’s winter, and I feeling Parked Motorcycle Syndrome at full force. My one big joy in life is parked around the corner, covered in a tarp and a foot of snow. Winter has come to Denmark, and all the bikers are in hibernation.
On the upside, Jerry loves that I am home every night. He loves to snuggle.
I miss the 10 minute ride to work, and the 3-6 hour ride home. I miss the open road, the wind on my face, the rumble of the asphalt.
I don’t miss having a girlfriend.
I miss flying down the freeway. Winter has come, and with it, hibernation.
May this new year bring many happy times for you all.
And please, look twice before you make a turn.
Hey everybody,
I’m Mike. I am 38, single, and live in the Bay Area. Grew up watching ST:TNG, so I remembered Wil fondly when I heard about the blog a while back. I am mostly a lurker.
Let’s see. I consider myself a nerd, but I played some sports in high school and have always been a pretty physical guy. That dichotomy is something that I think defines me a little bit.
I was a hard core computer gamer back in the day. Playing various incarnations of Civ, Doom 2, Diablo, and Warcraft absorbed my life from age 15 to 25. These days, I fight the addictions from Paradox Interactive to have a life.
Big movie fan, but my real love is animated flicks. Movies like Kung Fu Panda, How to Train Your Dragon, Wall-E, Tangled, and Mulan are some of my favorites.
Oh, I also love baking, investing and I am a math professor. If you are one of my students, hi!
Hi everyone. I am Ben, and I am an independent motion graphics animator. I used to work in advertising and got into this racket because I wanted to make my own cartoon. I started doing these explainer videos for startup companies, quit my agency job, and now I work for myself. Still haven’t made that cartoon, because the demo video gig keeps me pretty busy. And when I’m not shuffling After Effects layers I’m hanging out with my wife and our 3-year-old, watching old eps of TNG. Maybe a little Total War Shogun 2 or Borderlands in the mix as well.
I was watching Table Top today and saw Jesse Cox on there, and I remember hanging out with him in Ohio when I was like 9 years old. As a result I have been examining my own little reality all day. It’s weird.
I’m indebted to social media and the internets for allowing me to work for myself, live wherever I want, and connect with interesting people all over the world. So thanks for this.
Sorry this is a bit late, the holidays have been full of family and events. I’m Ken, my wife has Crohn’s disease and I make videos to help educate people on the challenges that the chronically ill face, including what different chronic illnesses feel like (about 12 so far). I also enjoy reading a wide variety of authors, from Neil Gaiman to Bret Easton Ellis, and though I am a fan of STNG (of course) your work on Big Bang Theory leaves us with huge smiles on our faces every time. Thanks for all you do to brighten people’s lives.
Finally I’m back home from the holidays and now I have the chance to introduce myself here, even it’s a little late:
I am a 53 year old guy from the city of Bremen in Germany, who has been a geek since way before geeks were called nerds. I think bookworm was the term that was used back then.
1986 I have seen ‘Stand by Me’ in a movie theatre. This was the year I was already using my third computer, a Amiga 1000 (the ones before were Sinclair ZX81 and Commodore C64) and a year later ST:NG started. Today I’m an widower, IT – engineer & IT – tutor, a musician & a trained chef.
Social networks have been a great addition to my life. I got hugged when I went through hard times, people were communicating with me on a daily basis (not only through the net) and over all the years I found some great friends who live in all parts of the world.
One more thing:
I think Wil and his wife are such great people, even I don’t know them personally. What you do is what you are made of. Real personality and character. Thank you for that!
I just turned 50 today — a couple of hours ago, in fact. I’ve been a fan of yours since “Stand By Me.” I became a sci-fi fan when my mother started watching TOS episodes when they were in syndication in the mid-70s. She also turned me into a Monty Python fan when she watched Flying Circus episodes on our local public-television station around the same time.
I have watched every Star Trek movie during its original theatrical run since Star Trek II in 1982. I’ve seen most of them on opening night. Gene Roddenberry should have a town named after him, if not an entire planet, someday. I don’t own any Trek action figures. I have the entire TNG series on DVD, but I still watch them when BBC America shows them. I also have season 1 of DS9 and I hope to complete that series someday. I’m not sure about Voyager and Enterprise, though.
I saw Star Wars on its original theatrical run during the summer of 1977 and I have seen all of those movies on opening night, as well. I even waited out in line overnight to see “Return of The Jedi,” but in my opinion, the last good Star Wars movie was “The Empire Strikes Back.”
I read a lot of sci-fi. Everything from Asimov to Bester to Clarke (I’m aware of Ray Bradbury’s work) and including Iain Banks, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Philip K. Dick, Ursula K. LeGuin, Michael Moorcock, Douglas Adams, Orson Scott Card (he writes well, but in my opinion, he’s got problems as a person), Larry Niven, Dan Simmons, Joe Haldeman, H.G. Wells, Kurt Vonnegut, more short stories than I can count, and every single “Dune” novel (sure, the best were the first three, but that universe is so interesting to me that whenever the authors write another story to fill in a story arc, I have to check it out from the library).
I met you in person twice at Emerald City ComicCon recently. The first time, I asked you to sign a “glitter-globe” of the TNG Enterprise. The second time, I asked you to sign a photo that was taken of you signing the globe. I haven’t decided how far I want to keep the recursive theme going, though. I also gave you a “HardRock CafΓ© Terminus City” t-shirt and two CDs I made (one is songs from around the time you were born because I know how much you like 70s music and the other one is from a reading Isaac Asimov did of one of the chapters of his “Foundation” stories.
I always look forward to your Con panels and I just finished watching every Tabletop episode and gag reel. I am a huge fan of board games, as well. For my birthday 19 years ago, two friends of mine gave me a board game they created from stories I told them about my life experiences during the first four years I knew them. There’s an outer board, an inner board, FIMO-clay game pieces. Clay game tokens. Two sets of cards to draw from. It would be great if I could show you the game someday because I think a lot of friends would have fun with a game like this. It took them a few weeks to put it all together and there are short and long ways to play it. I just need to figure out how to get them to make an expansion set of cards to cover the last 19 years. Maybe I’ll make my own.
You’ve had a tremendous positive impact on a lot of people.
Oh what the heck…
I’m Simon, 43 living in Felixstowe, Suffolk, UK with my wonderful wife Joan, cat Tawny and goldfish Billy. I work for the local county council and am in charge of all our bus stops, which gets me out in the beautiful countryside as often as I like.
If you want to know more about my life then as well as my poorly updated blog which should be linked through my name, if the log-in thingy has worked, you can find my photos here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/26565770@N02/ and I’m on Twitter as @TheSimonb
Happy New Year everyone!
Holy smokes, almost 1000 posts of your wonderful readers introducing themselves. Woo! π
My twitter @MKGarvin describes me as, “Mom, wife, Muslim, shortish, American, living in Kuwait / Cairo”, however I am more than just those few things.
Love anything dystopian (except zombies, which scare the bejeepers outta me) and Blade runner has been my favorite movie for over 20 years now.
Love to quilt and sew. And bake!! I love being able to feed someone and see the joy they get out of eating something that I made with my own two hands.
I don’t currently work, but am trying to figure out what it is I might like to do with my time going forward in life. I’ve had my first mid-life crisis, and I can’t sit around anymore idling time away, I need to get busy and with purpose. π
Love sharing thoughts and space with you Wil and with your readers. You’ve got an amazing group of fans.
My name is Erich, 30 years old. Weird spelling of my name, but I enjoy that I am different in that way. I have a wife and adopted Golden named Lucky. We live in KY.
I enjoy Table Top, Big Bang Theory and much more. But I think the reason why I am even writing this is because I thoroughly enjoy the honesty and candid nature of you Wil Wheaton. In many ways I see a slightly older me (I joke with my wife that Wil and I would be best friends).
I think that what you do and how you choose to handle problems and situations are incredible and brilliant. Keep it up Wil.
I am Susan, 41 years old and work with http://pickledbrothers.com/ with my husband and brother in law.
My dog Arkham is my favorite thing in the world. I worked at an animal shelter for 13 years but let because the politics became more important than the animals.
Hello Wil and fellow lurkers,
My name is Joe and I am a 47 year old Canadian father, cloud business dude and gamer. I’d found Wil online drawn to his openness, honestly and “realness”. With Tabletop, it has become more regular lurking and I look forward to seeing more. I am mainly an RPGer without a regular game (feel free to reach out any GM’s in the Mississauga area) but thankful for your recommendations on games like Castle Panic which has become a favored game for my 7 year old daughter and I.
Wil, thank you for doing the things you do and being an honest and genuine person. Let me know if you make it to the GTA!
Hi all…I’m Ken Kennedy, a database administrator living in Wingate, NC (just east of Charlotte). I work remotely for a company in Atlanta, but I spend most of my time here in North Carolina. I’m a huge podcasting fan (I started with Adam Curry’s “Daily Source Code” and Dave Slusher’s “Evil Genius Chronicles”), and have been listening to the Burrito since pretty much the beginning. I’ve been a RPGer and boardgamer my entire life, and I enjoy PC and console games as well. I also read (scifi and fantasy mostly, but a little bit of everything) and like to run. I think Wil has a great idea here, and I look forward to getting to know other folks and make new friends.
I’m Misty, a 37 year old programmer and single mom in Salt Lake City, with 2 teen boys. I have been a geek since I was a kid, and books are my biggest addiction. I’ve passed on my love of sci-fi and fantasy, and all things gaming, to my sons (one of them more than the other, of course). I quit playing any MMORPGs, because I was too tempted to ignore having a real life, but I still love a good RPG group or even just something like Settlers of Catan with my boys.
There are plenty of reasons why I’ve followed Wil on social media for years, but one of the biggest reasons is that he makes it feel safe to be an intelligent female gamer geek, and a feminist, to boot! Well, that and the humor.
Usually when I see things like this, they’re overwhelmed with replies, but seeing that there are under 1000, after 8 days, makes this seem like maybe it’s worth replying. Great idea! Now to read more of the ones before me.
Hi all, I’m John – a System Engineer at a private Jesuit university in Southern California. I am in my early 40’s, have been a gamer since middle school, a band geek, arcade nerd, and creative (arts / photography / woodworking / culinary). I also had a part time job at Disneyland for the fun of it, taking guests through the Forbidden Temple, the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness, and building my comedy chops at the World Famous Jungle Cruise.
When I was younger, I could have been a double for Wil, except I can’t grow the beard he has.