Author: Wil

We are on full-on STORMWATCH!!!11 here in Los Angeles, which is perfect because today was the first day in ages when I actually had to drive down into Hollywood during rush hour.
All those jokes about how bad people drive when it rains in LA? They’re funny because they’re true. I’d just like to take a moment, and give “The Finger” to the entire city.
. . .
Okay. I feel much better. Thank you. 🙂

Quoth Professor Farnsworth, “Great News, everybody!”
Uhh, I mean “Good news, everyone!” (I lose 1d4 geek points, but get +1 for trying to quote from memory, and not cheating by using Google, so *roll, roll* 1d4-1=3. Oh, of course I roll the highest possible when it’s a penalty. whatever)
I just found out that O’Reilly will have Dancing Barefoot in stores on March 4th!! I’m not sure what sort of media ORA has planned, but I’ll be sure to update WWdN readers when I know. I hope they’ll put together some in-stores, like the ones I did with Monolith Press last summer.
Many of you have asked if I’ll be at Creation’s Grand Slam convention in Pasadena next month. I wasn’t sure, so I called Adam Malin at Creation earlier today.
We had a very nice conversation, and Adam invited me to come to the show! The final details are yet to be worked out, but I’ll be there to read from and sign Dancing Barefoot, geek out at stuff, and be part of fandom, which is always fun for me. Don’t tell anyone, but I may also have a super-secret project to debut, as well.
Also, after the fantastic success of Earnest Borg9’s performance at Grand Slam last year, Adam Malin asked me if we would bring our show to Las Vegas in July. Right now, we have a “handshake” deal to appear. I just have to make sure the scheduling works out for everyone else in EB9. Heh. I love calling it “EB9” because it sounds like some sort of spiffy code. Sadly, it’s just further evidence of my explosive geekery.
When I know more details about all these things, I’ll post them here.
Oh, and this entry’s title comes from a really fun band called The Wag. If the Beatles and the Cowsils got it on backstage at Ed Sullivan, The Wag would totally be their love child.

On Friday, February 13th, I went to visit Kris at home before she and her husband made the trip to City of Hope where she would begin her treatment. I brought her a few things to help pass the time during her stay and just wanted another chance to be with her before she started feeling awful again.
I was sad when I left because although her spirits were high, I could tell she was really nervous and scared about going in. I came home and did a few things around the house before picking the kids up from school. About an hour after I picked up the kids, Nolan wanted to go to a friend’s house. His friend lives kind of far, but there was no way I was taking the freeway on a Friday, especially on a holiday weekend. So we were taking side streets when Kris called my cell phone.
“We’ve been sitting in terrible traffic and just got off the freeway to take sidestreets to the hospital.” she said. “So I wanted to call you and thank you again for everything you guys are doing with the marathon and all the fundraising. I can’t believe it’s already over $2,000!”
I couldn’t believe it either. “It’s so awesome that there are so many people willing to help.” I said. We made small talk. I think it was good for both of us. I asked her how she was doing; She’s really scared and doesn’t want go in.
“This is the best time to do this. You have great doctors that are going to help you get better.” I tried to sound strong but I was scared too. We continued to talk as I pulled up to a red light at an intersection.
“Hey! You just passed me!” I announced. So Nolan and I followed her for a couple of miles until we had to turn, and she had to head into the hospital driveway. As we pulled up next to them, I hung up and blew her a kiss and told her to take care of herself and I’d see her on Monday. Tears filled my eyes as we drove off.
Earlier today Kris called my cell phone. “What are the donations at?” she sounded terrible, yet there was excitement in her voice.
“About $8,000!” I proudly informed her. She couldn’t believe it. I asked her how she was doing. She said she did great all weekend with her chemo, but woke up this morning feeling really sick. They were going to give her something for the nausea which would also make her sleep but she really wanted to know how we were doing. I love that she has this to keep her going. I told her to get some sleep and I’d come by at the end of the day.
I printed out all the comments written about her and our marathon. I couldn’t wait for her to see all the great things everyone said. I also brought flyers we made about the marathon because she wanted to give them to her visitors to help with the fundraising.
As I raced up to the hospital doors (only 10 minutes left in visiting hours) Kris’s husband was standing outside talking with some friends. He walked me into her room. I was so surprised to see her sitting up, chatting with the nurses and looking great. The anti-nausea medication and the nap did wonders. She was feeling much better. I was so excited to tell her the donations are almost
$10,000! We chatted as they removed her empty chemo bag. Kris said it’s been two hours on, four hours off, all day. One more before midnight. Then 7am tomorrow morning she begins the first radiation treatment. Three a day for the next three days. She told me how she was up crying all night because she was so upset that they taped padding to the rails of the bed.
“They say it’s for the seizures that can happen once the radiation starts. I can’t believe I’m going to have seizures” she said. But she said the nurse told her not everyone has them. I tried to comfort her by telling her she probably won’t have them. After all, she’s taking anti-seizure medicine. I don’t think I convinced either one of us very well.
I hugged her and told her I’d see her tomorrow. Her husband walked me out. “Thank you so much for everything you and Wil are doing. It gives her something to look forward to. Something to hold on to. It’s just so amazing that so many people are donating” I told him that we were so glad we could do this and we would donate platelets next week after her transplant.
“She’ll be so happy to get that from you. It takes a few hours though,” he explained.
I don’t care. As long as I can help.

I was in the middle of a very strange dream, when Anne woke me up this morning. I was at the Concert for the Masses, but the Rose Bowl looked just like the Hollywood Bowl, and the backstage area was like Cal State LA. I was being chased by some guy who was a cross between Henry Rollins, Juggernaut, and The Thing.
Needless to say, even though today was a sleep in day for me, I was happy to be pulled away from that little bit of subconscious weirdness!
It was about 6.15 when she shook me awake.
“Wil! I just checked our donation page, and we’re over 2,000 dollars!”
“That’s great, honey,” I said, and rolled over.
“Wil! It hasn’t even been 24 hours! Kris is going to be so excited!!”
“That’s awesome!” I said, and pulled the covers over my head.
Around 7, she was back.
Shake, shake, shake. “Wil! Wil!”
“Muhfrght?”
“I just looked again, and it’s over 2500!” She had the excitement that I’ve seen in Ryan and Nolan on Christmas morning.
I don’t really know the best way to put it into words, but Anne is shaken to her very soul by Kris being sick. It’s more than the very real possibility of us losing a dear and loved friend . . . it’s a glimpse of our own mortality, and a very tangible reminder of how fragile our lives really are.
This walk is more than just raising money for research and care. It’s giving us a small way to help out our friend in her hour of need, it’s a way for all of you who read my lame website to be part of something that’s bigger than all of us. I know that this is also giving Kris something tangible to hold on to — it’s amazing moral support, you guys.
For international and privacy-concerned readers, I will set up a PayPal page where you can donate whatever you want. Your donations will go to me, and I’ll turn them right over to the Team in Training people. I wish there was some way to make me not be the middle man (I think that’s asking you all to put a little bit too much trust and faith in someone you don’t even know) but I don’t think there is. Maybe the TNT people will see how many folks are interested in using PayPal, and they’ll make PayPal an option for donations.
I just looked at our Team in Training Homepage, and right now we’re just over four thousand dollars!!!!
We kicked major ass in 2002, and I’m sure we’re going to blow that away in 2004.

Google News has this nifty feature that lets you subscribe to news alerts. You tell Google what to watch for, and when those key words are found, it will send you an e-mail alert. I use it to watch for “Jenna Jameson declares love for Wil Wheaton.” While it hasn’t found that particular story just yet, it lets me know when my name appears on one of the news sources Google crawls.
A few days ago, I got a Google News alert that linked me to an article called “Wil Wheaton is a Dick” that was posted to Alternet.