I know, I know, it’s so very wrong.
But that’s precisely why it’s so right!
make an incision, doctor limpf
I have an insane amount of work to do before Sunday night, all of it requiring a great deal of creative output. I’m already so far behind on the deadlines, I think I’m going to be up until the sun has charred the other side of the world and come back to us so I can get it all done.
I told Anne earlier today, “I don’t mind any of this. I’m incredibly grateful that I can earn a living doing all of this stuff … but I am nearing physical and mental exhaustion, so anything I do between now and Monday is likely to have a certain, um, Bug Powder sensibility about it. I’ve never wanted to crank out widgets, but right now it would be a lot easier to turn my mind off and just do that.”
I thought for a second.
“Man, I am really glad I don’t have to do that.”
It’s not all bad, though. My office is currently warm in every sense of the word because:
- I’m drinking a pot of genmaicha green tea.
- The setting sun is streaming golden rays the color of my tea through my office window.
- The air is filled with the scent of a fig candle I absolutely love.
- I’m listening to Chill Out! from Instinct ambient.
I don’t envy the task my editors have in front of them, but at least I’m going to enjoy the process of getting The Madness into their hands.
the great wheaton hockey scandal of 1991
My friends at CliqueClack did an interview with Dean Devlin, creator of the sensational new series Leverage. Dean and I played hockey on the same team (with, I’ve just now remembered, Adam Baldwin, also) from around 1989-1991. He was a forward and I was a goalie. One night in Burbank, our team gave up a breakaway near the redline. I saw it happening when the puck was still in the offensive zone, so I was ready.
When the other guy crossed our blue line, I was already way out of the net, near the bottom of the faceoff circle on my left side. I skated backward with him to force him to shoot on my terms. I guess I was near the crease when I saw him pull his stick back way over his head. “Oh good,” I thought, “he’s just going to try to blast it past me. Those shots almost always go wide, or right into my glove.”
The next thing I knew, there was an explosion in the rink, and a bright flash of light before everything went dark. When the lights came back on, I was on my knees, surrounded by a semicircle of skates. I pulled my helmet off, and watched a whole bunch of blood pour down onto the ice.
“Oh, the way it beads up is really neat,” I thought. Then, “Wait. That’s my blood.”
I’d done my job and forced him to take a low-percentage shot that went wide, just like I was supposed to. Unfortunately, it went right over the net and into my skull. My helmet was crushed, and I got to take a trip to the emergency room for something like 36 stitches in my head. I also got whiplash, which was not awesome.
Anyway, in Dean’s interview with CC, this game came up. He said:
“Wil was a dynamite goalie. When he was still shooting Star Trek, we were playing in a game and a puck actually cracked his helmet open and he needed stitches and the producers of Star Trek basically wanted to murder me. ‘You’re letting Wil stand there in front of a net while we’re shooting the series?’” Oh, the scandal.
I miss playing hockey so much. If I could justify the expense, I’d totally buy some new gear (I’ve outgrown my skates and pants, and I’d need a new helmet for obvious reasons) and find one of those leagues for guys who are in their thirties.
It may seem silly, but seventeen years after we played together, hearing that Dean thought I was a dynamite goalie means the world to me. I worked really hard to be a good keeper back in those days, and I was really proud of our team. I had a lot of free time, so I worked out at the rink almost every day, and played pick up games a couple of times a week. That season, I had a great record and a great save percentage. I even got to travel and play in an exhibition game against some members of the 1980 gold medal team in front of a sold out Boston Garden – where I was scored-on and pulled after one shot, which still makes me sad to this day. In my defense, it was Mike Eruzione who made the shot, and it was a two-on-none break. But still, I wish I’d stayed in the game.
Until I read this today, I had no idea the producers bitched Dean out, and it’s amusing to me that they did because I wasn’t even a regular on the series when this happened. In fact, shortly after the injury, I got a call from the Star Trek production office. I was surprised to hear from them, and assumed someone had heard about the accident and wanted to bitch me out about it.
They were actually calling me to tell me that Gene Roddenberry had died.
It’s weird how memories are all woven together, isn’t it?
work in progress …
I should really tell OpenOffice that Stardate is a word, but now it’s kind of amusing to me that it always tells me “UR DOIN IT WRONG!”
Coming of Age is as enjoyable to watch as I remember, even though I haven’t seen it in at least twenty years. In fact, my only real complaint so far (I’ve watched a lot more of it than it would appear from this screenshot) is that my acting is pretty flat and predictable. I make a lot of obvious, weak choices. Of course, I’m not exactly objective about that sort of thing, so maybe I’m being too critical of myself. Also: really bad pre-helmet hairdo. There’s a story behind that, but you’ll have to wait for the book to find out what it is.
Oh, and to anyone who says that Memory Alpha isn’t exhaustively comprehensive, I can only say: flux coordinating sensor.
beware the mad hermit in the north lands
Wizards of the Coast says:
It’s true! The folks at Penny Arcade and PvP (along with special guest Wil Wheaton!), took part in a second round of 4th Edition gameplay, recorded for a forthcoming podcast series. These podcasts are scheduled to begin airing mid-February.
That’s sooner than I expected. I didn’t think they’d come out until the end of March. I don’t watch a lot of my own work, because all I can see are the mistakes, but I can’t wait to listen to this podcast series; it will be like looking back at vacation pictures.