It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for the weekly reminder that I’ll be appearing at the Acme Comedy Theatre tonight for What’s My Line? Live on Stage! As always, the show starts at 8, and more details can be found at j.keith.net, including a two-for-one discount.
This is the last show we’re doing for this season, so if you’ve been putting it off, tonight would be a good time to come out and see us. You could try to come out next week, I suppose, but the show will be 95% – 100% less funny. Your personal funny will vary according to how willing you are to stare at an empty theatre.
Thanks to a TON of writing, the restarting of my exercise program, and a melatonin, I’ve actually slept straight through the last two nights, and I haven’t woken with the headache and stiff neck. Thank you to everyone who shared in my insomnia pain. Your advice and sympathy is very much appreciated.

I am having a really hard time sleeping. For almost three weeks, I try to go to sleep between ten and midnight. I fall asleep for about ten or fifteen minutes, and then I wake with a start. My legs feel antsy behind my knees, my brain won’t shut up, and I end up tossing and turning for about twenty minutes, until I get so angry that I get out of bed and read until at least one in the morning. Last night, it was two-fucking-forty before I was able to fall asleep. When I wake up, I have a headache, my neck hurts, and I feel like I haven’t slept at all. This is really getting old.
I know it’s not diet, but it could be lack of exercise. I was pretty damn sick the last two weeks, and running when I have a cold is the opposite of enjoyable. Darin says that I should exercise more, and I agree. I miss running, and I discovered, to my horror, that I’ve put on nearly ten pounds since August — a product of my Body By Guinness and Linux fitness fatness program.

But it’s more than just that. If I’m honest with myself, I actually think my brain is kicking me out of bed every night because there’s stuff I have to deal with that I’ve been avoiding: things I need to write, people I need to talk to, and issues I need to resolve. Anne recently did what she calls “Emotional Housekeeping,” and I think I’m going to do it myself.
So today, I will catch up on e-mail (I got it down to 200-ish, but it’s swelled back up to > 500), and finish several interviews (including Slashdot’s Ask Wil Wheaton Anything). I will also take some ideas that have been brewing in my brains and move them into my The Writer’s Notebook, to make room for new ones. A symptom of my insomnia (and maybe it’s wrapped up in the cause) is a lack of inspiration. I haven’t sat down to do any real creative writing in far too long, and I’m starting to feel performance anxiety, you know? It’s like standing at the edge of a pool that you know is filled with cold water: the longer you stand at the edge, the harder it becomes to get up the courage to dive in.
I hope that getting all these unresolved e-mails and related issues taken care of will encourage my brain to actually quiet down when I want to go to sleep.
Weird . . . when I started writing this, I truly didn’t know why I’ve been so agitated, but I think I just got it — or at least I’ve got it narrowed down. Who says blogging isn’t therapeutic?

I wanted to share with WWdN readers this amazing thing I discovered via boingboing recently: Comfort Stand Records.

I’m listening to Swingin’ Singles while I do this work . . . and I absolutely must share this record with you WWdN readers. It rules. Stand out artists include Math and Physics Club, Forty-One, Messer Chups (particularly Orgia of dead 2), and Kim & Buran — and that’s just the first side of the collection. I haven’t even gotten to side b yet.
But here’s the greatest thing in the world about these artists and this label: every track and album is released under a Creative Commons license, so you can download, burn, and share the music with anyone you want legally. Comfort Stand sez: “Comfort Stand Recordings is a community-driven label where all releases are free with artwork and liner notes. We strive to bring you recordings that we find interesting, compelling and downright enjoyable. We are not genre-specific and feature a wide range of material, from well-known performers to those loud unknown kids down your block.
We are not a business. We’re not out to make a profit. There are no banners, popups, or spam at Comfort Stand. You don’t have to register yourself to download the music you like. We operate under the ideology that money need not come between artists and audience.”
There’s a lot of lousy free music on the internets. It’s nice to listen to some really good free music for a change.
Enjoy . . .

Three things for a Sunday afternoon:
1. It was 85 degrees here yesterday and Friday. Can you believe that? I guess Demeter worked something out with Hades, and got temporary custody of Persephone for the weekend.
2. The ACME show last night was amazing. I have been in a lot of ensemble casts in my life, and this cast is one of the best. It is truly a privilege to share the stage with them, and I can’t wait to do this show every week. I remember feeling this way back in 2001 when I was doing my first ACME show “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Sunday Show.” The camaraderie backstage creates a trust and relaxation onstage, which takes the show up to eleven. There’s already talk of extending our show past the usual ten weeks, because it’s getting such a great response from the audience.
3. I read this in the comments recently, but I’m putting it here for the RSS folks who probably missed Troy Rutter’s The Top 10 Ways You Know You’ve Been Reading Wil Wheaton’s Blog Too Much . . .

10. You pronounce Wil’s site as “dubya dubya dee enn” in general conversation.
9. You take a trip to California to go geocaching hoping to see Wil’s name in the log.
8. You try to send an update to the IMDB to change Ernest’s last name to Borg9.
7. You Photoshop Wil’s name onto a box of Wheat Thins.
6. You buy the “Wil has a posse” thong for your girlfriend.
5. You write a letter to the producers of Alias pleading with them to write Wil into a dream sequence for Sidney.
4. You wish you could go back in time to help Wil kick his own ass.
3. You buy a case of voodoo dolls and put the last name “Kimmel” on all of them.
2. You apologize out loud to Wil when Foster dies in Ghost Recon 2.
1. You watch Boston Legal and at the end of the credit you scream “That’s William FUCKING Shatner!”

Thanks, Troy! The last time I was in a top ten list, it featured clever ways to kill my Star Trek character. Six of them involved Klingons and soap-on-a-rope, but your list more than balances that out.

I watched My Coolest Years: The Geeks with Anne and the kids last night. I thought the show was fantastic, and I was honored to be in such great company. Open note to The Cool Guy who tormented Jessi Klein or the girls from The Donnas: Dude, wherever you are, you are a loser.
Biggest surprise of the show: John Tesh is hellafunny! I remember that he played a Klingon for a day on Next Generation in the episode “The Icarus Factor.” Well, “played a Klingon” is probably a little too much . . . he was sort of a featured extra in a line of about twenty guys who wore Klingon makeup and costumes, and snarled while they zapped Worf with painsticks. (Back then, a metric ton of celebrities wanted to be on the show, and they usually ended up wearing crazy alien make-up. Mick Fleetwood was this weird fish-looking thing, for example.)
I remember that he was really friendly, and seemed to be getting a HUGE kick out of the whole thing, but I don’t remember him being as funny as he was on My Coolest Years last night.
Best moment of the show: When I saw that they titled me “Wil Wheaton: Author of Just A Geek” (which reminds me: Just A Geek has been recommended by Quint, from Ain’t It Cool News! I am in incredibly good company over there, too. Thanks, Quint!) instead of That Other Thing.
That’s a big deal to me, you know. Though I personally feel that I’m finally emerging from the shadow of America’s Favorite Acting Ensign And Starfleet Academy Classmate Killing Cadet, I wonder if I’ll ever do that in the eyes of the entertainment industry. This morning’s Dork Tower gives a funny-because-it’s-true view of how that effort is playing out in fandom.
. . . and in casting too, now that I really think about it . . . but that’s okay. The Path I’m currently wandering is a good one.
Absolute coolest moment in the show: They put up a picture of me with my überhot wife as part of the “Geeks Ultimately Win, So Bite It, You Cool Kids” portion of the show. Ryan just about died when he saw Anne, in the coolest “I’m fifteen and I’m so proud of my mom” way. (Apparently, the kids on his baseball team tried to torment him by singing “Ryan’s mom has got it goin’ on” to the tune of “Stacey’s Mom,” and he silenced them by replying, “Yeah. My mom’s hot. So what?” Sweet.)
Tonight, VH1 gives us My Coolest Years: The Dirty Hippies, which should be hilarious. It looks like My Coolest Years could end up being as great as I Love The 80s, or maybe even better. Go Generation X! Rock! Yeah! \m/
If anyone from VH1 reads this: I had a blast, you guys. Thanks for making me look cool. I’d love to work with you some more.