Okay, I’ll admit it. I have a “Wil Wheaton” as a Google News Alert. I’d say it’s an ego thing . . . but it gets triggered so rarely, that’s sort of counterintuitive. It’s actually a business thing, so I can be aware press and stuff, but I’ll be honest: I do get a little thrill when one hits my inbox.
So about a week ago, I got a news alert because I was very kindly mentioned in a brief bit about Sean Astin in the Oregonian:

You loved him as loyal hobbit Sam Gamgee in the “Lord of the Rings” films. You adored him in “Rudy.” But to you, Astin will always be the kid from “The Goonies,” a film that is widely considered The Best Movie Ever Filmed In Oregon. Hold onto your mithril, kids: Astin is coming to Portland. Naturally, you will want to show him a good time.
A Sean Astin autobiography? Well, sure. (Like you didn’t positively inhale the latest Wil Wheaton book.) Astin’s opus, “There and Back Again: An Actor’s Tale,” spills the candid scoop on backstage antics during the filming of “The Lord of the Rings” and the challenges of living the Hollywood way.

(dorky bolding is mine)
I was so excited, I sent a note to the reporter that said:

I just finished reading your OregonLive piece about Sean Astin’s impending visit to Portland (“Let’s go!,” by Chelsea Cain, A&E, Dec. 3), and I wanted to thank you for kindly mentioning my book, “Just a Geek.” I’ve got strong connections to Oregon (I filmed “Stand by Me” in Eugene, and my wife is from Portland), so even though I’m from Los Angeles, I felt like I saw my name in my hometown paper. Thanks for that! 🙂
See ya, Wil Wheaton Los Angeles

She wrote me back and thanked me for e-mailing, I wrote her back again, (it’s sort of like passing notes in class, without the possible thrill of getting caught) one thing led to another . . . and she wrote a story about me that is in today’s Oregonian! My three favorite bits:

• Since the success of his blog, Wheaton has published two laugh-out-loud books and established himself as a fresh, funny and self-deprecating writer. Much of his material comes out of his life as a geek (he also pens a column for Dungeon Magazine, the must-read for D&D players).
  The Oregonian recently caught up with the ensign-turned-author for a Very Serious Interview.
• Have you ever read any “Star Trek” fan fiction?
  Just one . . . and in it, Lt. Worf traded my character, Wesley, to a Romulan for a Romulan Ale and two packs of smokes. I haven’t read fan fiction since.
  [I originally said that Wesley was Worf’s Prision Bitch, but that was ruled unacceptable for a family publication . . . which I guess I’ve just determined WWdN is not.]
• Whose work do you read to get inspired?
  David Sedaris and Stephen King are the two most influential authors in my life. They both tell stories in ways that are engaging and easy to read. David Sedaris’ “Me Talk Pretty One Day” made me want to tell stories about my life, and Stephen King’s “On Writing” taught me how to do it.

Accompanying the story is the very first mainstream media review of Just A Geek! It’s phenomenal, and includes the following observation, which made me so happy, I peed a little:

“Just a Geek” is not a celebrity memoir. It is more a collection of humorous commentaries with one essential theme: How does a grown-up geek with two step-kids, a wife, and few job prospects make a go of it?
[Wheaton’s] sarcasm, honesty, heart and ferocious gift for dialogue are a delight.

So far, I haven’t been able to effectively communicate to people who haven’t read my book that it’s not limited to a Star Trek or celebrity memoir-reading audience, and people outside that audience may want to give Just A Geek a chance. It has been the most frustrating thing in the world, and it’s severely limited the audience that I can reach. To date, I haven’t gotten any support to reach beyond . . . well, you guys who read WWdN, so I’ve had to do it on my own. I’ve felt pretty down about the whole thing recently (it’s about 90% of the not sleeping well thing), because things are not going the way I expected they would with Just A Geek, but this fantastic review is going to be a big help, and will hopefully open a lot of doors for me.

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.