On the 29th, Anne and I are leaving for ten days to take a Geek / Trek Cruise in Hawaii.
I’m going to give a workshop on keeping a weblog, talk about how to set it up and all that stuff. It should be fun.
I’m also going to do all the Star Trek cruise stuff that I’ve done in the past: some Trek Q&A, pose for some pictures, sign some books (!) and all that.
I’ve been getting excited about it for the past few weeks, because I like cruises, I like Hawaii, and this will be the first time I’m appearing at an event as “Author Wil Wheaton,” instead of “That Guy Who Used To Be On TV: Wil Wheaton!”
So add up that excitement with the excitement I feel about my book, and I’m on another planet right now.
Yeah, another planet where I forgot that my passport (which I lost) has expired. This is a HUGE problem, because I need to have a passport for the cruise.

I just processed my 400th pre-order for Dancing Barefoot!
Coupled with the bulk orders I’ve taken from some indie stores, that brings the pre-sales of my first book to over 600 in less than two weeks.
And here’s exciting news to all of you international reders: Monolith Press is now shipping to the entire world. Take a look at the order page for details.
And guess what?
Steve Jackson liked my book!!

May 18, 2003: Dancing Barefoot

I just finished reading a book. I hadn’t intended to read the whole thing tonight . . . actually, I just wanted to make sure the PDF was good, and see how long it was, so I could decide where “Read Wil’s Book” would go on The List. But when I opened the PDF . . . well, why not read a bit?

So I read a few pages, and it was a good story. Sad, but good. It was real. And I knew how he felt, not because I’ve had that experience . . . no doubt I will someday, but I haven’t yet . . . but because this guy is a good storyteller.

So I read the next one. And the next one (which is about when he was 15, and has the Car Wars Deluxe Edition in it). And the next. And then I was in the last story, which is the long one about a SF convention. And there was no way I was going to quit reading at that point.

And then I was done. And you know something? When I started reading, I was pretty used up. It had been a long day, and not a good one. But when I finished, I felt better. (OK, I’m a geek, I’ll say it: I got some hit points back.) Because this is a real guy, with a real life, and he tells good stories.

If you read wilwheaton.net, you know what I’m talking about. For the rest of you: Wil Wheaton . . . who long ago, as a kid, played a kid named Wesley on TV . . . is still acting, but he’s also writing. A lot of people read his blog at wilwheaton.net. He’s also written two books: the autobiographical Just A Geek, which will be out soon, and Dancing Barefoot, which is the one that made my day. It’s out now. You can get it from his publishing site, Monolith Press. This is me saying you should read it. There are a lot of bad books out there. This is a good one.

— Steve Jackson

Holy shit.
Steve freakin’ Jackson, man. A childhood hero, who has SIGNIFICANTLY contributed to my life, and my geekdom.
This is just beyond awesome. I have to stop tearing up when I read my reviews to my wife. It’s hurting my image as a bad-ass.
In an e-mail to me, he also said:

Thanks for sending me the book. I think a lot of people will like this. You done good, man.

Does it get any better than this? If it does, I can’t wait to find out how. 🙂

Last night, I was sitting in bed, reading Eric Schlosser’s new book Reefer Madness, (which he signed to me yesterday at the bookstore.) Anne had already turned off her light, and wrapped herself in her “sleep cocoon” — ear plugs and an eye mask.
She turned over and rolled out of her cocoon.
“Puss?”
“What?”
“When your books get here, can I have the first one?”
“I love it that you asked me,” I told her, “of course you can have it.”
“Will you write something in it? Something special?”
“Something like, ‘show me your tits?'” I asked.
“Dork. No. Something special.”
“I would love to, honey.”
“Okay.”
She rolled back over, and re-cocooned.
A minute or so later, without rolling over, she said, “if there’s someone else you’d like to give the first copy to, I understand. You don’t have to give it to me.”
“Anne, nobody has given up more for my writing than you have. I may have taken these stories out of my brain, but you helped me put them there. There have been several times in the last nine or so months when you haven’t had a husband; you’ve had a writer. There is nobody else in the world who I’d give the first copy to.”
“Okay,” she said. “I was just making sure. I love you.”
“I love you too. ‘Nite.”
I really am the luckiest guy alive.

Saturday, I took Anne and the boys to JPL for open house, where I picked up a bronze coin that commemorates the Voyager mission.
“Are you going to make it say ‘V’ger’?” Anne asked, very proud of herself for throwing out a nerd reference.
“Yes. Yes I am,” I said. Normally, I’d lob back some even more obscure reference, but I wasn’t going to take a chance. I’m trying to encourage her inner geek, and I didn’t think that going Comic Book Guy at JPL was a good way to keep on on The Path.
Speaking of going Comic Book Guy, I saw Matrix on Friday.
Now, I know that I’ve said several controversial things on this website in the last couple of years, and I’ve made many friends and enemies with those opinions . . . but I think this may end up being the most deeply devisive thing I’ve said in quite awhile:
I hated it.
I won’t say more than that. The reviews at pvponline, K5, and comments at /. say it better than I could.
It wasn’t Episode 1 bad, but still. More cool CRC32 ‘sploits. Less dancing that doesn’t move the plot forward at all, please.
Still with me? Or are you busy firing off your e-mails? 😉
Yesterday, I planned to go back to JPL to see the stuff I missed on Saturday (there was some sort of ruckus at the security screening area where you drive in — lots of cops cars, and people laying on the ground. If anyone reading this knows what happened, I’d love to hear from you) before we had to leave.
On the way, I stopped at a local bookstore, so I could pick up some books that I plan to use in the blogging workshop I’m teaching on the Geek Cruise at the end of the month.
When I walked into the store, I saw a big board with the names and dates of authors who are doing signings and readings. For a brief second, I imagined that my name was there . . . and then I saw:
April 14 – 7PM – Jim McManus, author of Positively Fifth Street.
DAMMIT!
I loved that book, and I can’t believe I missed a chance to meet the author. So I looked at the rest of the board, to see if anyone else was going to be there soon.
Well.
Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, and Reefer Madness was. In fact, he was going to be lecturing in about 25 minutes.
I totally kept my cool, bought my books, and went upstairs to take a seat and wait. I called my friend Mykal, who came and met me.
Eric Schlosser talked for about an hour, discussing the themes in his new book, and reflecting back on Fast Food Nation. I could have easily listened to him for another hour . . . but here’s some of the stuff that really stayed in my head:
In his book he talks about how the government won’t get involved in protecting migrant farm workers, many of whom work 10-12 hours a day, are homeless, and have terrible working conditions, because the government wants to let “The Free Market” dictate those conditions, even though an argument could be made that morality dictates they be protected. He pointed out that the government, since Ronald Regan (hiss), has taken a very “hands off” approach to the UFW.
He then compared this to how agressively, (and fanatically) the government has gotten involved in the War on Weed.
*I have to stop here and interject something: I don’t use pot. I’m not interested in using pot. I’m not suggesting that you should, either. But I do support decriminalization.*
He pointed out how odd it is that the government fights this War on Marijuana, based almost entirely on moral grounds, and makes criminals out of people who smoke pot in the privacy of their own homes, but won’t use a similar moral imperative to protect poor working families.
There was much discussion about Canada’s move to decriminalize, and the overwhelming evidence in the rest of the world that shows pot to be less dangerous than alcohol or nicotine.
I asked him why he thought there was this great disconnect between the official policy of the US Government, and the scientific and medical communities — not to mention most of the rest of the world. I asked him why he thought the government was so willfully ignorant of the scientific and medical facts, and why they were spending so much money and manpower on fighting this war, when it seems (to me, anyway) to be so counterintuitive.
He said that the people who started this War on Pot, (again, this is different from Heroin, Cocaine, or any of the Meth variants, which are truly dangerous and will probably kill you) are “True Believers.”
He suggested a book to me, called “The True Believer,” that was written in 1951. It’s all about extreme political fanaticism . . . and boy is it relevant today — for more reasons than you’d think.
Eric Schlosser is an amazing guy: he’s smart, informed, and, most of all, genuine. Unlike Michael Moore, (who treated all of us like we just represented sales when I met him) Eric Schlosser took time to talk to each person who was there, and engaged in a very thoughtful, enlightening discussion with many of the people there. He seemed to care about our feelings, listened to what we said, and appeared to genuinely appreciate us being there.
If he’s coming to a book store near you, do everything you can to hear him speak. It’s well worth your time. Until then, go read his books.

Something very important just occurred to me:
If I left my house right now, I could be in Vegas by 2:30.
That’s with a stop for A&W rootbeer in Baker.
Just sayin’, is all.