This is quite possibly one of the most beautiful things I have read in a long time. I was a child of the 80s and my young summers were filled with our small plastic paddeling pool, a wobbly and squeaky backyard swing set and most importantly, spending every week day with my grandma, who was the best babysitter my little brother and I could have had while growing up. My dad was a big fan of roadtrips and I wish I appreciated more our epic car ride from NY to CA when I was 14. Even as I grew older, summers were still special. During college, summers spent at home were a time to catch up with friends I had known for years but now only. Road trips were then shared with these friends and going to concerts of newly discovered bands. I would give anything to have a summer holiday like those now. Thank you,Wil, for sharing your memories and I hope you don't mind me sharing some of mine.

At least you got a spot on the couch in the end. I usually end up moving to the love seat on the other side of the room because my two cats have hogged the ENTIRE COUCH.

For anyone who would to see the Official Code of Conduct PSA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-KV_xkrnc I could totally see Wil and Dr. Kermode, both quiffed to the nines (let's be honest, Wesley Crusher had a pseudo-quiff going for a little bit anyway) doing their version of this with said ascots and brandy. I wonder if we could get Jason Issacs in on the act - after all he's already in LA filming his new show...oh to dream..... ps: Hello to Stephen Fry, David Morrisey and Fairport Convention

Drat! Someone beat to the Code of Conduct referance. I think the world would be amuch happier palce if Wil were to do the code of conduct while sipping brandy and wearing an ascot and have it viewed before every film everywhere. Esp the no talking, no cellphones, no babysitting and no arriving late. Perhap him and the good Dr. Kermode could recite it together. An ascote would match his quiff quite well. Hello to Jason Issacs.

So...really, how many of your own things made it into your "home" set? That was brilliant!!

ZOMG!! If you were to open an 80's style arcade/brewpub with awesome beer...i would pack up and move from NY to California to be a regular there. Seriously! You could call me Norm!

I'm sorry, but perhaps it's because my own lack of sleep due to over-hyper cats at 4:30 am this morning, but I found this to be the funniest thing I've read all day. Thanks for giving my a LOL break today!!

6:00 am you say? My what a well behaved kitty you have! My two cats have decided in the past year that 4:30 am is a good time for breakfast...and as you are painfully aware, one can not say "No" to a demanding cat as it's jumping on your head and clawing your new oak dresser....although shutting them out of the bedroom for a few hours helps.

Wow!! I've been following your blog for many years now and can honestly say I do not remember reading this tale before. Thank you for sharing it again with us, new and old folks alike. Hope you had a great 4th weekend. Speaking of, I just have to share with you that my husband and I went to the National Toy Hall of Fame and Museum of Play for the holiday and OMG! they have this whole exhibit about the evolution of video games, including a working 80's style arcade featuring, amongst other jems: Tron, Asteroids and Gauntlet (yes the original "Elf you need food soon!" version). My first thought was "Wil Wheaton would TOTALLY love this!"... so if you're ever in the wester NY area I highly recommend it.

The second I saw the title all that was going through my head was "Sickness will surly take the mind where minds can't usually go..." Thanks. That's now going to be living in my head for the rest of the day.

My husband and I are recent Rock Band junkies. I bought the Beatles Rock Band set on a whim last November in hopes to find a game that both of us could enjoy (until this time i didn't even know my husband liked video games). We now enjoy playing RB1, RB2, Lego RB and GH World Tour. - he sings, ususally on Expert, and I play my McCartney Hoffner Bass as a guitar on med. Last night we were looking for new songs to download and found out that you can now download Paul and Storm's "Opening Band"!! I didn't realize they were big enough for Rock Band! Oh the fun to be had now ^_^

Bravo!!! And this, Sir, is why I love reading your blog! Thank you for sharing this day with all of us.

Thanks for the link. My coworker and I are now going to plan epic Munchkin games on our lunch. This is actually more in reply to a Tweet of your from about 1/2 ago (sorry, but I don't Tweet) about old 70's Genesis. Yes you are right! I was introduced to this era of Genesis through my husband taking me to tribute band - and they blew me away! I had no idea Genesis ever sounded like that. I can recommend to you their albums Foxtrot and the epic Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, and if you ever see The Waiting Room or The Musical Box playing in your area - go see them (esp The Waiting Room)!! It probably the closest you'll ever get to seeing live (cool) Genesis.

ah yes, Toy Soldiers...I had the movie poster (that I bought at a garage sale) but sadly 13 yr old me was never allowed go to the theaters to watch it and I was too embarrassed to rent and watch something that "racey" with my ubber conservative parents. Needless to say - the same went for the made-for-cable movie "The Last Prositute" around the same time. Good thing for me "December" wasn't that far after, which was much more approved by my parents. Seeing as I'm now 32, I think it's high time I finally watched the movie that will finally make the young girl in me happy.

That is seriously awesome!! I think someone should definatly LOLcat the pic of kitty with the dice (I just can't think of anything good right now...). Good luck in Vancouver again (you've been up there so much recently, one might think you were turning into a Canucks fan ;-))

nice memory trip while cleaning! I love doing that every now and then...and always surprise myself as to what I've saved. I can only imagine the conversations I might have with my kids someday. So I have to ask...did you ever save any of the fan mail you got back in the day?

Yes so where is this epic picture of a thousand die that you've been promising?

I am sad that I will not be able to go to Gencon (i spent all my con funds at SDCC) but I did have a thought about your "Can have enough dice" project. So you're going to spill all these dice our on your floor for an awesome picture when you get home, right? You know the following WILL happen: One will be forgotten when you pick them all up and most likly your poor wife will find it late one night when she is getting a glass of water from the kitchen because, as you have quoted her saying before, "they are so awesome to step on." Just a thought.

Happy Birthday Wil! Thanks again for a totally AWESOME wOOtstock last week! And my brother (whose birthday was 5 days ago) loves the picture I took of you and his Birthday sign. Thanks for being awesome.

so...where can I get a "Wesley Crushers" bowling shirt???? Those were awesome! and you being new meaning to teh evuls...seriously! Breaking up Penny and Leonard to win a bowling game? wow man...like wow! (the writers are brilliant) And I think you mentioned the totally awesome Morphious statue on the check out couter at the comic book store in a previous post...yes, I squeed a little when I saw it too. I love finding details like that.

OMG!! What a great way to start off the day! Thanks for posting that...while I don't really understand the geekness joke of it, it's still funny as hell and my first through when you twirled on stage and spead your hands wide was..."Holy Crap! IT's Alan Partridge!" I think it was the hair/suit combo. I kept expecting you to step up and go "Ah Ha!" ...or maybe it was just me....thanks tho!

Wil, I know you're at Pax East (cold enough on this side for ya?) but I just wanted to let you know that I got an e-mail from Subterrianian Press saying that they shipped out my copy of Happiest Days!!! I.Can.Not.Wait to read this book, esp with the extras in this edition. Thank you so much for puttin gso much time and effort and basically yourself into a book like this, I'm sure it will be worth the wait.

Wil, Everytime I read a post of yours detailing the awesomeness of a comiccon that was made even more awesome by the presence of you, my eyes get that wistful twinkling/sparkly thing that you sometime see in manga characters. But living on the wrong coast for most of these cons makes it kinda of difficult to plan...which is why last fall I finally started to plan out my dream vacation of going to my first West Coast Con (my first comiccon ever really) at SDCC. Of course this is also before I heard that you WERE going to be doing PAX East *facepalm D'OH!*. I'm sure SDCC isn't as great as it used to be (everything evolves for good or for ill), but I'm still super excited about it come what may. Any chance at all you might give it another shot?

Awesome!!! This has totally made my day!!! So, ok, I'm not at all that knowledgeable about production times and stuff, but will your next episode air this season or in the fall?

Wil, i think I have you beat. I do believe that I've cause serious nerve damage to my thumb - it's been numb since Thurs. How? By cutting paper hearts to decorate my anime-themed door for Valentine's day...oh the pains we endure for our geekiness. Hope you get your arm in working order soon - lifting a couple pints or good beer should do the trick.