- a hammock - a big bowl of physalis - wireless (I bring my own laptop) - M&Ms, definitely a good idea - Masala chai, gallons of it - Fritz Kola (a brand of coke sold only in Germany, as a bit of a challenge) - quiet, ear plugs are not an option

I can recommend Yslaire. I don't know how many of his comics have been translated to English, but they are brilliant. Not French, but Spanish: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacksad Take a look and tell me it's not gorgeous: http://s147.photobucket.com/albums/r294/jedediah667/blog/?action=view&current=IMG_4833.jpg It's neither Disney nor furry, but wonderful noir stories that happen to have animal protagonists.

You are going to love Sherlock season 2. The solution to the cliffhanger is pure genius and I think I died a little at the end of episode 3 when I realized that I had to wait yet again to see how this will work out. But I just know it will be so worth it.

I second the PO-box question. There's no chance I'll make it to PAX or any other con anywhere near you, but I totally have dice that would feel right at home in the dice-pit.

At least you are on the same continent. Yes, I know, there are European cons and cool ones, but still. I refuse to give up hoping for w00tstock Europe *hinthint*.

I was looking forward to reading this story again. I think it's the third or fourth time I have read it now and I always enjoy it.

I'm so late to the Eureka party, I just started watching the first season, but I already understand why you love working on that show so much. As a complete non seqitur, thanks for blogging about Fiasco a while ago. I probably would have totally missed that game otherwise. We just tried it out and we had so much fun getting our characters in trouble (and killed, in 3 of 4 cases).

I would settle for you performing anything at a town near me. W00tstock Hamburg - doesn't that sound awesome? But if you prefer an English speaking country, W00tstock London might be even better. British Museum, Sir John Soane's Museum, Imperial War Museum and W00tstock. Perfect. Make us EuroGeeks happy!

I missed out on comics as a kid, but I discovered my love for them as an adult (thank you, Alan Moore). You may want to buy and drool over the totally gorgeous "Art of Modern Mythmaking" on DC Comics Taschen published last year. It's so worth the price and it's big enough to be its own coffee table. http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/popculture/all/06749/facts.75_years_of_dc_comics_the_art_of_modern_mythmaking.htm

This made me sad and a bit homesick. The character comes alive for me, the first paragraph is all it takes. Maybe it's because I have something that always told me we were almost home as well, a white factory building that I called the Smurf factory for reasons that now escape me. But whenever I visit my parents, it's still there and it still means that I will be home soon. That's a powerful feeling and you tapped it with your story.

Happy New Year! Enjoy the internet-free time. It's so worth it - I'm as addicted as anyone, but I can't stand the thought of being online during a vacation. Have fun!

Bought the PDF, read it, definitely did not laugh at you and will now wait for the next Wil Wheaton short story collection. Seriously, keep writing fiction, I really enjoyed reading those stories. I'm a short story junkie and all the stories made me wonder what may happen next, the characters came alive for me. Also, this finally convinced me to start by own Project Do Something Creative Every Day. Sketching, in my case, at which I suck mightily. So much room for improvement.