I've been tempted to get a tattoo so many times, but the reality is that I cannot even commit to a hair color (currently it's dark brown with pink, blue, and purple streaks), and since I can't even stick to one color hair, I should not be putting ink on my body.

Happy birthday, Wil, from a fellow Leo, and Happy DBAD Day as well. We've never met, but coming to your blog always puts a smile in my day, or a provocative thought in my head - sometimes both.

I realize you posted this a week ago, but I'm woefully behind on reading blogs, and was looking for something new to do with black beans...I use them in chili all the time, but chili and soup are NOT the same thing. Next rainy day, I'm SO making this. (And I'm wondering if Hatch chiles would work in place of chipotles.)

I'm so sorry for your loss, and so grateful for all the Ferris stories you've shared with us over the years. My 14YO chihuahua died in February, and even though I have other dogs, I still miss him. Here's hoping the pain of loss subsides quickly, so the happy memories can take their rightful place in your brain.

Like you, I wasn't yet born during the Apollo 11 mission, and, like you, I was also a kid-without-a-telescope amateur astronomer (this was made easier by living for several years in the mountains outside Denver, CO), and am still a total space nut. I've been enjoying the radio replay - it IS really cool, and also a little spooky, but in a good way - missed the twitter thing, but wow! Neat idea. And for my own personal celebration of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, I'm re-watching all of Tom Hank's series From the Earth to the Moon, while I write today. Happy stargazing.

First, doesn't greater accessibility = greater sales, and isn't that a good thing? Second, Microsoft Reader has offered this function on ebooks for years. Granted, no one will admit to actually using it, but still... Third, please add chocolate to the alien invasion preparedness kit. Chocolate may not fix everything, but it certainly helps.

First - this post completely rocks. It's honest, and funny - everything I've come to expect from reading your blog. I started reading, just as I started following @wilw, because my good friend @clayrobeson said, "You HAVE to read Wil Wheaton's blog. It's AWESOME." I still have the email. He used the caps, I swear. I've been reading you for years, now, and frankly, your geekier posts have helped me better understand my gamer-geek husband better, so thank you for that. I follow the feed because it's funny, quirky, and interesting. I @reply every so often if something you post really catches my attention, and that's enough. You're letting a metric assload of strangers peek into your life; I don't think we have a right to expect you to be any more interactive than you already are. I mean, I can barely keep up with my OWN twitter-friends, and I have a ton less. Fewer. Whatever.

Oooh, I love it when you're all mysterious and vague about upcoming projects. And the last bit about hearing from your son - that's so sweet. Have a lovely rest-of-the-day.

Stopped by on the blog tour - HAD to check out another Melissa, after all :) Great review.

I have copies of all three (it is just three, right?) of your books - posted about at least one of them at my book/reading blog Bibliotica dot com. Sadly, I haven't actually read The Happiest Days of Our Lives, because my mother was visiting when it arrived several months ago, and took it home to Mexico with her. She says I can have it back if I visit, but she just book paying guests in her guest house during the weekend I had in mind. In any case, I like reading some stuff in digital format, and it's cool that it's available that way, but...actual paper is better for people like me, who read in the bath. (Also, have just realized that I have you to thank for the fact that I read Stephen King's ON WRITING).

I have copies of all three (it is just three, right?) of your books - posted about at least one of them at my book/reading blog Bibliotica dot com. Sadly, I haven't actually read The Happiest Days of Our Lives, because my mother was visiting when it arrived several months ago, and took it home to Mexico with her. She says I can have it back if I visit, but she just book paying guests in her guest house during the weekend I had in mind. In any case, I like reading some stuff in digital format, and it's cool that it's available that way, but...actual paper is better for people like me, who read in the bath. (Also, have just realized that I have you to thank for the fact that I read Stephen King's ON WRITING).

#4 Yes, absolutely. I also find that I write more diligently when my husband is on business trips out of the country...I think it distracts me from wanting to be there as well. (I am NOT suggesting you send Anne away.:) )

#4 Yes, absolutely. I also find that I write more diligently when my husband is on business trips out of the country...I think it distracts me from wanting to be there as well. (I am NOT suggesting you send Anne away.:) )

I write non-fiction for a living, though fiction has always been my dream. (As I write this comment I SHOULD be working on the novel I'm pitching next month - shhhh!) I totally understand where you're coming from. I think the important thing to do is remember that fiction isn't about what "really" happened as much as what "should have" or "could have" happened, and just as in improv, if it comes from a place of truth, no matter how improbable or implausible, the reader will take the journey with you. (I'm now printing out this comment to remind myself.)

I write non-fiction for a living, though fiction has always been my dream. (As I write this comment I SHOULD be working on the novel I'm pitching next month - shhhh!) I totally understand where you're coming from. I think the important thing to do is remember that fiction isn't about what "really" happened as much as what "should have" or "could have" happened, and just as in improv, if it comes from a place of truth, no matter how improbable or implausible, the reader will take the journey with you. (I'm now printing out this comment to remind myself.)

It's weird. I don't write science fiction, but for most of my childhood it was a staple of what I read. (And I read a lot.) I was six when Star Wars was released, but I remember seeing it with my best friend Ben, and both of us playing Star Wars in his room after. I married someone geekier than I am, though, and oh, BSG has forced us to declare Friday nights "Non-Net Nights" - the only night all the computers in the house are turned off.

It's weird. I don't write science fiction, but for most of my childhood it was a staple of what I read. (And I read a lot.) I was six when Star Wars was released, but I remember seeing it with my best friend Ben, and both of us playing Star Wars in his room after. I married someone geekier than I am, though, and oh, BSG has forced us to declare Friday nights "Non-Net Nights" - the only night all the computers in the house are turned off.