two things

Thing one: If you wanted to read my Geek in Review about So-Cal Gen Con, but didn't want to click through yesterday when it was NSFW, you're in luck! The newswire is currently SFW. Also, you can Digg it or 'scape it if you want.

Thing two: A lot of my friends are posting about things for which they are thankful today. I'd like to join the pile on, in the following fashion:

Anne and I drove to the store yesterday, to pick up some last minute things for today's Thanksgiving of Misfit Toys*.

As we crept through the slow-moving stream of holiday travelers who always manage to turn the streets around our home into the same sort of gridlock they left the freeway to avoid, Anne said, "You're awfully quiet. What are you thinking about?"

I said, "I can't believe I did this, but I gave Ryan full access to my comic book and graphic novel library. I hope it wasn't a bad idea."

She turned to look at me, and quite seriously said, "Why? Are they inappropriate for him to read?"

"No! They're my comic books! I gave him unfettered access to all of my comic books!"

She blinked twice. "Nerd."

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope you get to spend some time today with people you love.

* When the holidays come around, we invite our friends who don't have family in Los Angeles to our house to be part of our family for the day. We call it Misfit Toys after the Island of Misfit Toys.

Comments

[James Casey]

Happy Thanksgiving, Wil. We don't have it, of course, here in England - we just have Whisky Night.

A lot of smiling happens on Whisky Night.

Every time I sign in to Typekey, I swear it doesn't actually leave me signed in for two weeks...

[Thomas Nixon]

Just to clarify, Wil: You know you don't deserve her, right?

Have a great Thanksgiving!

[Lex]

Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

[Myshtuff]

Have a great thanksgiving yourself too.
Also, I finished reading your Just a Geek book today and its incredible and I wanted to tell you something funny. I was reading it in school the other day and a girl came up to me and said who is that you are reading about? I said he is Wil Wheaton and he was on Star Trek TNG and he is a fantastic writer. Then she said no I remember him from somewhere else. I said where. She said," He was one of the guys from I love the 80's on VH1." My jaw dropped and said well ok then. Have fun. I just thought you might like to hear that. :)

[Eric in PA]

Happy Turkey Day to the whole Wheaton clan, and to all of the rest of us as well!

*burp*

Nap time...

[RobAP]

Happy Thanksgiving Wil & family. I think it's a good thing you gave him access to your comic books & graphic novels. It will be something you two will always share and can talk about. If he's as mature as you say, he will know how much they mean to you and treat them right. He seems like an intelligent young man.

[Matt]

Wil,
I just read the Geek In Review: Living the Dream at So-Cal Gen Con and it was very good. Also you mentioned something about and I quote from you..."Wil Wheaton has this great Steampunk/Supers/Horror/Humanx campaign ready to go, if anyone is interested. Or we could just play Devil Bunny Wants A Ham." I'm interested. Just tell me what to do and I'm there.

[rmd]

hooray for misfit toys!

and happy thanksgiving to the Left Coast!

i just came back from an early afternoon thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat with my family, and now i'm off in a couple of hours to have another thanksgiving dinner that can't be beat with some of the absolute nerdiest nerds i know.

TODAY, I AM THANKFUL FOR NERD NATION!

[becky]

Isn't it wonderful when someone can know we're a nerd and still love us? Call us a nerd and have it be a form of endearment?

I'm thankful for you and your writing. mushy, I know, but there it is.

[Freeman]

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. I remembered you and your family in my prayers when I gave thanks today with the monks at the abbey.

Freeman :)

[GlenBarnett]

I clicked through to the full Geek In Review story this time, since I nejoyed the excerpts a lot. Great story.

My kids (especially my son) have gone nuts for Kill Dr Lucky just lately. I built a 3D version of the board out of Lego for them to play it with.

A couple of typos in your cheapass titles:
- "Devil Bunny Needs A Ham"
[We have a copy of that attached to the fridge door, and use pawn-like fridge magnets for the chefs, and a magnetic devilbunny I made from a stick from a Magnetix-clone and carved and painted with my needle files and minis paints.

By running it up the fridge, the chefs actually climb up the building, rather than across. My kids (5&7) often play it in the morning if they're awake before the adults. It works really well.]

- "Give Me the Brain"
[This one is also very popular with my kids - my son walks around saying "Mah tun is stuh to the flah".]

[wvred03]

We used to have this same kind of Thanksgiving and Christmas when we were in Tucson. We called it "Dinner for Orphans." Then we got all insular and only had each other. This year we had the second annual "Friends Are family" thanksgiving and I realized just how luck we are to have such great friends, the kind you want to be your family. I hope you had that kind of meal with laughter and food and joy and wine.

[Mark]

Wil, I have completely enjoyed reading your blog over the past few years. I owe you a giant apology because this is the first time I have posted. For that, I am sorry.

The reasons I have enjoyed your work are many, but the strongest is that the emotions you describe are always instantly familiar, and very real. I love how you have accepted... nay... are proud of your geekness, and that your children seem to be strongly aware of that. As my children grow older, I will do my best to be such a great example of why it's "cool" to be a "geek".

Anyway, keep on writing... I'll keep on reading. Thanks for sticking with this. There are many of us proud-to-be-geeks and proud-to-be-fathers out there that need to hear we're not the only one.

[VeronicaRobinson]

Crappiest Thanksgiving on record actually. It truly sucked. Hope yours was MUCH better. Sounds fun.

80stees.com has some awesome shirts with the Misfit Toys on them. Careful, it is as dangerous to go there as it is ThinkGeek and Threadless.

[the_daria]

Nerd? Hey, you may have been born a nerd like myself, but she married into that!

[pegret]

Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Wil - and to all the Wheatons.

- from a Misfit Toy who actually *likes* being alone on holidays

P.S. I now have that song - "We're from the island of misfit toys" - stuck in my head. Sigh.

[jester]

Hey Wil - Happy Thanksgiving to you and Anne. I've been bad about commenting for the past couple of months, but I still read every day.

We have our own Misfit Thanksgiving celebration every year. Frankly, it beats the family gatherings! :)

[girl_from_mars]

thanks indeed from aotearoa. no thanksgiving here either but have a job, roof over head , good friends and loving family. lots to live for. and a copy of Games Quarterly #10 with article bout you in it!!
happy holidays to you and all.

[DustyTymes]

Hey Wil...
Just like GlenBarnett's post, I call it an ORPHAN'S THANKSGIVING.

The only difference is, I "Wrangle" the orphans in. I go up to friends I know and tell them, "Hey, I'm having an 'Open House' for Thanksgiving. Do you have any plans for that day?" If they say NO, I just tell them that I need a little help and anything they can do would be cool (Like help with cooking, setting up, bringing a bottle of beverage or a can of food, help with clean up, etc.) "It's NOT a requirement to do any of these things, I would just be happy if you were there."

If they tell me that they can't come or are not sure, then I would say. "Well, if situations change at the last minute, you have an open invitation!" (I don't want any of my disadvantaged friends to feel awkward or left out. I just want the pleasure of their company.)

I am so glad Wil that I am not the only run-of-the-mill average NEEK (Half NERD, Half GEEK [Am I the FIRST to coin this term?]) who has the heart to be human with my friends.

Try not to get TOO crazy during the holidays, and remember... If you're not having fun, YOU'RE NOT DOING IT RIGHT!

[Note: I joined you at the WWdN site and followed you into exile. I always get your missives via feed so I don't miss anything. I like your writings because YOU ARE ALL TOO HUMAN (geeky, nerdy, [Neeky] but human and a joy to read)

In Your Namesake... -"Dusty" (anonym)

[Matt]

I bet Anne had the dirtiest look when you wondered out loud whether letting Ryan at your comic books was appropriate.. but best response ever. I hope that my kids (when I eventually have them) are interested in my books and my music.

..And HOW DID I MISS A CHEAPASS GAMES REFERENCE?! Damn it. Cheapass Games rocks.

[Samurai Avon Lady]

What a great way to celebrate Thanksgiving! (:

We do something very similar, in my little circle. I've hosted dinners a couple of times, though in recent years, we've changed it to brunch - a pajamas, pancakes and parade potluck - so that people can attend other "left-behinds" or Voltron (i.e potlucks) dinners in the afternoon.

[andy]

Wil,

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you from a Misfit Toy... thankfully I have a friend as gracious as you to host me while I'm far from family. The world could use more people like you.

Oh, and a big ^5 to the nerdiness. ;)

[henry]

About Gen Con:
In case you are interested again in Settlers of Catan you can visit:
http://catanonline.com/

[Rev Danger]

Hey Will,

A happy Thanksgiving! So, my wife and I are big CSI fans, yesterday we watched the fifth season episode "Complusion." Nice dreads!

Great episode, and you really did an awsome job making such a one dementional character memorable. Awsome, man.

[moonkiss]

* When the holidays come around, we invite our friends who don't have family in Los Angeles to our house to be part of our family for the day.

We call it Orphan Thanksgiving. Not many of our "urban tribe" have family here, so we all get together at my place. It's what the holiday's all about. Oh and the food...good lord, the food...

Hope you had a good one, Wil!