Wil Wheaton is awesome. And a monkey.

From an audience perspective, I can say that it takes a while to connect with a performer. I could theoretically make a statement from the performance side of it, but I have categorically erased all memories of my acting career.

When Wil Wheaton began reading "Ready or Not, Here I Come," he was on stage and the rest of us were in the audience. I've read the story several times. It was the first thing I ever read at WilWheaton.net and I adore it. It reads better on the page than it did last night, but it isn't like the performance was bad. Call it a warm-up.

As soon as Wil inadvertently announced "Inferno" as a love letter to his wife (he should have been introducing "We Close Our Eyes" that way), the gap narrowed. And by the time he was partway into "The Saga of SpongeBob Vega$Pants (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Star Trek)" we were no longer separate. We weren't watching him perform. He was reading to us. It's funny, because there was probably more performance in the Star Trek segment. But when he finished reading and walked offstage, there were tears on my face that I saw mirrored when he came out for a bow.

There is a restaurant connected to the ACME, and Will (not Wil) and I went to the bar and had a quick drink. I had a glass of red wine, which was a mistake. It was really dry, I was really thirsty, and I hadn't eaten much. It went straight to my head.

We finished our drinks and got ready to leave. Wil was in the lobby, chatting with a group of people. I sent my Will outside and waited to introduce myself. Wil noticed me standing quietly off to the side (I am not into interruptions) and said, "Hi, I'm Wil." DUH. I collected myself and told him my name, and that I wanted to thank him for the show. He seemed surprised and pleased that I'd watched and I told him I had a good time, and my husband did too, but he was outside because they have the same name which is confusing. Then I told him I was drunk (this is why I shouldn't meet people when I've been drinking - I give WAY too much information), thanked him again, and left.

Wil Wheaton is a good writer, a good performer, and a very nice person. I have loved him since I was 12 years old and watched TNG even though I never gave a damn about Star Trek. He has a nice, firm handshake and I wish he was my friend.