The Happiest Days of Our Lives (15 page)

After starting his blog at
wilwheaton.net
in 2001, he discovered a passion for narrative storytelling that lead to the books
Dancing Barefoot
and
Just A Geek
, as well as regular writing jobs at Suicide Girls, TV Squad, The LA Weekly,
Amazon.com
’s End User Blog, and the Onion’s AV Club. His work has also appeared in
Salon
and
Parade Magazine
.

When he isn’t writing, he provides voices for several animated series, including Cosmic Boy on
The Legion of Superheroes
, Ted Kord on
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
, Darkstar on
Ben 10: Alien Force
, and several English translations of Japanese Anime, including
Kurokami
and
Naruto
.

He is a passionate technology enthusiast, champion of geek culture, and lives in Pasadena, California with his wife, son, dogs, and cat. This is his third book.

photo pages

Wil and Dad, around 1975. Dad never had sideburns again like he did in the early seventies ... Jesus, does anyone?

In 1978, we moved to Sunland, and this is the house that I truly grew up in. See that pole on the right? That was always “safe” when we played hide and seek. If you look very closely, you can see 2 year-old Jeremy on the left, by the corner of the roof he’d eventually crush both his heels jumping off while holding an umbrella, inspired by multiple viewings of Mary Poppins on the Disney Channel.

That’s my grandparents’ farmhouse. Beyond it, you can see the Baskin Robbins we went to all the time. In the foreground, are some of the chickens my parents raised.

This is the Rainbow Theater that I mentioned in Blue Light Special. My dad took this picture in 1982. The Rainbow is gone, replaced by a banquet hall. It’s impossible for me to not feel sad when I drive by it.

This is my little brother, Jeremy, who was never without a hat of some sort when we were kids.

My 4 year-old brother, having realized that he was being photographed, turns around and doesn’t even try to hide that he’s snagged someone’s pop-top beer. This is one of my favorite pictures ever taken of him.

That’s my aunt Trina, holding me when I’m about 2.

Our first Christmas in the new house in Sunland, 1978. I remember this as the Christmas of Big Wheels, even though I got a Green Machine. It remains one of the coolest presents and modes of transportation I ever got.

See the hallway door back behind my sister? Our bedrooms were down there, and every Christmas morning we would stand behind that closed door, close our eyes, and hold hands as we were guided into the living room by our parents, at which time we cold open them and see if Santa responded to any of our letters. This looks to be from Christmas morning 1983, if the Return of the Jedi and Indiana Jones PJs are any indication. I especially love that the jammies my brother and I are wearing come with flip up collars, just in case we have to run out to a meeting and don’t have time to change first. As you can tell from our expressions and body language, we’re a little excited to see that we’ve gotten dirt bikes.

Judging by dad’s perm, mustache, and awesome sideburns, this is in our house in Canoga Park in 1975.

This picture was taken before I was born, but I included it because that’s my dad’s 1971 VW bus, which I loved so much, I sobbed until my throat was horse when they traded it in for a Dodge Van around 1980.