Don’t you just love Wil Weaton? I fell in love with him when I was about nine or ten years old, a precocious girl who’d already had many a crush. I saw him in Stand by Me—a film I would not recommend for most ten-year-olds due to its content, though it is my favorite film—and wanted to marry him instantly. Well, I wanted to marry Gordie Lachance, anyway, which was pretty much the same thing for me at the time.
I then watched him through several years of Star Trek: The Next Generation and continued to want to marry him. My mom even let me stay up late to watch the show with her, completely unaware that she was fueling my Wil obsession.
Wil Wheaton has only gotten cooler (and handsomer) with age, and whether he’s standing up against rape or generally being a goof just for his fans, he’s still my kind of guy. Today is his birthday, and he’s celebrating by sponsoring Don’t Be a Dick Day. If you need help finding out what being a dick means, or how to not be one, he has devised this simple chart to help. Okay, it doesn’t really help if you’re absolutely that clueless, but it will make you laugh.
Happy birthday, Mr. Wheaton. May my kid have someone in her pre-adolescent life to crush on as worthy as you.
