#wheezywaiter

Driftless Pony Club is returning to Chicago this Saturday! 

We're opening for The Darling Range's record release show at Gman Tavern. 

It's a 10-Episode webseries posted on Jake Jarvi's youtube channel. It stars Craig Benzine (aka wheezywaiter), Eliza Toser, Carlyn Janus, and Jake Jarvi as four roommates who all have superpowers.

It starts off with episodes pretty average, at 21-26 minutes about their lives as superpowered humans, but get longer and more in-depth as the series goes.

Please watch it. It's excellent, and while it's a good 6 years old, it deserves to be seen by more people.

What's linked should be the playlist to the full episodes. Please enjoy. It might take a hot minute to get through, but it is worth it, in my opinion.

I started on YouTube in the 7th grade. Four years ago. It began simply; a charlieissocoollike video here, some Filmcow there. It was novelty. I thought little of it.

But then Wheezywaiter entered the mix, and more kept adding on. I started making my own videos. I gained subscribers.

I made friends.

All the while, I heard whispers from every direction, and they all said the same thing. Vlogbrothers.

It was a long time before I gave in and looked into it.

I was in the eighth grade and no one in the school had yet heard of them.

The first video I watched involved tiny chicken disease and giant squids of anger an a dozen references to previous videos. I was hopelessly lost, but I kept at it.

Praise lord that I did.

Soon I was singing about quarks and putting stuff on my head and I was telling everyone who would listen about the wonders you were putting out on YouTube.

I did challenges and submitted video responses. I began to identify as a vlogger.

As I grew older, however, I became less able to convince myself that any video idea I had was a good one. My channel grew dusty, my YouTube friendships faded.

Still, though, I watched the Vlogbrothers. Freshman year, I bought a Pizza John shirt and participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time.

Then came the Fault in our Stars tour.

I bought a ticket as soon as I heard of it (by purchasing TFiOS, which was in my plans anyway). All my friends did as well. We carpooled from southern Rhode Island to Boston and took pictures by the tour van. We waited in a line, then received our books and entrances.

The evening was surreal, and too this day one of my strongest and fondest memories. Everyone was my friend. I got edging on 200 high fives. And then there was the show, which was hilarious and electric and overall and absolute joy.

You were both very tall and not in the least bit pixelated, which I remember commenting on when I met you up close for the signing.

I gave Hank a cardboard guitar with abstract art on it, and John a book with abstract art on it.

I put a lot of time into both, and expect that they both fell apart shortly even if you had the space to bring them to the van. I was aware of that, but I was happy just to be able to give you some physical thing as some sort of weird happy thanks for all the fun.

You both signed my book and poster. The poster’s in my room. The DFTBA that John wrote in my book was illegible, and he said that it was probably the worst he had ever done.

I’m a bit proud of that.

I certainly can’t say I’m a vlogger anymore, and I wouldn’t even call myself a YouTuber

I watch your videos and a few others.

I can say, however, that I’m a writer and an actor and a great big geek. I owe a lot of what I am to what you do.

I don’t believe much in the idolization of celebrity, and I feel like that’s something that I’m doing here. You aren’t my family or my friends, you don’t remember me.

But there is a connection between us, largely one-way, that has been very important to me for a long time. You’re more than faces on a screen to me, more than news to follow.

Hank, John: I value what you have brought to my life. And I thank you for that.

Don't worry, the Pizza Plank™ will not give you splinters. Well, maybe it w- that's part of the test. Maybe this'll give you splinters.

GMM416