June 27 – July 4 (2016) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

After my dad reminded me that it was five years ago this past week that my dog Sassie passed away, it brought to mind this plaque in the Palm Springs dog park. I love these words.

On the 4th of July, I must’ve heard “Living in America” by James Brown about 6 times. But I can’t get enough, and I’m still humming it today!

Monday the 27th – PROCRASTIONATIONAL! – One good thing about getting 100+ degree weather in July, is that fall will likely be on time in September! It was another hot one. I drove over to Guns Direct to drop off some guns to get cleaned. Then I hit Ralph’s (a grocery store) to find some of my favorite soda…Hansen’s diet. But they were all out. I’ve been finding that all over town. Just my luck. As I always say, if Wally likes it, it’ll be discontinued soon. I got some photos printed at my local CVS, hit It’s a Wrap to check out their inventory, and then I headed back to pick up my guns. I had fully intended to file the paperwork and put the down payment on a new AR by Aero Precision. It was “battle worn white” and it was really cool. But it was gone. They said it had been there in their store for months, and they figured it wasn’t selling because it was white. So they sent it out for repainting! That’s what I get for procrastinating. I should have gotten it the first day I saw it on the shelf. I got back home and cleaned up the patio, then met with Francisco; the guy who was making a brand new cat house for Spooky. I wanted it made exactly like the one he has, but with new materials. The one Spook has now is really old and rotten. I didn’t want to throw Spook a curveball by changing the layout of his house, so I asked that it be recreated faithfully. I sat down and typed out Wally’s Week, and then Sara came over to do some work. I grabbed a quick nap, and then got up to record a ton of auditions. It was still fairly warm late in the evening, so I kept the AC running until midnight or so. I filled out my on-line form for jury duty, made some chili and hit the hay.

Tuesday the 28th – TOODLIN’ AROUND TUESDAY! – Around 11 I got up to do some work. I wrote some lyrics for a song I’ve been working on, and then went to McDonald’s to get some lunch. I spent about 3 hours at Wild Woods in Hollywood to record the voice tracks for two new episodes of “How To Build Everything,” currently running Wednesday nights on Discovery’s Science channel. It’s a great show and I hope you’re watching it. When we finished I stopped by the post office to mail some stuff, and then picked up some packages at my box. I got back home and my pal Jasmine came over to do some work. I grabbed a nap and then got up later to study some scripts for an animation session early on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday the 29th – AND…IT’S A WRAP! – In the morning I headed to Studiopolis Burbank to do the final session for season 2 of an animated series I’ve been working on. I suspect there will be a season 3, so I’m sure I’ll see the producers and actors again someday soon. We got out around noon, so I stopped by Gun World to do a little shopping for a new AR. I got home to walk Roxy and relax a little bit. I did some work on the computer and took a short nap. My friend Caya met me for dinner at the Studio Café, and then we went over to my church for the meditation service. Caya is interested in meditation, and she’s just getting started in it. I figured my church’s guided meditation service would serve her well. Afterwards I gave her a tour of my house and we sat around and chatted. I grabbed a short nap on the couch, and when I woke up I noticed it had cooled down considerably. I did my nightly auditions, and fed and walked Roxy on our 3am stroll through the neighborhood. I saw a UFO too! It was a pin prick of light high in the sky…much higher than airplanes go. It didn’t have the normal trajectory of an airplane. It curved more sharply in the sky than an airplane could. But then it did the most amazing thing. It made a curve downward, made a loop, and then shot straight up. Then it disappeared from my eye. Clearly that was no airplane!

Thursday the 30th – IS IT FRIDAY YET??!! – When I got up around 11:30am I turned on my cell phone. I was expecting a call from Profiles in History to do some phone bidding on a few items I was interested in. One was a Production Cel from “The Jungle Book:” my favorite animated film of all time. I was lucky enough to have the high bid, but a friend who’s well-versed in all things Disney told me, after seeing it, that it’s nowhere in the movie! It could have been in a deleted scene, but what good is that? It’s also possible that it was used in a TV commercial or promotional short. Either way, if it’s not in the film I’m not interested in having it, so I’m going to try and cancel the deal. My friend and neighbor Bob and I went to Guns Direct so I could fill out my paperwork for my new AR purchase. I took the Firearms Safety Test for to get my card, and I got 100% correct! I’ll get to pick up the rifle on Sunday July 10th. Bob and I went to Roundtable pizza for lunch. Then I went to my box to get my packages and headed home. I relaxed for a bit, and then got up to head to Bang Zoom for a 2 hours evening session. While I was at the session I had to leave my cell phone on so Profiles in History could call me with another bidding opportunity. I was able to get a prop gold bar used in “Goldfinger!” There were thousands of them made (all plaster bars painted gold) so they’re not rare, but it sure will look cool next to my Sean Connery figure. I grabbed a nap on the couch, and then got up to do one auditions. I reviewed my bank statements, organized and filed my receipts, and reconciled my checkbooks. I had to pull some clothes and prepare for an on-camera interview at Warner Brothers the next day. I enjoyed my leftover Roundtable pizza and watched “Lost in Space” before bed.

Friday the 1st – FRIDAY…FINALLY!!! – My maids arrived at noon to clean up Planet Wallywood. Francisco arrived with the new cat house, but it was wrong. He needed to take it back to his shop and reconfigure the floors inside. He didn’t listen to my original instructions carefully, and now he has to redo it. Details, folks! I got cleaned up and headed over to Warner Brothers for an on-camera interview. This will be for bonus material footage for a new animated feature I’m involved with. The producers didn’t let me know that they were doing green screen, so I was surprised when I walked in. The only shirt I brought to wear was GREEN! Luckily I also had a lavender velvet blazer over it, so they said it would be alright. They put me into make-up and the interview was supposed to go a half hour. We started at 3:30, but by the time it ended, it was 5pm! I talked for an hour and a half! BOY am I windy! I stopped at McDonald’s on the way home to get some food, and when I got home I did some work around the house. I had them leave my make-up on, because I was going to be going to dinner later with friends. And I thought it would be cool. Francisco arrived with the cat house and it was perfect. Later in the evening, I headed to Barone’s with my friends Secunda and her husband CJ, and my friend Brittney. Since it was the 4th of July weekend, I wore one of my red, white and blue flag shirts. We had a great time and the music was great! A few girls at the restaurant said I looked like a famous Russian singer. They showed me his picture on their phones and sure enough, I bore a passing resemblance. I noticed that in one of the photos, he was holding a Phantom mask. I asked if he had done “Phantom” and they said he had performed it in Russia. So I started in on “Music of the Night” acapella at their table. They seemed to really like it, and the piano player started playing it and invited me to sing it. I was handed a microphone and I started singing. For being impromptu, it all went pretty well. I got back home and relaxed and did some work. I was reminded by my dad that it was 5 years ago this week I had to let my collie Sassie go to the Rainbow Bridge. It’s funny. Even after all this time I still get sad thinking about how much I miss her. After walking Roxy on our late-night stroll, I showered off all the make-up and hairspray from the video shoot earlier, made some sup and a sandwich and hit the hay to watch another episode of “Lost in Space.”

Saturday the 2nd – THEY SAY IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY! – By the time I turned in for the night, it was day. As always. But now that we’re having overcast nights again, it makes for those beautiful blue/gray mornings I love so much. So I sat on my window seat at 5:30am watching the world come alive; listening to meditational music and just appreciating life. Spook likes to join me on the window seat so he can watch the birds fly back and forth, and of course there’s the occasional squirrel sighting. I got to bed around 8, but got back up at 1. I got some packages at my box, hit the dry cleaners to pick up some laundry, and enjoyed some free hot dogs and popcorn. I got back home and prepared for my friend Connie’s birthday. My pal Brittney and I were going to be picked up by our friends James and Cynthia at 3:30 for the trip to Thousand Oaks for the party. They invited Roxy to come along, so we brought her too! Roxy was a big hit at the party, and one couple fell in love with her so much that they went on-line to collie rescues to see if there was one available they could adopt! Roxy’s a great ambassador for her breed! I finally got to meet Chris, Lynda and Teri; the actors from our “Ruby (Don’t Take Your Love to Town) 2016” music video. It was a fun party and a wonderful afternoon. On the drive home I was pretty tired, so when I got home I grabbed a nap. Spook’s 11th birthday would be on the 4th of July, so I designed some graphics to post on-line. It was another gorgeous blue morning; cool, gorgeous and quiet. I made one of my traditional Saturday night salads and watched another episode of the old BBC series “The Avengers” before bed. The last few episodes have been really great. I’m sad that the series will be ending in four more episodes.

Sunday the 3rd – FRIEBERGER/GRILL BURGER! – The first order of the day was a meeting at Jerry’s Famous Deli with Kevin Castro; the producer of “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys” – and my friend Alex. She’s really good at PR, so we may have her consult us on promoting the show some more on-line. It had cooled off considerably and was a gorgeous day. I came back home and got ready for evening church. Roxy and I walked over for the service, and then I came back to get ready for a barbecue. My pal Bill Frieberger was hosting a pre-4th of July barbecue for friends and family. It started at 5:30, but I wasn’t able to get there until 7:30 because of church. It was great seeing everyone. On the way home I got groceries and then came home to put them away. My assistant Sara would be grilling hot dogs for my guests on the 4th, so she went with me to help me pick out supplies. After a short nap I got up to prep for the party. I listened to some music and watched another blue morning dawn over L.A. I’m really loving the peacefulness of those overcast mornings! I made some pizza rolls and watched another episode of “Lost in Space” and didn’t get to bed until 10am!

Monday the 4th – HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S.A.! – I slept late, but got up in time to start organizing the house for my 4th of July barbecue and fireworks party. Around 7, people arrived and Sara started cooking the dogs. About 8:30 we all migrated outside to watch the neighborhood fireworks display. I live close to a movie studio that does a great fireworks display every year, so they literally blow the fireworks out my backdoor! I passed out a bunch of glow necklaces to the neighborhood kids and it was all very festive! The fireworks display was amazing as always. After everyone left I grabbed a short nap on the couch, and then got up to put away the dishes and leftover food from the party. I did my auditions, made a pizza and hit the hay to watch another “Lost In Space” episode.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK