May 11 – May 17 (2020) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

Boy is THIS true!

For some odd reason Joni Mitchell’s “Help Me” has been running through my head of late. A true classic!

Monday the 11th – NUMB THUMB! – Back in the late 90’s, after a surgery I had kept me from sleeping on my side, I developed a chiropractic issue from sleeping on my back. As I slept, my chin would slump down on to my chest, thus compressing some vertebrae in my neck and cutting off some nerves that ran to my thumb and forefinger on my left hand. After a round of successful chiropractic treatments the problem went away, and if it ever flared up again, my doctor showed me several ways of “self-correcting” that would solve the problem. I hadn’t had the problem for many years. Until this stupid lock down. My slothful lifestyle over the last two months had somehow brought back the issue. I tried to “self-correct” but it wasn’t working. So I scheduled some chiropractic sessions with my doctor in the Burbank area. I hadn’t seen Dr. C in about a year, so it was good to see him again, even with the mask on. I got cracked and adjusted and he wanted to see me again on Wednesday. After the appointment I went over to Weinerschnitzel to get some lunch, got my mail at my box, and then headed home. I went back out later in the afternoon to pick up a prescription for Roxy at the vet’s office, and then went to the bank to make a deposit. But that branch was closed. Ugh. I got some food at Chin Chin and went next door to Voice Trax West to eat my lunch before my session. This session was the continuation of several years’ worth of sessions I had been doing at Bang Zoom! studios in Burbank. But because they’re closed indefinitely the client moved the sessions to Voice Trax West. The nature of these sessions is pretty much the epitome of ‘social distancing.’ It’s only me in a studio by myself, and the engineer is behind 4 panes of glass in the booth running the session. The director is on remote via something called Source Connect. So it’s really very safe. I stopped by CVS on the way home to pick up some supplies, and then headed home. I did a little work around the house and then grabbed a nap. I got up later to do some auditions, and I sketched out the body pattern for my “Beautiful Day monster” replica Muppet that I’d be taking to my pal at Alex in Wonderland effects studios so they can start making the body and head covering pattern for him. Though we had enjoyed some fairly warm days recently, it had turned chilly again. I walked Roxy on our late-night stroll through the neighborhood and wished that I had dressed more warmly. I came back inside and napped on the couch until dawn, and then I hit the hay. I have a very busy Tuesday ahead!

Tuesday the 12th – GROUCH GROOMING! – One of the things I’ve really enjoyed doing during this lock down (I call it a lock down and not quarantine, because quarantine implies that you’re sick) is making puppets. I recently completed my Oscar the Grouch replica Muppet, after much research and hard work, and he’s pretty much done. The only thing left to do is to trim the hair on the palms of his paws, and since trimming fake fur is such a delicate job, I wanted to leave that to my hair guy Sergio Lopez. I didn’t want to screw it up, because if you cut too much off, it’s too late. It doesn’t grow back. Sergio came over and did a wonderful job trimming the fur on his hands, and while he worked I wrote Wally’s Week. Then Sergio and I went to Bob’s Big Boy for lunch and enjoyed some more of their carhop service. Sergio and I went up to Alex in Wonderland to drop off the pattern and puppet head of “B.D.” and chatted for a while. We got back to my house, I paid Sergio, and then I did some work. I took a short nap in the Puppet Room, and then got up for auditions, fed the pets, walked Roxy, and then prepped for a busy Wednesday.

Wednesday the 13th – NO MISTAKES! – When I got up I started the day with a few auditions, and then walked to Voice Trax West for another long session. We’ve moved on from one-sentence pieces to full paragraphs. And the nature of the session is that I can’t make any mistakes during the paragraph. If I do, I have to start all over again and get one full pass of the paragraph mistake-free. Some of the paragraphs contained medical information and complicated words that were unknown to me, so it was definitely a challenge. It took hours and hours to get only a handful of paragraphs recorded! It was some of the most difficult stuff I’ve ever done in my entire career! But challenging. On the walk home I chatted with my folks. I got home and fed the pets, did some work, showered and napped. I got up later to feed the pets, do some editing, walk Roxy on our late-night stroll through the neighborhood, came back in and finished up my editing, then made some spaghetti and started watching Season One of “The Invaders.” After a friend recommended this show I’ve been looking very forward to starting it.

Thursday the 14th – MAGNIFICENT EVENING! – After sleeping most of the day, I got up later in the afternoon to answer some e-mails, texts, Tweets, etc. Then I got cleaned up and headed to pick up some supplements for Roxy at the local pet food store. I headed over to my friend Dan’s house to enjoy some dinner and great conversation. I hadn’t seen Dan in a while, and this was going to be a great opportunity to relax and catch up. He made a batch of his wife’s chicken chili and we sat outside in his backyard and dined and chatted. It was a gorgeous evening, and several Mourning Doves sat on the wires overhead serenading our dinner. We chatted for hours and got caught up, but it was time for me to go grab some groceries before the stores closed. I came home and napped, then got up later to do a ton of auditions. I did a little more work around the house and then went to bed. I have to be up early for another appointment with Dr. C!

Friday the 15th – AN OLD FRIEND! – As I drove to Dr. C’s office for another chiropractic adjustment, I noticed that one of my old haunts was open again for take-out food! Paty’s was one of my favorite restaurants to eat at “pre-pandemic,” but after everything closed up they shuttered completely; not even offering take-out food. But now they’re back open, which is probably the first phase before they open their doors for dining in. After my appointment I sped by Paty’s, parked and ordered my usual salad. I couldn’t wait to have one again! I got the mail at my box, and sped home to enjoy my Paty’s salad! I decided to dig out a song I had written with a friend a few years back, and make a lyric video to it to post. We pitched it to several singers a few years ago, but there wasn’t any action on it. So, since we’re still mostly all locked down, I decided to release it for people’s viewing pleasure. I’ll be posting it here on my website next week! The maids arrived to clean Planet Wallywood, and I continued working away on the video. I got it all finished, did some other work, and then decided to grab a nap. I got up later to feed the pets, walk Roxy and head over to Denny’s to get some food to go. I came home and did some more work, watched another episode of “The Invaders” and ate my food. I spent a little time prepping the script for my Monday session. There were a lot of difficult words and sentence structures, so I wanted to be as prepared as possible.

Saturday the 16th – MISSED MUPPETS! – Though I had signed up to see a web conference called “Muppet Guys Talking” at 1pm, I slept too late and missed it. Come to find out the overwhelming response to it crashed their website anyway, so I’ll wait until I get notification of a playback. I answered some texts and e-mails, and decided to drive to Barone’s to pick up a pizza and some spaghetti. I dropped the spaghetti off at my ‘adopted grandma’ Shirley’s living quarters on the way home. Being 93, she hadn’t been out in a long time, so I wanted to drop it off for her as a treat. I got back home and settled in with my pizza to watch “Svengoolie” on ME-TV. After the show I grabbed a nap. But when I woke up my tailbone was hurting somewhat fierce! Apparently, while I was sitting up in bed watching TV, I wasn’t sitting correctly, with the proper support, and fatigued and injured my tailbone. It REALLY hurt! Just what I need…MORE ISSUES! So now I have my tennis elbow in my left elbow, my numb thumb and forefinger on my left hand, and a sore tailbone. This lock down SUCKS! Seems like when I was more active I didn’t have these problems! I’m really ready for this all to be over. I started to realize that perhaps I needed to buy a new mattress. But all the mattress stores are shuttered, so it may be a while. California and Los Angeles are taking their sweet time opening back up again (don’t get me started on what I think the REAL reasons behind it are) so I’m unable to get my car washed, my dog groomed, and do some necessary shopping. I’m SO over this! I read an interesting quote on-line that said, “Quarantine is when you lock down the sick. Tyranny is when you lock down the healthy.” It’s true that never in the history of any pandemic have they quarantined the healthy. Lots to learn from this whole thing. I fed the kids, did some work, walked Roxy, organized some photo files, and since I’m not going to sit up in bed to watch TV until I can figure out a better support system, I went to bed and slept. OUCH!

Sunday the 17th – TALES OF THE TAILBONE! – The second day of my tailbone injury was MUCH worse! I’m not sure how long it takes to heal from this sort of thing, but the pain is considerable. I got up late in the afternoon to do some work, took some Advil and laid back down again. I got up in the evening, fed the pets, did some work, and did some editing. I decided to dig out a short film we did back in 2007 called “Livin’ On a Prayer.” It’s a mockumentary I did with Ken Dennis, the former Supervising Producer on “Family Guy.” Since everyone is looking for content on-line to pass the time, I figured I’d put it back up for people to see again for those who may have missed it originally. But I had to edit specific trailers for the Twitter and Instagram format. Twitter takes videos no longer than 2 minutes and 20 seconds, and Instagram takes videos no longer than 1 minute. So I cut two different trailers for each. I posted the trailers, and I’ll post the link to the full short film on Monday. I had a ton of auditions to do, and when I finished I drove over to Jerry’s Famous Deli to pick up some food to go. I hadn’t been to Jerry’s in a few months, since before the lock down, and it was good to have their food again. In fact, Jerry’s was the last restaurant I ate at before everything was shuttered. I came back home to rest again as my tailbone was still hurting something fierce. I put the heating pad on it in hopes it would help. Those damn “watching-TV-in-bed-related injuries!” I hate ‘em!

And how was *OUCH* YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK