Wally’s Week

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
WEEK 1

I would have loved to have been on the set to see THIS! Kermit and Miss Piggy visit Yoda on the “Empire Strikes Back” set!

While driving around with my gal Angi, she heard the song “Took The Last Train” by David Gates from 1977. She had never heard it before, but she quite liked it. It’s a classic!

 

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
WEEK 2

When Stan Laurel was trying to get into the movie business, he did an imitation of Charlie Chaplin to make extra money. Here’s a rare shot of him in character as The Little Tramp.

 

As I puttered around the house getting ready for my upcoming trip to Alabama, “Malibu” from Hole came up on my device. It reminded me of fun days in the late 90s. Great song. Good times.

 

It’s been very busy of late, so here are TWO weeks’ worth of adventures. Enjoy!

Monday the 1st – FANTASTIC PACKAGES! – Since I was out of town the previous Friday (when my maids usually come) I rescheduled their visit to the following Monday. They arrived and cleaned up Planet Wallywood in their inimitable fashion. Then I called my friend Sara to join me for lunch in the sun on the patio at Paty’s. After being indoors all weekend at a convention I like to enjoy a lot of time in the sun getting my vitamin D and some UV light. I went to my box to pick up my packages and got some delightful things I had ordered. First, I got a really great Batman shirt from RSVLTS called “Graffiti.” It’s a black and green motif (very Riddler-esque) with silhouettes of Batman characters. I’m going to wear it at the upcoming convention in Huntsville, Alabama. I also got the new “London After Midnight” figure of Lon Chaney as Professor Burke; the frightful-faced vampire from the famous lost film from 1927. Like all of Neca’s figures, the likeness on this piece is spot on and stunningly beautiful! I picked up a few groceries and then went home to put everything away. I worked around the house and unpacked some more stuff. Since I have another convention trip scheduled in a few weeks, I’m leaving some stuff packed that I’ll need for that trip. I organized my photo file, ordered some more markers for the next convention, and typed out two weeks’ worth of Wally’s Weeks! Whew!

Tuesday the 2nd – PUTTING PANTS ON STAN; PART 2! – The wild weekend had finally hit me. I was pretty tired. I did some auditions in the afternoon, and later my gal Angi came over to join me for dinner at Little Toni’s. I’ve decided to change the way my photos are organized for conventions. Each time I do an appearance I learn a little bit more about how to make the experience more efficient. When I go to the gun range, I order the targets I want based on a number. I’ll look up at the wall and say, “Give me two number fours, one number one, and three number eights.” So I figured this might be a good way to arrange the photos on my table. This way the person assisting me at the table doesn’t have to be familiar with all the characters I have on display at the table, and can just use the simple numbering system. So when a customer says, “I’d like that Renji,” my assistant doesn’t have to try to visually identify which one of the three prints they want and go sorting through the folders. It’s now going to be a simple number. If the customer says, “I’d like a number 13,” my assistant can go to the file marked 13 and pull out the photo. MUCH SIMPLER! (I’m learning!) I did some work around the house, took my first WOG (walk/jog) since I’ve been back (it felt great!) and spent some time in the anti-grav chair looking at the sky and relaxing. It was a gorgeous night. I came inside to do some more work, and put the new pair of pants on my Stan Laurel “Stannequin.” The first pair of pants was beautiful, but they looked too “modern.” I had some baggier pants made from the same fabric and these look perfect! I made a salad and watched an episode of “High Chaparral” and watched the “Collector’s Call” episode that aired the previous Sunday from my DVR. I’m getting very excited to see the episode they shot at my house back in December! It should be airing in the month of September, at least according to the latest information I received from ME-TV.

Wednesday the 3rd – CRASH DAY! – Still a little rough around the edges from the whirlwind trip to Dallas the previous weekend, I decided to relax all day and catch my breath. I got up later to do some work around the house, record a few auditions, and do some prep for my TSA Pre-Check appointment on Thursday.

Thursday the 4th – 4 4 AT 4 – Over the weekend in Dallas, another Voice Actor sang the praises of having a TSA Pre-Check authorization. He breezed through the security line at the Dallas airport, but luckily we had arrived at the airport so early, the regular TSA line was fairly quick too. However, I made a note to get my TSA Pre-Check authorization taken care of asap. Today I had an appointment at a local Staples store, which performs TSA Pre-Check screenings. It was easy to remember… 4/4 at 4. When Angi was over a few nights ago she helped me fill out the questionnaire on the TSA website and I got the appointment for the in-person fingerprinting and photo-taking. I also clicked the box on their website to “sign up for important information and updates.” I immediately got a text welcoming me to the TSA texting system so I could receive “important information and updates.” After I handled a few calls, and found out about a VO session on Friday morning, I prepped for my appointment and headed to the Staples store in North Hollywood. I arrived 15 minutes early, only to find out that their TSA system went down on Wednesday and they won’t get a new one in for a few days. WHAT?! I drove all the way over there and I can’t even do my screening?! What about that little box I checked to receive text updates for “important information and updates?” Seems to me the fact that the store’s system is inoperative is pretty freakin’ important! (Sigh… the government.) Now I’ll have to get back on their website and get a new appointment. Ugh. Insanity. So much for “important information and updates.” I hit Jack In The Box for some lunch at the drive-thru, and then went to Harry’s Camera to pick up some more photos I had printed from my old negatives. When I got back to the house I did a Source Connect test with a studio I’d be doing a session for on Friday morning. It was cloudy and rainy out, so I enjoyed staying indoors the rest of the evening. Later I did my auditions, and the weather had cleared up enough that I could do my nightly WOG. But during the last quarter-mile, it started sprinkling again. So I high-tailed it back inside. I prepped my home studio for the early-Friday-morning VO session.

Friday the 5th – GIMME A BRAKE (LIGHT!) – My morning VO session was scheduled for pretty early in the day, but was extremely quick. In fact, it really only took about 15 minutes. Then I got ready for my newly-rescheduled TSA Pre-Check screening and interview. But when I got there the attendant asked for my passport and my credit card, then he disappeared for a while, and within a few minutes he called my name to come back to a cubicle. He took my digital fingerprints and took a picture of me. That was it. No interview. No questions. Nothing. Quick and easy. According to the information I read on the internet there would be an interview of some sort. But nope. They said I should have my Known Traveler Number in 3-5 days, but knowing the government, I’m not counting on it. Since I had scheduled a fair amount of time for this process, I ended up with an extra hour of time before my lunch meeting. Since I was in the area, I called my mechanic to see if I could go over and pay for the work they did on my Gran Torino recently. I got to the shop, paid them, and my mechanic David hopped in the Torino to drive it over to my auxiliary parking. I followed him in the Gray Ghost to drive him back to the shop after the Torino was put to bed. As we drove to the parking structure I took note of how gorgeous that car is. But I also noticed that there were no brake lights! At a stop light I got out of my Rav and approached him in the Torino. I told him we needed to turn back around and go back to the shop, because there were no brake lights! So back to the shop we went! I drove over to Paty’s to join my pal Christopher Jones for lunch. I hadn’t seen him in a long time. He’s a brilliant comic artist who has been living in L.A. for about four years. I first met him in Minneapolis during a visit to Convergence many years ago. We were joined by my pal Chris Malmin, and we had a great lunch. I got back home and my pal Sara came by to do some work. I worked with my photo albums and mounted some of the new photos I had just picked up the day before from Harry’s Camera. I still have a ton of work to do before these albums are complete, but I’m making slow and steady progress. They’re going to be beautiful! At this point, I have photos mounted up through the year 1993! But I still have 1994 through 2004 to go! I had a nice, long phone call with my appearance manager Nery Lemus from Celebworx. We got to chat about a lot of ideas and plans. He’s usually so busy with stuff that it’s hard to get to chat with him for an extended period of time. I took my nightly WOG, and then came back inside to make a salad and watch another episode of “The High Chaparral.”

Saturday the 6th – JUST LIKE TWO WONDERFUL GRANDPAS! – The first order of the day was to walk over to my stylist Andie’s shop to get a trim and a touch up on my color. When I got back home my friends the Pendletons were waiting for me at my front door. They were in town doing some shopping and we agreed to meet for dinner. We drove over to Little Toni’s (one of THEIR favorite places too!) and had a delicious dinner. Since my buddy Joe Pendleton is a computer whiz, I asked about getting movies on my tablet to enjoy during my upcoming flight to Huntsville. I prefer having movies stored on a micro SD card that I don’t need an “intermediary” to watch. But entities like Amazon, Google Play, etc. all need to be in the middle of my movie-watching process; (which I was trying to avoid) meaning I am forced to watch movies only through their app. I can’t actually download them and own them. This also means that I won’t be able to watch movies without having an on-line connection. Since I’ll be in the air, I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to get on-line to watch the movies. Regardless, I bought several movies from the Google Play store anyway. But it’s my goal to turn some of the DVDs I own into MP4s that I can load onto a micro SD card and watch anywhere, anytime, without having to worry about an internet connection. Not sure if that’s possible or not. I’ll need to do some more investigating. Later I took my nightly WOG, did some more work with my photo albums creating captions for certain sections, did some laundry, washed some dishes, changed the sheets on my bed, scanned some checks for an upcoming deposit, paid some bills, and did some more work around the house. Busy busy! I got a heckuva lot done! Since it was the first Saturday of the month, I did my traditional “Laurel & Hardy Theatre” evening. I made my Chef Boyardee pizza, enjoyed a banana Twinkie, popped some popcorn, and drank ice cold Diet Pepsi in the Oliver Hardy mug my mom made me in her ceramics class back in 1973. I sure do love these “nostalgic” moments. I finished up the Blu-ray set “Laurel & Hardy: Year One” by watching the final film on the disc called “The Battle of the Century.” The company called Flicker Alley assembled a worldwide contingent of collectors and restored and remastered all of the films Stan & Ollie made during the first year of their historic teaming… 1927. The set is gorgeous! What I like to do is watch the film through once with the music (as all the films are silent), and then watch the commentary by L&H expert Randy Skretvedt. But there was a second commentary from one of the producers who helped mount the monumental task of finding all of the films for the set. He explained on the commentary just how much of a miracle it was that the film is even still in existence. It’s about 99% fully complete, and through a series of weird happenstances and coincidences, the two parts of the film were discovered and reassembled. It’s really quite an amazing feat, considering that these films are almost 100 years old! When I finished with that, I watched the “This Is Your Life” episode with Laurel & Hardy from the 50’s. It was a beautiful episode, and watching Stan & Ollie sitting together on a couch, now considerably older, made me feel like I was watching two wonderful grandpas hanging out together. I wanted to jump through the screen and become 3 years old again so I could sit on their laps! It was quite a moving episode.

Sunday the 7th – SCRIPT PREP! – As is usual, Sunday is my crash day. I got up later to do some work around the house, record an audition, take my nightly WOG, and do some more organizing of my photos for the upcoming con in Huntsville, Alabama. I had a long session scheduled for a video game on Monday afternoon, so I looked through the script they sent me to do a little prep. It’s hard to glean too much context from the stuff they send me, but I’m sure they’ll give me more when I get to the studio on Monday.

Monday the 8th – BUSY BUSY MONDAY! – The events of the day were going to be plentiful, so I had to make the most of my time. First I stopped by the bank to make a few deposits. Then I went to my mechanic’s to get my Gran Torino. A fuse had burned out, which affected the brake lights. They also needed to replace a bulb as well. But after having a brand new radiator installed, and having several leaks fixed, I was ready for cruising into the summer! I followed my mechanic over to my auxiliary parking garage, and put the Torino to bed. Then I gave him a ride back to the shop. I hit my box to get some packages, and then went to Paty’s to have a salad before my session. I drove to Atlas recording in Burbank to do a four hour video game session. It had been a while since I had done a long session like that, so it was a challenging one. But I made it through, and it was a blast! We didn’t finish up everything we needed to do, so I’ll go back in a few weeks to do the remaining lines. I dropped by the Celebworx office to pick up a few things, and then I drove home. My pal Emily was house sitting a few doors down, so I grabbed her and we went to Bob’s Big Boy for dinner. Later I worked around the house, took my nightly WOG, spent some time enjoying the nice night in my anti-grav chair, and went inside to turn in.

Tuesday the 9th – SALAMI, SONS, & SADNESS! – An animated film I’ve been working on is in the final stages of completion, but they needed me to record a few pick-up lines. So I drove to Salami studios in North Hollywood to record them. The actual session only took about 15 minutes, but I ended up chatting with the producers for almost an hour! I hit Taco Bell for some lunch, and then I headed home to do some work. I printed number stickers to put on my sample character photos, so the number on the sample photos (which will be displayed in clear plastic holders) will correspond with the photos in my file case. This will make identifying the desired print much easier for my assistant at the table. Since I have about 24 different photos that I offer at my table, this took a considerable amount of time. My buddy Dr. Cowen came over to see the original “Sons of the Desert” fez I bought at auction recently. I also showed him the new suit I put on my “Stannequin.” We’re both members of the local “Sons of the Desert” Laurel & Hardy chapter, and tonight was another meeting. He dropped by to check things out before we headed to dinner. Dr. Cowen’s had an amazing life, which included meeting George Reeves, Elvis Presley, and even Stan Laurel during the last year of his life. The meeting was a blast, and we watched the short “Our Wife,” which is absolutely hysterical. Dr. Cowen said, “No matter how many times you see it. It’s still funny.” Indeed. One of the long-time members of the chapter recently passed away, and in her final wishes she expressed that her Laurel & Hardy collection be raffled off to raise money for the chapter. I bought $20 worth of tickets and won some nice things for my collection. After the meeting I came home to record my nightly auditions, and finish up my photo file for the con this weekend. Later I took my nightly WOG and spent some time unwinding outside in my anti-grav chair. I prepped some more for my upcoming trip this weekend, and then I made some barbecues and watched another “High Chaparral” episode. I also watched the “Collector’s Call” episode on my DVR from the previous Sunday. The season premiere featured a collector all of us “collector folks” knew well… Dr. Stewart Berkowitz. He had amazing stuff, including original costumes from “Batman,” “Gilligan’s Island,” and the original set from “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson!” Sadly, Dr. Berkowitz passed away about a month ago unexpectedly. So his dream of putting all of his stuff into a museum will probably never be realized. Very sad.

Wednesday the 10th – READY TO JET! – Some new signing pens that I ordered on Amazon arrived at my box, so I sped over to get my packages to prepare for the upcoming weekend. I also got a new cap I ordered that I’m planning on painting for my new Japanese friend Kentaro Ito. I met Ito San a few weeks ago at the Dallas convention, as he’s the original Japanese voice for Renji Abarai. As the English voice of Renji, we had a fun time hanging out together. He liked the custom-painted cap I wore, which features the tattoo design on Renji’s forehead. I told him I’d make one for him and send it to him. Then there will be only two like it in the entire world, and both owned by the voices of Renji. I dropped some mail off at the post office, and then met my gal Angi at Paty’s for some dinner. It was a gorgeous day; sunny and warm. Then I headed back home to do some work, record some auditions, and packed up for my trip this weekend to Huntsville, Alabama. It sure helped that I didn’t unpack some stuff from my Dallas trip. It really expedited my packing process. I made some spaghetti and got a few hours of sleep before I had to be up to head to the airport on Thursday morning.

Thursday the 11th – SWEET HOME ALABAMA! – After a quick shower and some last-minute packing, my house sitter Emily arrived to drive me to the airport. I checked in and headed to the TSA security line. I still haven’t gotten my TSA Pre-Check Known Traveler Number yet, but it didn’t matter. The line for Pre-Check was just as long as the regular line! I found my gate and got a sandwich. When I boarded the flight I noticed that a lady was already sitting in my seat. I said, “2D?” She said, “I’m in 2C.” I told her that 2C was the one directly across the aisle from where she was sitting. But I told her to stay put regardless, that I would take her seat instead. It ended up being much nicer. 2C is to the left of the plane, while 2D is off to the right. Since I’m right-handed, it’s much easier getting access to my carry-on bag than it would be if I was on the right side of the plane. In the future, I’m going to book aisle seats on the left side of the plane for that very reason. (No accidents in life!) They served us lunch on board, and I listened to some toonz and napped off and on. I woke up with 30 minutes left to go before we landed in Dallas. I had a 2 hour layover at the Dallas airport, so I got some food at McDonald’s. I went into a newsstand to get a candy bar, but the store didn’t take cash… only credit and debit cards. Since my wallet was buried deeply in my carry-on bag, I didn’t feel like tearing apart my bag to find a debit card to buy a 3 dollar candy bar. So I told her thanks anyway and I started walking out. She said, “You don’t have a debit card?” I told her I did, but it was buried deeply in my case, and I felt silly about putting such a small purchase on my card anyway. She said she would buy the candy bar for me. I appreciate her nice gesture, but I dug out my card and paid for it myself. Nice lady. I loved that she was going to do a good deed. Once I boarded the plane to Huntsville, I was sitting next to my “Bleach” co-star Johnny Yong Bosch. And a few seats ahead was Voice Actress Vanessa Marshall. We had a fun flight. I turned on my tablet to watch some of the movies I bought on Google Play, but sure enough, you need an internet connection to watch them. Rats. Wasted money. What a bust. I did have a few things loaded onto a micro SD card that I could watch, but I realized with horror that I had neglected to pack a headphone adapter that was required for my tablet. My old tablet has a jack for regular headphones. But this newer tablet had some sort of weird doohickey that I needed to plug into the power port, and that would ostensibly give me the audio. Weird. I’m learning more about what I need to do with each passing trip. So I just listened to some more toonz until we landed. We got in around 11pm, and about this time, several other flights with con guests arrived. So a huge group of actors all headed down to the front of the terminal to figure out who our transportation people were. We all got into cars and headed to the hotel. I asked my driver Tiffany if we could stop by a convenience store so I could pick up some supplies for the weekend. She took me to a Circle K and I loaded up. We got to the hotel and I checked in, and folks like Neil Kaplan, Marty Grabstein, and Kenny James were all in the lobby chatting. I love chatting with Marty, because he’s the only person I know who actually saw Andy Kaufman live at Carnegie Hall back in 1979! I love to hear Marty’s recollections about being at the show. I got to my room and I noticed that, much like the hotel in Dallas, there was no clock in my room! I guess clocks are no longer a thing now that people have their phones. But when I stay in a hotel I occasionally wake up and glance at the clock to see how much more sleeping time I have. I’m going to start bringing my own clock I guess. Luckily, Antoinette at the front desk was able to secure a clock for me to put next to my bed. I ate my Circle K sub, unpacked, journaled a bit, and looked out my hotel room window at a very lovely town!

Friday the 12th – HUNTSVILLE COMIC AND POP CULTURE EXPO: DAY 1! – Since the first day of the convention didn’t start until 3pm, it was nice to sleep in. I got to the con, met my handler Kaitlin, and we got set up for the show. We had a great time meeting some very nice people and chatting with them. I stole away for a brief moment to get some “con food,” which consisted of a hot dog and some popcorn. But I found out that the convention had some special food catered for the guests in the Green Room. It was from a local restaurant called Taco Mama, and it was basically a taco bar. Fantastic! I ran back to the convention center’s food court, bought two plain hamburger buns, and ran back to the Green Room. I wanted taco burgers! Everyone seemed like they had never seen such a thing before. But a long time ago Taco Bell had their “Bellbeefer,” and a local L.A. taco joint called Henry’s Tacos has had taco burgers for as long as I can remember. The Taco Mama folks made me up a few taco burgers and BOY were they delicious! I’m going to have to WOG extra hard when I get back to town, and I’m going to have to go on a strict diet of Paty’s salads for weeks! The food here is just too good! The con ended at 8pm and I headed back to my room. I really wanted pizza, so I went down to the front desk to ask for their recommendations. The guy at the front desk looked up the number for the local Domino’s and I went to my room to call and order. When I finally got somebody on the phone and told them I would like to have an order delivered to the Embassy Suites, they asked, “How do you spell that?” I said, “The Embassy Suites?” How could the local Domino’s not know where the Embassy Suites was? I asked for a manager and she asked for a specific address. I gave her the complete address for the hotel and she said, “Oh, you’re calling the Domino’s in Jasper.” WHAT?! That’s an hour and a half away from Huntsville! The dummy at the front desk didn’t give me the right number. So I got on my tablet and found the local Huntsville Domino’s. I placed an on-line order and tracked the driver’s progress. I ordered a medium pizza, cinnamon twists and a Diet Coke. But when the driver arrived he had forgotten my Diet Coke. He said, “It’s in the car. I’ll be right back.” But 20 minutes later he still hadn’t returned. I threw on my clothes and went to the front desk to buy a Diet Coke from them. As I waited at the front desk, the Domino’s driver came into the hotel with a Diet Coke. I said, “Did you have to drive back to the store to get it?” He said, “Yeah.” Wow. People sure weren’t on their “A game” in Huntsville that night! I took my warm Diet Coke up to my room and ate my cold pizza. I hit the hay to rest up for a very busy day on Saturday!

Saturday the 13th – HUNTSVILLE COMIC & POP CULTURE EXPO: DAY 2! – As expected, the con was much busier today. It was fun meeting all the really nice people. My assistant Kaitlin had gone to Target the night before and bought me some Pure Leaf iced tea (which I couldn’t find at Circle K), and some Wonder hamburger buns for more taco burgers! YAY Kaitlin! I introduced myself to Paige O’Hara, the voice of Belle from “Beauty and The Beast,” and told her how excited I was that she would be appearing in Sioux Falls in July at our Voices Against Cancer convention. She said she was looking forward to it. I asked her to please give my regards to her husband Michael Piontek. He played Raul in the L.A. run of “Phantom of the Opera” back in the early 90s. When I worked at 94.7 The Wave as a D.J. we worked quite closely with the “Phantom” cast doing a lot of fundraising. I had known Michael quite well during those days. I also introduced myself to George Takei, who was in the Green Room eating lunch (NOT taco burgers, by the way). I told him that he was the first celebrity I met when I came to L.A. back in 1987. He was nice enough to have myself and the Wave’s news director over to his home to record an interview. I had met him several times after that at various “Star Trek” functions, as he played Mr. Sulu in the original series. I told George and his husband that I was a Voice Actor. I asked if they had flown in on American Airlines, and they said they did. I said, “Does this sound familiar? Please make sure your safety belts are securely fastened around your waist. We’ll be landing soon.” They laughed and said, “Yes!” I also told them that I had done several text-to-speech projects, which takes typed out text and translates it to verbiage through a computer interface. The program builds the sentences based on things I had recorded previously. I told him, “It’s amazing that as a ‘Star Trek’ fan since I was young, I now have literally BECOME ‘Star Trek!’ I’m the talking computer!” I also told him how excited I was that he would also be an upcoming guest at this year’s Voices Against Cancer event in Sioux Falls in July. My buddy (and “Sonic Boom” and “Arkham Origins” co-star) Roger Craig Smith was at the convention too, and Roger will ALSO be in Sioux Falls in July. This will be a great show! I got back to my table after lunch and met some really great Riddler cosplayers! I also met a few really cool doggies. We had a “Bleach” panel, which consisted of Johnny Yong Bosch, Michelle Ruff, Neil Kaplan, and me. But there wasn’t a monitor speaker on the stage, so it was very difficult to hear the questions from the audience. I guess we need to start writing that into our contracts, as it’s become a real problem of late. The speakers are facing away from the stage toward the audience. So all we’re hearing on the stage is the bounce-back of the audio after it hits the back wall and comes back at us. It’s not only difficult to hear the other actors on the panel, but it’s really difficult to hear the fans ask questions. Many of them are very soft-spoken anyway. After the show ended I had a bit of a headache, so I headed back to my room for a nap. By the time I got up later all the food places had closed, so I was forced to get some “hotel lobby” food, which consisted of microwaveable soup and mac and cheese. Oh well. Since it was late and I wasn’t very tired, I decided to go down to the common area in the lobby and just relax in the nice chairs and watch the fountain. A guy named Rocky approached me and said we had met when I appeared at the Chattanooga Comic Con back in October. It was nice seeing him again. He asked me to join his group and chat for a bit, so I moved over and joined them. Nice folks! We talked until late, and then I headed upstairs to turn in.

Sunday the 14th – HUNTSVILLE COMIC & POP CULTURE EXPO: DAY 3! – As is usual on the final day of a convention, it’s a bit slow. Most actors refer to it as “Tumbleweed Day.” But it’s still fun nonetheless. It gave me some time to chat with some of the other actors at the show, and do a little shopping. It was nice making a bunch of new friends. As the convention wound down, everyone was packing up and heading out. Some of the actors had flights to catch back home that evening, but I was happy my flight wasn’t leaving until the next morning. This would allow me time to relax, see a bit of the city, and leisurely pack. As I was leaving the convention floor, I noticed a booth that had a Renji figure hanging on a peg with a Post-It on it that read, “Have this signed by Voice Actor Wally Wingert.” Since I’m always interested in helping out small businesses, I asked the lady in the booth, “Would that figure sell for more if I signed it?” She said, “Yes it would!” So I signed it for her and wished her good luck! I got back to my room and relaxed for a bit. But not for long. The sun was still up and I wanted to explore the local area of Huntsville while there was still daylight. I also wanted to find the local Jimmy John’s to get a sandwich. I walked outside the hotel and enjoyed a picturesque stream and spillway, which was home to a lot of fish and ducks. I continued walking across the street to Big Spring Park. It was a nice Sunday evening and lots of people were out enjoying the nice weather; skating, walking, picnicking, feeding the ducks, etc. It was gorgeous. I saw a couple of Huntsville police officers and asked them where “the square” was. They pointed across the street and warned me that it was quite a hike. I told them I was ready for some exercise. I went through another park with people relaxing, playing ball, playing guitar, and even a drum circle featuring a large gathering of conga players. The rhythm they were laying down reminded me of an old Andy Kaufman bit. While his group of conga players beat the drums emphatically, he sang a cute little “yodeling” song called “Yodeling Mad.” I just had to video them while I sang the lyrics under my breath, trying to contain my laughter. After climbing a considerable amount of stairs, and marveling at the wonderful old architecture of the buildings downtown near the courthouse, I finally found the Jimmy John’s. The guy working there had the personality of a wounded wood tick, and he seemed like he would rather be anywhere else but there. Oh well, the sandwich looked good. I walked back to the hotel and noticed that there were little vending machines where you could buy duck food for a quarter. I had a few quarters in my pocket (courtesy of the change I received from the wounded wood tick at Jimmy John’s), so I decided to get some duck food. As I strolled by, I saw a little girl trying to get some food out of the vending machine’s dispenser. I said, “I think you need a quarter for that.” I pulled out a quarter, she held out her little hand, and I gave her the quarter. I said, “Have fun feeding the ducks!” I walked a ways and met a few cool doggies. It was an extremely pleasant night. I’m SO glad I didn’t have to rush out of town that evening on a flight home. I got back to my room to eat my dinner and journal some. I napped a bit, and got up later to start packing for my morning flight home. However, I didn’t sleep very well – as I never do on a night before a flight. I’m always worried that I’ll oversleep and miss the flight.

Monday the 15th – BYE BYE ‘BAMA! – To ensure that I wouldn’t oversleep or miss my alarm, I opened the curtains to my room before I went to bed. That way the sun would be sure to wake me up if all else failed. I got to the airport around 7:30 for my 9:30 flight and enjoyed a breakfast sandwich. Once on the plane, I slept most of the way to Dallas. I walked all the way to my connecting gate, only to find out that there was a gate change further down the line. Oh well, I had plenty of time during my 2 hour layover, and I needed the exercise after all of the yummy food I had over the weekend anyway. I had lunch at a Texas Barbecue place and it was yummy. I got on board the plane and watched some movies from my micro SD card on my older tablet with my headphones. Sometimes the older way is the best way. It was a blast. I watched some Jim Henson specials, and an ELO concert. We landed in Los Angeles and I went to the baggage area to get my stuff. Unfortunately my photo case had gotten quite badly damaged on one of the corners during transit. I was in the market for a new one anyway, but this ensured it. My driver Armen met me and drove me back home. My house sitter Emily was there and my cat Spook was glad to see me. Emily and I went to Paty’s so I could delve right into my salad diet. Then I went back home and did a few things, napped, and unpacked later in the evening. I did a little writing and got settled. It was a great convention and a wonderful weekend. I took a WOG and enjoyed being back home. This week I’m looking forward to chilling and getting a few “life” things taken care of.

And how were YOUR two weeks?!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Here’s a quick video overview of my quick tour of downtown Huntsville, Alabama. Very nice!