RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
When I was 15 I begged my folks for real Adidas SL-72 shoes like Starsky wore in “Starsky & Hutch.” But the only ones they could find in Aberdeen, South Dakota were the JC Penney knock-offs which cost about 10 bucks and lasted about as many minutes. Flash forward 37 years and now I have a REAL pair of Adidas SL-72 shoes that I found recently on eBay. However, they cost me slightly more than 10 bucks. Just slightly.
While watching “The Muppet Show” the other night with friends, Rowlf the Dog performed this song that I remembered well. I was Muppet crazy at the age of 19 and bought all of their records. “The Muppet Show” soundtrack was one of my favorites, and at one point I knew all the words to this song. I still love it today, and since we saw it last Saturday night, it’s stuck in my brain and won’t go away.
Monday the 19th – MARVELOUS MONDAY! – Since this was Week 2 of our two–week hiatus from “The Tonight Show” I slept very late in the day. I got up around 2 and goofed around on the computer for a little bit. I made phone calls, answered e-mails, and got a call from my Milwaukee agent about doing a voice-over for a TaylorMade TV commercial. I took Roxy outside to do her bathroom duties, and she did some sunbathing. As hairy as she is, it amazes me that she loves to find the sunniest spot in the grass and lay in the sun. She doesn’t seem to get hot, but she just loves soaking up the sun. I finished up Wally’s Week just in time to go get a prescription at CVS. It’s the stuff I need to drink for the “cleansing” before my upcoming colonoscopy. I grabbed the stuff and headed to L.A. Talk Radio’s studios in Sherman Oaks to be a guest on an internet talk show hosted by comedienne Geri Jewell and three other co-hosts. Two of the four hosts were on vacation, so Mike Steiner the producer asked if I would sub as co-host. It was a fun hour and as soon as I get the link to the show I’ll post it here so you can hear it. When we finished I realized that I was very close to one of my favorite restaurants…BARONE’S! So I called to order a large pepperoni pizza to go. I drove over, grabbed the delicious delicacy and was on my way home. It smelled so good I just couldn’t keep my hands off it. I started in on it on my way home. YUM! I got home and grabbed a quick nap on the couch. When I got up I did some auditions, paid some bills, fed and walked Roxy, then hit the hay for the early TaylorMade session the next morning.
Tuesday the 20th – THE LAST SUPPER! – Roxy and Spook both got up on the bed in the morning, so I engaged in some 2HPP (two-handed pet petting). I was petting Roxy with my left hand and Spook with my right, and if I stop petting Roxy for a short period of time she’ll get jealous (thinking that Spook is getting more pets than her) and move in closer, in case I forgot she was there. I leapt from bed and got ready for the TaylorMade session. I got over to Snap Sound in North Hollywood and worked for about three hours. When we finished up at 1, I stopped by KFC in the neighborhood for a light lunch. I’m trying not to eat very much in preparation for my upcoming cleansing, because I can’t eat anything on Wednesday, and I don’t want to shock my system. I’m trying to be more gradual about it. I got back home, did some work and took Roxy for a walk. I took a short nap on the couch for a while, since I didn’t sleep very well the previous night. My pal Bob Mitsch came by Planet Wallywood to help me design some custom fabric on an internet site. We scanned my Tony Clifton tuxedo so I could have the fabric replicated for a bowling shirt I want to do. We finished the graphic and uploaded it. I should be getting samples from them soon on two different types of fabrics. I’ll see which one will work best for my shirt. While I was at it, I went on Amazon and bought the 1966 Batman figures from Mattel. I can’t find them in any local stores, but Amazon has them readily available. A pal of mine at the Burbank Toys ‘R Us said to call him every Thursday and Friday mornings when their trucks arrive to see if they got a shipment. But it’s too much work, so I just ordered them on-line. Easy squeezy. They’ll be in my mailbox way before the next shipment comes in at Toys ‘R Us. When Bob left I took Roxy for a walk and then took a dip in the jacuzzi. I came back inside to record my auditions and e-mail them to my agents. I worked on the computer for just a little bit and then went to DuPar’s for my last meal before the fast begins. I had to stop eating at midnight and start my liquid diet on Wednesday, in preparation of my surgical procedure on Thursday morning. This was going to be tough! My last meal was at DuPar’s, where I enjoyed a pancake, ham, an egg and toast. I got home and walked Roxy and hit the hay.
Wednesday the 21st – PHASE 1! – As I begin the prep for my colonoscopy on Thursday, I figured the process would happen in three phases. Phase 1 is the liquid-only diet and the cleansing, Phase 2 is the actual procedure, and Phase 3 is the diagnosis. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to Phase 1, since I like to eat in small but frequent portions. But the past week I’ve been weaning myself off of that routine just to see how long I could go without food. Surprisingly, I had gone about 13 hours before my stomach started protesting. Good news! This may not be that hard after all. I got up at noon, walked Roxy and then came back inside to start my liquid diet. I started with the prescription drink mix called Prepopik, a fizzy drink mix that tastes like fizzy orange Kool-Aid. I was supposed to drink 6 ounces of the Prepopik at 1pm, then drink one 8 ounce drink every hour for the next five hours. I could drink any clear liquid I wanted…Snapple, lemonade, iced tea, peach mango juice, even Coke or Pepsi! Since I’m a frequent drinker, it was a breeze to drink all that stuff. So doing the minimum wasn’t a problem at all. And there was so much fluid in my stomach I hardly thought about food. It’s important to keep a lot of fluids in your system since the cleansing process will deplete your body of fluids quite completely. 50 minutes after I took the Prepopik it kicked in. So I just sat on the computer all day and stayed close to the bathroom. When things slowed down I was able to grab a shower and a quick nap. I woke up to a beautiful full moon shining in my bedroom window. I went downstairs to mix up some more Prepopik for my second and final dose at 8pm. I worked on the computer again, staying close to the bathroom all the while, and just killed time. I drank a bunch more beverages to keep hydrated and bided my time. I did my auditions and had to stop all beverages at midnight. They want all fluids out of your stomach before they put you under the anesthesia. That way you don’t vomit while you’re under and choke to death. I didn’t mind not eating so much, but not having any fluids for 10 hours was definitely going to suck! My assistant Sara came over around 3am after she got off work. She grabbed a few hours of sleep in the Puppet Room, and I laid down in my room to sleep for a few hours, but I was a little nervous so I really only slept about 15 minutes. Phase 1 was almost complete.
Thursday the 22nd – PHASES 2 AND 3! – At 5am I got up and went in to wake Sara. I got dressed and we hit the road for the hospital. I was due to check in to reception at 6am, but we made it about 15 minutes early. So I checked in and we waited. And waited. And waited. The doctor and his staff doesn’t usually get in until 8am, so we sat in the waiting room until 7:30am. I’m still not exactly sure why they wanted me there so early, but next time I’ll know better. At first there was only one other guy there for the procedure. I asked him what the first thing he was going to eat would be when he was released. He said he had a box of chocolate covered donuts waiting for him at home. They took him in to prep him around 7:00. Another guy came in who, I swear, looked and sounded exactly like the Cleveland character on “Family Guy!” It was amazing! Then at 7:30 they brought me in to get dressed in a gown. When I finished dressing I went in and was placed on a gurney, and they got my IV going in my right hand. The nurse said I must be dehydrated because she was having trouble finding a vein. I said since I wasn’t allowed to drink any fluids after midnight that was bound to happen. They put a blood pressure device on my left arm and I was left alone to rest for awhile. I stared at the ceiling and meditated a bit. The curtains were drawn around me, but I heard them wheel in the next patient next to me. As soon as I heard the guy talk I knew it was the “Cleveland” guy. And his nurse was having trouble finding a suitable vein too! I chuckled to myself envisioning Cleveland laying in the bed on the other side of the curtain, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a little nervous. They came and got me to wheel me into the Procedure Room around 8:15. The assistant told me she had her colonoscopy done a few months ago, and making small talk, I asked her what the first thing she ate after her procedure was. She said she had intended to eat something healthy at home, but on the way home her driver passed a McDonald’s and she had him pull in. She had a Big Mac, fries and a Coke. Funny! I told her I was a virgin and to go easy on my…it was my first time. I told her I also expected dinner and a movie out of the experience. She laughed. I said, “People say I’m full of crap, but today I can honestly say…I am NOT!” She laughed again which helped put me at ease. Sara and I had been doing poo jokes all the way to the hospital, and I found it ironic that I was the second patient of the day. The chocolate donut guy was patient number 1, and I was…(ready for this?) #2! Get it? She started the anesthesia process but I wasn’t feeling it at all. She told me to relax and let it happen, but I told her nothing was happening. I was still awake and looking at the color monitor of the colonoscopy. They had already started and I could feel it! And it was going deep! I said, “Yowch! I can feel that!” And that’s the last thing I remember. Apparently they upped my meds and I went out. The next thing I remember is the doctor telling me that he had found three polyps, and one was quite large. It was about the size of a grape, about 1.5 cm. He removed them all and even had to tattoo an area so that he could easily find it during my next visit. He said I needed to come back in a year for another one to make sure everything was OK. Wow! But all I could think of in my haze was, “Wow! A tattoo?!” I went to the recovery room and they gave me a glass of orange juice. I came out of the anesthesia almost right away and was dressed and ready to go home around 10. I was wondering why I didn’t go under the anesthesia immediately, but I’m thinking that they must not have given me a large enough dose for a guy my size. Oh well. It wasn’t all that bad. I’m glad it’s over with. Phase 1 and 2 were pretty easy, but Phase 3 unnerving because of the diagnosis. The doctor didn’t think there was any cause for alarm, but I was hoping for a slightly better outcome. I’ll find out more when the lab results come in next week, but I’m not all that worried. Sara drove me over to Coral Cafe and we had an early lunch. The first thing I ate?? A hot beef sandwich and mashed potatoes and gravy! Because I had something removed, I had to eat soft stuff for the rest of the day. Which meant NO POPCORN! BOO! (I’m a popcorn addict) Jagged foods can cause bleeding and irritate the areas where the polyps were removed. So it all went pretty well, except that I have to come back in a year and do it all over again. But now at least I know what to expect. We stopped for an ice cream cone at McDonald’s and headed home to walk Roxy. I went inside and headed to bed, and slept the rest of the day. My “wall climbing” Batman and Robin figures came in the mail, so I spent some time attaching them to my wall so it looks like they’re climbing up the side of my main showcase. Then I went over to Jerry’s Famous Deli to meet up with my pal Edi and her daughter Ems for dinner. I got back home, but since I was told not to go into the hot tub because of the surgical removal of the polyps, I did some work at the computer. Wow, no jacuzzi and no popcorn. What a drag! So I didn’t watch any TV shows that night before bed. Can’t do it without my nightly bag of Jolly Time Blast O Butter! I did my auditions, fed and walked Roxy, and then hit the hay so I could be up for an early morning session.
Friday the 23rd – FINAL DAY OF HIATUS! – Boy, these two weeks off have just FLOWN by! But it’ll be good to be back at work next Monday. I had plenty to do today! I got up at 9 and walked Roxy, then grabbed a quick bowl of cereal before my session. I was back at Snap Sound to do a few pick-up lines for the TaylorMade spot I did a few days ago. Here’s how it turned out… It’s a great studio and their mascot is Bailey the Dog (aka The Kraken). He loves people and loves it when you throw his toy duck so he can fetch it. We finished up in about an hour and I was out the door. I decided to head to Reel Props in Burbank and have a look around. Like It’s a Wrap sells wardrobe from TV and movie shows, Reel Props sells props and set pieces from TV shows and movies. It’s where I bought that David Selby portrait a month ago. I found a couple of great wood and glass jewelry cases. They measured about 32″ by 24″ and were about 10 inches deep. They had foam rubber lining and though I don’t have enough jewelry to put in them, the cases would be VERY useful to store my handguns! They’ll be perfect! The hot August weather in the valley of Los Angeles had finally arrived, after a mostly mild summer. It was a hot one! Speaking of frying, I went next door to Fry’s Electronics to get a replacement ink cartridge for my fax machine. But they didn’t have the one I needed so I took off. I stopped by Subway and got a footlong tuna on white and headed to Studiopolis Burbank to record a few more episodes of “Bleach” as Renji Abari. It was a great story arc where Renji meets his clone and does battle! After I finished that up I went over to Gun World to pick up two speed loaders for one of my .357’s. I called Nurse Anna at Dr. V’s office to get some clarification about my procedure. She said the large polyp they found wasn’t due to anything I was eating or doing in my lifestyle, but was just pure chance. That made me feel a little better. I went home and walked Roxy, then met up with Julio my computer guy. He downloaded a new back-up program for my computer so all my data files would be backed up on a daily basis. He cleared my back-up drive of all the old stuff, then started a new back-up. Then every morning the new program will back up all of the new updates I’ve made to my files. Neat! I did some work on the computer as it backed up my stuff, then grabbed a quick nap before my dinner meeting with fellow VO actor Kara Edwards. She was in town from Dallas for a week and we hadn’t seen each other in awhile. Plus I was CRAVING Smokehouse steak! After dinner I came home and put my guns in the new cases. They fit perfectly and looked amazing! I also took the opportunity to inventory and label all of my ammo. I like to stay organized ya know! Nice and orderly! I cleaned out the Puppet Room closet and reorganized that too! I still have a lot to do in there to make it perfect, but at least I made a dent. I fed Spook and Roxy some bits of steak I had left over from my dinner at The Smokehouse, and they went nuts! Spook was standing up on his hind legs so he could get close to me to get some more. He’s not much on fish or seafood, like most cats, but he LOVES chicken and steak! I fed Roxy her dinner and took her on our late-night stroll through the neighborhood. Roxy was so focused on something she was smelling on the ground, that she walked right by a cat sitting on a wall. The cat stared at her and arched its back, ready for a confrontation. But Roxy walked right on by and never even noticed him! The cat honestly looked offended that Roxy didn’t notice him. After we walked by, the cat got off the wall and peeked around at us walking away. He was going to have his confrontation and would NOT be denied! I was waiting to see what his next move would be to try and initiate contact with Roxy. He started walking out into the street, but then stopped a few feet after he stepped off the curb. He stared at Roxy and arched his back again waiting for her to notice. FINALLY she noticed him, but barely cared. The cat’s little mind was truly blown, as he was clearly perplexed. To him, the dog should have barking wildly and pulling at the leash to try and get to him. I was more worried that a car would come down the street and turn this perplexed pussycat into a pancake! He eventually dashed off across the street and hid under a car. Roxy couldn’t have cared less. I laughed hard. I love animals! The night sky was super clear again, and I could see many star systems very well. Beautiful! I got back inside and worked around the house to prepare for Saturday night’s movie night. I made one of my Wally Super Salads and watched an episode of “The Saint” from the first season DVD set. It was good to be enjoying TV Time again!
Saturday the 24th – MUPPETABULOUS! – I slept until 4, then got up to walk Roxy and hose down the patio. It was very hot out again. The leaves and dirt had piled up and in order to keep my allergies in check, I need to periodically hose down the patio. Then I came inside and started straightening up the kitchen and living room for movie night. My pal Scott Sebring came over a little early because he had been working in the Burbank area all day. Then my pals Joe and Josh stopped over early so they could enjoy a swim before the movies. I got to take a quick dip in the Jacuzzi, and then went inside to greet the guests. We ordered dinner and watched a Popeye cartoon. Then we watched an episode of “The Muppet Show,” and then we watched “The Muppet Movie” on Blu Ray. It sure brought back a lot of great memories, and I realized how many gags I had stolen from that movie for a little TV project I did in high school called “Summer Safety Tips For Kids.” I used my homemade Muppets for this show we produced for a Radio and TV class project in 1980. I had a buddy of mine compose several original songs for the show, and I’m pretty proud of how it turned out. But I think it’s one of those things that seem better in the halls of my memory, than it would actually be if I watched it again. That’s why I’m afraid to see it, because I’m afraid it might not be as good in reality as I remember it to be. Still, I may need to break it out again one of these days and check it out just for laughs. It was interesting watching “The Muppet Movie” again after all these days, since the Muppets have meant so much to me in my life. From third grade all the way through high school and beyond, I drew a lot of inspiration from them. To finish up the evening we watched another episode of “Tiger and Bunny.” I didn’t realize until later though, that in both the Popeye cartoon AND “Tiger and Bunny,” nobody was punched or beaten up. Popeye had to eat his spinach to be smart in school, and in “T&B” the episode was mostly about my character Kotetsu going back home get reacquainted with his young daughter. In fact, the only violence we saw the whole evening is when Miss Piggy kicked the butts of Doc Hopper’s henchmen in “The Muppet Movie!” After everyone left I spent the rest of the night cleaning up the house. I fed and walked Roxy and then made dinner and watched another episode of “The Saint” before bed.
Sunday the 25th – COOL COLLIE! – I got up at 4 and did some work around Planet Wallywood. I got ready for evening church and took Roxy over for the service. We were joined by Edi, Ems and their dog Buns. When I walked out of the service I saw a lady with a beautiful collie named DiMitri! It was his 11th birthday today! He was a beautiful dog that had some blue merl in him. I went home and met up with Brittney and Amanda, and along with Edi and Ems, we all went to Coral Cafe for dinner. What fun! After getting an ice cream cone at McDonald’s, I went home and grabbed a quick nap. I got up later in the evening and did a couple of auditions, fed and walked Roxy and worked on the computer until I got tired. I headed to bed wondering where all the time went. We were off for two weeks, but it flew by so fast! Tomorrow, it’s back to “The Tonight Show” and business as usual.
PIX FROM THE WEEK
Roxy and her new friend DiMitri!
Lazy Spook the cat hangs out looking cute!
