Monday the 3rd – MONDAYS CAN BE GOOD! – I got up really early to do a session at Voice Trax West for the Oregon Coast Aquarium. I play the voice of a jellyfish. I chose certain words in the copy to wiggle my cheeks with my fingers to sound more jelly-ish. The producers seemed to really like that. Afterwards I stopped by my vet’s office to pick up some more food for Sassie. A couple of really great things happened on this particular Monday. First, a story. Back when I was living in South Dakota and married with a young baby, the radio station I was working for fell on hard times. They were unable to pay the staff, but promised us that the money would be forthcoming soon if we would just stay the course. The point came where my wife and I had run completely out of money and couldn’t afford to buy food. So I told my boss I could no longer “stay the course” and I was quitting to find other work. That afternoon one of the other DJs brought us $100 so we could buy food. Back then it seemed like a MILLION dollars. His name is Bruce, and he worked on the station Sunday mornings doing a Christian show, worked during the week at a Christian bookstore, and also had a Christian rockband. Recently I had been thinking a lot about that gesture of kindness, so I Googled Bruce to see where he ended up. Come to find out he’s the head pastor at a church in Minnesota. We got in touch, but I didn’t tell him that I wanted to pay his kindness back. But I wasn’t just going to send $100, I wanted to do more. I thought about sending $1000, but thought that might be overkill. So I was moved to send $500 to him. He wrote me on this day to tell me that he and his family had some tight financial issues going on (due to a recent move into a new house, buying his daughter a car, etc.) and was worried that he and his wife wouldn’t be able to make their financial pledge to their church this coming weekend. He said (get this) he and his wife and prayed SPECIFICALLY for $500 to give to the church for their contribution. And the check arrived! Isn’t that amazing! It made me feel really amazed, but somehow not surprised. So it all comes around, and it all works. I also found out that I had booked one of the main characters in a new animated series. (I’m not saying anything about this quite yet, but will soon. So stay tuned!) So it was a fantastic day!

Tuesday the 4th – SHOPPING! – I headed over to Burbank to stop at Gun World to buy some more ammunition for my Walther PPK. I wanted to do some more target shooting soon so I wanted to load up. I also stopped by Voicecasters to audition for a radio commercial. Then I drove over to Wendy’s to grab a bite to eat. Then I went into Best Buy to pick up some DVDs. That evening I went home and did some things around the house.

Wednesday the 5th – DAN AND DR. DAVE! – I went to an audition shortly after noon, but noticed the script contained a lot of profanity. So I told the gal there I didn’t do profanity, so she accommodated me by giving me another piece of copy. It was a dubbing job for a foreign film. When I got into the audition I met the producers, but the light on the copy stand was almost out. It was one of those battery-operated LED lights. I have one exactly like it at home and I know that it eats batteries pretty quickly. So it was very difficult to see the copy with the dim lighting they had in the studio. So they brought me a flashlight so I could hold it on the copy during my audition. The whole thing was rather funny and was one of those I questioned getting out of bed for. But it went pretty well. I then headed over to Michael’s Bar and Grill in Burbank to have lunch with my old pal Dan Roebuck. We talked about the industry and lots of other things. The reason we met there is, my chiropractor is right next door. So after lunch I went over to have Dr. Dave crack my back. That night I went to evening church, and afterwards met up with Chuck McCann for dinner. My friend Fred Westbrook met us as well at Jerry’s, and so did my pals GloZell and Paria. My friend Lynda Wiesmeier had driven up for the weekend from San Diego, so she met us as well. Lynda was in town for the Glamourcon show. She was Miss July ’82 in Playboy so she likes to attend the Glamourcons to meet fans. It was a fantastic dinner and we laughed ourselves silly!

Thursday the 6th – HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE! – It was my friend Christine’s birthday, and she spent it by going to Disneyland. But as for me, early in the morning I was at LA Studios auditioning for a videogame. Then I grabbed some lunch with my friend Lynda and my webmaster and pal Scott Sebring. Then I headed to Studiopolis Burbank to report for my first day of work for this new animated series I mentioned earlier. Also in the cast that day was my old pal Danny Mann, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Mark Hamill! I had never worked with Mark before, and it was a huge thrill. He’s a great guy too! We had a blast. The session ran long, so Lynda and I went to grab some Italian food afterwards. Then I recorded some auditions in my home studio and sent them to my agent via MP3. What a great day!

Friday the 7th – MORE FRIENDS! MORE FOOD! MORE FUN! – I met my old pal Gil Christner for lunch at Mel’s. Lynda came along and we had a fun conversation. Then Lynda and I headed over to Studiopolis Burbank so I could record a couple hours of “Bleach” voice tracks as Renji. After I finished we went by Tropical Media to get some dubs made of “Livin’ On a Prayer” on DVD. My pal Vic was there and showed my his 1975 Gran Torino again. He has it fully restored so it looks like the Torino from Starsky and Hutch, and he’s actually selling it! I thought strongly about buying it! I’ve always wanted one. That night a huge group of us went to eat at Chin Chin…Scott and his wife Vickie, Lynda, my friends Cher and Sara, and Chuck McCann. Later we went to DuPar’s for dessert and met up with Fred Westbrook. What a fun night, and a great end to the week!

Saturday the 8th – GLAMOURCON! – In the morning I had an elder’s meeting at church. As I was walking back home, I saw a hawk (about 18″ high) sitting on one of the walls of our complex. He was sitting right by a bird feeder, hoping to catch a hapless bird who came by to feed. He was magnificent, but I also knew he was ready to kill and eat something. So I started walking toward him. He didn’t seem frightened. But he flew to another tree. As I continued to walk toward him he flew to yet another tree, and then left the premises altogether. Scary! But beautiful! We have a lot of beautiful mourning doves who hang out around here, and I like them. But with the hawk around I didn’t see any for awhile thankfully. They were all hiding. I got inside and showered up. Then Lynda and I grabbed my friends GloZell and Paria and went to Glamourcon at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton. We met up with Chuck McCann there. Chuck knew a lot of the Playmates from hanging out at the Playboy mansion. And I had run into my old friend Lauren Anderson (a playmate who played Pamela Anderson in “Livin’ On a Prayer”) as well as my old pal Zoe Gregory. Zoe and I had done a film together in Guatemala back in 1998. I also managed to get three new signatures in my Playmate book. But at the hotel, the very same day, was an anime convention. I was seeing people dressed up as many of the characters from some of the shows I’ve worked on before. So I went to the operations desk and told them I work on those shows. They gave me a pass to walk around the convention for awhile. It’s fun seeing all the anime fans in their extraordinary costumes! But it was time to head back. Lynda, GloZell, Paria and I drove home, but didn’t want to take the freeway. So we took side streets back to my house. I spied a little DVD store on the way home and went into take a look. I asked the guy behind the counter when they get their Tuesday shipment in. He said they have it in already. There were two BIG purchases I wanted to make this Tuesday and I told him if he could find them and sell them to me early, I would slip him 20 bucks. The first one was “Dr. Syn; The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh” (read about this film on my Latest News page). He found a copy! But unfortunately it had somebody else’s name on it. He said their computer said they had another one in stock and I crossed my fingers he would find it. He did! He also found Night Gallery Season 2, and I was flying high! I even bought a copy of “Devil Bat” with Bela Lugosi and “Live and Let Die” on Blu Ray. I was ecstatic. I called everyone I knew who would care about the Scarecrow on my way home. We set up a screening at my house for Sunday evening! I did a little sneak peak that night, and the job Disney did on this restoration is nothing short of phenomenal, breath-taking, stunning! It’s magic! I can’t wait to get people over to watch it!

Sunday the 9th – SCARECROW SUNDAY! – I slept really late and then headed to evening church. I told some friends about a spontaneous Scarecrow screening, so after church we went to buy some groceries for the party. We also ordered some pizzas. GloZell, Paria, Tracy, Richard, and Greg from church all joined in. Scott and Vickie met up with us as well. It was a great time and we were all astonished about how great this Scarecrow print looked on the big screen. Fantastic! Then Lynda joined up with us later. What a fun night. Then after everyone left, Lynda helped me clean everything up. I recorded some auditions, loaded them on the server for my agent, and then retired. What a great weekend!!

And how was YOUR week???!!!