Monday the 21st – THREE MORE DAYS! – I got to the craft store to pick up some “jump rings” for a necklace I was restringing. At It’s a Wrap, I found a really cool turquoise cross necklace for a few bucks, and I picked it up even though it was on a woman’s choker. I had some leather lace laying around, so I restrung it on that to make it into a longer, men’s necklace. But I still needed some end clamps and jump rings. Those little buggers are expensive! Then I took a photo over to my local printer to have it blown up into a poster. A gentleman who read my website account of how I found the “Heartbeeps” robot head of Andy Kaufman’s Val character, was nice enough to send me a high resolution scan he made of a slide he had in his collection. The slide was of Andy Kaufman standing next to the robot head on a mannequin replica of his character. I was convinced that this was the same head I now have in my collection. So the poster is going up behind my mannequin in Planet Wallywood. After I dropped off the image, I got over to the Leno show and did my announcer thing. That night Jim Ojala brought over my finished Elvis mannequin. Awhile back, I had told you that I was donating my old high school Elvis costume to my school’s alumni museum. And that I was putting one of those silicone Elvis masks (that you would find on a singing robot Elvis that they sell) on the mannequin’s head to add to the display. Well Jim did a terrific job and now Elvis is ready to “leave the building.” I’m going to pack him up after the holidays in two pieces…top and bottom. It will ship better that way. This way, all they have to do at the alumni museum is snap the legs to the torso, put on the Elvis belt and he’s ready to go. No dressing or assembling. Check the picture out here!
Finished Elvis mannequin
Tuesday the 22nd – TWO MORE DAYS! – After all the voice trouble I had been having, my voice was holding up pretty well. But today would be the real test. I had three sessions, all of which would test my voice’s strength. I had been doing my “silent nights” of late, where I would go for 12 hour periods (or more!) of not saying a word. This is because voice rest is the only sure way to get your voice back to the way it was. My first session was for Power Rangers in the morning in Santa Monica. Luckily the traffic was “holiday light”, as a lot of people were already out of town for the holidays. I made it in time and did the session in about a half hour. But when I left I could tell it had stressed my voice somewhat. I was going to rest it until the next session. I stopped by my dentist’s office to have him look at the crown he put on my tooth a few months ago. It had chipped! First the crown was too small and left gaps between my other teeth, then after having them work on it again he put it back in. Now it’s chipped down to the metal! I think my dentist better fire his crown makers. I don’t think they know what they’re doing. He said he would have to try and pry it off. If it didn’t come off, he would need to CUT it off! I told him that sounded nasty and we’d better wait until I was on hiatus from the Leno show in case anything went wrong. We agreed to do it in February while the Leno show is being pre-empted for two weeks because of the Olympics. I stopped by Laser Blazer and picked up the new “Family Guy” Blu ray disc called “Something Something Something Dark Side.” Then I made it over to It’s a Wrap and picked up some great items. I made it home in time to walk Sassie, then it was off to Studiopolis Burbank to do the sessions I had missed for “Gormiti” while I had laryngitis. I was able to pick up lines for two episodes. But doing the Magmion voice was again stressing my voice. I could tell that it was getting shaky again. I got to the Leno Show, did my thing and went home to nap. That day’s show was a particular highlight in my career for me. Ross Matthews, one of the correspondents on the show, did a Christmas parody of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” one of my all-time favorite Christmas specials. In it, Santa asks Ross to help him save Christmas. I got to do the voice of Santa! So here I am, watching me do the voice of the old familiar-looking Santa Claus animated puppet, and watching it on NBC! I couldn’t stand it! It was just too cool to be believed! The rest of the night I sat quiet, doing one of my “silent nights,” napping while listening to Christmas music! I was really looking forward to the 11 day break where I could just remain completely quiet!
Wednesday the 23rd – ONE MORE DAY! – I went to Voice Trax West in the morning to do another session for HH Gregg. When my voice was out of commission, one of the first voices to go was my HH voice. It’s high and nasally, and that part of my range suffered the most. But today it appeared to be back, for the most part. I made it through one commercial, and even did a second one. But I didn’t want to push it. I spent the rest of the day being quiet until the Leno Show. I went to the pharmacy to get a prescription from my dentist filled. I grabbed lunch, stopped by Bed Bath and Beyond to pick up some items, stopped by my mailbox and stopped home to walk Sassie before the Leno show. We’d be taping early today so everyone could get underway with their holiday break. On my way to the show I realized I had forgotten the gift cards I had gotten for some people at NBC! What a moron I am! How could I forget them! I purchased them on Amazon and printed them myself. I put them in envelopes with holiday-looking stickers on them and was very proud of them. Luckily, I could just sign into my Amazon account at NBC and re-print them. But there are no color printers there (since all they ever print are scripts) so I had to print them quickly in black and white. But at least I delivered them in time! After the show I did some stuff around the house, was very happy to have started my break, and I went to evening church.
THURSDAY the 24th – CHRISTMAS EVE! – During those weeks of 100+ degree temps back in August and September, I would wipe my brow and say in a breathless voice, “Is it Christmas yet?” Well, here it is! With really reasonable temperatures and cool, crisp nights…this is my favorite time of year! My maids showed up early to clean Planet Wallywood. Then I went to get Spooky’s claws trimmed, picked up some more things at Bed Bath and Beyond, and ran a few more errands. I took a nap in the evening, and my friend Georgette came by to go to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at my church. It’s always stunning and it’s something I look forward to every year. And it was certainly nice to be able to sing Christmas songs with a full voice. That was the second-most frustrating thing about having laryngitis at this time of year…I couldn’t sing along with the Christmas songs I was hearing on the radio! AAARRRGH!
Friday the 25th – MERRY CHRISTMAS! – I took advantage of the holiday and stayed inside with my mouth shut. No talking for me! Later Georgette came over again, along with Scott and Vickie Sebring and my pal Emily Danyel…and we went to the buffet at the Universal Hilton. This is the same place we went to on Thanksgiving. It was good and all, but I was really disappointed not to find a juicy Christmas ham there! They had every kind of seafood you could imagine, but no traditional Christmas ham. Weird. I found the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy so I was happy, but a little ham would have been nice. Afterwards we went to Planet Wallywood to watch the new “Family Guy” and “Robot Chicken” “Star Wars” parodies.
Saturday the 26th – POST CHRISTMAS SLEEPIES – I was up pretty late the night before, but today I slept in until 5pm! Unbelievable! Well, at least I wasn’t talking, so it was good voice rest. My pal Bruce Kulick and some friends of his came over, as did Scott and Vickie and my pal James. We watched a great Beatles bootleg that Bruce brought over, and then we dug into my new “Midnight Special” DVDs. We had a blast watching these great musical guests from the 70’s. What a wonderful time capsule. Then we watched a little bit of the 1938 “Robin Hood” on Blu ray that James had picked up. It looked amazing! Just as everyone was leaving, Sassie was needing to go out. I guess I wasn’t fast enough on the draw, and she started piddling on the carpet. So I ran her outside quick to do her business. But when she returned inside I smelled something on her, and she apparently got a little on her hind fur. Sooooo…the only alternative at 2am on a Sunday morning….was to bathe her myself. In the 8 years I’ve had her I’ve never done that. I always took her to the professionals…so she could get her paws trimmed, nails trimmed, and a deluxe bath with the right stuff for her skin. But it was time to give her the dunk. I told her what a good girl she was and talked softly to her so she didn’t get upset. Then I ran some warm water in the bath tub. I kept talking to her gently so she knew she wasn’t being punished, and I picked her up. She’s an 80 pound dog, so she doesn’t like being picked up anyway. Then to try and lift her over the bathtub and into the water a the odd angle in my bathroom was a hoot as well. I knew that I would get soaked, so I stripped down to my boxers so I didn’t get my clothes all wet. Once in the water she was a really good girl. I splashed some warm water around on her and got her nice and soaked. I’ve had to stop taking her to the groomer because in her advanced age, she gets too stressed out by the experience, and her nervousness affects her hind legs. She has good days and bad days with her hind legs, but after a trip to the groomers she’s particularly bad. I’ve had her x-rayed at the vet’s and they said it’s NOT arthritis or deterioration of any kind. In fact, her hindquarters looks stellar. But they said the bad news was that she most likely had a neurological issue. I would need to take her to a neurologist for dogs to determine the problem. I’ve seen her legs get weaker the more stressed she gets, so it makes sense. But when she’s taking command of the house (when somebody knocks on the door) she bolts right up and heads to the door. So whatever electrical impulses are going between her brain and her back legs, they seem to get better when she’s confident, and worse when she’s nervous. She has a tough time getting up stairs sometime, until I assure her that it’s alright and she can make it. With that encouragement it seems like something clicks in her brain and she’s better. It’s very strange, but it would seem like it is indeed some electrical issue in her little doggie brain. Later that night when I took Sassie out just before bedtime, I looked up at the beams in my patio and saw something on a hook I had placed there for plants. I shined a flashlight on it and it was a cold little bird. I felt so bad for him. Why wasn’t he in his nest all snuggly? Was he sick? I figured I would sneak around to my patio door, inch it open a ways, turn on the patio light which might give him some warmth and he would be fine. But when I opened the door the screen rattled and scared him away. I felt really bad that a little tiny bird was out flying around at 4 in the morning with the temps around 40. I hope he made it somewhere alright.
Sunday the 27th – LOVING VACATION! – I got up mid-afternoon to pick up my pal Sara at the airport, and then I had elder duty at the church’s espanol service. The service is entirely in Spanish, and I don’t speak a word of it, so I just sit there quietly and help out if they need me. I guess it’s more of just having the presence of an elder there that’s most important to them. After the Spanish service I went next door to the evening service that I attend regularly. When I got home Sara and I went for dinner at Barone’s and had a good feed. She had been craving good L.A. Italian food and there’s none better than Barone’s!
And how was YOUR week???!!
