Monday the 6th – CATCHING MY BREATH! – After a fantastic 4th of July weekend with great friends and fireworks, I slept pretty late to catch up. I had to call Travel Planners to discuss an issue with my rooms for Comic Con. Then I called LG Customer Care to discuss issues about my DVD-R machine. Even though they told me I was speaking with the technical department, the guy I was talking to clearly didn’t know any more about the technical aspects of my problem than my dog Sassie. I got pretty frustrated by the whole procedure. Ugh. You just can’t find good help any more. I think I’ve bought my last piece of electronics from the LG company. I stopped by the drug store to pick up some items for the upcoming trip to San Diego for the Comic Con as well as my trip to South Dakota for my 30th class reunion. I also went to Firestone to have my tire changed out, and have the spare put back in my trunk. I took a really cool pair of black leather pants over to my tailor’s. My hips are a bit bigger than what the pants will allow, but other than that they fit perfectly. I took a piece of black leather over to him, and he’s going to stitch in a piece of extra leather in the back for some extra room. I also stopped at the hardware store to buy some light bulbs. I got a lot done today! That night I took a great 3 mile jog.
Tuesday the 7th – MY MOM’S BIRTHDAY! – Happy Birthday mom!! I gave my mom a call on the phone as I was out running errands. She seemed in good spirits! Even though she’s now 69, she still seems like she’s in her 30s to me! I went to Kit Kraft to buy some supplies, and I stopped by Studiopolis to pick up a CD of a voice sample I needed to learn for an upcoming audition. I talked to a salesman at one of the radio stations in Aberdeen, South Dakota, where we’re having our class reunion, and I asked about buying some ads to hype up the reunion. He quoted me an awesome price and I’m now starting to edit together the spots I want to run. They should be a lot of fun! I also talked to the manager of the store called Twist Cone in Aberdeen. The ice cream store, that sells soft serve and hot dogs, was one of my favorite hangs in Aberdeen. Not to mention that they were right by the radio station I used to work at! I used to love Italian Ice/vanilla soft serve twist cones…the Italian Ice flavor Strawberry Butter to be precise. Well, I talked to Jan, the manager, and she’s arranging to have Strawberry Butter as the flavor the weekend of the reunion! Awesome! It’s especially great considering I haven’t had one of these in about 30 years! Every time I went to visit Aberdeen, it was usually in the winter time, and Twist Cone is closed during the winter months. This will be GREAT! That night I set about the arduous task of cleaning my garage. It was piled high with boxes and all sorts of stuff. (Ebay purchases, ya know!) After about 5 hours of working through the night, I was only about one-sixth of the way done. It’s quite a job! WHEW!
Wednesday the 8th – WEDNESDAY…WHEW! – I spent the day relaxing because I was literally up until 6 that morning working on my garage. That night I did make it to evening church, then enjoyed dinner with Bruce Kulick, Chuck McCann and my pal Sara at the Studio Cafe. What fun! But when I was done eating…you guessed it…back to the garage! I worked another 4-5 hours and was still only about two-sixths done! It’s a real mess! But I’m being very thorough!
Thursday the 9th – THURSDAY FUN! – I started the day by going to Voicecaster for an audition. There, I ran into the legendary Phil Proctor, VO actor and Firesign Theatre alum. We were talking about the slow period the VO industry was undergoing and we both agreed that you just have to take those days off and enjoy them without stress, knowing that the day will come that your days will be completely full and you will barely have a chance to breathe. Well today was one of those days. After enjoying a very light Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, this Thursday was going to have me hopping! After my audition for Honda Ridgeline, I went over to the Studiopolis Annex to do some voice tracks for another episode of “Gormiti.” When I was I headed home to make some calls and continue working on editing together my radio commercials for the reunion. Later I headed over to Studiopolis Burbank to audition for an anime Lilo and Stitch cartoon. I know…weird huh?! I auditioned for the voice of Hamsterviel and Pleakley. Kevin McDonald did the original voice of Pleakley, but now they’re looking for sound-alikes for the anime cartoon. Since I had worked with Kevin on “Invader Zim” so often, I got to the point to where I could do his voice fairly well. So we’ll see what happens. When I was done there I headed over to the offices of “Family Guy” to do another voice for the show. I got to see my pals Ralph Garman, Phil LaMarr and Tara Strong. What a great time it is over there, and seeing my good friend Linda Lamontaigne, the casting director, is always a supreme delight! That night, you guessed it, back to the garage. I was actually getting enough accomplished that my friends were starting to notice it was a lot “roomier” in my garage than before. I’m finally making headway, but I’m not done yet!
Friday the 10th – VISA NIGHTMARE! – Well, for the second time in 6 months, my credit card has been used by an unauthorized user to make purchases on the internet. Luckily, my credit card company flagged it and called me. When it was determined that I didn’t make the purchases in question, they had to cancel my card again. Hopefully this wouldn’t screw up the reservation process for my room for Comic Con! They said they’d send me another card in a few days, but I had to hustle and call Travel Planners to make sure it wasn’t going to affect anything. My buddy Mark Ackerman came over in the afternoon to fix my upstairs TV, and then I went to Studiopolis Burbank to do some “Bleach.” As we were taking a break, my friend Maile Flanagan and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn came out of the other studio. They were working on “Naruto” in studio A. Behind them, was a young boy about 11, and a few other ladies. Come to find out, Cameron (his name) was watching them record “Naruto”. He was also a big “Bleach” fan and I did the voice of Renji for him. He also watched “Family Guy” on a regular basis, so I did the voice of Barnaby and Dr. Kaplan for him. He was a good kid and seemed to be very knowledgeable about animation. We took a picture together and everybody had a lot of fun hanging out in the lobby and laughing, telling jokes and talking about some of Cameron’s favorite anime shows. My friend Ginny showed up to watch us do “Bleach”, so she and Cameron had lots to talk about since Ginny is an avid anime fan as well. We finished our work on “Bleach” and went into studio A to see how things were going. I got to meet Cameron’s dad and little sister as well. They were just finishing up “Naruto” so we all went out into the lobby again. Mary mentioned that she thought Cameron might be the most knowledgeable expert in “Naruto”. I said that deserved a certificate! So I got a piece of paper and set about drawing out a hand-drawn certificate stating that Cameron was certified to be the most knowledgeable Naruto fan of all-time. Then everybody signed it, and I drew a little pic of Naruto on the bottom. He held it up for a photo and then he and his family were on their way back to their hotel room. They would be leaving for home in Louisiana the next day. They got into their limousine and rode off. You see, Cameron’s visit to the “Naruto” studios was part of a Make-A-Wish experience for him. If ever there was a time I wanted the power to heal…
That night I took Sara to the new burger place in Studio City called The Counter. It was delicous. We were soon joined by Chuck McCann who had just returned from the Playboy mansion where they ran “The Maltese Falcon.” At the Counter we met a gal named Emily who had just moved to L.A. to explore the music industry. She’s a music teacher from Michigan, and she’s spending the summer exploring possibilities. I gave her my card and told her I’d try to help her however I could. Her husband is still staying back in Michigan working for the summer, and I know how tough it is to be apart like that. Hopefully she can come join our crazy little group of funsters and meet some of our nutty people. I hope that all goes well for her here and her husband can soon move out here to join her.
Saturday the 11th – WHAT IN THE BLAZES?! – It was blazing hot! Well, it’s July…what do you expect? In the morning I got up early to attend an elder’s meeting at the church, then I came home to let my maids in to clean Planet Wallywood. Then Ginny came by and we went shopping for a wig for her Comic Con costume. But no luck. They didn’t have the wig she wanted. Then we picked up Sara and went to Fred’s, but it was REALLY hot! We sat in the shade, while Fred baked in the 100 degree sun. We went back to my house to get ready for an art show, but all 3 of us fell asleep in the living room for an hour! The sun had really fried us! But we got to the art show on time. Chuck McCann’s wife Betty had some of her paintings on display so we went by to check out the party. Then I dropped Sara off to get her own car, and I went back to my house to get ready for Blu Ray Trek night. D.C. Fontana and her husband Dennis were our guests again, and we watched her episode of the “Star Trek” animated series called “Yesteryear.” Nicely done! Then we watched an episode of CSI that she brought over that parodied “Star Trek” conventions. Then we drew a “Star Trek” first season episode called “The Corbomite Maneuver.” After that one, Dennis drew “Court Martial.” A wonderful night of great entertainment, with terrific friends! Just the way I like it!
Sunday the 12th – LAZY, HAZY, SUNDAY! – It was another super hot day, so I just stayed in bed enjoying the AC. I was getting ready for evening church and noticed that Sassie had puked on my living room carpet. So needless to say I was late to church. When I got there my Irish friend Kassandra was there with her doggie Acara. When he saw me he went nuts, trying to get on my lap and give me kissies. He’s quite a little guy. After church I met up with Pat Evans and his friend Tom who are working on a documentary about the music of “Batman.” We had a nice dinner at Jerry’s Famous Deli. Then I went home, did an audition in my home studio and sent it to my agent. Then I took a nap. I got up, got dressed and went for a 3 mile jog. It was pretty near a perfect jog! Delightful! On the way, I saw that somebody had put a bunch of stuff out on their lawn with a big sign that said “FREE”. There was a pile of albums there. I HAD to stop! So there I was, at 4am with my little flashlight, looking at the albums on this guy’s lawn. Crazy, right?
And how was YOUR week??!!
