RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
When I sent out my mass e-mails to promote the first episode of “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys,” I got in touch with a lot of great old friends I haven’t talked to in a while. My friend Sherri (we dated for a bit in high school) sent me an e-mail to catch me up on everything going on in her life. She included this picture which I hadn’t seen in a long time. In fact, I’m not sure why she even had it in the first place. But I’m glad to see it again. It’s me in 1973 playing “Star Trek” in my homemade Captain Kirk costume, with my homemade communicator (a cough drop box wrapped in black electrical tape, with a Band-Aid lid painted gold with holes drilled in it) and my “Star Trek” tracer gun as a phaser. What great memories. Thanks Sherri!
As I was puttering around “The Tranquility Zone” the other night getting ready for bed, “Give It Away” by Zero 7 came on the Zen channel on DirecTV. What a great song! In addition to having a great “chill” vibe, it has a lot of qualities that I love about 70’s music.
Monday the 7th – “WACKY WALLY’S VINTAGE TOYS!” – When I got up at 11, I got an e-mail from the producer of my new webseries informing me that the first episode had gone up on Youtube! VERY exciting! I had already received a few messages from people who had been on the show’s Facebook and Twitter accounts and were notified of its availability. I sat down at the computer and did a mass e-mailing to all my contacts to let them know the show was up. Then I got ready for a session at Voice Trax West for Frost Bank; a bank in Texas that I do announcements for on their phone system. When the session finished I got some food at Chin Chin (next door to Voice Trax West) and headed home to eat it. My assistant Sara came over to join me. I sent out some more e-mails while I ate. Just as the day (and the rain) was ending, I caught an amazing FULL rainbow outside my bedroom window. I got video and photos of it. It was amazing, and it’s rare that you see a full rainbow. Normally all you can see is part of it. I grabbed a nap until 9, and then I got up answer a bunch of e-mails from people who had seen “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys.” We have a lot more great episodes coming up, so stay tuned! And if you haven’t yet, please subscribe to the YouTube channel and sign up for the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages! I wrote Wally’s Week and did my auditions. It was a cold, windy night (as is usual after a rainstorm) so it was a good night to make some tomato soup and a sandwich and watch “Lost In Space” from the season 1 Blu Ray boxed set.
Tuesday the 8th – IN THE “NICK” OF TIME! – It was bound to be a VERY busy Tuesday! I started the day at 10:30 by checking some e-mails and printing a script that I would need for my audition at Nickelodeon at 12:30. I auditioned for a new pilot and it was great to be in the halls of Nickelodeon again. I had done a few projects there in the recent past, but the memories of recording “Invader Zim” in those hallowed halls all those years ago were still fresh in my mind. Ahhh, the good ol’ days! When the audition was over I hit the freeway and headed to Culver City to the offices of Community Films. The people who shot the Dell TV commercial I just did, saved the storyboard for me and I was going to pick it up. They even had director Jared Hess sign it for me! Since I was in Culver City I took the opportunity to eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant Campo’s. On the way home I got a panicked call from my friend Troy Thomas at the “Ellen” show. He needed me to record a bit for the show ASAP. I was stuck on the freeway with no way to record it! But he said if I got home in the next 30 minutes to record it and send it in. Luckily the traffic cooperated and I got home to record it just in time. I sent them the bit, and then I headed to my mailbox to get my mail. All the while I was driving around I made some calls to handle some things I needed to get done. First, I called AT&T and canceled my fax line. I haven’t used it in a long time, so there was no reason to have it any longer. Also, my accountant noticed an error on a 1099 that came in, and I needed to call the paymaster and have it corrected for my records. I also called Fed Ex and gave them my new credit card number for my account. I got a ton done today! I was actually kind of proud of myself. I got home and fed and walked Roxy, and then I grabbed a short nap. I got up to do auditions, fed and walked Roxy, did a little work around the house, and then hit the hay to be up for an early session on Wednesday morning.
Wednesday the 9th – WACKY WEDNESDAY! – Bright and early at 8am I woke up and started the day. I walked Roxy to the groomer and dropped her off for a bath. Then I walked over to Studiopolis to do a cartoon session. We finished up at 12:15, which was perfect. I was due to pick up Roxy at 12:30. We walked home, I checked some e-mails, Sara came over for a bit, and then I sped off to my seamstress Karyn’s to pick up my new “starfield” curtains. I stopped by Burger King to get some lunch and then headed home. There was some work around the house that needed to be done. I hung up my new curtains in my room and they looked spectacular! I napped for a little while, and then got up to do my nightly auditions. Then it was time to install my new string of Super Night LED lights in my room. I had already installed two 16’ strings of lights and they looked amazing. But I needed one more 16’ string to complete the picture. With the added blue lights, it looks a little brighter in my Tranquility Zone, but it’s still very relaxing and pleasant. I made some spaghetti and watched “Lost In Space.” After the past couple of days I’ve had, I really needed to relax completely in the Tranquility Zone!
Thursday the 10th – BACK TO NICK! – Around 2 I woke up and put an MP3 of a voice reference I needed for an audition on a CD and on my iPad. The audition at Nickelodeon that I had was a voice match for a previously existing character. Unfortunately the original voice artist passed away several years ago, so they were looking to recast. I listened to the voice reference they provided all the way to Nickelodeon in my car. Once I got inside I could listen to it some more through my earbuds on my iPad. When I got into the studio they had the voice reference too, so it all went very well! It was very fun! When it was over I sped off to Toys ‘R’ Us to check out the latest things. I also went over to Hobby Lobby to look for a few things. My stomach was growling so I called Sara and had her meet me at Lancers for lunch. I had a delicious hot beef sandwich. They do those right at Lancers! I got home to do some work, and then got ready for a big meeting at Jerry’s Famous Deli with the “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys” promo team. I picked up my “adopted grandma” Shirley on the way. My pal Brian was there, who will be doing PR on the show once we have a second episode uploaded. My pal Mark will be handling all the social media responsibilities and helping me along the way with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Kevin Castro, the producer of the webseries, was also there. We were joined by my friend Brittney Powell and Mark’s girlfriend Connie. What a fun meeting! When we finished I came home to grab a nap, and then I got up later to do my auditions. I made a pot pie and watched “Lost In Space.”
Friday the 11th – WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED WINTER! – The unseasonably warm weather had subsided and we were back to cool, cloudy winter weather. My maids were supposed to arrive between noon and 2, so I set my alarm for noon and got the house ready. But around 12:30 I must have fallen back asleep. At 1:15 I woke up to find voicemail messages on all my phones from the maid service. They had arrived at 12:45 but couldn’t get me to answer the door. I don’t usually sleep that soundly so my first thought was that my doorbell was broken. I checked and it was working fine. It’s very strange. Roxy didn’t bark when the bell rang. My windows were wide open and I didn’t hear any noise outside to awaken me. I must’ve been really out! I called the maid service and they were able to come back out later in the afternoon. What the heck? I gave the maid service my in-room hotline number in case that happens again. While the maids worked I got on the phone with a company in Arizona and ordered a new cushion for my bedroom’s window seat. The old one was gross and dirty, and had come with the house when I bought it back in 2000. In addition to being filthy, Spook had shredded parts of it with his nails when he jumped up and down off of it. It was unsalvageable, so I just threw it out. The maids finished up and I ordered a pizza and relaxed. I worked around the house for a bit and then napped. When I got up later I worked around the house, fed and walked Roxy, and ordered some food to go from Denny’s. It was great enjoying it while watching “Lost In Space” before bed.
Saturday the 12th – WIPE OUT! – My pal Brian came over around 2 to do some computer work. While doing some cleaning recently, I discovered two computers in the Puppet Room closet that weren’t being used any longer. They were computers that I “outgrew” several years back, but they were completely fine and in perfect working order. I wanted Brian to completely wipe them of all information and reset them to factory specs. While he worked I picked up Shirley and went to lunch at Panera. Last week I had ordered their Turkey Bacon Bravo sandwich and got ripped off on the bacon. It was the size of two quarters. (See last week’s Wally’s Week). I figured it was a fluke, so I ordered the same sandwich again. I even mentioned it to the cashier to make sure this one actually had bacon on it. But the sandwich arrived and it had a few little broken pieces of bacon on it. Shirley urged me to show the manager. He seemed to think that it was totally normal. I cocked my head at him and said, “Really?” There was nothing “bravo” about the sandwich I was looking at. Why is Panera so chincy with their bacon on a sandwich called Turkey Bacon Bravo? I think I’m officially done with Panera. Shirley and I got groceries and then I headed back home. When I got there Brian was just finishing up. In addition to “nuking” my two computers, he put on Windows 7 operating systems on both computers so they are both ready to go. One computer will be used to scan old photos. As I start to remove old pictures from my 70’s-era photo albums and migrate them to new photo albums, I’ll hire Sara to scan them into one of the computers. Many of the old photo albums I’ve had since I was a teen are falling apart, and the sticky on the pages has gotten dry; which makes the photos fall out. So this will be a good opportunity to get them all archived. I grabbed a nap, and then took my friends Josh and Shirley out to dinner at DuPar’s. We had a blast chatting and eating delicious breakfast. I got home and napped for a bit, and got up to start changing the clocks for Daylight Saving Time. There ought to be a law against this stupid law! It’s utterly useless, antiquated and archaic. I’ve heard buzz that there is a move underway to get rid of it, as it’s becoming a real nuisance to the citizens of this country. GOOD! Be gone with it! I like the quote that says, (and I paraphrase) “Daylight Saving Time is kind of like cutting off the top of a blanket, sewing it on to the bottom of the blanket, and calling the blanket longer.” I made my traditional Saturday night giant salad and watched another episode of the old British show “The Avengers.”
Sunday the 13th – FEEDING ROX AND CHANGING CLOCKS! – My friends Mark and Connie came by around 2 to have a meeting with Kevin Castro about the “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys” social media campaign. I fed Roxy and set a few more clocks ahead for Daylight Saving Time. Mark and Kevin walked me through the basics of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. I’ve thus far been lucky enough to avoid the scourge of social media, but now that we’re promoting our webseries it’s become a necessity. At 4 a guy named Drew from Scotland called me on the phone to do a half hour interview for his podcast about Voice-Over Artists. I finished up and got ready for evening church with Roxy. When it was over, we walked back home to do some work and take a nap. I got up later in the evening and did my auditions and plan for the new week. I made some hot dogs on the grill and watched the second-to-the-last episode of the “Lost In Space” season 1 Blu Ray. I’ve really enjoyed it so far, and I’m waiting to see the show in color starting with the second season. As I headed to bed in the morning, it was starting to sprinkle.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
Here’s part of the beautiful full rainbow I saw out my window last Monday after the rainstorm subsided.
