Monday the 21st – FANTASTIC FOUR! – In the morning I went to Voicetrax West to do a session for HH Gregg stores in the Florida area. It was a quick one, so I headed home to check on my folks. They were just hanging around Planet Wallywood relaxing on a hot day. My next session was back at Voicetrax, so I headed back over there to meet up with Jim Hulihan, the creator/producer of the Multi-Media Assemblies program. It’s an amazing program that goes around to schools and delivers positive messages through movie clips, a killer sound system, music videos, and more. I’ve been narrating these for his company for over 10 years. It’s always a great time and a darn good cause. I finished up with that and went over to the Studiopolis Annex to do some voices for the new “Final Fantasy” videogame. Then I went over to NBC to start my second week as the announcer of “The Jay Leno Show.” I still can’t believe that I’m doing this job! It’s amazing! Not only is it a lot of fun, but the people I work with are all great. When I finished the show I went home and grabbed a nap. Four sessions in one day wore me out!

Tuesday the 22nd – OH SHOOT! – I went to Best Buy to pick up the second season of the original “Star Trek” series on Blu Ray, and in the process, got a call from my agent asking me to be at NBC immediately to do a voice on a bit. I dropped my folks off at Wendy’s to have lunch, sped over to NBC and did the bit, then sped back to Wendy’s to get some quick lunch. Then I took my folks over to the Firing Line in Burbank to do some target shooting. My dad was a pretty good shot. We had fun shooting my .38 snubnose revolver, the Walter PPK and my .45 automatic model 1911. Mom didn’t shoot because she forgot to bring her ID, so they wouldn’t let her sign the paperwork. After that I dropped them at home, and sped back to NBC to do the announcements for that evening’s “Jay Leno Show.” I have a little monitor in my VO booth to watch the show as I do the VO. There are two different settings on the monitor that I use…program and preview. Program is the setting I watch while we’re doing the actual show. Preview is what I watch when the director wants to show me a clip so we can rehearse. Well, she ran the opening for me on the preview channel and we rehearsed it a few times. It went well and I got ready to do the actual show. But I had forgotten to put the monitor back to program, and the countdown to start the show was on! I almost had a heart attack! I wasn’t seeing what I was supposed to be seeing. I threw open the door and asked Patrick the audio engineer what was wrong. He said to hit the button on top of the monitor. WHEW! I hit it just in the nick of time to hear the director say…”3, 2….” on my headset! That was a close one!

Wednesday the 23rd – MORE FUN WITH THE FOLKS! – It was another really hot day, so we stayed close to the neighborhood for lunch. We went to Studio Cafe to eat, and when we finished we headed back home to the cool of Planet Wallywood. Then I went over to NBC to do the Leno show again. After the taping was finished, my folks and I went to evening church, and then dinner afterwards. I’m SO ready for Christmas! This heat is getting old!

Thursday the 24th – HOW HOT WAS IT?! – Another hot day in L.A., and my folks were starting to doubt the wisdom of coming to visit in September. Normally they visit in March and they find it much more pleasant. I took them to Voicetrax West in the morning to do three more HH Gregg spots. Then we went to get lunch at DuPar’s, and I took them back home. I went over to NBC to do “The Jay Leno Show.” I’m hoping they’ll ask me back for another week because I’m really digging this job!

Friday the 25th – FRIGHTFUL FRIDAY! – I took my folks to the recording session for the second to the last episode of ‘Gormiti’ at Studiopolis Burbank. I only had a few lines, so mostly we were sitting in the control room watching the other actors do their lines. Then my buddy Jim Ojala came over to do some tweaking of the Andy Kaufman “Heartbeeps” mannequin. Then I stopped by my vet’s to pick up some more food for Sassie, and then I delivered my folks to the Guest Relations window at NBC to pick up their Jay Leno Show tickets. My agent had gotten them tickets to the taping and they were very excited. I got to NBC and rehearsed my bits and waited for the taping to start at 4pm. When it was finished, I picked up my folks and we went to my pal Dan Roebuck’s house to see his horror museum. On the way there, my friend and webmaster Scott Sebring called to say he had just finished a shoot. Come to find out he was only three blocks from where I was. I had him follow us to Dan’s house, and we spent some time there looking at Dan’s collection. Then he went to pick up his wife Vickie, while the folks and I went to Best Buy so I could buy the new Beatles Rock Band videogame for Wii. After that we all met up at Hometown Buffet for a delicious dinner. Chuck McCann eventually came over and joined us. It was a very long day, but fun!

Saturday the 26th – OFF TO THE DESERT?? – My seamstress Kathy lives in Palmdale, so my friend Cher, my folks and I drove out to her house to have Cher’s fitting done for her “Star Trek” Mirror/Mirror costume. While we were there, she saw a Slave Leia costume that Kathy had made for a customer who never claimed it. So after she tried it on, Cher decided she would buy that one too! We got over to It’s a Wrap so Cher could buy some outfits. Then Cher dropped us all off at my house, and my friend Ginny had just arrived. Ginny took my folks shopping for some items, while I cleaned up Planet Wallywood to get ready for the reinstatement of “Blu Ray Trek” night. Since the second season of “Star Trek” had come out on Tuesday, we were aching to get back to our usual Saturday night viewings. I got the place cleaned up fairly well, and people started to arrive. We watched “The Gamesters of Triskeleon” and “A Private Little War.” It sure was good to be back into the “Star Trek” groove, even though we had a great time watching movies for the past 6 weeks.

Sunday the 27th – HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEGGY! – My sister Peggy’s birthday was today, so my folks made sure to call her in the morning. We all went to lunch at Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City to meet up with my old pal Pete, who was now doing post-production producing on a show called “Three Rivers.” It was fun catching up again. Then we got home and got ready for evening church. I was on as elder tonight, which meant I was helping out with communion and the offertory message. I found a great video on-line called “God and Dog.” It’s a great song, and you can hear it here… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H17edn_RZoY  I decided to make it a part of my offertory message, since our evening service is very relaxed, and people bring their dogs to the service sometime. Well, it got emotional as I was singing it, and toward the end of the song it became difficult to finish it. But I wasn’t alone. Many people in the congregation were also getting misty. It really made an impact. After the service, my folks, my friend Sara and some friends from the church went to The Counter in Studio City to have dinner. I ran into my old buddy Jess Harnell and his wife, as well as K.W., a guy who used to be the Wolfman in the old Beetlejuice show. It literally seemed like old home week! What fun! After dinner my folks and I came back to Planet Wallywood, and they started packing up for their return trip home first thing Monday morning. Whew! What a week!!

And how was YOUR week??!!!