This past week, Jakob Dylan was on “The Tonight Show” and his appearance inspired me to dig out my old Wallflowers CD (a GREAT album!). So now I’m unable to get “One Headlight” out of my one head! Here it is! Enjoy
Monday the 10th – THE START OF A LAID BACK WEEK! – I slept in knowing that this was going to be a fairly laid back week. Not a lot on the schedule, but considering the weeks I had just been through, and the weeks to come, I took this as a much-needed respite. I made a few calls during the afternoon and then headed to my chiropractor. When I finished I went over to “The Tonight Show” early to record some voice tracks for a bit. That evening, I relaxed, napped, caught my breath, and stayed up way too late watching “Get Smart” episodes on DVD!
Tuesday the 11th – I’M HEALED! – I got up in the morning for a noon session at Voice Trax West for HH Gregg. Then I sped over to NBC to record some voice tracks for “The Tonight Show.” When I finished there I went to my Ear, Nose and Throat doctor for my check-up. If you remember, last Christmas I had the worst cold of my life. I had so much phlegm and coughed so much, no only did I lose my voice for a period of time, but I developed a cyst on my vocal cord. So the doctor wanted to keep an eye on it periodically to see if it would grow or disappear. (My prayers were for it disappearing completely!) Luckily it wasn’t on the “reactive edge” of my vocal cord, so it didn’t affect my voice, but it’s still scary. You have to understand that I have a VERY sensitive gag reflex. And if you’ve ever been scoped by an ENT, you know that they numb up your nostril, then snake a light and camera scope down your nose and into your throat. Well, as long as I was breathing deeply through my nose I was fine, but when he had me speak with that boa constrictor down my throat I would start to hack and gag. EEEEEEEEEEEE, he would make me say. HACK, COUGH, GAG! I couldn’t take it and pulled it out of my nose. Patiently, the doctor resnaked it back down my nose saying he didn’t get a very good look. There I was again with that snake down my nose. I tried to concentrate, breathe deeply through my nose…and I was alright. But the doctor wanted me to talk. He asked me if I was going to do anything fun this summer. I couldn’t answer. When I tried to talk I gagged again and pulled the scope out of my nose. I figured if there was anything down there he would have had to have seen it by now! He said, “Well, I didn’t see anything.” YAY! That meant my cyst was gone! FANTASTIC! I danced out of the office singing all the while. I asked the doctor if he wanted to see me again in six months and he said, “Why torture yourself? Call me if you have any more troubles.” GREAT! I couldn’t have been happier! When I finished with my ENT I went back over to “TTS” and did the taping. That night I relaxed and was very thankful my throat was better.
Wednesday the 12th – A/C N/A? – For the past three summers, my air conditioner always has trouble keeping up during those “hottest weeks of the year.” Last year I had an A/C guy come out to look at my unit and he said they could replace it with a bigger, more energy efficient unit. But since it was the dog days of summer, they were really busy. So I suffered through and swore that at some point during the winter, I would have the whole thing replaced with a new unit. Well, we’re now in the midst of spring and I still haven’t’ done anything about it. A week ago I called that same A/C guy and he said he would call me the following week to make an appointment. Last week came and he never called. So I called him last Monday to come out on Wednesday at 2pm. I was busy doing some things around the house and getting some stuff ready to mail. The A/C guy calls at noon and wants to come over at 1. I told him I was still busy doing stuff and wouldn’t be available until our original appointment at 2. Well 2 rolls around and no A/C guy. I called him to ask where he was and he was still in Burbank. I told him I only have a few minutes until I had to be at work. He said he would come right over. He never did show up. I had to get to NBC for the taping of “TTS” and I never heard from him. Now remember, a new A/C unit is 7-8 thousand dollars possibly. Is he so busy with work that he doesn’t need my money? Geez! I don’t get it. So, my goal next week is to find a more reputable company to install my A/C unit. One that hopefully can keep an appointment. Some people.
Thursday the 13th – AAAAAHHHHH! – I have been enjoying sleeping late all week and staying up all night finishing up my “Get Smart” DVD boxed set. I’m now in the fifth and final season, and will soon have seen every episode. Though I had a few errand to run today, I decided just to stay in and relax, and store up my energy for what promised to be a VERY busy week next week. That day I went to “TTS” and then came home and relaxed some more by doing some stuff around the house.
Friday the 14th – FANTASTIC FRIDAY! – I got up early to audition for a Lazy-Boy commercial at Voicecasters. Then I went to Studiopolis Burbank to record some more voice tracks for upcoming “Bleach” episodes. I always have a fun time working with my pal Jeff Nimoy who is now voice directing the show. When I finished I met my friend Patrice at the Coral Cafe for lunch. But today we had to tape “TTS” earlier than usual, so I headed over to NBC and finished up the taping. The weekend was here! I stopped at the post office to mail some stuff, and then went home to relax. After a quick nap I stayed up all night finishing up some stuff around the house. In fact, I got a LOT done!
Saturday the 15th – SHOULD I? NAAAAAW! – Feeling very lazy, I slept late but got up in time to let my maids in. They cleaned up Planet Wallywood while I cleaned my deck. When they finished I had some errands to run, but I was having so much fun relaxing I just stayed in and slept some more. That night Sara and I got a late dinner at The Counter, and then my friend Georgette joined us. While getting some groceries I met a guy named Jonathan who was asking for help. He said he was a printer by trade, but had been out of work for awhile. He and his wife and 2 year old son were staying at a local $60-a-night motel. He was doing day labor through a labor center during the week, but he said weekends were tough because the labor center wasn’t open. We must have talked for about 20 minutes. I asked him all sorts of questions about his situation…how he got around, about his son, where he’s from…etc. I think he really enjoyed having somebody to talk to about his situation. So please keep Jonathan, Vanessa and Michael in your thoughts, that his situation will soon change for the better.
Sunday the 16th – AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY…! – I rested. Not only did I sleep really late, but I napped later as well. Days like this are rare, so I have to take advantage. I did get to evening church and had a great time. Just before I left though the funniest thing happened. I let Sassie out of the front door to go potty before I headed out to church. I shut the door behind me and turned to see Sassie standing within 8 inches of a squirrel! It’s one of the squirrels that always come visit me for nuts, and obviously this squirrel knew that Sassie was no threat. Sassie, in fact, is almost completely oblivious to squirrels, birds, ducks, etc. She’s so sweet. She doesn’t do the usual dog thing of chasing and barking at squirrels. She’s much too classy for that. When I saw those two standing together I just laughed! The squirrel then jumped up on my gate and got a handful of tasty peanuts. Later in the evening Sara called, and so did Chuck McCann. So we all met at Jerry’s Famous Deli for a late dinner. As we were leaving we ran into Charles Fleischer, a brilliant comedian and the voice of Roger Rabbit. He had just gotten back from the autograph show in Detroit. My friend Fred Westbrook was there this past weekend as well, with Adam West. I told Sara that the funniest comedy show I had ever seen was when I saw Charles Fleischer at a local comedy club. He had no material. But for an hour he interacted with the crowd…made up songs on the spot using their names, what they did for a living, etc. It was absolutely brilliant and I still remember that to this day! He’s a genius! After dinner I headed home to prepare for the new week, wrote Wally’s Week and did an audition.
And how was YOUR week??!!!
