RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
I’m not exactly sure how they figured this out, but this chart supposedly shows how dogs see colors. I’ve always wondered. I always heard they see in black and white, but apparently not. I mean, we all know that bulls can see red, so it only stands to reason that dogs and cats can see colors too, albeit on a limited spectrum.
Every time “Tonight” from Mike Nesmith comes up on my device my mind immediately flashes to the “Elephant Parts” video that my pal Maguire and I used to love watching when home VHS was just starting to become a thing. It’s hysterical, and the music video he made for this song is wonderful!
Monday the 13th – MORE SPACKLE! – It seemed like the smoke had cleared out of the area, and the sky was clear and beautiful! I had to drive to my dentist’s office because the temporary “spackle” that he put in my tooth had mostly come out. It was bad because a part of the natural tooth that remains is fairly pointy and sharp, and it kept catching my tongue when I’d eat and talk. I would be getting my “onlay” this Thursday, so I debated just dealing with it until then. It would be easy to do since I wasn’t experiencing any pain. An onlay is like a partial crown. It doesn’t cover the entire tooth like a crown, but it’s a small prosthetic piece that fits into the space that the dentist creates in the tooth. It’s attached permanently into place with a special kind of adhesive. It’s for those cases when a cavity is removed and the area of the tooth that’s left would make the tooth too weak with a simple filling. This onlay fortifies the tooth considerably. But it takes two weeks for the lab to create the prosthetic onlay, so in the meantime you have to deal with a temporary “spackle” that’s filled into the tooth. During this time you can’t have anything chewy or sticky. My dentist pressed some more of the temporary filling into my tooth and I was on my way. Since I was in the area I stopped at Wienerschnitzel for lunch and ice cream (they have a Tastee Freeze inside the restaurant). So after a delicious chili cheese dog with kraut, chili fries and a banana split, I “split” to go run errands. I stopped at Staples to recycle a few old ink cartridges from my printer and pick up a new small external drive. I hit CVS for a prescription, and also got some groceries. It was a lovely day! I got back home and put everything away and recorded a few auditions. I finished up writing two weeks’ worth of Wally’s Week(s) for my website, and then I checked the AQI (air quality index) for the Los Angeles area again. It’s looking good for my part of town! Tonight’s the night I’m going to go out and start my nightly WOG (walk/jog) again! I’ve missed it! After relaxing for a bit, I threw on my exercise clothes and headed out into the 43 degree night! Though it was a bit chilly, it did feel good to be out and about again! When I came back inside I looked at a few other auditions I had in my inbox, but the pay they were offering was pretty lousy so I passed. I worked on the computer for a bit, and finished up my Wally’s Week(s) post. I printed some new, revised text boxes for my photo albums. Now that I’ve carefully gone through the Day Planners that I’ve kept over the 38 years I’ve lived in L.A., I have been able to clarify a few moments in my timeline and make corrections. Now the ongoing narrative I’ve established in the photo albums is more historically accurate, and the revised text boxes contain specific dates when certain events occurred. In some cases I realized that I had a few things wrong in my recollection, so it was nice to be able to have solid historical information to go on. I’m glad the information I gleaned from my Day Planners helped clear those moments up. Right now I’m focusing on refining the first three albums, which contain photos from my first seven years of living in Los Angeles; 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993. I had a major career shift in 1993, so I figured it would be best to concentrate on those years first and lock everything in before moving forward. Plus, it allows me to solidify the format I’m doing before moving on with the rest of the photo albums. This has been a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.
Tuesday the 14th – TOO SKINNY! – My pal Chris Malmin met me for lunch at Paty’s and we enjoyed the gorgeous day on the patio catching up. I picked up a few packages at my box, and one of them contained the new knit tie for my upcoming Roger Moore James Bond figure. After careful scrutiny of one particular scene in “The Man With The Golden Gun,” I realized that the black tie he was wearing was actually a knit tie, made famous in the 70’s. But when the tie arrived I realized that it was too skinny for the look I was going for. This looked more like a tie that would have been used in the 80s, not the 70’s. So, it’s back to the drawing board, and the search continues for a black knit tie that’s normal width. I also received the new Blu-ray release of the 1970s film “The Lords of Flatbush,” which starred Sylvester Stallone, Perry King, and a “pre-Fonzie” Henry Winkler. It’s about a gang of 50’s greasers that I’ve always loved. I went home and did some work, recorded a few auditions, relaxed, and took my nightly WOG later in the evening.
Wednesday the 15th – NO GLOVE LOVE! – In anticipation of my upcoming trip to South Dakota, to help celebrate my dad’s 90th birthday, I’m on the lookout for a really good pair of winter gloves. The weather this time of year in South Dakota is unpredictable; it can be 40 degrees one day, and the next it’s 17 below. So I want to be prepared. But when I went to my local Big 5 I didn’t find what I was looking for. I bought a pair of fleece gloves which looked like that would suffice, but I was hoping for a nice pair of lined leather gloves. Oh well. I guess that’s what Amazon is for. I went over to Rusty’s Pets to look for a sweater for Spook. Since he’s 19.5 years old he has no body fat left. It seems like this time of year he just can’t get warm enough. As this will most likely be his last winter season on earth, I wanted him to be as cozy and comfortable as possible. I found a jumper that I thought would work, but when I got it home I realized it was much too small. Spook is a lot longer than one would think. In the early evening I headed out to Bob’s Big Boy to have dinner with my pal Dan Roebuck and his friend Justin. My gal Angi joined us eventually and we had a great time. Then we all headed back to Planet Wallywood to watch Dan’s recent guest appearance on an episode of “Svengoolie” on ME-TV, which I had recorded on my DVR. Later I discovered that the shower in the Puppet Room was leaking through my kitchen ceiling! GREAT! I sent out an immediate message and video to my contractor Handy Don. Hopefully we’ll get it fixed soon. I did some more work on my photo albums, and researched a few more dates for the text boxes in my collection of Day Planners.
Thursday the 16th – ONLAY LAID ON! – The day began with a trip to the dentist’s office to get my onlay applied. I’m looking forward to being able to chew gum again! After getting numbed up he pulled out all of the remaining temporary spackle and began the sanitizing process for the application of the onlay. It took less than an hour and I was out the door and on my way with my day! Slick! The fit is perfect and I can’t even tell it’s there! Since I was in the area I got lunch at Roundtable pizza. I got my pizza and took it to my car. I had to wait a bit for it to cool down, which was OK because the numbing medication was fairly slow in wearing off. But by the time the sensitivity was returning, my pizza was cool enough to eat. I love Roundtable pizza and I’m shocked that I don’t have it more often. It’s pretty pricey, though. I got some supplies at the local CVS, and then went to get a few grocery items that I couldn’t find at my local store a few days earlier. I did some more glove shopping at some stores on Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank, but no dice. L.A. is just not a good place to find winter gear, I guess. I stopped by my box and picked up some rubber dinosaur puppets that I bought for the son of my favorite server at Ernie’s Taco House. When I was in recently she said her young son was really into dinosaurs, so I figured he’d get a charge out of some cool-looking dinosaur puppets. She’s a great server so I want to keep on her good side! I dropped them off at Ernie’s, but Erica hadn’t clocked in yet. I left them for her as a surprise when she showed up for work. When I got home I immediately got on Amazon and ordered some lined leather gloves, as well as a nifty blue cat sweater for Spook. This one will DEFINITELY fit! I dove into photo album work again, and reprinted some of the text boxes with specific dates that I had unearthed from my years of keeping Day Planners. After a little relaxation I took my nightly WOG, and then did some organizing on my computer.
Friday the 17th – HANDY DON DAY! – After the maids finished their work and were packing up to leave, my contractor Handy Don pulled up with his brother Bill. Perfect timing! I showed Don and Bill where the leak was coming in, and they cut a few holes in the wall to gain access to the area. Once they cut the hole directly under the Puppet Room shower pan they made the discovery that the silicone around the drain had decayed. They sped off to the local Home Depot and found a higher quality drain that would work with that shower pan, and they returned to install it. We talked about a few other things I needed to have done in Planet Wallywood, including the problem I’m having with my new rug in the Tranquility Zone. It’s starting to bunch up and ripple in a few places, but I want it to lie flat. Handy Don said that rugs will do that, considering all of the movement going on in the room, and with the house itself. He said he can bring his staple gun over and staple it to the floor; through the rug, through the carpet underneath, through the padding, and into the wooden floor boards. It sounds like a plan to me, but that means I’ll have to break down my bed once again to clear the area. But if it will solve the rug rippling problem, I’m all for it. This should fix it once and for all. He is waiting for a part to come in to fix the heating element in my dishwasher, and I probably need to have a new garbage disposal installed as well. I got cleaned up and headed to the Smoke House to have dinner with my pal Joe Garner. At one point in 2024 we were meeting for steaks at least once a month, and then we both got busy. But hopefully we’ll be back on our monthly schedule here very soon. I got home to relax, and later I took another refreshing WOG. When I came back inside I started the fire for Spook (he loves to lay on the beanbag under his blanket by the fire and sleep). I worked on the computer for a while, organized my photo albums some more, and scanned some photos that I wanted to have reprinted to replace some of the “yellowed” pictures that were already in the album. In the computer I could color correct them, put them on a flash drive, and print them at CVS.
Saturday the 18th – A FAIRLY BUSY SATURDAY! – After visiting my stylist for a touch-up on my color, I headed over to CVS to put the order in for just over 100 newly printed photos that I had color corrected. These prints will replace some of the older prints that are already in my photo albums. I started to realize that all of the newly printed photos from the recently digitized negatives looked much better than some of the old, original photos I had in there. So while I’m not color correcting and reprinting ALL of the photos, I’m doing the most important ones. While I waited for the big order of photos to print I went next door to Panera and got a small lunch to go. I went to my car and ate while listening to some music. I went back inside to CVS and picked up my photo order. I have a LOT of work ahead of me! I stopped at the hardware store and picked up some shims to level out the wood panel underneath my office chair. It’s at a slight decline, and the office chair keeps sliding down it. But these shims should help level everything out to prevent that from happening. Later my pals Scott & Vickie Sebring stopped by and we headed out to Paty’s for dinner to chat and catch up. After a little relaxation I took off on my nightly WOG. When I came back in I set about reconciling my corporate bank account for the final month of 2024. It’s always complicated doing this, but it seems like end-of-the-year stuff is always more complex. It all worked out, and I started in on replacing some of the old photos in my albums with the newly printed pictures. Later I made a salad and watched a pretty darn good episode of “Boris Karloff’s Thriller” before bed!
Sunday the 19th – SILLY SLEEP SCHEDULE! – With everything going on I actually didn’t get to sleep until about 4pm on Sunday! My sleep schedule is all wackadoodle! After a few hours of sleep I got up for my nightly WOG, and then recorded my auditions that were due on Tuesday morning. I wanted to get them out of the way. By the time I got to bed it was around 8am Monday morning, so I just decided to continue to stay up and watch the Presidential Inauguration on TV.
Monday the 20th – MLK DAY! – The winds were whipping up again, which had me concerned for the local fire situation again. But they weren’t anything like they were a few weeks ago, thankfully. I slept most of the day, but when I did get up I wasn’t feeling the itch to go out and do anything. So I got some more rest. Later I took my WOG and worked on my photo albums. This is a really fun project, and I’m having a blast putting everything together. But before I lock them all for good, I realized that some “regrouping” was necessary. That involves removing photos and reconfiguring pages to cluster some of the photos in logical, cohesive order. I guess that’s the perfectionist in me.
And how was YOUR week?!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
My little boy is getting older. He’s mostly skin, fur and bones now, but he still stays active by running around the house. Pretty good for a 19.5 year old cat!
Here’s a shot of the opened walls and where the shower drain leak occurred. You can also see the surrounding water damage to the walls, which will all be cleaned up and repainted soon.
Handy Don dives into the mess to fix the leak!
