RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
Now THIS was music! 1977 was magical!
I fell in love with this Beatles song while watching the “Get Back” documentary by Peter Jackson. It’s called “Two Of Us” and it has such a great vibe.
Monday the 26th – JUST ANOTHER MANIC MONDAY! – The day began with some confusion. First off, my cell reception in my house is awful. I have my cell phone set to use my wi-fi when I’m in the house, but apparently it’s not working that well. I got a call from the office of the surgeon who will be doing my thyroid surgery on February 6th, and they said that the Dr. is referring me to an Endocrinologist and wants me to call them to set up an appointment. For some reason, maybe I was still a little sleepy when I got the call, I understood it as a message that my surgeon was passing along my case to another doctor. Had she decided NOT to do the surgery after all? Panicked, I called the number they left on my voicemail. But my cell phone was so spotty the conversation I was having with the person was hard to hear. RATS! I walked into my kitchen (seemingly the only place in my house that gets good reception) and finished the call with a rep from my surgeon’s office. Apparently my surgeon is only responsible for removal of the nodule on my thyroid. But after that I need to see a specialist regarding any fluctuations of my hormones that may result from the surgery. OH! I GET IT! Now I’m not sure why they just didn’t say that on the message. It would have been quite simple to just say, “Your surgeon would like you to follow up with a hormone specialist after the surgery is completed, so please call —.” That would have been a lot clearer! Relieved, I then called my primary care physician about the sinus infection I seem to have acquired over the weekend. My usual doctor is on vacation (he has one foot out the door toward retirement anyway) so I needed to speak with his replacement – a younger doctor who doesn’t quite know my history with sinus issues. I had to leave several messages as the office seemed very busy. They finally called back to get my payment information and schedule a telemedicine visit at 2pm. But an hour and a half went by and there was no call. I’m going into his office on Tuesday morning anyway to get have them take blood and do an EKG test for my pre-op lab work, but I wanted to get started on some meds right away. After all, I had a very busy week planned. My dad will be turning 91 in South Dakota on Friday, and I had planned to fly in to surprise everyone this Thursday for his birthday. I hadn’t told anyone of my plans except my sister Peggy and my buddy Maguire. Otherwise, it was a total secret. I needed to be better by Thursday so I could fly. I certainly didn’t want to fly with a sinus infection! I went out behind my garage, sat in my anti-gravity chair and got some sun while I waited for his call. But nothing. I went back inside and realized I had a voicemail message waiting. I hadn’t heard any ring – so I wasn’t sure when the call came in. It was the replacement doctor apologizing for running late due to some emergencies that came in. Apparently because of my crappy cell service I missed his call! He said he would call back later to reach me. DOUBLE RATS! I decided to leave my cell phone in the kitchen so when it rang I could run in and grab the call. It was kind of like having a house phone in the old days. You had one phone in one location of your house, and when it rang you ran to answer it before the person on the other end gave up. Late afternoon my cell rang and it was the doctor! Whew! Finally! I told him of my situation with the sinus infection and he said he could prescribe an antibiotic and a steroid and I should start right away. I told him which antibiotic I had been on during the course of my dental madness, so I suggested that he may want to prescribe a different medication given my recent situation. I told him I’d see him tomorrow and headed off to CVS to pick up the medicine. I got some food and then headed home to eat, work, and start my meds. I certainly wasn’t looking forward to the pressure changes of the interior of an aircraft with a sinus infection! I was hoping I’d be better by then. I decided to do some writing, so I dug out my Day Planner from the year 1995 so I could extract all of the “notable events” from that year. Much like how a movie is made, I decided to follow that protocol to create the narrative for my photo album project. Using the Day Planners as source material, I would extract all of the momentous moments of that year. Then as I’m assembling the photos in the albums, I would use that document as a basis for the chronology of the photo placement. As I went through the year 1995 it struck me how much I was working! Not only was I doing Beetlejuice regularly at Universal Studios, but I had been hire back part-time at 94.7 KTWV The Wave radio station for on-air work and production work. Add to that the fact that I was doing regular side appearances as characters, and comedy Voice Over work for a radio comedy network. Yes, it was a very good and busy year. The last photo album I finished was from the year 1992. I had a few pictures from the year 1993, but because I was laid off that spring from my full-time position at The Wave, I didn’t have a lot of extra money to spend on photos and processing. So putting together the photo album for the year 1993 would be pretty easy. The most notable moment from that year was getting hired as a puppeteer on the network TV series “Murphy Brown,” and as a result getting my SAG card. However, the year 1994 would be a MAJOR year, as that was the time I was hired as Beetlejuice at Universal Studios, and I started booking some more Voice Over work. Later I did my nightly auditions, paid some bills, and then began the fasting process for the blood work I’d be having on Tuesday. No eating after midnight, and I could only drink clear liquids up to the test. But sometimes I’ll go for 12, and sometimes even 24 hours without eating – so fasting isn’t really a problem for me.
Tuesday the 27th – GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS, SAD NEWS! – On the way to the doctor’s office for my blood test and EKG I called my dad. During our conversation he mentioned that my uncle had gone into hospice and wasn’t doing very well. He mentioned that if, God forbid, my uncle should pass away, my dad may need to cancel his birthday dinner party on Friday for a prayer service, etc. So in my mind I’m weighing the options – a) I have a sinus infection b) the party may be postponed or canceled c) the weather in South Dakota is currently below zero. Right then and there I made the decision in my mind to postpone my trip until another time. I got into the doctor’s office and checked in. They took my blood pressure and it was very high. I couldn’t understand it. I had been doing my WOGs faithfully, and hadn’t had anything to eat in 12 hours – what could be causing it?! The doctor came in and suggested that I head down the hall to the blood test office as they would be closing for lunch in a half hour. I was escorted right down the hall to the office and I checked in. It looked like they had only one person working, and there were three people ahead of me! Come to find out, the phlebotomist was also the receptionist! This was going to take an hour! It was moving very slowly. It was complicated by the fact that I was scheduled for a Voice Over session at 1pm! After signing in and claiming my place in line, I stepped out of the office and called my agent. I told him that the doctor visit was running long and I may need to reschedule the session. He said he’d make some calls. When I finally got into give blood the phlebotomist said, “Did you fast?” I said, “Yes, since midnight this morning.” She said, “Oh. For this type of test you didn’t need to.” WHAT!? As I mentioned before, fasting for me is no big deal, but I thought this was odd. I went back to the doctor’s office and gave the assistant a “hard time” (all in jest) about not needing to fast, and I claimed he owed me a steak dinner for the trouble. He laughed heartily, and I think it’s the start of a great running gag. I got on the scale and the good news is…I had dropped 10 pounds since my last weigh-in a few years ago. I guess those WOGS are really paying off! The medical assistant set up the EKG with all of the little sticker-things on my torso, took the reading and off he went. It was quick! Then the doctor came in and we discussed my sinus infection. He checked my heart one last time and cleared me for surgery. It was a quarter to one, so it looked like I was going to make the Voice Over session after all, especially since the studio was near. I got over to the studio, apologized for the slight delay, and we worked on an animated film that I’ve been working on for about 10 years. A long time ago it just started with sessions to record temp voice tracks to give the producers an idea of the story. It kept developing and developing, and we would go back in every few months and re-record the new version of the script. They did some animation to the voice tracks we recorded and we attended a big screening of the result. It was pretty great. But then others got involved, there was a change of director, and they decided they need to hire celebrity talent for the lead roles. Even though the original roles I recorded went to well-known face actors, they kept me in the cast doing an interesting side character. I recorded some initial tracks several years ago, and then in 2022 I went into do some ADR (additional dialogue recording) for the animation that had been completed. And now in 2026 I went back in once again to record some more voice tracks they needed to tie a few scenes together. They’re really taking their time with this film and I hope it turns out how they hope. Since all I had to eat in the last 14 hours was a bag of Doritos at the session, I went over to KFC to grab some lunch to go. I mailed off some letters and then headed over to my oral surgeon’s office for my two-week follow up appointment to check how the tooth extraction was healing. I went in, sat down, the doctor came in, looked at the area with a mirror and said, “It’s healing fine. Come back in four months and we’ll put the post in for the implant.” And that’s all there was. I’ll go back in May for the next phase of the procedure. I picked up some packages at my box on the way home. Once I got home I got on the internet and canceled my flight to South Dakota, my hotel and my rental car. I’ll possibly go in March when the weather’s nicer and I’m all healed up from my thyroid surgery. As I was still suffering from the sinus infection, I took some Nyquil, squirted some more Sinex in my nose, and took a nap. I got up later to do my nightly WOG, and it was a gorgeous night out. But I was still befuddled about the high blood pressure reading from earlier in the day. Curious, I consulted “Dr. Google” and whattayaknow?! Turns out both Nyquil and Sinex INCREASE blood pressure! Mystery solved! Since I wasn’t feeling well last Saturday, I made a salad and caught up on my normal Saturday night viewing…another episode of “Fantastic Journey,” a limited series from 1976.
Wednesday the 28th – DOCTORS, ACCOUNTANTS & COMPUTERS! OH MY! – Why can’t professionals just speak to us laymen like we’re 6 years old? I can’t understand all of the technical mumbo jumbo from their professions – much like I would never discuss Voice Over lingo with an accountant. I called the Endocrinologist my surgeon suggested and set up an appointment for two weeks after my surgery. They understood my initial confusion. Then my accountant emailed me asking for tax documents that I didn’t understand. I’m in the process of switching to a new accounting company (I had the previous one since the late 90’s, but they retired) so there were some documents I needed to locate from the new owners of the company. But I had no idea what they were asking for, so I asked them to talk to me like I was 6 years old. I was still having trouble getting clear cell phone calls into my house, even though my phone was using the Wi-Fi, and the router is literally 2 feet away from my phone. Odd! Later I did a bunch of fun auditions, and looked a few boxes of photos to prepare for more photo album work. Then I took my nightly WOG and came back inside to do some work and relax.
Thursday the 29th – ACTION PACKED DAY! – My pal Thor, who’s a computer genius, came over to assess my Wi-Fi/cell phone situation. He looked at everything to try and determine why I was still having such a hard time with cell reception. He discovered that my cell phone had never been accessing the Wi-Fi signal in my house because of a step that had been missed while setting up my phone. I had clicked the initial setting ordering the phone to access the Wi-Fi, but apparently there was a SECOND step that I wasn’t aware of. He walked me through the menus, helped me fill out the info and VOILA! It was working! Fantastic! Problem solved! Before my mailbox place closed I drove over to pick up a package. It included some Butyl sealant tape and some more armature wire. I’ll be using the armature wire for this year’s museum exhibit at Monsterpalooza this spring. The Butyl tape is super-strong tape that can be easily removed when it’s time to change things up. I got a half dozen donuts at Randy’s Donuts, picked up a pizza at Little Toni’s, and then headed home to eat. I slept for a bit, and then got up later to do some work around the house. The maids would be arriving on Friday, so I cleaned up a few areas that they would need access to. I took my nightly WOG and then came back inside to do some work. I had cut a wood dowel to act as the “fourth leg” on my Gonzo puppeteering stool that I had recently won at the Jim Henson auction at Julien’s. I mounted it underneath the stool’s seat with the Butyl tape (good and strong) and I got the tall ladder up from downstairs. I placed the stool carefully atop my giant video cabinet, where it will permanently reside. As a temporary embellishment, I grabbed my Master Replicas Gonzo photo puppet and put him atop the stool. It looked amazing. The construction of the stool is nothing short of amazing. In order to create the optical illusion that a puppet is moving while sitting atop a four-legged stool, a mirror has been cleverly placed at the back of a three-legged stool to reflect the front leg. And when placed properly it seems like you’re seeing normal a four-legged stool. But the puppeteer is actually standing BEHIND the mirror operating the puppet. Yes, it’s all done with mirrors. However, this particular stool is a bit “back-heavy,” as the weight of the stool’s seat wants to keep tipping it backwards. This is most likely what happened when the piece broke at the auction house before I came to pick it up. (Read the full story in Wally’s Week back in late December.) But now, since I secured the back of the stool with a wood dowel (which is hidden by the mirror) it stabilized it considerably. It now has four legs, is better balanced, and most likely won’t tip over again. (Fingers crossed!) I moved some puppet fabrics to the Chaney Room (for a few new puppets I’m building), and did some more work on the photo album project. I took some leather dye I had purchased and ran it over some faded spots on my couch. This is the couch I call “The Most Comfortable Couch In The Universe” (an ‘Invader Zim’ reference) because it really IS that comfortable. Since I first purchased it in the late 90s, it’s starting to show its age. But the leather dye worked great! I had to cross-reference some negatives with photos that I had, and found out there were several photos missing! That meant I would need to scan these negatives and have prints made before I could continue on with the timeline in my photo album. I started a new photo album for the year 1993 and went as far as I could before I required the missing photos. I’ll dig out my negative scanner soon, do the scans, and have the prints made to continue on. As dawn broke, I decided to sketch out the plans for the barrier wall I needed to have made for my upcoming Monsterpalooza museum exhibit. The faux brick paneling that I ordered will be in on Friday, so I wanted to have the plans drawn up so I could pick up the panels, and then head over to the fabricator’s to have them begin work on them. Just for the heck of it, I looked up the difference between the recovery protocols for a full thyroid removal, versus a partial thyroid removal (the latter of which I’m having on February 6th). The recoveries were night and day! I’m SO thankful that I’m only having part of it removed, because the recovery is SO much better. A full thyroid removal means lifetime medication and multiple nights in a hospital. But a partial removal is done as an outpatient procedure, and recovery seems quite easy. And there’s only a small chance of needing to be on additional medication, as there’s an 85% chance that the remaining part of the thyroid will compensate for the loss and fill in the gaps! Nature is amazing! As one friend in the medical industry put it, it’s like having a boil removed from your back. I pray it ends up being that simple! I’ll certainly be glad to have all this behind me!
Friday the 30th – THE BLACK BEAUTY! – After only 3 hours sleep, I got up to greet the maids and let them begin their work. After they finished I headed to my box to pick up the faux brick panels that had just arrived. Without hesitation I went over to see my buddies at Foam Mart in Burbank to show them the schematic sketch and look over the panels. As a three-part barrier wall for my upcoming museum exhibit at this spring’s Monsterpalooza convention, I needed to have panels of 2 inch thick sandwiched between panels of ½ inch foam core. And then the faux brick panels would be attached to the outside face. But after pulling the panels from the box and looking them over, we determined that the outside piece of foam core would be superfluous. The brick panels were quite thick (made of rigid Styrofoam) and could be attached directly to the foam rubber core with the right glue. But I still needed to have the foam core backs so I could have something to attach supports to. I chatted with the guys there for a few hours, and it was determined that the panels could be cut to size using a simple sharp blade and a straight-edge. He cut all the panels he would need for the fabrication of the walls, and I left him with the schematic drawing. He said it would take him about a month to finish them, but he had a clear understanding of what needed to be done. I’d rather have a professional put these together than try to do it myself – considering that I don’t know that much about how different glues interact with different types of foams. I picked up a few supplies for my new puppet builds and then headed to Hobby Lobby to pick up a few items. I grabbed a quick lunch to go at Burger King, and then headed to my auxiliary garage in Burbank to check on my Mustang and my Gran Torino. Neither car has been driven in a while, so I’d like to get them out and about for a few days. Plus, I need to attach their new license tags for the year. I finished my lunch in my Rav while looking at a marvelous L.A. sunset! Beautiful! I decided that, since it was so warm out, that I’d take the Mustang out for a few days. It was running well, but it really needed washed! I popped the top and headed over to CVS to get some photo prints made and pick up a prescription. I got some groceries and then headed home to relax. My gal Angi is back in town after almost two months out of town, but she’s exhausted from her trip. So I’ll probably get to see her early next week. I slept for a bit and then got up to take my nightly WOG under a gorgeous full moon! I came back inside and lounged around the house, and worked on my new photo album for a bit. I finished up what I could for the year 1993. It was looking good, but until I got some additional prints made from the negatives I needed to scan, I was at an impasse. And then work begins on 1994…a VERY big year! I made a salad and watched another episode of “The Virginian.”
Saturday the 31st – EXECUTIVE DECISION! – As my sinus infection had gotten markedly better, but wasn’t completely gone, I decided to just take it easy all day. I had a Wallygram I needed to do for a fan, because my sinus infection had required me to delay it quite a bit. But I did a nice 8 minute greeting for him and I think he was pleased with the result. I decided to completely reorganize my kitchen, as it was a cluttered mess. I started using the kitchen as my staging and work area for the photo album project about a few years ago, and had tons of photo boxes, and related ephemera stacked around the kitchen table. Then when my cat Spook was unable to live downstairs in the living any longer, I bought him up to live in the kitchen under the kitchen table. It was closer to his litter box so he wouldn’t need to climb stairs. Plus, if he had an accident, the hard kitchen floor would afford me the luxury of an easier clean-up. But now that Spook’s gone I decided to completely revamp my photo operation. To be honest, it had been so long since I used the kitchen for my photo album project, I had forgotten where some of the stuff was located. So I took everything out, placed the photo boxes around on the floor outside the kitchen, and completely cleaned the kitchen floor. Then I categorized each of the photo boxes and prioritized them based on those that were needed sooner rather than those that would be needed later. The photo boxes that I didn’t have an urgent need for went into the Chaney Room for temporary storage. The kitchen looks amazing now, and the stuff that’s in there is the most relevant to the immediate work I need to do on the photo albums. On the first Saturday of every month I treat myself with a special meal and some Laurel & Hardy films. It’s a bit of a nostalgic trip down memory lane which features elements of those Saturday nights I spent glued to the TV when I was 13 years old watching “Laurel & Hardy Theatre” on KABY-TV in Aberdeen, South Dakota. But the first Saturday of the month would be February 7th; one night after my surgery. So I made an executive decision to move my personal Laurel & Hardy night up a week, as I might not feel up to doing it next week. I made my traditional Chef Boyardee pizza-in-a-box and delved into the next two films on the newly released “Laurel & Hardy; Year Two” Blu ray release. The two silents I watched were “That’s My Wife” (a hilarious film I had never seen before!), and the always fun “Big Business,” which features the boys trying to sell Christmas trees door-to-door. The film ends in the complete destruction of a house and a car, and it’s always amazing to watch.
Sunday the 1st – MORE TECHNICAL SNAFUS! – Most of the day I spent sleeping. It’s not only traditional for me to be comatose on a Sunday, but I felt it was necessary to ensure that I was fully cured from my sinus infection. I looked over the paperwork for my upcoming surgery, which included a list of which drugs and supplements I should avoid a week before the procedure. Luckily, the only ones that pertained were a few supplements that I normally take. I took my nightly WOG and then came back in the house to set up my negative scanner to start scanning some of the old negatives I need to extricate prints from. But wouldn’t you know it – my computer didn’t like the scanner. I guess maybe the drivers for that scanner aren’t installed or something of the like. It was a very expensive scanner that can scan photos, slides & negatives – so I’m hoping my pal Thor can make my computer talk to this scanner so I can get my work done! It seems like it’s always something with computers! I spent the rest of the evening doing some writing, and then I hit the hay.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
The beautiful L.A. sunset over Burbank as I saw in the Gray Ghost eating my dinner from Burger King. It really doesn’t get much better!
While on Instagram, this ad popped up. I had ordered shirts from this company before, but this one caught my eye. The artwork seemed familiar. Several years ago I spotted a wonderful piece of artwork in an old TV Guide from the 1960’s that featured an article about the trend of cartoons on Saturday mornings. I asked my artist pal Patrick Owsley if he could recreate this artwork for my collection as a commission. But I wanted a few changes. A few of the characters in the original TV Guide artwork were characters that I didn’t necessarily care about. I asked him to replace them with characters that were more relevant to my liking, and he completed the task nicely. When I saw this shirt I initially thought that they had based the design on the original TV Guide artwork. But after looking more closely, I realized they stole the artwork that Patrick had done for me! All of the characters that we changed out were there! It WASN’T the original TV Guide artwork after all! I sent it over to Patrick and he said that his artwork gets stolen all the time for different uses. It’s sad, but since we don’t own the actual rights to any of these characters anyway, nothing could be done. But that being said, I still ordered one of the shirts and it should be here soon!
For comparison, here’s the original TV Guide art piece…
…and here’s the one Patrick did for me.
