March 13 – March 19 (2023) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

Speaking of chills, this poem has the same effect on me.

Not only did this song come up on my Palm Springs playlist when I was in the Tranquility Zone recently, but it also came up on my tablet as I was driving around in the Gray Ghost. The group is Minus 8 and it’s called “Slow Motion.” The relaxing, tranquil groove of this song gives me chills! Hopefully you’ll enjoy it too!

Monday the 13th – BROTHER FROM ANOTHER MOTHER! – The day started with a wonderful 2.5 hour lunch with one of my “Brothers From Another Mother” at Paty’s. My buddy is an animation director and huge monster fan that I met at the grocery store one day. He was wearing a “Famous Monsters” Creature from the Black Lagoon t-shirt. Since then we’ve met up from time to time to hang out, eat and discuss our interests. It’s fun to have those lunches or dinners with people with whom you have so much fun conversing you don’t notice that you’ve almost been there for three hours! After lunch I picked up a package at my mailbox, got a few donuts at Randy’s Donuts, and headed to Alex in Wonderland. I needed to pay my seamstress Alex for the work she did on my Nate Atez (long A, long E) puppet. But she also made one of her “miracle noses” for my upcoming Super Grover replica Muppet. Getting the fleece fabric to conform to the egg-shaped Styrofoam, and still hiding the seams in the pile of the fleece is no easy task. But Alex has a technique for making these babies look amazing! She wasn’t very happy with how it turned out (even though it was amazing) so she’s going to make another one. While I was at her studio, I was asking her where I could get old-fashioned “chunky” yarn for the cape tie for Super Grover’s cape. I told her everything I ordered didn’t turn out being thick enough for the look. She opened up a cabinet and pulled out a huge bundle and said, “Like this?” She opened the package and I saw an ample supply of the exact yarn I was looking for. She said she’s had it around for a long time. It would just need to be dyed yellow, which she said would be easy, since the yarn is wool. Amazing! As I drove home I pondered whether or not I was going to try to replace the tongue on my Oscar the Grouch replica Muppet. After talking to Alex I realized how tricky it would be to remove the old tongue well. I may just leave the red tongue on the puppet as it is. I did some work and then headed out to a meditation class that was conducted by one of the former pastors at my church. I hadn’t been to a meditation session in a very long time so it would be nice. I met some very nice people at the session and realized how much I loved guided meditation, as opposed to doing it myself at home. I grabbed some quick dinner at the McDonald’s drive thru on the way home and then did some random work when I got back to the house. I got my new Driver License in, and I was pretty darned impressed with how the picture turned out. I recorded my nightly auditions and did a little work on making a new lower lip piece for Super Grover. I took a quick nap, and I woke up with Spook lying next to me. That hasn’t happened for a while, so it looks like Spook is getting back to normal. But I’m still waiting for some cat poo. I wrote Wally’s Week, made a salad and watched another episode of “The Incredible Hulk.”

Tuesday the 14th – SPOOK ON THE BED; AND A BONUS! – Once again I woke up with Spook sleeping with me on my bed. And as a bonus, there were cat turds in the litter box! Poor Spook is finally getting back to normal! Thank God! For a while there I thought I might lose him too. It’s going to be raining all day, so I did some work on the computer. I did a last-minute audition, and I also did a Source Connect test for a noon Voice Over session on Wednesday. It all worked wonderfully and I’m looking forward to doing the session. In the old days, when DuPar’s was open, I used to like to sit in the restaurant by the window and have a specific meal of “rainy day food.” It included a grilled cheese sandwich and fries, chicken noodle soup and a side of ham. I went over to Paty’s and sat on the patio to watch it rain. I had everything I needed for my rainy day lunch, but I had to have chili instead of the soup, because they don’t do chicken noodle soup until Sunday. It was lovely and relaxing! I got home to fill out a ream of paperwork for the two Voice Over sessions I’d be having the next day.

Wednesday the 15th – DOUBLE SESSION DAY! – Since the first Voice Over session of the day was scheduled for 9am I had to be up very early. Luckily the studio was really close to my house! I worked about a half hour on a new super-secret video game session at Dave and Dave, and then I went to get a few grocery items. When I got back home I put the groceries away and started setting up my studio for the upcoming commercial session at noon. I signed on Source Connect at noon, but couldn’t connect successfully with the studio. Odd, since yesterday the test we did went perfectly. Come to find out they’re using a different set-up today from what they used yesterday. We chatted on the phone to try and get it working, and they figured out what the issue was. They worked out a few things and we were on the line by 12:30. It was a very fun commercial session that lasted an hour. After the session I did some more work around the house. I was going to have dinner with my pal Angi, but she’s still fighting the effects of the flu so she’s lying low the rest of the night. It’s all right, since I was looking forward to a nap. Getting up early always throws me, as my usual existence as a night owl is pretty regular now. I realized that the foam rubber lower lip pieces I had made for my Super Grover had become inflexible. Apparently over time the Barge glue I use hardens a bit and makes them stiffer. So my idea now is to make a new lip piece just a few minutes before I put it on the puppet permanently. Once I glue it into place on the mouth plate, it can harden in that shape and should be fine. But making them too far in advance isn’t the way to go. As my pal Steve Troop (a professional puppet builder) always says, “Puppet building is mostly about problem solving.” True! I captured some reference photos from screenshots of old videos of Super Grover bits from the early 70’s. Those bits on “Sesame Street” were so freakin’ funny! I grabbed a short nap and then got up later to clean around the house. I had to clear off my table in the kitchen to make room for my seamstress Maggie, who would be coming on Thursday to finish working on Nate Atez (long A, long E). I cleaned out one of my MP3 players that has BlueTooth capability for my upcoming trip to Palm Springs for my birthday. I’m VERY excited! I drove to Denny’s to get some food to go, and enjoyed it while watching another episode of “The Incredible Hulk.”

Thursday the 16th – LADIES & GENTLEMEN, NATE ATEZ (LONG A, LONG E!) – My seamstress Maggie arrived to finish up my original puppet Nate. She did great work creating a t-shirt for him, and altering his pants. While she worked away at the final assembly of the puppet, I did another Source Connect test with a studio called Side LA for an upcoming session. The session isn’t scheduled until April 12th, so I’m not sure why they need to do a line check so far in advance, but I had the time so it worked out perfectly. I got a last-minute request to attend an in-person audition at Carroll Casting at 4. I love seeing my old pal Carroll, and I really wanted to attend the audition in person. So I gave Maggie a lunch break while I slipped off to the audition. The studio, thankfully, is really close to my house so it wouldn’t take me long to do this audition. I got back home just as Maggie was returning from lunch, and we finished up Nate. The sun finally came out and we’re going to have really nice weather for a few days. After Maggie finished up on Nate, I got busy working on his studded leather bracelets. They turned out really nice! I did my nightly auditions and then grabbed a nap on the couch. Spook was asleep in front of the fire, and I’m really relieved he’s almost completely back to normal again. Later I put together Nate’s new display stand. I used pink fleece for the base, and orange for the support rod…VERY 80’s! My “Dark Crystal” lamp had broken, so it needed some TLC. The small plastic dowel that supports the crystal sculpture had snapped off its base. Honestly the lamp isn’t made very well, and it eats batteries like crazy. I would have liked to have the crystal suspended by something a little more robust, and if they could have made it AC/DC powered it would have been much better. But it’s a nice lamp, so it’s worth fixing. I dug out my old trusty Magic Sculpt epoxy putty. I placed some in the notch in the base that held the plastic dowel, and I put the dowel back in place. Then I placed some putty around the place where the two joined and I put it away to cure for 24 hours. I placed a level on the top of the dowel to make sure it was going to set completely even and level.

Friday the 17th – DUDE! CHILL OUT! – The day started with a last-minute audition, and then my maids came over to clean Planet Wallywood. After they finished I walked over to the post office to mail off some bills. I decided to grab a snack at this Chinese fast-food place next to the post office. There wasn’t anybody in the restaurant when I walked in, and the kid behind the counter pounced on me like a lion attacking a zebra. I wasn’t very familiar with their menu so I took a little time to review their offerings. The kid behind the counter seemed like he hadn’t had a customer in days (either that or too much caffeine) and was overly excited to have one. He kept offering up suggestions and talking, and I was trying to read the menu. As I looked over the menu I noticed that some items had things in their ingredients that I didn’t want. I mumbled something to myself as I read the menu. The overly anxious kid shouted, “I’M SORRY I DIDN’T HEAR YOU CAN YOU REPEAT THAT PLEASE?” I slowly looked up and smiled and said, “Dude. Just chill. I’m just reading the menu. OK?” He settled down a little bit and I decided that I wasn’t digging the vibe of this place. The smell of desperation far overwhelmed the smell of Chinese food being cooked. So I just ordered a couple of chicken egg rolls. Though it was a nice day outside, they didn’t have any chairs at their outside tables. Strange. It took forever to get my order and once I got it, they turned out to be the most uninspired chicken egg rolls I’ve ever had. In fact, I only ate one and took the second one home with me. I most likely won’t be going back there again. I walked home and enjoyed the gorgeous day. The sunshine felt very good! My pal Amanda came over later and we went to the Coral Café for dinner. What fun!

Saturday the 18th – A SAD, SLOW SOJOURN! – When I first met my dog Roxy at Lassie Land back in 2012, my friends Edi and Amanda were with me. It was a very emotional day for me, as the loss of my collie Sassie was still fresh in my mind. But it ended up being a momentous day as it was the start of an amazing 10+ years with the most amazing dog I’ve ever known. So it was really nice to have my friend Amanda with me yet again as we traveled over to Gardena to pick up Roxy’s ashes for closer to the great Roxy adventure. Though the internet said it would be a 60 minute drive, we soon discovered that the internet lies. It was wall-to-wall-to-wall traffic all the way to Gardena. My appointment was at 3, but at 2:45 we were still stuck in downtown L.A.! I called the after care facility and told them I was on my way, but was going to be late. They said that I was the last appointment of the day, and that they closed at 3, but they would wait for me. Nice! It ended up taking us over an hour and a half to get there. I don’t spend a lot of time driving on the freeways, thankfully. And today I was exceptionally glad for that fact. I hope I don’t have to be on the freeways again anytime soon. We got to Gardena and picked up Roxy’s ashes, which were beautifully contained in a gorgeous wood box. I gave the girl 20 bucks for hanging out and waiting for us. I figure she deserved getting a nice coffee and a croissant. Amanda and I drove to Culver City to have dinner at Petrelli’s Famous steaks. She and I ate there a year or so ago, and she loved it. I’ve been going there since I lived in the Culver City area back in the late 1990s. In fact, my favorite Petrelli server Omar is still there, and waited on us! And I got to see Mrs. Petrelli again, which was very nice. I love that place! As we drove back to Planet Wallywood we noticed thick, black smoke coming up on the freeway up ahead. A big rig was completely engulfed in flames! We decided to take the freeway exit just before the fire to play it safe. We took side streets back home. We got back and put on our walking gear, and enjoyed a nice, brisk walk over to the grocery store to get some supplies. Amanda said she’d make sloppy joes for our late night dinner! I grabbed a shower and a nap, while Amanda went out to meet up with friends for a while. When I got up later, Amanda had returned and got ready to make our sloppy joes. I had avoided looking at the box of Roxy’s ashes all afternoon, but I decided I’d open it up and check them out. Bad idea. I thought it would be OK, but as soon as I got a look at them I broke down a bit. I’m glad Amanda was there to put her arm around me and comfort me. She had just gone through the loss of two of her dogs several months ago, so the pain was still fresh with her as well. I told her I thought I’d be OK looking at the ashes, but I didn’t make it. The after care facility provided a small lock with the box. I placed the little lock in the clasp, and fastened it shut; never to be opened again. Normally my Saturday night ritual includes a monster Super Salad and an episode of “The Saint.” But Amanda suggested instead of a Saturday Night Super Saint Salad, that we have Saturday Night Super Saint Sloppies! I agreed. As I cleaned up and got ready to enjoy the show, the wonderful smell of sloppy joes cooking filled the house! That picked up my spirit remarkably. We settled in and put on the episode of “The Saint,” which started out with him walking on a bridge in London at dawn. Roger Moore’s voice over stated that he was on the famous Westminster Bridge in London at 5 in the morning. Amanda’s mouth fell open. Come to find out, SHE had been on that same bridge at dawn a few short months ago watching the sun rise! I told her there were no accidents!

Sunday the 19th – A HAPPY ACCIDENT! – Shortly after we watched “The Saint” Amanda took off for home. By this time it was early in the morning, and she wanted to beat traffic back to her house to get some errands done. I headed off to bed to sleep. I woke up a few hours later, fed Spook (who had his voracious appetite back again!) and made a sloppy joe for me. Then it was back to bed to enjoy my lazy Sunday. I got up later in the afternoon and lounged around with no particular plans to do anything. Should I go out to eat? Should I go back to bed? Should I clean something? Though the sun hadn’t set yet, the day was gloomy, misty and cold. So I didn’t want to go on my walk. As I checked news on the internet I got a text from my pal Scott Sebring stating that he had been waiting at the Smoke House for a half hour, but nobody was showing up. Come to find out, he mistakenly thought our “Movie Night Memorial” for Shirley was that night, but it wasn’t scheduled until Sunday April 16th! A full month away! I figured this was fate telling me to go eat, so I asked him to inquire about getting a table at the Smoke House and I’d come right over. But the wait for a table without a reservation was an HOUR! Since I had just enjoyed a delicious steak the previous night, I told him we’d meet at Paty’s instead. We could be seated immediately and I could enjoy a salad. He and his wife Vickie could have just turned around and driven back home, but let’s take advantage of this happy accident and catch up! We had a great dinner, and then I came home to relax and do a little work around the house. Later I watched another episode of “The Incredible Hulk” and fire up some more sloppy joes! Just before bed I turned on the Heroes and Icons channel and watched a few episodes of “Have Gun – Will Travel.” I was never into westerns as a kid, so they weren’t on my radar. But I’m starting to really get into this show! The main character of Paladin is kind of like a cowboy version of Simon Templar from “The Saint!” He’s a well-to-do guy who enjoys using his skills and talents to help people in need. I may need to buy this series on DVD, if it exists.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK