Monday the 18th – FEELIN’ STRONGER EVERYDAY! – I was finally starting to feel better and get my voice back after the headcold I had caught while in Las Vegas. Though the coughing still was present somewhat, physically I felt much better. In the morning I went to Voicecasters to audition for a commercial. Then I stopped at It’s a Wrap to see if there were any new purchases to make. It’s a Wrap in Burbank specializes in movie and TV wardrobe that has been purchased from the studios and made available for sale to the public. I’ve picked up some awesome things there. Then I went to my bank and got some cash. My intent was to go buy some gold, but the gold store wasn’t open on Mondays. Later that afternoon I worked on a videogame called “Guild Wars”…I play a couple of characters named Brandon and Willard. It was a full four hour session so when I was done I was pretty wiped out.
Tuesday the 19th – TERRIBLE TELEPHONE TUESDAY! – I did some more voice tracks for the new “Ratchet and Clank” game in the morning, then I met up with my insurance man to see about insuring some of my collectibles. He toured my house and viewed some of the more “insurable” items. I need to sit down and catalog all my items someday, and that I’m NOT looking forward to. I drove to Chace Audio in Burbank to do a callback audition for a videogame promo, then went to Skylark studios to do some work for a DC comics videogame test. It was a lot of fun, but my recovery from my cold wasn’t quite complete. It’s always tough working when you’re not at 100%, but that could be said for any business. It’s just that, when your lungs aren’t completely clear it makes it difficult to do voice work. When I finished I noticed that my cell phone wasn’t working. Come to find out, a tiny piece of the end of my headset broke off and was stuck in my headset jack on my phone. It made the phone think the headset was plugged in, so it muted all of the handset capabilities. And I couldn’t plug in the headset, because the piece that was broken off inside was preventing the connection from being made. So I had to cancel the rest of my plans for the day and go to the cell phone store. Importunely, after a half hour wait, they didn’t have the same model phone to replace the broken one. So I had to drive to Encino to a store there. They had the correct model of phone in, and after a 20 minute wait there, I finally had a new phone. Whew! What a day!
Wednesday the 20th – WEST LA! – I started the day by going for my bi-monthly visit to Regenix. Again, the consultant there told me that my scalp was doing well and just to keep doing what I was doing. I wholeheartedly recommend Regenix if your hair might not be looking as healthy as it could. It’s a great program. When I was done I went to Atlantis Studios in Santa Monica and did some more voicework on a game called “White Knight Chronicles.” While I was in the area I stopped in to see my doctor to have my lungs checked. I just wanted to make sure I was responding well to the treatments he had prescribed for me the previous week. Come to find out, I was just getting over pneumonia! Who knew?! He said to keep doing what I was doing, and he prescribed for me two new inhalers to keep my lungs open. But when I went to the pharmacy to pick them up, my insurance wouldn’t cover one of the inhalers. Apparently it was “too soon.” I had gotten an inhaler the week before and it was empty. The doctor wanted me to have another one but my insurance wouldn’t pay for it. Isn’t it odd that an INSURANCE COMPANY is making a decision as to what’s right for my health, superseding that advice of a doctor’s? I’m VERY uncomfortable when a bureaucracy’s rules override the diagnosis of a trained physician. Frankly, that’s the kind of thing that worries me about socialized medicine. Will we be seeing MORE of this sort of bureaucratic interference with our healthcare professionals? I think they should leave the diagnosis up to the doctors, and the insurance companies should just pay the bills and shut the hell up. That made me mad, and frankly, a little scared. So the doctor changed the prescription to something else and I went along my merry way. On the way home I stopped at Laser Blazer to check on DVDs, and the Beverly Hills location for It’s a Wrap. I found some cool white boots for $35, and an awesome black leather 80’s looking biker jacket from “Everybody Hates Chris” for only $30! You can find some great bargains if you have a keen eye!
Thursday the 21st – GOT THE GOODS! – I met up with Ken Dennis at Paty’s in Toluca Lake to talk about strategy to pitch our TV shows “Livin’ On a Prayer” and “Uncle Davver’s Really Scary Movie Show.” Then I drove out to Profiles in History in Agoura Hills to pick up my auction winnings. I bought three prototype heads from the Stan Winston studios, that they created for the movie “Heartbeeps” in 1981. They were prototypes to show the studio the make-up effects that would adorn Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters. Since I have the costume Andy wore in “Heartbeeps” it’s only right that I put the prototype head on top of the mannequin that will display the costume. That way it will look complete. I will have to sculpt on an appliance on the hands to look like the mechanical hand appliances Andy wore in the film, but it should look really great when it’s finished. I made the long drive back home to stash the heads, and then went to McCoy Productions in Burbank to read for a Denny’s commercial. I got home, did some business, and then went to Sunshine Studios to do another radio drama for the “Dead of Night” series. The first three episodes are available on i-Tunes. Check them out! Really neat!
Friday the 22nd – IS IT MEMORIAL DAY YET??? – I started out the day by doing another “Gormiti” episode at Studiopolis Burbank. It’s a cartoon series based on the popular Italian toy line, and the toys are now on the shelves at most Toys R Us stores. I play the bad guy Magmion. After that was done, I checked into the It’s a Wrap Memorial Weekend sale and picked up a really great shirt. I went home and had lunch, but then went back to Studiopolis Burbank to do a couple hours worth of voicework for “Bleach.” I then got over to DuPar’s in Studio City to meet up with Ken Dennis and Bob Belenchia to discuss “Uncle Davver.” After our dinner meeting, I took a nap. I got up that evening and enjoyed taking a 3 mile jog. The first I’ve had since I got back from Las Vegas. I was worried that the exercise would start me to coughing, but it seemed to be alright. Unfortunately my left knee started acting up, so I had to do the final mile trading off walking and jogging every other block. I got some dinner at Denny’s and started a new DVD set of “Mission Impossible.” This is season 6, and I’ve seen every “MI” episode up to this point. It’s my goal to see every single episode eventually.
Saturday the 23rd – MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND DAY 1! – My pal Sara came over and we drove to the vet’s to pick up some food for Sassie and Spooky. I even brought Sassie along! Then we drove through KFC and got lunch, and took it to my friend Fred Westbrook’s house to hang out by the pool. Sassie seemed to like walking around the backyard in the grass. But it was getting late so Sara headed home to change, and I went back home to get ready for “Blu Ray Trek” night again. Since “Star Trek” season 1 came out on Blu Ray, some friends and I made it a point to watch every one of the 28 episodes. We pull them at random from an empty Red Vines tub. We’ve seen 4 of them so far, and tonight we watched three more…”The Conscience of the King,” “What Are Little Girls Made Of,” and “Arena.” We’re totally enjoying watching the episodes, not only in the crystal clear definition of Blu Ray, but also with added effects which are a vast improvement over the old ones. After everybody left for the evening, I did some work on the Andy Kaufman “Heartbeeps” head, cleaning it up, repairing a few small things, and getting it ready to mount on my display when the mannequin arrived later in the week.
Sunday the 24th – MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND DAY 2! – I got up mid-afternoon and got ready for evening church. It was a beautiful day, so I walked to church to enjoy the weather. When I got back, people were starting to arrive for Blu Ray Trek night again. Since it was a holiday weekend, we decided to do two nights instead of just the usual Saturday night gathering. My friend Sara had a flat tire, so I went to get her. I was craving hot dogs anyway, and I was out of buns, so it gave me an excuse to go shopping. We got back, made hot dogs, watched a little bit of “Grease” on Blu Ray, and then drew another “Star Trek” episode. The winner was…”Tomorrow Is Yesterday,” an episode written by my friend Dorothy Fontana. It was a great episode and one that greatly benefitted from the enhanced effects. Then we drew “Mudd’s Women,” a favorite of Scott’s wife Vickie. After that we watched an episode of “Wild Wild West” on DVD. A fun night of viewing classic TV!
Monday the 25th – MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND DAY 3! – I hope you took some time out of your day to remember all the brave men and women who lost their lives in the service of our country. Like General Patton said, (I’m paraphrasing) don’t mourn the loss of these men and women, but celebrate that these brave men and women lived. I wholeheartedly agree with the general’s sentiments. I slept late, but when I woke up I grabbed my friend Sara and we went over to my friend Fred’s house to sit around by the pool. It was another fun day of lounging around and talking. Then I took Sara back home and headed home myself. All the sunshine made me sleepy so I took a quick nap in the Puppet Room. When I awoke, I fixed some cereal, did my auditions to send to my agent, and got organized for another week.
And how was YOUR week??!!
