I'm Not Dead!

Hello again everyone! No I am not dead. Yes I was pretty sick for a bit. Yes I was busy with work, and Yes I have been caught up in the holiday shopping craze. But I am back in the “Blogger” saddle ready to vent! I guess the last entry I put in was back around Thanksgiving, meaning that there’s a great deal to talk about….oh boy! I’ll try and hit everything between then and now but it might be an abridged version, mind you.

Thanksgiving for me was wonderfully crazy at the Driscoll (my last name for those who don’t know) household. We not only had a houseful of guests, but we were still receiving our last bits of furniture since our move into the new house. On the day of the feast, we put our twenty-seven pound bird in to cook for about seven hours and started in on making everything that goes along with it. Well, after making the kidney bean salad, green bean casserole, steamed broccoli with melted cheese, we were coming up on the fifth hour mark of cooking the bird and keeping everything else warm when the unthinkable happened. Apparently the severe winds that we were having caused a few trees to fall, causing a power outage in our area, putting about twenty-five thousand homes out of business for about two hours, NOOOOO! A quick decision was made to take the bird over to my brother’s place about fifteen minutes down the road and finish the cooking there, and the rest of the food we would wait and see what happened before getting too hasty in our decisions. As I said, about two hours later the power did return and we were back in business. So the end result was a salvaged Turkey Day with family and friends that will go down in the history books, whew!

Back in early October, I was fortunate enough to be chosen along with a few other daytime soap males to participate in a charity photo shoot that would be pieced together into a calendar called “The Hottest Hunks of Daytime 2005”. The calendar proceeds would go towards “Florida’s Hurricane Disaster Relief Fund” which I believe is close to the billion dollar mark in business and home damages. Now I honestly couldn’t believe that I was being asked to be a part of this shoot because deep down I really am a nerdy kind of guy, LOL. I mean come on, I love video games (in my spare time), I’m always singing in the shower, my clothes only match when they need to, and after spending time with my little nephew, my family and I have come to the conclusion that he and I are both on the same maturity plane (he’s nine months old). How could I have possibly been a candidate for this?

Regardless of all these thoughts, I did the photo shoot and in early December went down to Tampa, Fla. where the company was headquartered and did a huge promotional kickoff to the charity event with a few other guys. It was so much fun to meet everyone down there and to be part of a great effort that is so desperately sought after right now. The fans were incredible (even if they didn’t know who I was, LOL) and getting the chance to talk with so many people who either were effected or knew others who were and hearing their stories reaffirmed the fact that this was a great idea. If any of you are interested in getting a copy of the calendar the website is www.proeventsinc.com. You will be surprised at all the familiar faces that turned out for this event.

On a lighter side note, my mother got a bit worried when I told her I was doing a calendar shoot so she said, “that’s nice, dear….what month will you be…..oh, October, thank goodness it’s cold in October (meaning lots of clothes)." My whole family now wants a copy of the calendar along with friends of ours and neighbors. I asked the people if I might get a few copies for my relatives and friends and they came up with the idea of doing an autograph session with a few other guys from the calendar right in my hometown to make it fun and memorable. So in early January, some of the hottest hunks of daytime are going to be coming to Northern Virginia to participate with me in a meet and greet/autograph signing session. I’ll keep ya’ll posted and let you know the exact details so if you’re in the area you can come on out and we’ll meet in person, SWEET!

Anyways, while in Florida, I had the opportunity to go horseback riding for only my second time with Crystal Hunt (Lizzie) and Scott Bailey (Sandy). I have to say that after the first fifteen minutes of uncomfortable bouncing around in the saddle, I got the hang of it and figured out how to sit without pain. Tigger, my horse’s name, was a fast one! She hated being last or even having anyone in front of her, which made for an exciting ride. I have to admit that I was nervous at first at how quick she was, but once I learned how to ride her at a full gallop, we took off! We would take turns just like barrel racing, really sharp and quickly, and even though I was the one with the reigns she still let me know that she had some control by running me into loads of branches….yeah, they didn’t taste very good. Overall it was an amazing experience, one that I’m sure I’ll do again very soon.

Alright, I think that brings us back up to now. Work has been going really well and the storyline between Lizzie and Coop is starting to get pretty intense. The interactions between the two have been hot and cold with the cat and mouse game that we are playing with one another. She one ups me most of the time, but you’ll see, I’m going to get her back one way or another and I think you will really enjoy it!

It is time for me to say "so long" now. I have to get back to my scripts and my Christmas shopping. I’m sure I’ll have some horrific story about some nightmare experience I had at some store, and I guarantee you that it will be while buying a gift for a female. All the nightmare shopping stories guys have always occur while shopping for women, it never fails. Well wish me luck and I am wishing ya’ll a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY HOLIDAYS!